Automatic sorting machine for sorting and classifying small products of the pharmaceutical and confectionery industries according to form and color

• US 5,558,231 A
• Filed: 05/15/1995
• Issued: 09/24/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Maschimpex GmbH
• Original Assignee: Maschimpex GmbH
• Inventors: Weier, Detlef
• Primary Examiner(s): Dayoan, D. Glenn
• Application Number:
  US08/440,974
• Time in Patent Office: 498 Days
• Field of Search: 209/580, 209/581, 209/538, 209/587, 209/920, 209/939, 356/402
• US Class Current: 209/580
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 5/3422 using video scanning devices, e.g. TV-cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/9508 Capsules; Tablets
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/66 Trinkets, e.g. shirt buttons or jewellery items recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 209/939 Video scanning

Abstract

Automatic sorting machine for sorting and classifying small products of the pharmaceutical and confectionery industries according to form and color. The present invention pertains to an automatic sorting machine for sorting and classifying these products for deviations, via optoelectronic specimen recognition, with the machine including a vibratory inlet device in which the products to be sorted are separated in order to present same to a delivery device for conveying the separated products through a beam/light path of a camera. Each product is optically comprehended by the camera and encoded into electrical signals, via which specimen recognition is carried out through appropriate electronics in order to eliminate unrecognized products having improper deviations. In order to classify the product with substantially higher processing speeds and in order to achieve a defined color report, a color-line camera is provided, which pans the beam/light path of the camera in the feeding direction of the product over a determined conveying track, and the product, during its throughput through the panned beam/light path, is rotated about an axis parallel with the scanning line.

Claims

1. An automatic sorting machine for sorting and classifying small products, by means of optoelectronic specimen recognition, the machine comprising:

a vibratory inlet device wherein the products to be sorted are separated;

a camera having a beam/light path;

a delivery device for conveying the separated products, through the beam/light path;

the camera being utilized for optically comprehending each product and for obtaining electronic signals;

means for evaluating the electronic signals for specimen recognition for deviations of the product, for producing an elimination signal, for eliminating defective products and unrecognized products, wherein the camera is a color-line camera, whose beam/light path is so movably arranged that a beam/light path thereof, in a feeding direction of the product, pans the beam/light path over a predetermined conveying track, wherein the product, during the throughput thereof through the panned beam/light path, is rotated about an axis parallel to a scanning line.

2. The automatic sorting machine of claim 1, wherein at least one of the camera and a reorientation mirror synchronously pan the feeding movement of the product.

3. The automatic sorting machine of claim 1, wherein at least one of the camera and a reorientation mirror is moved synchronously with the product over a predetermined distance.

4. The automatic sorting machine of claim 2, wherein at least one of the camera and the reorientation mirror is moved synchronously with the product over a predetermined distance.

5. The automatic sorting machine of claim 1, further including a reorientation mirror, wherein the reorientation mirror is a transverse mirror turnable about a central longitudinal axis.

6. The automatic sorting machine of claim 2, wherein the reorientation mirror is a transverse mirror turnable about a central longitudinal axis.

7. The automatic sorting machine of claim 1, further including a reorientation mirror, wherein the reorientation mirror is a polygonal mirror turnable about a longitudinal axis.

8. The automatic sorting machine of claim 2, wherein the reorientation mirror is a polygonal mirror turnable about a longitudinal axis.

9. The automatic sorting machine of claim 3, wherein the reorientation mirror is a polygonal mirror turnable about a longitudinal axis.

10. The automatic sorting machine of claim 4, wherein the reorientation mirror is a polygonal mirror turnable about a longitudinal axis.

11. The automatic sorting machine of claim 1, wherein several products are transportable parallel to each other in several adjacent paths, through the beam/light path of the camera.

12. The automatic sorting machine of claim 11, wherein several cameras are adjacently arranged, whereby each camera always surveys several paths of the products.

13. The automatic sorting machine of claim 1, wherein the delivery device is comprised of a turning station and a roller track, the roller track having rollers arranged perpendicularly to the feeding direction.

14. The automatic sorting machine of claim 13, wherein the rollers are rotatable about their respective longitudinal axes.

15. The automatic sorting machine of claim 11, wherein the delivery device is comprised of a turning station and a roller track, the roller track having rollers arranged perpendicularly to the feeding direction, the machine further including a multi track delivery of the products on correspondingly arranged tracks of the roller track.

16. The automatic sorting machine of claim 12, wherein the delivery device is comprised of a turning station and a roller track, the roller track having rollers arranged perpendicularly to the feeding direction, the machine further including a multi track delivery of the products on correspondingly arranged tracks of the roller track.

17. The automatic sorting machine of claim 15, wherein lateral boundaries are provided for each track.

18. The automatic sorting machine of claim 16, wherein lateral boundaries are provided for each track.

19. The automatic sorting machine of claim 15, wherein fixed strips are attached above the roller track.

20. The automatic sorting machine of claim 16, wherein fixed strips are attached above the roller track.

21. The automatic sorting machine of claim 1, wherein the delivery device is comprised of a turning station and a roller track, the roller track having rollers arranged perpendicularly to the feeding direction, the machine further including a lower illumination device attached underneath the roller track, the illuminating device facing a color filter in order to spotlight the product, from below, between the rollers.

22. The automatic sorting machine of claim 1, further including an attached upper illumination device, having illuminating bodies, whose beam/light paths are thusly reflected that a diffused white brightening light is produced on the products.

23. The automatic sorting machine of claim 1, wherein the products include at least one of the products of the pharmaceutical and confectionery industries.