Object sorting system and a method thereof

Abstract

An object sorting system is presented which includes a hopper, a feeder, a roller pair, a pair of orientation flaps, an adjustable assembly, a first and second camera boxes and an ejection assembly. Feeder receives the shells from the hopper and feeds them uniformly over the gap between the rollers which guides and provides fixed orientation to the shells passing through them and conveys the shells which are relatively bigger than the gap between the rollers to one side of the pair of rollers towards the first collection chute by inclining the roller assembly in the range of 0 to 15 degrees towards the first collection chute. A pair of orientation flaps is placed parallel and exactly below the pair of rollers to avoid the deflection of shells caused immediately after passing through the roller gaps.

Claims

1. An object sorting system for sorting a plurality of objects having different characteristics, the system comprising: a. a feeder for feeding the plurality of objects, said feeder uniformly feeds the plurality of objects into the system; b. a roller pair assembly configured to receive said plurality of objects from the said feeder, the said roller pair assembly comprising: i. two rollers placed parallel to each other and inclined in the range of 0 to 15 degrees towards a first collection chute and thrusting upwards at a speed with the purpose of guiding and providing a particular orientation to a first set of objects, from the plurality of objects, received from the said feeder to the pair of rollers and to convey a second set of objects, from the plurality of objects, which are bigger than a gap between the rollers to one side of the said pair of rollers towards the said first collection chute; ii. a pair of orientation flaps placed parallel to each other below the said roller pair with the purpose of maintaining the particular orientation of said first set of objects and to avoid deflection of said first set of objects caused immediately after their exit through the gap between the rollers due to inertia, air resistance or other buoyancy forces, wherein the distance between the said orientation flaps is equal to or more than the distance between the said rollers of the roller pair; iii. an adjustable assembly for adjusting: the distance between the two rollers of the said roller pair; distance between the two orientation flaps of the said pair of orientation flaps; distance between the said roller pair and said pair of orientation flaps; and inclination of the rollers towards said first collection chute; c. a first and second camera box with plurality of cameras along with illuminating sources, arranged below the said orientation flaps by maintaining the distance between the two camera boxes relatively larger than the distance between the said orientation flaps and said cameras focusing towards the lower ends of the orientation flaps, where surface area of the said first set of objects with the particular orientation is exposed to the cameras placed on either sides to capture the characteristics of interest of said first set of objects; d. an ejection assembly located below the viewing zone of the cameras of the said camera boxes to eject the first set of objects based on the inputs received from a control panel regarding the grade of the corresponding object and get some of the first set of objects collected in the second collection chute and collecting remaining of said first set of objects in the third collection chute.

2. The said object sorting system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the roller pair is a threaded/grooved roller pair to push the said second set of objects which are bigger than the gap between the rollers to one side of the said threaded/grooved pair of rollers towards the said first collection chute within the predictable amount of time.

3. The said object sorting system as claimed in claim 1, wherein two ejection assemblies are placed opposite to one another below the viewing zone of the cameras from the said camera boxes focusing in different angles to eject and direct the first set of objects of different characteristics in their respective collection chutes.

4. The said object sorting system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each camera box comprising plurality of cameras with different orientations so as to capture all the required characteristics of said first set of objects.

5. A method for sorting a plurality of objects with different characteristics, the method comprising: a. feeding the plurality of objects by a feeder over a pair of rollers in a way to uniformly spread the said plurality of objects over a gap between the said pair of rollers; b. inclining the said pair of rollers in the range of 0 to 15 degrees towards a first collection chute and receiving the said plurality of objects by the said pair of rollers and guiding and providing a first set of objects, from the plurality of objects, with a particular orientation while passing through the said roller pair and conveying a second set of objects, from the said plurality of objects, which are relatively bigger than the gap between the rollers to one side of the said pair of rollers and collecting them in the said first collection chute; c. receiving the said first set of objects guided and oriented by the said pair of rollers by the pair of orientation flaps which are positioned and configured to maintain the already achieved the particular orientation of said first set of objects by avoiding deflection of said first set of objects caused immediately after the passing of said first set of objects from the gap between the said rollers due to inertia, air resistance or other buoyancy forces, by keeping the distance between the said orientation flaps equal to or more than the distance between the rollers of the said roller pair; d. capturing the characteristics of said first set of objects by said cameras placed in a first and second camera boxes and focusing the said cameras towards the lower ends of the said orientation flaps, wherein surface area of the said first set of objects with the particular orientation is exposed to the cameras along with their illuminating sources which are arranged below the said orientation flaps by maintaining the distance between the two said camera boxes relatively larger than the distance between the said orientation flaps; e. ejecting the said first set of objects based on the inputs received from a control panel regarding the grade of the corresponding object by an ejection assembly located below the viewing zone of the cameras of the said camera boxes to get some of the first set of objects collected in the second collection chute; f. collecting the remaining of said first set of objects in the third collection chute.

6. The said object sorting method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the roller pair is a threaded/grooved roller pair to push the said second set of objects which are bigger than the gap between the rollers to one side of the said threaded/grooved pair of rollers towards the said first collection chute within the predictable amount of time.

7. The said object sorting method as claimed in claim 5, wherein two ejection assemblies are placed opposite to one another below the viewing zone of the cameras from the said camera boxes focusing in different angles to eject and direct the first set of objects of different characteristics in their respective collection chutes.

8. The said object sorting method as claimed in claim 5, wherein each camera box comprises of plurality of cameras with different orientations so as to capture all the required characteristics of said first set of objects.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The purpose and application of the invention can best be understood from the description of the various drawings and embodiments provided herewith.

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the shell sorting system for sorting shells, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

(3) FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a roller pair assembly of system of FIG. 1.

(4) FIG. 3 is a schematic view of one of the embodiments of the shell sorting system depicting the ejection assemblies placed opposite to each other;

(5) FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the method of working of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(6) The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. As used herein, the term ‘object’ shall refer to any object which is partially symmetric at least in one plane or its post cut portions which is not limited to any agricultural products like de-shelled/cut shells of raw cashew nuts, raw cashew nuts, cashew pieces, almonds, peanuts, pecan nuts, lentils, melon seeds but also includes synthetically and artificially manufactured objects which satisfies the above stated conditions. As used herein, the terms “a pair of rollers”, “roller pair” and “rollers” carries the same meaning and may be used alternatively within the scope of the invention. As used herein, the term “a pair of orientation flaps” and “orientation flaps” carries the same meaning and may be used alternatively within the scope of the invention. As used herein, the term “camera box” comprises of at least one camera and the cameras in a camera box can be located at different orientations focusing towards lower ends of orientation flaps on the falling oriented shells. As used herein, the term “de-shelled shells”, “cut shells” and “shells” carries the same meaning and may be used alternatively within the scope of the invention.

(7) According to one embodiment of the present invention, the proposed invention discloses an object sorting system which sorts objects in different types. FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 shows the schematic diagrams illustrating the non-limiting elements of the invention for sorting objects. The present invention is illustrated considering the de-shelled/cut shells of the cashew nut as the object of interest for the sake of understanding. The same system can also process any object which is partially symmetric at least in one plane or its post cut portions which is not limited to any agricultural products like de-shelled/cut shells of raw cashew nuts, raw cashew nuts, cashew pieces, almonds, peanuts, pecan nuts, lentils, melon seeds but also includes synthetically and artificially manufactured objects which satisfies the above stated conditions. In one of the operations of the cashew nut processing, raw cashew nuts are decorticated. After the decorticating operation the raw cashew nuts gets splitted in different cross sections. These outputs of the raw cashew nut decortication are divided in different types which includes empty shells, half to be scooped or piece to be scooped, full to be scooped or to be scooped, uncut, asymmetric cut and whole kernels or pieces of kernel separated from the shell. The whole kernels or pieces of kernel are separated in the pre-processing itself and remaining decorticated output is inputted directly to the present shell sorting system. So the main criteria for sorting de-shelled shells of the cashew nut is the presence or absence of the kernel or part of the kernel inside the shell. The non-limiting elements of the invention comprises of a hopper (110), a feeder (120), a pair of rollers (130), a pair of orientation flaps (140), adjustable assembly (150), a first camera box (160a), a second camera box (160b), illuminating sources (170a and 170b), an ejection assembly (180), collection chutes (190a, 190b and 190c), a control panel (200) and a mainframe (210) for supporting all the above elements.

(8) The shell sorting system comprises of a hopper (110) to introduce the shells in the shell sorting system. The feeder (120) is located below the hopper (110) to receive the shells from hopper (110) and feed the shells further into the gap between the pair of rollers (130) uniformly. A pair of rollers (130) are arranged horizontally below the feeder (120) in such a way that one roller is rotated in reverse to the other and thrusting upwards. The upward thrusting motion of the rollers (130) avoids the crushing or jamming of shells in between the rollers (130). It also helps to maintain the uniform flow of shells through the gap between the rollers (130). The rotating speed of the roller pair (130) is controlled by the control panel (200). The distance between the rollers (130) can also be adjusted by the adjustable assembly (150) based on the size of the shells to be passed through it. In one embodiment of the present invention, the gap between the rollers (130) as well as the gap between the orientation flaps may vary so as to pass the de-shelled shells of variable dimensions at the same time.

(9) A first collection chute (190a) is provided at one end of the roller pair (130). The purpose of the roller pair (130) is to guide and provide fixed orientation to the shells received from the feeder through them and also to convey the shells which are relatively bigger than the gap between the rollers (130) to one side of the pair of rollers (130) towards the first collection chute (190a).

(10) The roller pair assembly is inclined in the range of 0 degrees to 15 degrees towards the first collection chute (190a). The inclination is provided to push the shells which are relatively bigger than the gap between the rollers (130) to one side of the pair of rollers (130) into the first collection chute (190a). The inclination of the roller assembly is also adjusted by the adjustable assembly (150). These shells which are directed towards the first collection chute mainly includes uncut and asymmetric cut shells which were sliced or improperly cracked by the decorticator and so their size remains relatively bigger than the other shells. This removal also yields in proper orientation of remaining shells after passing through the roller gap towards the orientation flaps (140) due to restriction of space between the rollers (130) exactly to the size of the shells. In one embodiment of the present invention, when the inclination of the rollers (130) is 0 degrees or they are placed horizontally, then the rollers (130) that are used are threaded/grooved roller pair which will push the shells which are relatively bigger than the gap between the rollers (130) to one side of the pair of rollers (130) towards the first collection chute (190a) within predictable amount of time and the remaining shells will pass through the gap between the threaded/grooved rollers. The advantages of using threaded/grooved roller pair is that the conveying speed of shells which are relatively bigger than the gap between the rollers is controlled and conveying time of the shells to reach the first collection chute (190a) becomes predictable. The speed of the threaded/grooved rollers too can be controlled using the control panel (200).

(11) In another embodiment of the present invention, a hook is provided along with the cameras/sensors in the vicinity of pair of rollers (130). The purpose of the hook is to dislodge the shell/shells which in case gets stuck in the gap between the rollers (130). Whenever the shell gets stuck anywhere between the gap of the rollers (130) the cameras/sensors immediately senses it and provide the feedback to the control panel (200). Control panel (200) on receiving the feedback, signals the hook provided in the vicinity of the rollers (130) to dislodge the stuck shell/shells and push them in the direction opposite to the first collection chute (190a) for collecting in additional collection chute. The application of automated hook ensures uninterrupted working of the system.

(12) A pair of orientation flaps (140) is arranged exactly below the pair of reverse rollers (130) by maintaining a minimum gap between the flap and the roller surface. The pair of rollers (130) are always parallel with the pair of orientation flaps (140) and the distance between the orientation flaps (140) is equal to or more than the distance between the rollers (130). The distance between the orientation flaps (140) will be adjusted simultaneously as per the adjustment in the distance between the roller pair (130) by the adjustable assembly (150). Once the shells are passed through the roller pair (130), they gain orientation for the time being and may again get deflected due to inertia, air resistance or other buoyancy forces. So the purpose and arrangement of the orientation flaps (140) below the roller pair (130) is to maintain the orientation of the shells which was already achieved by the pair of rollers (130).

(13) First and second camera boxes (160a and 160b) are arranged exactly below the pair of orientation flaps (140) by maintaining the distance between the two camera boxes relatively larger than the distance between the orientation flaps (140). Illuminating sources (170a and 170b) are provided along with each camera box (160a and 160b) for proper illumination of shells to be analyzed. The random falling shells get oriented and expose their two essential flat surfaces to the cameras of the camera boxes (160a and 160b) provided on both the sides opposite to each other. The cameras from both the camera boxes (160a and 160b) are focused at the lower ends of the orientation flaps (140), where the oriented shells actually start exposing themselves to the cameras. These falling shells uses orientation flaps (140) to achieve required orientation and expose themselves to the cameras from first and second camera boxes (160a and 160b) placed below the orientation flaps (140) for analyzing the presence or absence of the kernel or part of kernel inside them. The focusing of cameras towards the lower ends of the orientation flaps (140) itself enables the capturing and analyzing of the shells characteristics of interest to happen at very early stage and helps to predict the exact grade of each falling shell accurately and efficiently. Focusing the cameras towards the lower ends of the orientation flaps (140) also makes sure that the full advantage of the shells orientation is being taken by capturing all the necessary characteristics of the shell. The cameras in the camera boxes (160a and 160b) are arranged in different orientations based on the geometry and characteristics of interest of the objects to be analyzed. The grade data along with the position of each shell is sent to the control panel (200).

(14) In one embodiment of the present invention, the cameras in the camera box can be advanced programmable cameras which can be “synchronous”, “asynchronous”, “regular”, “color”, “multi-spectral” cameras, advanced X-ray cameras, advanced spectrometer or combination thereof based on the requirement of the objects to be processed.

(15) The system further comprises of an ejection assembly (180) with multiple ejection nozzles placed exactly below the viewing zone of the cameras from the camera boxes (160a and 160b) to eject the shells having kernel or part of the kernel inside them. Based on the inputs received from the control panel (200), ejection assembly (180) ejects the shells in respective collection chutes (190b and 190c). In one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, there can be two ejection assemblies (180a and 180b) placed opposite to one another below the viewing zone of the cameras from the camera boxes (160a and 160b), each with multiple nozzles directing towards different directions for ejecting falling de-shelled shells of different characteristics. So the total number of collection chutes will increase to four with an effect of added ejection assembly.

(16) The present disclosure also discloses a method for sorting shells after de-shelling operation based on different characteristics as illustrated in flowchart of FIG. 4. The method includes a feeder (120) to feed the shells uniformly into the gap between the pair of rollers (130). The roller pair (130) receives the shells of different characteristics and passes them through the gap between the rollers (130). The roller pair (130) assembly is inclined between 0 to 15 degrees towards the first collection chute (190a) to convey the shells which are relatively bigger than the gap between the rollers (130) towards the first collection chute (190a). An adjustable assembly (150) adjusts the distance between the rollers (130), distance between the orientation flaps (140), distance between the roller pair (130) and the pair of orientation flaps (140) and also the inclination of the rollers (130) towards the first collection chute (190a). The remaining shells passed through the gap between the roller pair (130) gets oriented to a certain orientation. A pair of orientation flaps (140) are located exactly below the pair of rollers (130) and the distance between the orientation flaps is equal to or more than the distance between the rollers (130) to maintain the orientation of the shells further to the roller pair (130) to avoid the deflections in the orientation of falling shells caused due to inertia, air resistance or other buoyancy forces.

(17) Cameras from the first and second camera boxes (160a and 160b) which are placed opposite to each other exactly below the pair of orientation flaps (140) by maintaining the distance between the two camera boxes (160a and 160b) relatively larger than the distance between the orientation flaps (140) are focused towards the lower ends of the orientation flaps (140). The oriented shells are exposed to the cameras as soon as they exit from the gap between the orientation flaps (140). Illuminating sources (170a and 170b) provided with each camera box, illuminates the shells for their proper inspection. Cameras from the camera boxes (160a and 160b) analyses the presence or absence of the kernel or part of the kernel inside the falling exposed shell at very early stage near the lower ends of the orientation flaps (140) taking the full advantage of the orientation of the shells. Based on the camera analysis, the grades of the shells are decided and are sent to the control panel (200). Control panel (200) signals the same to the ejection assembly (180) which then ejects the shells having kernel or part of the kernel into the second collection chute (190b). All the remaining empty falling shells are collected in the third collection chute (190c).