Rejector device

Abstract

A rejector device for rejecting discrete products from a product stream includes a transporting means, a rejecting means, and at least two collection containers. The rejecting means can reject the products of the product stream either into one collection container or into the other. In the process, the products are rejected either towards one side of the transporting means or towards the other. The arrangement of the collection containers one above the other on one side of the transporting means makes it possible for the operator to remove products from both collection containers from one side of the rejector device.

Claims

1-10. (canceled)

11. A rejector device for rejecting discrete products from a product stream, the rejector device including: (a) transporting means for conveying products in a conveying direction along a conveying path, the transporting means having a first side along the conveying path and a second side along the conveying path, the first side and second side being spaced apart in a transverse direction which extends transverse to the conveying direction so that the first side and second side lie opposite to each other across the conveying path; (b) rejecting means for rejecting selected products from the products conveyed along the conveying path such that each selected product is moved from the conveying path towards a one of the first side and the second side of the transporting means chosen for that selected product; (c) a first collection container for receiving a respective selected product moved from the conveying path by the rejecting means toward the first side of the transporting means; and (d) a second collection container for receiving a respective selected product moved from the conveying path by the rejecting means toward the second side of the transporting means, wherein the first and second collection containers are arranged at least partially one above the other in a Z direction which extends perpendicular to both the conveying direction and the transverse direction, and wherein the first collection container and the second collection container are each accessible from one of the first side and the second side of the transporting means.

12. The rejector device of claim 11 wherein the first collection container and the second collection container are each located at least partially on the one of the first side and second side of the transporting means from which they are accessible.

13. The rejector device of claim 11 wherein a respective one of the selected products moves along a first path when rejected from the conveying path towards the first side of the transporting means and moves along a second path when rejected from the conveying path towards the second side of the transporting means, wherein the first path leads into the first collection container and the second path leads into the second collection container.

14. The rejector device of claim 13 wherein the first collection container is arranged adjacent to the first side of the transporting means.

15. The rejector device according to claim 13 wherein the second path leads under the transporting means into the second collection container.

16. The rejector device of claim 13 wherein the second path is formed at least in part along a chute.

17. The rejector device of claim 16 wherein the chute along at least a portion of a length thereof comprises a closed channel.

18. The rejector device of claim 11 wherein the second collection container extends in the transverse direction under the transporting means from the first side of the transporting means to the second side of the transporting means.

19. The rejector device of claim 11 wherein the first collection container includes a first product removal opening and the second collection container includes a second product removal opening, the first product removal opening and the second product removal opening each being in an accessible location with respect to the one of the first side and the second side of the transporting means from which the first collection container and second collection container are accessible.

20. An inspection system including: (a) inspection means for inspecting at least one characteristic of each product in a stream of products, the inspection means including at least one of a weighing machine, an electromagnetic radiation scanning device, and an optical code recognition device; and (b) a rejection device including, (i) transporting means for conveying the stream of products in a conveying direction along a conveying path from the inspection means, the transporting means having a first side along the conveying path and a second side along the conveying path, the first side and second side being spaced apart in a transverse direction which extends transverse to the conveying direction so that the first side and second side lie opposite to each other across the conveying path; (ii) rejecting means for rejecting selected products from the stream of products conveyed along the conveying path such that each selected product is moved from the conveying path towards one of the first side and the second side of the transporting means chosen for that selected product; (iii) a first collection container for receiving a respective selected product moved from the conveying path by the rejecting means toward the first side of the transporting means; and (iv) a second collection container for receiving a respective selected product moved from the conveying path by the rejecting means toward the second side of the transporting means, wherein the first and second collection containers are arranged at least partially one above the other in a Z direction which extends perpendicular to both the conveying direction and the transverse direction, and wherein the first collection container and the second collection container are each accessible from one of the first side and the second side of the transporting means.

21. The inspection system of claim 20 wherein the first collection container and the second collection container are each located at least partially on the one of the first side and second side of the transporting means from which they are accessible.

22. The inspection system of claim 20 wherein a respective one of the selected products moves along a first path when rejected from the conveying path towards the first side of the transporting means and moves along a second path when rejected from the conveying path towards the second side of the transporting means, wherein the first path leads into the first collection container and the second path leads into the second collection container.

23. The inspection system of claim 22 wherein the first collection container is arranged adjacent to the first side of the transporting means.

24. The inspection system according to claim 22 wherein the second path leads under the transporting means into the second collection container.

25. The inspection system of claim 22 wherein the second path is formed at least in part along a chute.

26. The inspection system of claim 25 wherein the chute along at least a portion of a length thereof comprises a closed channel.

27. The inspection system of claim 20 wherein the second collection container extends in the transverse direction under the transporting means from the first side of the transporting means to the second side of the transporting means.

28. The inspection system of claim 20 wherein the first collection container includes a first product removal opening and the second collection container includes a second product removal opening, the first product removal opening and the second product removal opening each being in an accessible location with respect to the one of the first side and the second side of the transporting means from which the first collection container and second collection container are accessible.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] FIG. 1 schematically shows a rejector device according to the invention.

[0020] FIG. 2 shows an inspection system with a rejector device according to the invention in an oblique view.

[0021] FIG. 3 shows a section through the inspection system according to FIG. 2 in a side view looking along the conveying direction.

DESCRIPTION OF REPRESENTATIVE EMBODIMENTS

[0022] The rejector device 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a transporting means T, via which a conveying path F leads. In FIG. 1, the conveying path F runs along the conveying direction X, which extends perpendicular to the plane of the figure. Here, the transporting means T is a conveyor belt, for example. The products P located on the conveyor belt can be moved in the transverse direction Y as shown by arrows A.sub.1 and A.sub.2 with a rejecting means A (shown only in FIG. 3) either towards one side S.sub.1 of the conveying path F or towards the opposite side S.sub.2 of the conveying path F. A product P can enter a first collection container B.sub.1 via a first path W.sub.1. For this purpose, the first collection container B.sub.1 is arranged adjacent to the transporting means T on the first side S.sub.1 thereof. However, the product P can also take a second path W.sub.2 by moving sideways from the conveying path F towards the opposite side S.sub.2. For this purpose, the rejecting means A pushes the product P towards the side S.sub.2 of the transporting means T, to which a chute R is adjacent, via which the product P can enter a second collection container B.sub.2. The paths W.sub.1 and W.sub.2 are indicated with dashed arrows in FIG. 1. The chute R leads through underneath the transporting means T, with the result that the products P can enter the collection container B.sub.2 arranged underneath the collection container B.sub.1 via the path W.sub.2. In this way it is possible, through selective pushing out towards the first side S.sub.1 or towards the second side S.sub.2, to transfer or to sort the products P into collection containers B.sub.1 and B.sub.2 arranged one above the other. Through the chute R, it is thus possible to arrange the two collection containers B.sub.1 and B.sub.2 one above the other in the direction Z in a space-saving manner. This has the further advantage that the products P can be removed from the collection containers B.sub.1 and B.sub.2 from the same side of the transporting means T.

[0023] FIGS. 2 and 3 show an inspection system 2 with a rejector device 1 according to the invention. The conveying path F of a transporting means T in the form of a conveyor belt runs along the conveying direction X. In addition to the rejector device 1 according to the invention, the inspection system 2 has an X-ray device 3. Through the X-ray device 3, specific product properties, e.g. contamination with foreign material, can be detected. Depending on the product property detected, the products P transported on the conveying path F can either continue to be transported along the conveying path F or be rejected into the collection containers B.sub.1 or B.sub.2 according to predetermined criteria. As can be seen from FIG. 2, the inspection system 2 represented has in each case two first collection containers B.sub.1 and two second collection containers B.sub.2. In this way, products P can be rejected at two different points of the conveying path F. The two second collection containers B.sub.2 are in each case arranged underneath the two first containers B.sub.1 in the direction Z. Through selective rejection in the transverse direction Y towards the first side S.sub.1 or towards the second side S.sub.2 of the conveying path F by means of a rejecting means A, products can enter either the first collection container B.sub.1 or the second collection container B.sub.2, respectively. Here, the two first collection containers B.sub.1 are arranged adjacent to the transporting means T on the first side S.sub.1 thereof. The two second collection containers B.sub.2 extend in each case in the direction Y underneath the transporting means T. The products P rejected in the direction of the second side S.sub.2 enter the second collection container B.sub.2 via a dedicated chute R in each case. The chute R leads through at least partially underneath the transporting means T. In this way, the two collection containers B.sub.1 and B.sub.2 are in each case arranged such that they are accessible from the operator side via the removal openings O.sub.1 and O.sub.2. The operator side is identical to the first side S.sub.1. The inspection system 2 can also have an operator terminal 4 for the operator on the operator side. Furthermore, the inspection system 2 can have a weighing machine 5 for measuring the product weight.

[0024] As used herein, whether in the above description or the following claims, the terms comprising, including, carrying, having, containing, involving, and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, that is, to mean including but not limited to. Also, it should be understood that the terms about, substantially, and like terms used herein when referring to a dimension or characteristic of a component indicate that the described dimension/characteristic is not a strict boundary or parameter and does not exclude variations therefrom that are functionally similar. At a minimum, such references that include a numerical parameter would include variations that, using mathematical and industrial principles accepted in the art (e.g., rounding, measurement or other systematic errors, manufacturing tolerances, etc.), would not vary the least significant digit.

[0025] Any use of ordinal terms such as first, second, third, etc., in the following claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another, or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed. Rather, unless specifically stated otherwise, such ordinal terms are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term).

[0026] The above described preferred embodiments are intended to illustrate the principles of the invention, but not to limit the scope of the invention. Various other embodiments and modifications to these preferred embodiments may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, in some instances, one or more features disclosed in connection with one embodiment can be used alone or in combination with one or more features of one or more other embodiments. More generally, the various features described herein may be used in any working combination.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

[0027] 1 rejector device [0028] 2 inspection system [0029] 3 X-ray device [0030] P product [0031] T transporting means [0032] F conveying path [0033] A rejecting means [0034] A.sub.1, A.sub.2 displacement directions for selected products [0035] S.sub.1 first side of the conveying path (operator side) [0036] S.sub.2 second side of the conveying path [0037] B.sub.1 first collection container [0038] B.sub.2 second collection container [0039] W.sub.1 first path [0040] W.sub.2 second path [0041] O.sub.1 removal opening of the first collection container [0042] O.sub.2 removal opening of the second collection container [0043] R chute [0044] X conveying direction [0045] Y transverse direction [0046] Z direction perpendicular to the plane which is spanned by conveying direction and transverse direction [0047] 4 operator terminal [0048] 5 weighing machine