CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is filed under 35 U.S.C. § 371 as the national stage of International Patent Application No. PCT/IB2018/053295 filed on May 11, 2018, which claims priority to Italian Patent Application No. 102017000052593 filed on May 16, 2017, all of which said applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for treating horticultural products.

BACKGROUND

As is known, the gradual automation of processes involves an ever-increasing number of industrial sectors, since only in this way is it possible to combine the contrasting needs of the market, which on one hand requires ever lower costs and on the other hand still imposes high qualitative standards even on mass productions.

This trend can be observed easily also in the processing of horticultural products, where indeed it is now frequent to use completely or partially automated lines, often configured to perform different treatments on a specific horticultural product.

In greater detail, many companies in this sector acquire apparatuses or lines designed to be fed with unsorted masses of the product of interest, often coming directly from the places of harvest. These constructive solutions are thus composed of a plurality of stations, through which the product passes while indeed it is subjected to various treatments, checks and processes in general.

In this context, a type of apparatus is known, used for example in the processing of apples, wherein at least three stations follow one another sequentially: in each station, the products move one by one in a row along a preset path, by virtue of the action of respective individual transfer elements.

The first station is fed with unsorted masses of apples, which thus have great heterogeneity in terms of dimensions, color, quality, et cetera. In the first station, the apples in transit pass through the field of action of a video camera, or other similar vision system, which is capable of performing qualitative analyses on the products, by checking their color, their degree of ripeness and/or the presence of defects (superficial or internal), as well as other properties and parameters of possible interest.

From that station, each apple is picked up by a respective clamp, which moves along a closed path dragged by a belt wound in a loop, in order to bring the apple toward the third station. Along the second station each apple is weighed, and the information thus acquired, together with the information detected by the vision system, is provided to an electronic control and management unit, capable of activating selectively one of a plurality of unloading systems, which are distributed along the path that the apples follow in the third station.

Each unloading system is capable of guiding the apples in transit to a respective collection basket, and thus while the apples advance progressively aligned along the third station, as a function of the specific information acquired each apple is sent by the electronic unit to the appropriate basket, which can thus receive all and only the apples falling within preset parameters.

In this manner, downstream of the apparatus the users can find homogeneous baskets, to be sent to packaging in order to be marketed (or, obviously, undergo further treatments or checks).

This constructive solution, however, is not free from drawbacks.

As mentioned, along the three stations defined above the apples move (horizontally) one by one in a row along a trajectory, usually a rectilinear one, imposed by the transfer elements that operate in each station.

In such a configuration, clearly the productivity of the apparatus (understood as number of apples transferred and treated in the unit time) is determined by the slowest of the three stations: this is a very unwelcome limit, since often at least one of the three stations must operate at modest speeds, due to technological limitations linked to the type of elements involved and to the operations performed thereby on the products.

It should be noted, however, that the apparently more obvious solution to the problem, constituted by the simple side-by-side arrangement of two or more identical lines, is often unfeasible, since it would entail an excessive increase in occupied spaces, which in practice is as unwelcome as the limited productivity described above.

SUMMARY

The aim of the present disclosure is to solve the problems described above, by providing an apparatus capable of performing a plurality of treatments on apples or other horticultural products, ensuring high productivity and limited space occupations.

Within this aim, the disclosure provides an apparatus capable of distributing in a uniform manner apples or other horticultural products, ensuring high productivity and limited space occupations.

The disclosure also provides an apparatus that ensures high reliability in operation.

The present disclosure further proposes an apparatus that uses a technical and structural architecture that is alternative to those of the apparatuses of the known type.

The disclosure provides an apparatus that can be obtained easily starting from commonly commercially available elements and materials.

The disclosure further provides an apparatus that has modest costs and is safe in use.

This aim and these and other advantages that will become better apparent hereinafter are achieved by an apparatus according to claim1.

