# US 2021/0329936 A1 · System and method for fine manipulation

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- Number: US 2021/0329936 A1
- Document ID: US20210329936A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 16/473,478
- Filed: 2018-04-28
- Published: 2021-10-28
- Earliest claimed: 2018-04-02
- Assignees: Tea Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Changsha Xiang Feng Intelligent Equipment Limited By Share Ltd.
- Applicants: Tea Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Changsha Xiang Feng Intelligent Equipment Limited By Share Ltd.
- Inventors: Junxi CAO; Aiqing MIAO; Chengying MA; Dandan QI; Xiaoyan QIAO; Jinchi TANG; Wei CHEN; Shi PANG; Jianyong ZHOU; Haoming PENG
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210329936A1

## CPC

- A23F 3/06: Treating tea before extraction (reducing or removing alkaloid content A23F3/36); Preparations produced thereby (tea extract preparations A23F3/16)
- B65G 15/22: comprising a series of co-operating units
- B65G 41/007: {Means for moving conveyor frames and control arrangements therefor (B65G41/02 takes precedence)}
- B65G 47/80: Turntables carrying articles or materials to be transferred, e.g. combined with ploughs or scrapers
- Y02A 40/90: in food processing or handling, e.g. food conservation
- A23F: COFFEE; TEA; THEIR SUBSTITUTES; MANUFACTURE, PREPARATION, OR INFUSION THEREOF
- B65G: TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS (packaging B65B; handling thin or filamentary materials, e.g. paper sheets or thread, B65H; cranes B66C; portable mobile or lifting or hauling appliances, e.g. hoists, B66D; devices for lifting or lowering goods for loading or unloading purposes, e.g. fork-lift trucks, B66F9/00; emptying bottles, jars, casks, barrels or similar containers, not otherwise provided for, B67C9/00; delivering or transferring liquids B67D; filling or discharging vessels for liquefied, solidified or compressed gases F17C; pipe-line systems for fluids F17D)
- Y02A: TECHNOLOGIES FOR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE

## Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a system and a method for fine manipulation. The system for fine manipulation includes a tossing mechanism, a setting mechanism, and a leaf uniformly distributing mechanism. The tossing mechanism comprises a tossing machine, a leaf distributing assembly, a first feeding conveyor assembly, and a first receiving conveyor assembly. The setting mechanism comprises a setting assembly, a second feeding conveyor assembly, and a second receiving conveyor assembly. The setting assembly includes a setting belt and a setting belt driving device configured to drive the setting belt to move. The leaf uniformly distributing mechanism comprises a leaf uniformly distributing device and a lifting driving assembly. The leaf uniformly distributing device includes a shifting arm, a rotary table and a rotary table driving assembly. The lifting driving assembly can drive the leaf uniformly distributing device to move up and down. The system for fine manipulation is convenient to realize uniform distribution of leaves in the tossing machine, and allows alternating between tossing and setting, to realize continuous and automatic fine manipulation for tea leaves. It can significantly reduce labor intensity and improve production efficiency, while improving stability of oolong tea quality.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system for fine manipulation, comprising:
a tossing mechanism comprising a tossing machine, a leaf distributing assembly, a first feeding conveyor assembly, and a first receiving conveyor assembly, wherein a leaf distributing belt of the leaf distributing assembly is disposed above the tossing machine and configured to supply tea leaves into the tossing machine, the first feeding conveyor assembly is configured to convey the tea leaves onto the leaf distributing belt, and the first receiving conveyor assembly is disposed below the tossing machine and configured to receive and convey tossed tea leaves;
a setting mechanism comprising a setting assembly, a second feeding conveyor assembly, and a second receiving conveyor assembly, wherein the setting assembly comprises a setting belt and a setting belt driving device configured to drive the setting belt to move, the second feeding conveyor assembly is configured to receive the tossed tea leaves falling from a conveyor belt of the first receiving conveyor assembly and convey them to the setting belt, and the second receiving conveyor assembly is configured to receive set tea leaves falling from the setting belt and convey them to a conveyor belt of the first feeding conveyor assembly; and
a leaf uniformly distributing mechanism comprising a leaf uniformly distributing device and a lifting driving assembly, wherein the leaf uniformly distributing device comprises a shifting arm, a rotary table and a rotary table driving assembly, the shifting arm is disposed on the rotary table, the rotary table is disposed on the rotary table driving assembly and drivable by the rotary table driving assembly to move so as to drive the shifting arm to move, the lifting driving assembly is able to drive the leaf uniformly distributing device to move up and down, and the leaf uniformly distributing device is configured to be disposed above the setting belt.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system for fine manipulation according to claim 1, wherein the rotary table is provided with a plurality of shifting arms, and the plurality of shifting arms are evenly arranged along an outer periphery of the rotary table.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The system for fine manipulation according to claim 2, wherein a rotating shaft of the rotary table driving assembly is sleeved with a plurality of leaf uniformly distributing devices, and the plurality of leaf uniformly distributing devices are evenly arranged along a width direction of the setting belt.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The system for fine manipulation according to claim 3, wherein: the leaf uniformly distributing device further comprises a mounting cover, the lifting driving assembly is disposed within the mounting cover, and the mounting cover is movably disposed on a top of a frame of the setting mechanism;
the lifting driving assembly comprises two lifting screw rods, a transmission belt, a driving wheel, two driven wheels, and a transmission belt driving device, the transmission belt driving device is connected to the driving wheel and configured to drive the driving wheel to rotate, the transmission belt is sleeved on the driving wheel and the two driven wheels, and the two driven wheels are in threaded connection with the two lifting screw rods respectively; and
two ends of the rotating shaft of the rotary table driving assembly are connected to the two lifting screw rods respectively.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The system for fine manipulation according to claim 1, wherein: a plurality of setting belts is provided, and the plurality of setting belts is sequentially staggered arranged in a vertical direction to form a multi-layer setting structure; and
a plurality of setting belt driving devices is provided, and the plurality of setting belt driving devices is arranged in one-to-one correspondence with the setting belts.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The system for fine manipulation according to claim 1, wherein: the tossing mechanism further comprises a housing;
the housing has a receiving cavity, a top of the housing is provided with a feeding port communicating with the receiving cavity, a bottom of the housing is provided with a discharging hole in an inverted tapered structure, and the housing is further provided with a leaf distributing track; and
the leaf distributing assembly comprises a first frame body, the leaf distributing belt, a leaf distributing belt driving assembly and a first frame body driving assembly. The leaf distributing belt driving assembly is disposed on the first frame body and configured to drive the leaf distributing belt to move. The first frame body driving assembly is configured to drive the first frame body to move back and forth along the leaf distributing track.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The system for fine manipulation according to claim 1, wherein: two setting mechanisms are provided, and
the two setting mechanisms are respectively arranged to be close to two ends of the tossing machine; and
the system for fine manipulation further comprises a leaf dividing conveyor mechanism, the leaf dividing conveyor mechanism comprises a connecting track, a second frame body, a leaf dividing belt, a leaf dividing belt driving assembly and a second frame body driving assembly, which are arranged on top of frames of the two setting mechanisms, the leaf dividing belt is configured to receive tea leaves falling from a conveyor belt of the second feeding conveyor assembly and convey the tea leaves to the setting belt of each of the two setting mechanisms, the leaf dividing belt driving assembly is disposed on the second frame body and configured to drive the leaf dividing belt to move, and the second frame body driving assembly is configured to drive the second frame body to move back and forth along the connecting track.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The system for fine manipulation according to claim 1, wherein the system for fine manipulation further comprises a light supplying system configured to provide illumination to tea leaves on the setting belt, and an air blowing system configured to blow air to the tea leaves on the setting belt.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The system for fine manipulation according to claim 1, wherein the system for fine manipulation further comprises a control system configured to control respective driving devices of the tossing mechanism, the setting mechanism and the leaf uniformly distributing mechanism to operate separately.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

A method for fine manipulation, using the system for fine manipulation according to claim 1, the method for fine manipulation comprising following steps:
S1: activating the tossing mechanism, making an inlet and outlet port of the tossing machine face upwards and open, conveying sunned tea leaves into the tossing machine through the first feeding conveyor assembly, closing the inlet and outlet port, and performing a first tossing;
S2: activating the setting mechanism and the leaf uniformly distributing mechanism after the first tossing is finished, making the inlet and outlet port of the tossing machine face downwards and open, conveying firstly tossed tea leaves to the conveyor belt of the second feeding conveyor assembly and to the setting belt of the setting mechanism, distributing the firstly tossed tea leaves uniformly by the leaf uniformly distributing device, and performing a first setting;
S3: conveying set tea leaves from the setting belt to the conveyor belt of the first receiving conveyor assembly after the first setting is finished, and conveying the set tea leaves to the conveyor belt of the first feeding conveyor assembly and into the tossing machine; and performing a next tossing and a next setting in accordance with steps S1 and S2 sequentially, and performing a cycle of these steps repeatedly until the fine manipulation is finished.