GB2163634A

GB2163634A - Seed sprouting apparatus and method

Info

Publication number: GB2163634A
Application number: GB08421885A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David John Cooper
Original assignee: Agricultural Requisites & Mech
Current assignee: Agricultural Requisites & Mech
Priority date: 1984-08-30
Filing date: 1984-08-30
Publication date: 1986-03-05
Also published as: GB8421885D0

Abstract

A continuous cultivator for producing sprouted seed comprises a cylindrical housing 10 rotatable about a generally horizontal axis by means of a motor 18 and external drive wheels 12 and 13. A water supply tube 27 extends longitudinally of the housing 10 in the top thereof and serves to provide water sprays 28. Grain which has been pre-soaked in container 23 is fed into inlet 21 at one end of the housing 10. Ribs in the housing 10 urge the grain towards an outlet during which time sprouting occurs. Sprouted seed is discharged into receiver 31 and transported from the cultivator by conveyor 32. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Seed sprouting apparatus and method This invention relates to a plant growing apparatus and method and more particularly to a continuous culivator for sprouting seeds.

It has previously been proposed to sprout grain for use as fodder by partly filling a ro- tary drum with grain, soaking the grain in the drum with water and periodically rotating the drum and introducing further water over a period of about 2 to 4 days, during which time the grain germinates and sprouts. After this, the drum is emptied of the sprouted grain which is used as fodder.

The above described apparatus and method is not particlarly suitable for production of fodder on a large scale.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a continuous cultivator and a continuous cultivation method which enables the production of sprouted seed for fodder on a relatively large scale.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a continuous cultivator for producing sprouted seed comprising a cylindrical housing rotatable about a generally horizontal axis, means for rotating the housing, an inlet for seed at one end of the housing, an outlet for sprouted seed at the other end of the housing, means for continuously feeding seed to the inlet, means for introducing feeding water to the interior of the housing, and means for inducing passage of the seed along the housing from the inlet to the outlet.

Preferably, the means for continuously feeding seed to the inlet is arranged to feed seed which has been pre-soaked in a container disposed externally of the housing.

The means for introducing water into the housing preferably includes a tank provided with heating means so that the temperature of the water can be accurately controlled. The tank is also preferably used to feed water to the container in which pre-soaking of the seed is effected in use.

Preferably, the means for inducing passage of the seed from the inlet to the outlet includes a plurality of ribs mounted on an inter nal peripheral wall of the cylindrical housing.

Such ribs are preferably disposed so as to extend in the longitudinal directly of the housing but inclined with respect to the axis of rotation of the latter.

It is preferred to provide means for feeding air into the container through said outlet for sprouted seed.

To facilitate temperature and humidity control, it is preferred for the housing, the tank and the container to be disposed in a jacketed enclosure.

Also according to the present invention, there is provided a method of continuously producing sprouted seed comprising feeding seed into an inlet at one end of a cylindrical housing rotatable about a generally horizontal axis, feeding water into the housing, rotating the cylindrical housing so as to ensure that all of the seed is maintained in a moistened condition, and continuously removing sprouted seed from an outlet at the opposite end of the housing to the inlet.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way bf example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic side elevation of a continuous cultivator accordjng to the present invention with a jacketed enclosure of the cultivator shown in section, Figure 2 is an end view of the cultivator of Fig. 1 shown with the top of the jacketed enclosure omitted, and Figure 3 is a plan view of the cultivator of Figs. 1 and 2 with the jacketed enclosure shown in section.

Referring to the drawings, the continuous cultivator is for sprouting grain such as barley and comprises a cylindrical mild steel housing which is about 8 metres long and about 1 metre in diameter. The housing 10 is rotatable about its longitudinal axis which, in this embodiment, is horizontally disposed. It is, however, within the scope of the present invention to dispose the longitudinal axis at a slight angle to the horizontal in order to promote passage of grain from one end of the housing to the other. The housing 10 is rotatably supported on a frame 11 via two set of rubber tyred wheels 12 and 13. The sets of wheels 12 and 13 are mounted on respective shafts 14 and 15 mounted in respective sets of pedestal bearings 16 and 17. The pedestal bearings 16 and 17 are secured to the top of the frame 11.The shaft 14 is rotatably driven by an electric motor 18 through a belt and pulley system 19. The shaft 15 is a freely rotatable, non-driven shaft. It will be appreciated that operation of the motor 18 causes rotation of the wheels 12 which are in frictional contact with the external wall of the housing 10 so that the housing 10 is rotated about its longitudinal axis upon operation of the motor 18. In this embodiment, the housing 10 is rotated in an anti-clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2. At the right hand end of the housing 10 as viewed in Fig. 1, the frame 11 supports a nearly semi-circular blanking plate 20 which blanks off the lower part of the otherwise open end of the housing 10 to define an inlet 21 at said end. The left-hand end of the housing 10 as viewed in Fig. 1 is completely open so as to define an outlet 22.

Disposed adjacent to and slightly above the inlet 21 is a container 23 which is of triangular section having sloping sides leading to a screw conveyor 24 at the bottom. The screw conveyor 24 extends in the horizontal direc tion so as to project from the container 23 into the housing 10 through the inlet 21. In this embodiment, the screw conveyor 24 extends for about 1.5 metres into the housing 10 and is fitted at its end which is disposed within the housing 10 with a spreader plate (not shown) to prevent heaping of grain being discharged from the screw conveyor 24 into the housing 10 as will be described hereinafter. Mounted on a support disposed above the housing 10 is a water tank 25 provided with an electrical heater 26 therein.The tank 25 has a valve controlled outlet pipe 27 which leads into the housing 10 via the inlet 21 and extends in a horizontal direction for substantially the full length of the housing 10. The tube 27 is closed at its end which is adjacent the outlet 22 but is provided with a series of perforations therethrough so as to allow water to issue in the form of sprays 28 over substantially the whole of the length of the housing 10. As can be seen from Fig. 1, the feed tube 27 is disposed adjacent the upper part of the housing 10 and the sprays 28 are arranged to spray downwardly onto the floor of the housing 10. The tank 25 is also provided with a further valve controlled outlet pipe 29 which serves to feed water into the open top of the container 23. A chute 30 is provided for feeding grain into the open top of the container 23.Disposed externally of the housing 10 adjacent the outlet 22 is a receiver 31 for sprouted seed. The receiver 31 has convergent side walls leading to a lower screw conveyor 32 for transporting sprouted grain from the cultivator.

A fan 33 driven by an electric motor 34 is provided externally of the housing 10 for feeding air into the latter through the outlet 22.

In use, grain is fed into the container 23 from the chute 30 where it is completely submerged in water held at a temperature of about 21"C supplied from the tank 25 via feed tube 29. After an average residence time of 200 minutes in the container 23, the thus presoaked grain is fed through the inlet 21 into the housing 10 by the screw conveyor 24.

This is effected as a continuous operation.

Rotation of the housing 10 serves to impel grain through the housing 10 from the inlet 21 to the outlet 22. This is as a result of the provision of a series of the 33 which extend generally longitudinally of the housing 10 but which are inclined with respect to the axis of rotation of the housing. The inclination with respect to the axis of rotation and the direction of rotation of the housing 10 are such that the grain is tumbled and impelled towards the outlet 22. During its passage through the housing 10, the grain is sprayed with water via the sprays 28 and, as a result, germinates and sprouts. After an average of 3 to 4 days residence time in the housing 10, the sprouted grain is discharged through the outlet 22 to drop into the receiver 31.A load cell arrangement serves to sense the weight of sprouted grain in the receiver 31 and to cause automatic operation of the screw conveyor 32 to discharge sprouted gran from the receiver 31 when the latter is full. In order to maintain optimum growing conditions within the cultivator, the whole assembly of housing 10, container 23, tank 25 and receiver 31- is contained in a jacketed enclosure 35.

An electronic control system (not shown) with temperature sensors is-provided for sensing the temperature within the sprouting grain mass in the housing 10 and for controlling the temperature and water flow rate of water from the tank 25 through the pipes 27 and 29, the air flow rate produced by fan 33, and the rate of rotation of the housing 10 to produce optimum growing conditions for the grain. With suitable control, it is possible for the system to be completely automated so that once it has started, it will continue to run provided that a supply of water and a supply of grain are always available.

With the above described cultivator, it is envisaged that, since there is a continuous through-put of grain, there is a smaller chance of build-up of toxic substances within the cultivator and so the cultivator needs to be cleaned less often than a batch unit. As can be seen from Fig. 3, the ribs 33 are arranged in circumferentially spaced sets which overlap each other slightly in the longitudinal direction of the housing 10. With such an arrangement, not only is the grain effectively impelled from the inlet 21 to the outlet 22 during rotation of the container 10, but also the ribs have a selfclearing action which further reduces the need for periodic cleaning of the cultivator.

Claims

1. A continuous cultivator for producing sprouted seed comprising a cylindrical housing rotatable about a generally horizontal axis, means for rotating the housing, an inlet for seed at one end of the housing, an outlet for sprouted seed at the other end of the housing, means for continuously feeding seed to the inlet, means for introducing feeding water to the interior of the housing, and means for inducing passage of the seed along the housing from the inlet to the outlet,

2. A cultivator as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for continuously feeding seed to the inlet is arranged to feed seed which has been pre-soaked in a container disposed externally of the housing.

3. A cultivator as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein means for introducing water into the housing includes a tank provided with heating means so that the temperature of the water can be accurately controlled.

4. A cultivator as claimed in claim 3 wherein the tank is also preferably used to feed water to the container in which pre-soaking of the seed is effected in use.

5. A cultivator as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the means for inducing passage of the seed from the inlet to the outlet includes a plurality of ribs mounted on an internal peripheral wall of the cylindrical housing.

6. A cultivator as claimed in claim 5 wherein the ribs are preferably disposed so as to extend in the longitudinal direction of the housing but inclined with respect to the axis of rotation of the latter.

7. A cultivator as claimed in any preceding claim wherein means are provided for feeding air into thke container through said outlet for sprouted seed.

8. A cultivator as claimed in claims 2 and 3 wherein the housing, the tank and the container are disposed in a jacketed enclosure to facilitate temperature and humidity central.

9. A method of continuously producing sprouted seed comprising feeding seed into an inlet at one end of a cylindrical housing rotatable about a generally horizontal axis, feeding water into the housing, rotating the cylindrical housing so as to ensure that all of the seed is maintained in a moistened condition, and continuously removing sprouted seed from an outlet at the opposite end of the housing to the inlet.

10. A continuous cultivator substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings