JP2001045910A - Automatic feeding machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic feeding machine so designed as to perform automatic feeding operations at a specified day and time and enable intermittent feeding of a specified amount of feed bit by bit in several portions and need no stopping of a timer manually. SOLUTION: This automatic feeding machine has a feed storage tank 3, a mechanism 10 for supplying specified amounts of a feed in the tank 3, and a feeding mechanism control unit 5 judging whether it is the day or time to feed, whether an intermittent feeding or not, and whether a continuous feeding or not.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic feeder for automating feeding operations for cultured fish and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an automatic feeder for cultured fish,
A feed tank for storing the feed, a feed mechanism for releasing a predetermined weight of the feed in the feed tank, and a mechanically-set 12-hour timer or a 24-hour timer for setting the feeding time by the feed mechanism, for 12 hours or 24 hours In general, the feeding operation is repeated at a fixed cycle of. In such a conventional automatic feeder, as a result of performing the feeding operation more than necessary, there is a possibility that waste of the aquaculture feed or deterioration of the water quality of the aquaculture cage may be caused.

Further, a timer for setting a feeding time, a discharge mechanism for intermittently discharging the food at a time set by the timer, and a control means for changing the number of times the food is discharged are provided. An automatic feeder is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Sho 63, which is capable of feeding a fixed amount of food in several times according to the number and the like, and which can change the feed amount and the discharge interval at a predetermined time.
-98334. However, since the food is fed every half day by the 12-hour timer and at the set time every day by the 24-hour timer, it is not possible to sufficiently cope with changes in the type and number of fish.

Further, when the conventional automatic feeding device is used, on the day when it is desired to stop feeding, a timer for setting the feeding time must be turned off manually. Since it was installed in a location away from offices, etc., it was very troublesome for workers to go to the pond to turn off the power. Further, since the conventional one uses a mechanical timer, a large error easily occurs between the set time of the timer and the actual operation time, and it is difficult to perform automatic feeding at an accurate time. Was.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic feeding system that automatically feeds on a predetermined date and time and can intermittently feed a set amount of food continuously or in small amounts a plurality of times. It is an object to provide a machine.

[0006]

The automatic feeder of the present invention comprises:
A feed tank for storing the feed, a feed mechanism for feeding a set amount of the feed in the feed tank, and a feed mechanism control device for controlling the feed mechanism; whether the feed mechanism control device is a feeding operation day; It is to determine whether it is time, whether it is intermittent feeding, and whether it is continuous feeding.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, an automatic feeder 1 of the present invention includes a casing 2 forming an outer shell thereof,
A feed tank 3 for storing the feed, a feed mechanism 10 for discharging a set amount of the feed in the feed tank 3, a battery 4 for supplying drive power, a feed mechanism control device 5 for controlling the feed mechanism 10,
A feeding pipe 6 extending from the feeding mechanism 10.

The casing 2 is made of a metal such as stainless steel or a synthetic resin such as FRP, and has an opening having an openable and closable lid 7 formed on the upper surface thereof. The upper part of the casing 2 is provided with a solar cell 30 for charging the battery 4.
May be attached as needed. A feed port 8 is formed on the lower surface or the lower side of the casing 2.
Is connected to the lower end of the feed pipe 6. In addition, a diffusion pipe, a rotating blade, and the like for diffusing the food may be attached to the outside of the feeding port 8 as necessary.

On the upper surface of the bait tank 3, there is formed a bait inlet 9 corresponding to the opening of the upper surface of the casing 2.
Feeding mechanism 10 is attached to the outlet at the lower end of the feeding mechanism. The feed mechanism 10 has a weighing device (not shown), and the lower end thereof is connected to the upper end of the feed pipe 6. When the feed mechanism 10 is started under the control of the feed mechanism control device 5, the feed stored in the feed tank 3 is weighed in a set amount by the weighing device, fed into the feed pipe 6, and further fed into the feed port 8. Is released into the water.

As shown in FIG. 2, the feeding mechanism control device 5 has an operation panel 11 and is a 12-hour type or a 24-hour type in which the feeding time by the feeding mechanism 10 can be arbitrarily set.
A first timer of a time type, a second timer for performing intermittent feeding by arbitrarily setting an operation time and a rest time of the feeding mechanism 10 from the start to the end of feeding, and setting a feeding operation date And a third timer that performs the operation. Operation panel 11
A control board 12 is installed on the back of the control board 12.
1 to 3 by the microcomputer mounted on the
And the feeding mechanism 10 are controlled.

Further, as shown in FIG.
The setting button 13 of the first timer and the display unit 14 of the setting content, the setting button 15 of the second timer and the display unit 16 of the setting content, and the setting button 17 of the third timer and the display of the setting content Unit 18, a feed amount setting button 19 for setting the feed amount and a feed amount display unit 20, a time setting button 21 and a time display unit 22 for adjusting the current time, and switching between automatic feeding, manual feeding, and device stop. A switching button 23 and a feeding mode switching button 24 for selecting between intermittent feeding and continuous feeding are provided.

The display section 14 of the first timer includes a pilot lamp 14a for displaying the morning or the afternoon, and a pilot lamp 14b provided along the 12-hour time scale arranged along the circumference. The feeding time by the feeding mechanism 10 is displayed by a pilot lamp. In addition, the first timer setting button 13
Can switch between morning and afternoon, change the feeding time, and determine and cancel the feeding time.

The second timer is activated at the start time set by the first timer and starts at the same time when the feeding operation is started, and continuously or until the end time of the feeding operation.
The feeding mechanism 10 is controlled so that the operation and the rest are intermittently repeated. The second timer setting button 15 includes an operation time setting button 15a for setting the operation continuation time of the feeding mechanism 10 and a pause time setting button 15b for setting a pause time. Timer display section 16
Consists of an operation time display 16a and a stop time display section 16b. The setting button 17 of the third timer is used for the feeding mechanism 10.
During the stop, ie, between the feeding end time set by the first timer and the next feeding time, the first timer is stopped for 24 hours during the first day, and the two days during the 48 hour stop. Feeding and daily feeding without stopping can be selected, and the display unit 18 displays which is selected by a pilot lamp.

The automatic feeder 1 is used as follows. In advance, the current time displayed on the time display unit is accurately adjusted by the time setting button 21, and the feed amount per unit time displayed on the feed amount display unit 20 is set by the feed amount setting button 19. The selector switch 23 selects between automatic feeding and manual feeding. When manual feeding is selected, the feed amount displayed on the feed amount display unit 20 is continuously measured by the metering device of the feed mechanism 10 regardless of the date and time, and is discharged from the feed port 8.

When the automatic feeding is selected, the feeding time of the feeding mechanism 10 is set by the setting button 13 of the first timer. Further, the user selects between intermittent feeding and continuous feeding by using the feeding mode switching button 24. When the intermittent feeding is selected, the setting button 15 of the second timer is used.
Set the operation time and the pause time respectively. Also, the third
The timer setting button 17 is used to select whether to feed every day, every other day, or once every three days.

When automatic feeding is selected, the feeding mechanism 10 is operated from the start time to the end time set by the first timer, and the feed of the feed amount displayed on the feed amount display section 20 is thrown. It is released from the feed port 8. At this time, if the continuous feeding is selected, the food is continuously released until the feeding is completed, but if the intermittent feeding is selected, the food is continuously released during the operation time set by the second timer. After that, the release is paused for the set pause time, and this is repeated until the end time set by the first timer.

If daily feed is selected by the setting button 17 of the third timer, the feed mechanism 1 is set at the same time every day.
0 starts and feeds are performed at the same time every other day if the middle day is selected, and is fed once every three days if the middle day is selected. The first to third timers,
The means for changing the set contents of the current time and the feed amount and the display device are not limited to those shown in the figure.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a feeding operation of the embodiment of the feeding mechanism control device 5. After the start, a step S1 determines the operation setting by the switching button 23. If the operation is on, the process proceeds to the next step S2. In step S2, it is determined whether or not it is a feeding operation set date by the third timer. If the operation set date, the process proceeds to the next step S3. Step S3 is
The first timer determines whether or not it is the feeding operation time, and if it is the feeding operation time, the process proceeds to the next step S4.

In step S4, it is determined by the second timer whether the intermittent feeding operation is on.
Proceeding to step S5 of intermittent feeding, intermittent feeding is performed. Thereafter, in step S8, it is determined whether the first timer has reached the operation end time. If the operation end time has not elapsed, the process returns to step S1. finish. Step S
In step 4, if the intermittent operation of the second timer is not on, the process proceeds to step S6 to determine whether or not the continuous operation is on.

If it is determined in step S6 that the continuous operation is ON, the process proceeds to step S7, where continuous feeding is performed, and then proceeds to step S8. If the continuous operation is not determined to be ON in step S6, the flow ends. The first timer,
The order of the second timer, the third timer, and the determination of whether or not the operation is the continuous operation is not limited to this embodiment, but may be a desired order.

[0021]

According to the present invention, the feeding can be automatically performed on the set date and time, so that the labor required for the feeding operation is reduced. In addition, according to the number, type, size, etc. of the fish, the set amount of food can be divided into multiple small batches and intermittently fed. Can be saved, and the labor of the worker to go to a living pens or the like to stop the timer can be saved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an automatic feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a feeding mechanism control device.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a feeding mechanism control device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a feeding operation of the feeding mechanism control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic feeder 2 Casing 3 Feeding tank 4 Battery 5 Feeding mechanism control device 6 Feeding pipe 7 Lid 8 Feeding port 9 Feeding port 10 Feeding mechanism 11 Operation panel 12 Control board 13 First timer setting button 14 First Timer display parts 14a, 14b Pilot lamp 15 Second timer setting button 15a Operating time setting button 15b Pause time setting button 16 Second timer display part 16a Operating time display part 16b Pause time display part 17 Third timer Setting button 18 Third timer display section 19 Feeding amount setting button 20 Feeding amount display section 21 Time setting button 22 Time display section 23 Switching button 24 Feeding mode switching button 30 Solar cell

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An automatic feeder having a feed tank for storing feed, a feed mechanism for feeding a set amount of feed in the feed tank, and a feed mechanism control device for controlling the feed mechanism. An automatic feeding machine characterized in that the device determines whether or not the feeding is on a feeding operation day, a feeding time, an intermittent feeding, and a continuous feeding.