JP2003137210A - Fertilized egg transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fertilized egg transfer device with which a fertilized egg can be transferred into an egg storage container for use in receiving the egg in an incubator with as little impact as possible applied to the egg. SOLUTION: A bellows-formed suction pad 3 is mounted on a lower surface of a vacuum case 2. One of ends of a plastic hose 4 is connected with the vacuum case 2, and the other end is attached to a slide-contacting plate 6. One of ends of a duct A8 is connected with a vacuum pump 7, and one of ends of a duct B9 is opened to the atmosphere. The other ends of the ducts A8 and B9 are attached to a fixed plate 5. The slide-contacting plate 6 reciprocates between a first position (where a passage in the duct A8 communicates with a passage in the plastic hose 4) and a second position (where a passage in the duct B9 communicates with the passage in the plastic hose 4), wherein movement of the plate 6 from the first position to the second position is slow.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a fertilized egg transfer device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a fertilized egg transfer device that transfers fertilized eggs to an egg container used in an incubator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, when artificially hatching a fertilized egg with an incubator, after storing the fertilized egg in a predetermined egg container,
Store the whole egg container in the incubator. In order to increase the hatchability, the temperature and humidity inside the incubator are kept almost constant, but even when many egg storage containers are stacked in multiple stages, the temperature and humidity at which all fertilized eggs are kept constant and It is desirable to be able to fully enjoy the favorable hatching condition of humidity. Therefore, the egg storage container 31 is provided with four protrusions 32 that are pillars when stacked as shown in FIGS. Even when the egg storage containers 31 are stacked, the four protrusions 32 are so-called pillars and are sufficient between the fertilized eggs stored in the egg storage container 31 and the egg storage container 31 located in the upper stage. You can create a unique space.

Further, in the egg container 31, the temperature and humidity kept constant in the incubator are fully enjoyed on the entire circumferential surface of the fertilized egg, so that the fertilized egg and the egg container are accommodated. The contact area is made as small as possible.

As described above, the fertilized eggs contained in the egg container can fully enjoy the ideal atmosphere for hatching, that is, the temperature and the humidity kept constant in the incubator.

However, the protrusion 32 of the egg container 31 is an obstacle to mechanization of transferring fertilized eggs to the egg container. That is, even if an attempt is made to mechanize transfer of a fertilized egg to the egg storage container 31, the egg storage container 3
Since the protrusions 32 are present on the first substrate, it is difficult to realize an inexpensive transfer device having a simple structure.

Further, the above-mentioned point that the contact portion between the fertilized egg to be stored and the egg storage container is made as small as possible causes the shock received when the fertilized egg is transferred to the egg storage container 31. Since it concentrates on the part, it is a cause of easy egg breakage. Very expensive compared to edible eggs,
Also, due to its nature of hatching, handling of fertilized eggs requires special care.

For the reasons described above, the egg container 31
The current situation is that the transfer of fertilized eggs to the is generally carried out carefully by human hands.

[0008]

However, the egg container 3
From the viewpoint of work efficiency and cost reduction, it is desirable to mechanize the transfer work of fertilized eggs to No. 1 as well. The present invention, when transferring a fertilized egg to an egg storage container used for storing the fertilized egg in an incubator, a fertilized egg transfer that can be transferred with minimal impact on the fertilized egg. An object is to provide a mounting device.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is to transfer a fertilized egg to an egg container used for storing the fertilized egg in an incubator. A device for accommodating fertilized eggs in a plurality of rows with their major axes approximately vertical, and a filling means for collectively filling the egg accommodating container with the fertilized egg group accommodated in said accommodating means The filling means has a vacuum suction section for vacuum-sucking the upper surface of each fertilized egg of the fertilized egg group stored in the storage means, and the vacuum suction section vacuum-sucked by the vacuum suction section. When a fertilized egg group arrives in the vicinity of the accommodation seat of the egg container to be filled, the fertilized egg group is gently batched in the egg container by gradually changing the vacuum degree of the vacuum suction unit. It is designed to be filled.

The vacuum suction part of the filling means is provided with a suction pad.

Further, the egg container positioning means is arranged below the container means such that the moving direction of the egg container is substantially orthogonal to the direction of the fertilized egg row contained in the container means and the filling means. Is sequentially filled with a plurality of rows of fertilized egg groups stored in the storage means from the top storage row of the egg storage container, the egg storage container positioning means, to the storage row of the egg storage container When the filling is completed, a new egg storage container storage line is positioned at a predetermined position.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a filling means, and as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a bellows-like suction pad 3 is attached downward on the lower surface of a cylindrical vacuum case 2 in a row of six. Reference numeral 4 denotes a plastic hose, one end of which is connected to the vacuum case 2 and the other end of which is attached to a sliding contact plate 6 which is in sliding contact with the fixed plate 5. One end of the duct A8 is connected to the vacuum pump 7. One end of the duct B9 is open to the atmosphere. The other ends of the duct A8 and the duct B9 are attached to a fixing plate 5 that fixes the duct A8 and the duct B9, and are arranged side by side.

Reference numeral 11 is a linear drive source, and a sliding contact plate 6 is fixed to the tip of the arm 12, and the arm 1
By the operation of 2, the sliding contact plate 6 has a second position in which the passage in the duct A8 communicates with the passage in the plastic hose 4 and a second position in which the passage in the duct B9 communicates with the passage in the plastic hose 4. The operation of reciprocating between the position and is repeated.

Reference numeral 13 is a vertical movement driving means for moving the vacuum case 2 up and down. The up-and-down drive means 13 has a servo motor 14 and a rotary shaft 15 which is rotated by the servo motor 14 in both forward and reverse directions. Servo motor 14
Is attached to the side plate 16, and the rotating shaft 15 is rotatably supported by both side plates 16. Two long suction arms 17 are fixed to the rotary shaft 15, and the vacuum case 2 is attached to the other end of the suction arm 17.

The accommodating means 21 includes a container 23 formed into a shape capable of accommodating six fertilized eggs E distributed and discharged from the distribution conveyor 22 in a line with sharp ends facing down, and the fertilized eggs 23. It is reciprocated between the receiving position 24 (the position where the container 23 receives the fertilized egg from the distribution conveyor 22) to the fertilized egg removal position 25 (the position where the filling means 1 takes out the fertilized egg E from the container 23). It has a drive means. The driving means is
It is composed of an arm 26 and a linear drive source 27.

Reference numeral 31 is an egg container used to store the fertilized eggs in the incubator, and as shown in FIG. 6, is provided with a large number of storage seats for storing the sharp ends of the fertilized eggs below. The egg container 31 is well known, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted. However, when a plurality of egg container 31 are stacked, the fertilized egg E housed in the container 311 and the egg container 3 located in the upper stage thereof.
In order to form a sufficient space between the egg storage container 12 and each of the egg storage containers 12, four protrusions 32 corresponding to pillars are provided upright on each egg storage container 31.

Reference numeral 41 denotes an egg storage container transfer conveyor as an egg storage container positioning means for transferring the egg storage container 31. At the fertilized egg releasing position where the suction pad 3 descends while adsorbing the fertilized egg E, the egg storage container 31 is on standby to store the fertilized egg E. Egg container transport conveyor 41
Are arranged so as to be orthogonal to the row direction of the suction pads 3, the row direction of the containers 23, and the traveling direction of the distribution conveyor 22.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a distribution conveyor for conveying fertilized eggs, which is arranged parallel to the row direction of the containers 23 and the row direction of the suction pads 3. When the fertilized egg E held and conveyed by the single-row distribution conveyor 22 arrives above the fertilized egg receiving position 24 of the predetermined storage means 21, the fertilized egg holding portion is opened by the opening mechanism (not shown). , Released into the container 23.

Next, the operation of the fertilized egg transfer device configured as described above will be described. The fertilized egg E is held and conveyed by the single-row distribution conveyor 22. For example, if the fertilized egg E is to be sorted and distributed into three sizes of L, M, and S according to the weight classification, a predetermined storage means 21 for each size is provided.
Will be determined. For example, the L-sized fertilized egg E is the accommodation means 211, the M-sized fertilized egg E is the accommodation means 212,
The S-sized fertilized egg E is defined as a storage means 213. Since the distribution release destination of the fertilized egg E, which has been weighed and determined to be L size, is the accommodation means 211, the control device (not shown) causes the fertilized egg E to receive the fertilized egg of the accommodation means 211. When it reaches above the position 24, the fertilized egg holding portion of the distribution conveyor 22 is opened to cause the container 231 of the housing means 211 to release the fertilized egg E.

When a predetermined number of fertilized eggs E released into the container 23 of the container means 21, for example, 6 are prepared, a controller (not shown) sends a container advance signal to the linear drive source 27, and the arm 26. To move the container 23 to the fertilized egg removal position 2
Move to 5.

When the six fertilized eggs E are gathered in the container 23, the servomotor 14 rotates the rotary shaft 15 in the direction of arrow A in response to the take-out start signal from the controller. Along with this, the long suction arm 17 rotates in the same direction about the rotation shaft 15, so that the vacuum case 2 attached to the tip of the suction arm 17 also descends to a predetermined position.

At the same time, the linear drive source 11 which receives the air bleeding signal from the control device actuates the arm 12 and causes the slide contact plate 6 to communicate with the passage in the duct A8 and the passage in the plastic hose 4 at the first position. Move to. The duct A8 is connected to the vacuum pump 7 and sucks the air in the plastic hose 4 and the vacuum case 2. Therefore, the fertilized egg E contained in the container 23 is adsorbed to the adsorption pad 3.

After the adsorption pad 3 has adsorbed the fertilized egg E, the servomotor 14 rotates the rotary shaft 15 in the arrow B direction. Along with this, the long suction arm 17 also rotates in the same direction about the rotation shaft 15, so that the vacuum case 2 attached to the tip of the suction arm 17 also rises to a predetermined position. In this way, the vacuum case 2 is raised once because the container 23 does not hit the fertilized egg E adsorbed on the adsorption pad 3 and the fertilized egg receiving position 2 is reached.
Because it is to be able to move to 4 smoothly,
The vacuum case 2 may be raised within a range necessary for achieving the purpose.

Thereafter, the linear drive source 27 actuates the arm 26 in response to the container retreat signal from the control device to move the container 23 from the fertilized egg extraction position 25 to the fertilized egg reception position 24.
Move to. By moving the container 23 to the fertilized egg receiving position 24 and waiting there, it is possible to prepare for distribution and sorting of new fertilized eggs E from the distribution conveyor 22.
Further, by retracting the container 23 from the fertilized egg removal position 25, the subsequent downward movement of the suction pad 3 can be performed smoothly.

The servomotor 14 rotates the rotary shaft 15 in the direction of arrow A in response to a discharge start signal from the controller.
Along with this, the long suction arm 17 rotates in the same direction about the rotation shaft 15, and the vacuum case 2 attached to the tip of the suction arm 17 also has a predetermined position near the corresponding storage seat of the egg storage container 31. It descends to the position and stops.

FIG. 3 shows a state in which the suction pad 3 has descended to a predetermined position near the relevant storage seat of the egg storage container 31 while adsorbing the fertilized egg E.

When the linear drive source 11 receives the vacuum release signal from the control device, the arm 12 is slowly operated so that the passage in the duct A8 and the passage in the plastic hose 4 communicate with each other through the sliding contact plate 6. It is slowly moved from one position to a second position where the passage in the duct B9 and the passage in the plastic hose 4 communicate with each other.

When the sliding contact plate 6 is in the first position (the position in which the passage in the duct A8 and the passage in the plastic hose 4 communicate with each other), the inside of the vacuum case 2 becomes a vacuum, so that the fertilized egg E Are adsorbed on the adsorption pad 3. However, when the sliding contact plate 6 slowly moves from the first position to the second position (the position where the passage in the duct B9 and the passage in the plastic hose 4 communicate with each other), the vacuum case 2 is accompanied by it.
The inner vacuum state is slowly released, and the suction force gradually decreases. Correspondingly, the bellows of the bellows-shaped suction pad 3 also slowly extends downward, so that the fertilized egg E is slowly stored in the corresponding storage seat of the egg storage container 31, as shown in FIG. In this way, transfer to the egg container 31 can be realized with almost no impact on the expensive fertilized egg E.

As described above, when the fertilized egg E is separated from the suction pad 3 and stored in the egg storage container 31, the servo motor 1
Reference numeral 4 indicates that the rotating shaft 15 is rotated in the direction of arrow B by the control of the control device, and the vacuum case 2 and the suction pad 3 are rotated.
Is raised to a predetermined position. After that, the above-described operation is repeated.

When the fertilized eggs E are placed in the first row of the accommodating seats of the egg storage container 31, the fertilized eggs E are placed in the second seat of the accommodating seat so that about one row of the egg storage containers is filled. The movement of the egg container transport conveyor 41 is executed. afterwards,
When the loading of the fertilized eggs E into the final row of the egg storage containers 31 is completed, the egg storage containers of a predetermined width are transferred so that the fertilized eggs E are loaded into the accommodation seat of the first row of the subsequent egg storage containers 31. The movement of the conveyor 41 is executed.

In the above embodiment, the slidable contact plate 6 is slowly moved from the first position to the second position in order to gently fill the egg storage container 31 with the fertilized egg E adsorbed by the adsorption pad 3. Although the configuration is adopted, the following may be used instead of this. That is, the duct B whose one end is open to the atmosphere
By setting the passage in 9 small, the sliding contact plate 6
Even if is instantly moved from the first position to the second position, it is possible to obtain the same effect as the above-mentioned configuration.

The embodiment disclosed this time is an example in all respects and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is indicated by the claims rather than the above description,
It is intended that all modifications within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims be included.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a fertilized egg is transferred to an egg storage container used for storing the fertilized egg in an incubator, the impact on the fertilized egg can be minimized. It is possible to provide a fertilized egg transfer device capable of transferring with a reduced amount.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an outline of a fertilized egg transfer device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an outline of a fertilized egg transfer device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which the adsorption pad is adsorbed with fertilized eggs and lowered to a predetermined position in the vicinity of the corresponding accommodation seat of the egg accommodation container.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state in which the vacuum state in the vacuum case is slowly released and the bellows of the suction pad extends downward.

FIG. 5 is a front view including a partial cross-section of the egg storage container when the egg storage containers are stacked with the fertilized eggs being stored therein.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an egg storage container used when storing fertilized eggs in an incubator.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 filling means 2 vacuum case 3 adsorption pad 4 Plastic hose 11 Linear drive source 12 arms 21 accommodation means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A fertilized egg transfer device for transferring a fertilized egg to an egg storage container used for storing the fertilized egg in an incubator.
The fertilized eggs are provided with a storage means for storing the fertilized eggs in a plurality of rows with their major axes approximately vertical, and a filling means for collectively filling the fertilized egg group stored in the storage means into the egg storage container. The filling means has a vacuum suction section for vacuum-sucking the upper surface of each fertilized egg of the fertilized egg group stored in the storing means,
When the fertilized egg group vacuum-adsorbed by the vacuum adsorption unit arrives near the accommodation seat of the egg accommodation container to be filled,
The fertilized egg transfer device, wherein the fertilized egg group is slowly and collectively filled into the egg container by gradually changing the degree of vacuum of the vacuum suction unit. 2. The fertilized egg transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum suction section of the filling means is provided with a suction pad. 3. The fertilized egg transfer device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the egg container positioning means is located below the container means and the moving direction of the egg container is housed in the container means. While arranged so as to be substantially orthogonal to the direction of the egg row, the filling means sequentially fills a plurality of rows of fertilized egg groups stored in the storage means from the top storage row of the egg storage container, The fertilized egg transfer device, wherein the egg container positioning means positions a new egg container container row at a predetermined position when the filling of the egg container into the container row is completed.