JP2004337163A - Apparatus for compressing feed, method for compressing and degassing the feed, and sealed feed - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for compressing feed, capable of compressing the feed having a high specific gravity and easily collapsible into an arbitrary shape. <P>SOLUTION: This apparatus for compressing the feed has a compression table 2, a cylinder 4 which ascends and descends in the substantially vertical direction and advances to and retreats from the compression table 2, and a piston 5 which ascends and descends in the substantially vertical direction inside the cylinder 4 and compresses the feed thrown into the cylinder 4. The apparatus is so structured that the cylinder 4 retreats from the compression table 2, after the piston 5 compresses the feed. Therefore, the feed having the high specific gravity and easily collapsible is compressed into a desired shape, because the feed is not required to be pushed out in the horizontal direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a feed compression device for improving the preservability of feed such as silage and TMR (abbreviation for Total Mixed Rations, also called complete mixed feed).

  It has been empirically known that nutritional value is increased when feed such as grass and dent corn is fed to dairy cows after lactic acid fermentation. Feed that has been fermented with lactic acid in silos is called silage. If the silage comes into contact with air, it will mold and corrode, so the silage is covered with a sheet during silo storage. And only the amount necessary for feeding is cut out.

  In normal feeding, the silage and the mixed feed (that is, soybean, wheat, and corn mashed feed) are given, respectively. However, since livestock prefer the mixed feed, the diet may be uneven and the fiber may be insufficient. For this reason, a feed called TMR in which the silage cut out from the silo is mixed with a compound feed (and hay for moisture adjustment as necessary) to improve the nutritional balance is delivered to the farmer.

  However, when the feed is agitated for mixing, air is also provided. If the TMR is opened to the atmosphere, the temperature rises, for example, after 24 hours, the mold multiplies at a stretch, and begins to corrode, so that one day is the limit (short time in summer).

  It has been empirically known that if the forage such as grass and dent corn is sealed with a sheet, the occurrence of mold and corrosion can be suppressed.Therefore, a method of degassing and sealing after filling in a plastic bag has been considered. ing. In this method, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, feed such as grass and dent corn is packed in a plastic bag, a nozzle 21 is inserted into the bag, and air is removed from the bag by a pump or a blower 22 to remove the inside. To a vacuum below atmospheric pressure. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, after degassing, the nozzle is pulled out, the mouth of the bag is closed, and the bag is sealed. In this method, the feed is lactic acid fermented after the bag is packed, so that when the bag is opened, the feed becomes silage.

  However, with the conventional method of packing feed in a plastic bag and then degassing and sealing it, if there are protrusions such as twigs in the plastic bag, the bag is torn and the sealed state can not be maintained, from which Mold may grow.

  Further, since the size and shape are determined only by the internal and external pressure differences due to degassing, there is a problem that the size and shape are not constant. Irregular sizes and shapes result in poor transport and storage efficiency.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a feed compression degassing method and a sealed feed that can provide a feed suitable for transportation and storage without destruction of the bag when the bagged feed is degassed. With the goal.

  By the way, in general, the feed after compression has a high specific gravity and tends to collapse, so that it is impossible to extrude the feed horizontally for bagging after compression. Therefore, another object of the present invention is to provide a feed compression device capable of compressing a feed having a large specific gravity and easily breaking into a desired shape.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described. In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a table on which feed is placed, a hollow case capable of moving up and down substantially vertically and moving up and down with respect to the table, and vertically moving up and down in the hollow case. And a push plate for compressing the feed fed into the hollow case, and a feed compressing device characterized in that, after compressing the feed with the push plate, the hollow case retreats from the table. To solve the above-mentioned problem.

  According to the present invention, since the hollow case is retracted from the table after compressing the feed, it is not necessary to push the feed horizontally. For this reason, the specific gravity of the feed that is heavy and easily collapses can be compressed into a desired shape. Further, if the feed is compressed, it can be deaerated and can prevent the sheet from being damaged due to sharpness. Further, since the bulk is reduced and the shape becomes uniform, it is convenient for transportation and storage.

  Here, as the feed, feed such as grass and dent corn, silage, and TMR can be used.

  It is preferable that the hollow case has a holding portion for detachably holding a mouth portion of the bag, and the compressed feed is hung on the bag when the hollow case retreats from the table.

  According to the present invention, bagging is performed using the rise of the hollow case, so that the shaped feed can be bagged without breaking.

  When the difference in specific gravity of the feed before and after compression is large, it is preferable that the hollow case is retracted from the table after compressing the feed placed in the hollow case a plurality of times.

  Preferably, the feed compaction device further comprises a deaerator for removing air from the bagged feed.

  The table is preferably a conveyor that rotates endlessly, and it is preferable that the deaerator is provided downstream of the hollow case. With such a configuration, it is possible to simultaneously perform the compression and deaeration of the feed, thereby shortening the operation time.

  It is preferable that the feed compression device further includes a supply device for supplying the feed, and an inlet for inputting the feed into the hollow case is formed in a side wall of the hollow case.

  It is preferable that the feed compression device further includes a mechanism for leveling an upper surface of the feed placed in the hollow case, and that the feed be compressed by the push plate after the feed is leveled. When feed is introduced into the hollow case from the side wall of the hollow case, the upper surface of the introduced feed is inclined. If the upper surface of the feed is inclined, when the feed is compressed by the push plate, the compressed feed may be roughened. According to the present invention, this problem can be solved. In addition, the feed can be introduced from the upper surface of the hollow case. Problems arise.

  The reason why the upper surface of the feed put in the hollow case is inclined and the problem when the feed is compressed in the inclined state will be described.

  The feed is grass, shredded dent corn, etc., which are elongated and moist. In particular, the silage is lactic acid fermented and bent. Therefore, the upper surface is not flattened at the time of introduction as in the case of the dry grain, and the upper surface is inclined, and is compressed while maintaining almost the same upper surface shape. As a result, the compressed feed becomes uneven. In other words, the peaks are denser because the compression amount is larger than the valleys, and the valleys are coarse. The compressed feed that has been made coarse and dense in this way has a low height on the rough side, and is light and soft, so the high, heavy and hard dense side falls over to the coarse side. As a result, the coarse side is recompressed, and as a result, the whole compressed feed is curved, and air infiltrates the dense side to promote the secondary fermentation. In addition, since the shape is unstable, a problem such as falling over during transportation occurs.

  Further, the present invention provides a feed compression comprising a compression / shaping step of compressing and shaping a feed into a desired shape, and a deaeration step of bagging the compressed feed and removing air from the bagged feed. The above-mentioned problem is solved by a degassing method.

  If the feed is compressed, it can be degassed and the sheet can be prevented from being damaged by a sharp object. Further, since the bulk is reduced and the shape becomes uniform, transportation and storage become more convenient.

  Further, the present invention can also be constituted as a sealed feed characterized by bagging a compressed and shaped feed into a desired shape and removing air from the bagged feed.

  As described above, according to the present invention, since the hollow case is retracted from the table after the feed is compressed, it is not necessary to push the feed horizontally. For this reason, the specific gravity of the feed that is heavy and easily collapses can be compressed into a desired shape. Further, if the feed is compressed, the feed can be degassed and the sheet can be prevented from being damaged by a sharp object. Further, the bulk can be reduced and the shape can be made uniform, which is convenient for transportation and storage.

  Hereinafter, a feed compression device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 shows a plan view of the compression device, FIG. 2 shows a sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows a sectional view taken along the line III-III of FIG.

  Feed supplied from a supply device 1 such as a belt conveyor is placed on a compression table 2. The compression table 2 is made up of an endless and intermittent conveyor such as a slat conveyor. The feeder 1 is a feed compression table 2, and the downstream side is a packing operation for deaeration and packing (packing means is not shown). Table 3 In this manner, by forming the compression table 2 as a conveyor integrated with the packing work table 3, the compression, degassing, and packing of the feed can be performed simultaneously, and the working time can be reduced. In the compression table 2, the feed is compressed and shaped into a desired shape, for example, a columnar shape or a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and the compressed feed is bagged. The compressed feed is transported to a packing work table 3 where air is removed from the feed packed in the compression table 2.

  Above the compression table 2, a cylinder 4 as a hollow case and a piston 5 as a push plate reciprocating in the cylinder 4 are arranged. The feed is compressed between the compression table 2, the cylinder 4, and the piston 5.

  Around the compression table 2 and the packing work table 3, mounts 6, 6 on which workers are placed are provided. A plurality of guide rails 8 extending in a substantially vertical direction are attached to the frame 7 of the gantry 6,6. A slider 9 is attached to each of the plurality of guide rails 8 so as to be able to linearly move along the guide rails 8. The outer circumference of the cylinder 4 is fixed to the sliders 9. The up and down movement of the cylinder 4 is guided by guide rails 8. Further, the cylinder 4 is connected to a drive device 10 constituted by, for example, a hydraulic cylinder so as to be able to move up and down in the vertical direction. In the side wall of the cylinder 4, an inlet 4a for feeding the feed from the supply device 1 into the cylinder 4 is formed. A hook 20 is attached to the outer periphery of the cylinder 4 as a holding unit that detachably holds the mouth of the bag 12.

  A piston 5 is provided in the cylinder 4. A plurality of columns 13 are provided on the upper surface of the piston 5 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, and for example, a pair of rollers 14, 14 is attached to each of the columns 13. When the piston 5 moves along the inner surface of the cylinder 4, these rollers 14 roll on the inner surface of the cylinder 4, and the elevation of the piston 5 is guided on the inner surface of the cylinder 4. Further, the piston 5 is connected to a driving device 16 composed of, for example, a hydraulic cylinder so as to be able to move up and down in the vertical direction.

  Here, the concept that the piston 5 and the cylinder 4 move up and down substantially in the vertical direction includes, strictly speaking, the piston 5 can compress the feed even if the moving up and down directions of the piston 5 and the cylinder 4 are not oriented vertically. Also, the case where the vertical direction is inclined from the vertical direction to such an extent that the cylinder 4 can be pulled up after compression is included.

  In the vicinity of the packing work table 3, a deaerator is provided. The deaerator consists of a nozzle 17 inserted into the bag and a pump or blower 19 connected to the nozzle 17 via a hose 18. Air is removed from the bagged feed by inserting a nozzle 17 into the bag 12 and aspirating air with a pump or blower 19. By removing this air, the inside of the bag 12 is brought into a vacuum state lower than the atmospheric pressure.

  This feed compression device may have a mechanism for leveling the upper surface of the feed fed into the cylinder 4. As the leveling mechanism, a mechanism that rotates the piston 5 or a mechanism that expands and contracts the supply device 1 in the direction in which the feed is transported is considered. When a leveling mechanism is provided, the feed is compressed by the piston 5 after leveling the feed. Thus, when the feed is compressed by the piston 5, it is possible to prevent the compressed feed from becoming coarse and dense as described above.

  FIG. 4 shows an operation flowchart of the compression apparatus of the present invention. The compression device operates in the order of (1) → (2) → (3)... (11) in the figure. First, with the cylinder 4 and the piston 5 pulled up, the mouth of the bag 12 is hooked on the hook 20 of the cylinder 4 so as to cover the tip of the cylinder 4 (1). Next, the cylinder 4 and the piston 5 are lowered until they come into contact with the upper surface of the table 2 (2). Next, only the piston 5 is pulled up above the inlet 4a of the cylinder 4 (3). Next, the feed supplied from the supply device 1 is dropped into the cylinder 4 from the input port 4a (4). Next, the feed is compressed and shaped by depressing the piston 5 (5). When compressed by the piston 5, the periphery of the feed is covered with the cylinder 4, so that no excessive force is applied to the bag 12 and the bag 12 is not broken. Next, the cylinder 4 is pulled up, and at the same time, the bag 12 is put on the feed (6). Next, the piston 5 is pulled up, and the mouth of the bag 12 is removed from the hook 20 of the cylinder 4 (7, 8). The bagged feed is transported to the packing work table 3 (9). Since some air remains between the bag 12 and the feed, the nozzle 17 is inserted into the bag 12 to remove air from the bag (10). The nozzle 17 is withdrawn from the bag 12 from which the air has been removed, and the bag 12 is sealed (11).

  FIG. 5 shows another operation flowchart of the compression apparatus of the present invention. In this example, the basic operation is the same as that shown in FIG. 4 described above, but as a device for reducing the hopper of the feeding device 1, the feed is divided into several times and fed into the cylinder, and divided into several times. The feed is compressed.

  The operations (1) to (3) before feeding the feed are the same as the operations (1) to (3) in FIG. In this example, in the operations (4) to (12), the feed is divided into several portions and the feed is put into the cylinder 4, and the feed is compressed several times. The operations of (13) to (15) for bagging the feed after compression are the same as (6) to (8) in FIG. Such a compression operation has an advantage that the hopper of the supply device 1 can be reduced not only for feed containing a large amount of air but also for feed having a normal bulk specific gravity.

  By the way, the present inventor tested the preservability of the hermetically sealed feed after compressing the TMR and putting it in a bag. As a result, over time, pH, butyric acid (%), total nitrogen (mg / kg), ammonia nitrogen (mg / kg), ammonia nitrogen / total nitrogen (%) are all values that are good for cattle , And it was confirmed that the value became constant after several days. It is thought that the reason is that by closing the compressed feed in the bag, the air is shut off and normal lactic acid fermentation proceeds. Such sealed feed was found to be suitable for delivering planned pre-production to farmers.

The top view of the compression device in one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of the compression device of the present invention. FIG. 4 is another operation flowchart of the compression device of the present invention. The schematic diagram which shows the conventional deaerator. The schematic diagram which shows the conventional sealed feed.

Explanation of reference numerals

1: Supply device 2: Compression table 3: Packing work table 4: Cylinder 4a: Input port 5: Piston 6: Stand 7: Frame 8: Guide rail 9: Slider 10: Driving device 12: Bag 13: Strut 14: Roller 16 : Drive device 17: nozzle 18: hose 19: pump or blower 20: hook 21: nozzle 22: pump or blower

Claims (9)

A table on which feed is placed,
A hollow case that moves up and down with respect to the table by moving up and down in a substantially vertical direction;
A push plate that rises and falls in the hollow case in a substantially vertical direction and compresses the feed fed into the hollow case,
The feed compressing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hollow case is retracted from the table after the feed is compressed by the push plate. The hollow case has a holding portion for detachably holding the mouth of the feed bag,
The feed compression device according to claim 1, wherein the compressed feed is bagged by the hollow case being retracted from the table.   3. The feed compression device according to claim 1, wherein, after compressing the feed put in the hollow case a plurality of times, the hollow case retreats from the table. 4. The feed compression device further comprises:
The feed compressing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a deaerator for removing air from the bagged feed.   The feed compression device according to claim 4, wherein the table comprises a conveyor that goes around endlessly, and the deaerator is provided downstream of the hollow case. The feed compression device further comprises:
Comprising a supply device for supplying the feed,
The feed compression device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein an input port for inputting the feed into the hollow case is formed in a side wall of the hollow case. The feed compression device further comprises:
Having a mechanism to level the upper surface of the feed put in the hollow case,
The feed compression device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the feed is compressed by the push plate after the feed is leveled. A compression / shaping process for compressing the feed and shaping it into a desired shape;
A deaeration step of bagging the compressed feed and removing air from the bagged feed.   A hermetically sealed feed comprising a bag formed by compressing and shaping the feed into a desired shape, and removing air from the bagged feed.

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