JP2014198003A - Culture system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique for easily carrying in and out creature to/from a multistage culture system.SOLUTION: A culture system 10 comprises: a culture shelf 300 in which a plurality of culture tanks 310 having concavities 312 for containing culture fluid 316 are disposed in parallel in a vertical direction; and a carry-in device 100 disposed at near one end of the culture shelf 300 for carrying in an incubator 20 to at least one of a plurality of the culture tanks 310, the incubator 20 contacting the culture fluid 316 when the incubator 20 is housed in the concavity 312, creature 22 to be cultured being kept therein. The carry-in device 100 comprises: a vertical transport mechanism for lifting the incubators 20 to the height of the culture tanks 310; and a horizontal transport mechanism for sliding a plurality of the incubators 20 by abutting them toward the one end part that is opposite to the other end part by pushing almost horizontally from one end part side at least one incubator 20 out of a plurality of incubators 20 that are housed in their respective culture tanks 310.

Description

  The present invention relates to a culture system, specifically, a culture system for culturing a living organism.

  There has been a strong demand for a technique for improving the yield per unit area of crops (plants, mushrooms, etc., also referred to as agricultural products) using limited farmland. As one of such techniques, a multistage cultivation shelf is known. For example, in the technique of Patent Document 1, a multistage cultivation shelf that can eliminate the non-uniformity of the air environment has been proposed.

JP2012-217392A

  However, in a multistage cultivation shelf, there was a problem that labor required for carrying in and out was increased as the number of stages increased and the shelf became higher. For example, in the technique of Patent Document 1, a plant is carried in and out of a cultivation shelf by human power. In addition, it is necessary to secure a working space around the cultivation shelf that is equal to or greater than the ground contact area of the cultivation shelf. Therefore, there was room for improvement in the yield per unit area.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique for easily carrying in / out organisms to / from a multistage culture system.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a culture system according to an aspect of the present invention includes a culture shelf in which a plurality of culture tanks each having a recess for containing a culture solution are arranged in a vertical direction, and one end with respect to the culture shelf. And a carry-in device for carrying in an incubator in which organisms that are placed in contact with the culture medium and are cultured when stored in the recesses are held in at least one of the plurality of culture vessels. The carry-in device includes a vertical movement mechanism for lifting the incubator to the height of the culture tank, and a plurality of incubators accommodated in the culture tank to be accommodated, and at least one incubator is arranged in a substantially horizontal direction from one end side. And a horizontal movement mechanism that slides the plurality of incubators toward the other end opposite to the one end by pressing.

  According to this aspect, the incubator can be easily carried into the multistage culture shelf.

  In addition, the culture system may further include a carry-out device that carries out the culture vessel that is arranged near the other end and is slid to the positioning portion provided in the culture vessel in the vicinity of the other end from the culture vessel. . In this case, the carry-in by the carry-in device and the carry-out by the carry-out device may be performed alternately. According to this aspect, the incubator can be easily carried in and out. In this case, the space secured on the side surface of the culture shelf may be small. Therefore, it becomes possible to arrange more culture systems in parallel, and the production amount of living organisms per unit area can be greatly increased.

  The carry-in device carries one or more incubators into each of two or more culture vessels at once, and the carry-out device carries out one or more incubators from two or more culture vessels at a time. May be. According to this aspect, it is possible to make the incubator into and out of the multistage culture shelf more efficient.

  Further, the number of the two or more culture tanks may be a divisor of the number of the plurality of culture tanks arranged in the vertical direction. According to this aspect, the incubator can be carried in and out without waste.

  Moreover, you may further provide the carrying-in belt conveyor for supplying the incubator with which the organism to be cultured was hold | maintained to a carrying-in apparatus. According to this aspect, the incubator can be carried in more efficiently.

  A combination of the above-described elements as appropriate can also be included in the scope of the invention for which patent protection is sought by this patent application.

  According to the present invention, an incubator can be easily carried in a multistage culture system.

It is the schematic of the culture system which concerns on embodiment. FIG. 1A is a side view of the culture system according to the embodiment. FIG. 1B is a plan view of the culture system according to the embodiment. It is the front view which looked at the culture system which concerns on embodiment from the arrow X direction of FIG. FIGS. 3A to 3I are schematic views in the lateral direction showing a procedure for alternately carrying in and out the incubator to and from the culture system according to the embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, the description which overlaps in description of drawing is abbreviate | omitted suitably.

(Embodiment)
First, the culture system 10 of this Embodiment is demonstrated with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a culture system 10 according to an embodiment. FIG. 1A is a side view of a culture system 10 according to the embodiment. FIG. 1B is a plan view of the culture system 10 according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a front view of the culture system 10 according to the embodiment as viewed from the direction of the arrow X in FIG. In FIG. 1, illustration of the carry-in belt conveyor 400 shown in FIG. 2 is omitted. In FIG. 1B, the top plate 340 shown in FIG. 1A and the light 330 provided on the back surface of the top plate 340 are not shown. In FIG. 2, only the carry-in device 100 and the carry-in belt conveyor 400 are shown.

  The culture system 10 mainly includes a carry-in device 100, a carry-out device 200, a culture shelf 300, and a carry-in belt conveyor 400.

  The culture shelf 300 is formed by arranging a plurality of culture vessels 310 having groove-shaped recesses 312 and having substantially the same shape in parallel in a vertical direction at a predetermined interval. A positioning portion 314 is formed in the recess 312. In addition, the recess 312 accommodates a culture solution 316 for hydroponics. The culture solution 316 is an aqueous solution in which nutrients capable of growing organisms described later are dissolved in water. The fixing member 320 fixes a plurality of culture vessels 310 side by side in the vertical direction. FIG. 1 shows a case where twelve culture vessels 310 are fixed by fixing members 320. The fixing member 320 is fixed to the floor at the fixing portion 322. A light 330 is attached to the back surface other than the lowermost culture tank 310. The light 330 irradiates light to the organisms stored in the next lower culture tank 310 in a state where the culture tanks 310 are arranged in the vertical direction. The uppermost culture tank 310 is irradiated with light by a light 330 provided on the back surface of the top plate 340.

  The incubator 20 contacts the culture solution 316 when the organism 22 to be cultured is held and accommodated in the recess 312. The incubator 20 has a through hole (not shown) for fixing the organism 22 to be cultured. By arranging the organism 22 to be cultured so as to penetrate the through hole, the root of the organism 22 to be cultured comes into contact with the culture solution 316 from the lower side of the incubator 20. Thereby, the culture solution 316 can be supplied to the organism 22 to be cultured. The incubator 20 is preferably formed of a material having a specific gravity of less than 1 in order to float on the culture solution 316 even when the cultured organism 24 is held. As such a material, a polystyrene foam can be used suitably. The material and volume of the incubator 20 may be determined in consideration of the weight of the cultured organism 24.

  The organism 22 is preferably an agricultural product that grows without moving on the incubator 20 and is suitable for hydroponics. In the case where the light 330 is provided as in the present embodiment, vegetables, flowers, fruits, cereals, and the like that are subjected to photosynthesis are assumed as agricultural products. On the other hand, when the light 330 is not provided, the agricultural products are assumed to be sprouts or mushrooms that do not perform photosynthesis.

  The carry-in device 100 is arranged in the vicinity of one end with respect to the culture shelf 300, and when the incubator 20 is held in the recess 312, the incubator 20 that holds the organism 22 that is in contact with the culture solution 316 and is cultured is held in a plurality of cultures. Carry in at least one of the tanks 310. The carry-in device 100 includes a moving unit 110, a vertical motor 120, a vertical roller chain 130, a horizontal motor 140, a horizontal roller chain 150, and a control unit 160.

  The moving unit 110 includes a plurality of holding units 114 attached to the fixed unit 112. As shown in FIG. 2, the holding portion 114 is formed by two arms. The holding unit 114 holds the incubator 20 at the time of carrying in / out. Further, the holding portion 114 is provided with a push portion 116 as described in FIG. The pusher 116 slides the incubator 20 by pushing it in the horizontal direction.

  The vertical motor 120 rotates to move the vertical roller chain 130. Thereby, the rotational motion of the vertical motor 120 is converted into vertical movement (lifting) of the moving unit 110. The horizontal motor 140 rotates to move the horizontal roller chain 150. Thereby, the rotational motion of the horizontal motor 140 is converted into the horizontal movement (left-right direction) of the moving unit 110.

  The control unit 160 controls the vertical and horizontal movements of the moving unit 110 by controlling the rotation of the vertical motor 120 and the horizontal motor 140. Moreover, the control part 160 carries out carrying-in of the incubator 20 by the carrying-in apparatus 100 and carrying-out of the incubator 20 by the carrying-out apparatus 200 by communicating with the control part 260 provided in the carrying-out apparatus 200 mentioned later by radio | wireless or wired. Connect. Moreover, the control part 160 controls the timing which carries in the incubator 20 in the carrying-in apparatus 100 from the carrying-in belt conveyor 400 mentioned later.

  The unloading device 200 is disposed near the other end, and unloads the incubator 20 that has been slid to the positioning unit 314 provided in the culture tank 310 near the other end from the culture tank 310. The carry-out device 200 includes a moving unit 210, a vertical motor 220, a vertical roller chain 230, a horizontal motor 240, a horizontal roller chain 250, and a control unit 260.

  The moving unit 210 includes a plurality of holding units 214 attached to the fixed unit 212. At the time of unloading, the incubator 20 in which the cultured organism 24 is placed is held by the holding unit 214.

  The vertical motor 220 rotates to move the vertical roller chain 230. Thereby, the rotational movement of the vertical motor 220 is converted into the vertical movement (lifting) of the moving unit 210. The horizontal motor 240 rotates to move the horizontal roller chain 250. Thereby, the rotational motion of the horizontal motor 240 is converted into the movement of the moving unit 210 in the horizontal direction (left-right direction).

  The control unit 260 controls the vertical and horizontal movements of the moving unit 210 by controlling the rotation of the vertical motor 220 and the horizontal motor 240. Further, the control unit 260 communicates with the control unit 160 provided in the above-described carry-in device 100 wirelessly or in a wired manner so that the carry-out of the incubator 20 by the carry-out device 200 is linked with the carry-in of the incubator 20 by the carry-in device 100. Let

  In addition, although the carrying-in apparatus 100 and the carrying-out apparatus 200 were demonstrated as a separate apparatus here, you may comprise both using the same apparatus.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the carry-in belt conveyor 400 supplies the incubator 20 in which the organism 22 to be cultured is held to the carry-in device 100. The carry-in belt conveyor 400 includes a housing 410 and a plurality of rotating floors 420. The heights of the plurality of rotating beds 420 are formed so as to be approximately equal to the height of any of the plurality of holding units 114 in a state where the moving unit 110 is lowered to the bottom. In this state, the rotating bed 420 is rotated by the control unit 160, whereby a new incubator 20 is supplied to the holding unit 114.

  Next, a method for carrying in / out the incubator 20 to / from the culture tank 310 using the culture system 10 of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing a procedure for alternately carrying in and out the incubator 20 to and from the culture system 10 according to the embodiment. Here, the vertical movement mechanism is mainly constituted by the moving part 210, the vertical motor 220, and the vertical roller chain 230, and the horizontal movement mechanism is mainly constituted by the holding part 214, the horizontal motor 240, and the horizontal roller chain 250, respectively. It shall be. However, for the sake of simplicity, the vertical movement mechanism may be the movement unit 210 and the horizontal movement mechanism may be the holding unit 214. Further, the incubator 20 carried out by the carry-out device 200 is an incubator 20a, the incubator 20 adjacent to the incubator 20a carried out by the carry-out device 200 is the incubator 20b, the incubator 20 carried by the carry-in device 100 is the incubator 20c, The incubator 20 that the carry-in apparatus 100 carries in after the incubator 20c will be described as an incubator 20d.

  First, the control part 260 moves the holding | maintenance part 214 which is a horizontal movement mechanism of the carrying-out apparatus 200 in the culture solution 316 (FIG. 3 (A)). The holding unit 214 is lowered into the culture solution 316 at a position closer to the carry-out device 200 than the positioning unit 314. FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating a state after the holding unit 214 has moved into the culture solution. Next, the holder 214 moves horizontally toward the incubator 20a (FIG. 3C). After the holder 214 has moved to a position where the incubator 20a can be lifted, the holder 214 lifts the incubator 20a in the vertical direction to take out the incubator 20a from the culture solution 316 (FIG. 3D). In conjunction with this, the holding unit 214 which is a horizontal movement mechanism of the loading apparatus 100 loads the incubator 20c. Next, the carry-out device 200 carries out the taken out incubator 20a (FIG. 3E). The incubator 20a unloaded from the culture tank 310 is unloaded from the culture system 10 when the moving unit 210 is lowered to the lowest position. In addition, the holding unit 214 of the carry-in device 100 moves the incubator 20 c into the culture solution 316.

  Next, the pusher 116 pushes and slides the incubator 20c in the horizontal direction (arrow in FIG. 3 (F)). The pusher 116 pushes the entire plurality of incubators 20 accommodated in a certain recess 312 in a substantially horizontal direction by pushing the incubator 20c closest to the carry-in device 100. As a result, the incubators 20 accommodated in one culture vessel 310 are collectively brought into contact with the opposite end and slid. As a result, the incubator 20 is moved together until the incubator 20b closest to the carry-out device 200 reaches the positioning unit 314 (FIG. 3G). By forming the incubator 20 with a material having a low specific gravity such as polystyrene foam, the plurality of incubators 20 can be brought into contact with each other and easily moved together. After the incubator 20b is moved to the positioning unit 314 by the holding unit 114 of the carry-in device 100, the holding unit 114 is lowered below the water surface, so that the incubator 20c is floated on the culture solution 316 (FIG. 3 (H)). Next, the holding unit 114 of the carry-in device 100 is moved horizontally toward the carry-in device 100 and separated from the incubator 20c (FIG. 3 (I)). Thereafter, the control unit 160 lowers the moving unit 110 to the lowest position, moves the carrying belt conveyor 400, and places the incubator 20d holding the organism 22 before culture on the holding unit 114. The incubator 20d is then supplied to the culture tank 310.

  By repeating the above-described FIGS. 3A to 3I, the incubator 20 of the culture tank 310 can be replaced. In a case where the incubator 20 in which the organism 22 before culture is held and the incubator 20 in which the organism 24 after culture is held are exchanged after a predetermined culture period has elapsed, the incubator accommodated in the culture tank 310 is replaced. It is only necessary to replace the incubator 20 by repeating the operations of FIGS.

  Here, an example in which the incubator 20 is carried into and out of one culture tank 310 has been shown, but a plurality of incubators 20 and a plurality of holding units 214 respectively attached to the carry-in device 100 and the carry-out device 200 are used. It is preferable to carry the incubator 20 into and out of the culture tank 310. In this case, in the culture system 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, after the replacement of the adjacent three-stage culture tanks 310 is completed, the next three-stage replacement is performed. Thereby, the time required for carrying in / out can be significantly shortened.

  In this case, the number of the incubators 20 carried in / out at one time, the number of the holding units 114 used at one time, and the number of the holding units 214 are all plural in the culture shelf 300 arranged in the vertical direction. It is preferable that the number is a divisor of the number of the culture vessels 310. For example, in FIG. 1, the culture shelf 300 has 12 stages of culture vessels 310. Therefore, it is preferable to carry in / out the incubator 20 with respect to the 2, 3, 4, 6, 12-stage culture tank 310 at a time. Thereby, carrying in / out can be performed without waste. In addition, a plurality of incubators 20 may be carried in and out at one time with respect to one culture tank 310 by making the lengths of the holding unit 114 and the holding unit 214 longer.

  When the incubator 20 is not full in the culture tank 310, the incubator 20 may be carried into the culture tank 310 using only the carry-in device 100 without using the carry-out device 200. FIG. 3 shows a case where the incubator 20 is carried out first and then carried in later. However, the culture system 10 may be configured such that the incubator 20 is carried in first and then carried out.

  As described above, according to the culture system 10 of the present embodiment, the incubator 20 can be easily carried into and out of the multistage culture shelf 300. In this case, the space secured on the side surface of the culture shelf 300 may be small. Therefore, since it becomes possible to arrange more culture systems 10 per unit area in parallel, the production amount of living organisms per unit area can be greatly increased.

  In the culture system 10, it is preferable that both the carry-in device 100 and the carry-out device 200 are provided, but only one of them may be provided. In this case, a person may play the role of a device that is not provided. Thereby, carrying-in or carrying-out of the incubator 20 to the multistage culture shelf 300 can be performed easily.

  In addition, although the installation place of the culture system 10 is not specifically limited, It is preferable to install the culture system 10 in the inside of a culture chamber (for example, product made from a polystyrene foam) with a high heat insulation effect. In this case, since there is almost no seasonal variation in room temperature in the culture chamber, the target organism can be cultured throughout the year. For example, when a plant that grows in one month is cultivated using the culture system 10 of the present embodiment, 12 times as many plants per unit area can be cultivated in one month. In the culture system 10 of the present embodiment, the incubator 20 can be easily carried in and out as described above. Therefore, approximately 12 × 12 = 144 times as many plants per unit area can be cultivated in one year.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment, although the positioning part 314 is formed in the carrying-out apparatus 200 side of the culture tank 310, you may form also in the carrying-in apparatus 100 side. Thereby, the movement to the carrying-in apparatus 100 side of the incubator 20 can be prevented. In this case, the distance from the end of the culture vessel 310 on the carry-in device 100 side to the positioning unit on the carry-in device 100 side is the distance from the end of the culture vessel 310 on the carry-out device 200 side to the positioning unit 314. It is preferable to form a positioning portion on the carry-in device 100 side so as to be equal. Thereby, the culture tank 310 can be used irrespective of direction.

  Further, a carry-out belt conveyor having the same structure as the carry-in belt conveyor 400 may be provided for the carry-out device 200. In this carry-out belt conveyor, when installed adjacent to the carry-out device 200, the rotating bed rotates in the direction in which the incubator 20 is carried out. As a result, the carry-out belt conveyor can carry out the incubator 20 holding the cultured organisms 24 from the carry-out device 200. Further, in order to shorten the ascending / descending time of the carry-in apparatus 100 and the carry-out apparatus 200, the carry-in belt conveyor 400 and the carry-out belt conveyor are also provided in the upper culture tank 310, or the number of these rotating beds is increased. May be.

  As described above, the present invention has been described with reference to the above-described embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the present invention can be appropriately combined or replaced with the configuration of the embodiment. It is included in the present invention. In addition, it is possible to appropriately change the combinations and the order of steps in the embodiments based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art and to add various modifications such as various design changes to the embodiments. The described embodiments can also be included in the scope of the present invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 culture system, 20 incubator, 22 living thing to be cultured, 100 carrying-in apparatus, 110 moving part, 112 fixing part, 114 holding part, 116 pushing part, 160 control part, 300 culture shelf, 310 culture tank, 312 recess, 316 Culture fluid, 320 fixing member

Claims (5)

A culture shelf in which a plurality of culture tanks having recesses for containing a culture solution are arranged in a vertical direction;
An incubator that is disposed in the vicinity of one end with respect to the culture shelf and holds organisms that are cultured in contact with the culture solution when accommodated in the recess is used as at least one of the plurality of culture vessels. A carry-in device for carrying in,
The carry-in device is
A vertical movement mechanism that lifts the incubator to the height of the culture tank;
In the plurality of incubators accommodated in the culture tank to be accommodated, by pushing at least one incubator from the one end side in a substantially horizontal direction, the plurality of incubators are defined as the one end portion. A culture system comprising: a horizontal movement mechanism that slides in contact with the other end on the opposite side. An unloading device for unloading the incubator placed near the other end and slid to the positioning portion provided in the culture tank in the vicinity of the other end;
The culture system according to claim 1, wherein carrying-in by the carrying-in device and carrying-out by the carrying-out device are alternately performed. The carry-in device carries one or more incubators into each of two or more culture vessels at a time,
The culture system according to claim 2, wherein the carry-out device carries out one or more incubators from each of the two or more culture tanks at a time.   The culture system according to claim 3, wherein the number of the two or more culture tanks is a divisor of the number of the plurality of culture tanks arranged in a vertical direction.   The culture system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a carry-in belt conveyor for supplying a culture vessel in which a living organism to be cultured is held to the carry-in device.

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