JP2019068770A - Plant lighting instrument and plant lighting equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a mobile plant lighting unit appropriately emitting light necessary for growing plants and yet capable of simultaneously achieving workability of workers and extensibility.SOLUTION: A mobile plant lighting unit of the present invention includes: a drive carriage that independently runs on rails installed in a plant cultivation room; a connection carriage that is connected to the drive carriage via a first connection member and runs dependently on the rails; a lighting light source mounted on the connection carriage and emitting light necessary for growing plants; and a control device performing control to cause the drive carriage to travel from a standby point to a lighting point when the lighting light source starts lighting and to return the drive carriage to the standby point when lighting is finished.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile plant lighting unit, and more particularly to a mobile plant lighting unit capable of emitting light for controlling pests or promoting plant growth which may be harmful to the plant.

  In recent years, agricultural technology has developed to a high degree, and development has been advanced to dramatically improve the production efficiency of agricultural products by combining electronics with conventional agriculture. For example, although sunlight is often indispensable for the growth of plants, natural sunshine hours are absolutely limited, so a system for artificially and artificially generating this and irradiating the plants has been proposed. .

  For example, in Patent Document 1, in order to control or promote crops in the greenhouse by lighting to achieve appropriate harvest time, the motor and light source for lighting are supplied with power at predetermined times every day, and the light source device is arranged along the guide rails for a fixed time A light source irradiation method is disclosed, in which a crop is moved and irradiated with a light source for illumination, by running the vehicle.

  Moreover, in patent document 2, in order to supplement the photosynthetic energy which runs short by irradiating the light of the wavelength approximate to sunlight with respect to a cultivation plant, a tension wire or a rail in the height arbitrary on the ground between cultivation plant row There has been proposed a movable type irradiation apparatus for growing plants, on which an irradiation tool for growing plants is reciprocated at a low speed.

  Furthermore, in patent document 3, in order to aim at breeding of a plant, suppression of a flower bud, etc., the rail is spanned to one direction of a field, and the moving part which hung the LED lighting part was the time set by the timer etc. Discloses a movable LED lighting device which moves on the rail.

JP-A-58-63330 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-255019 JP, 2005-27521, A

However, the prior art including the above-mentioned patent documents do not meet the market needs properly, and there is still room for improvement at least in the following points.
That is, for example, in the configuration disclosed in Patent Document 1, since the rail configuration is a simple linear reciprocation track, the length of the power supply line is necessarily redundant, or a plurality of reciprocation tracks can be shortened. The unit configuration is required, and the scale of the device is enlarged. Moreover, since it is the rail structure which only moves between plant rows, it can not be denied that the case where it becomes an obstruction of a worker by all means arises. Furthermore, since the illumination light source is directly mounted on the drive carriage, the expandability of the unit configuration is poor.

On the other hand, also in the configuration disclosed in Patent Document 2, the power supply line is redundant because it simply reciprocates between the plant rows, and there is a problem that the operator is disturbed by all means.
In Patent Document 3, since the illumination light source is directly mounted on the moving part, the point of poor expandability still remains as a similar problem. Moreover, in the configuration described in Patent Document 3, the idea is to illuminate from above the plant's head so that the amount of illumination can be adjusted, and it is not a configuration that allows sufficient illumination even to the leaf back. Furthermore, there is no doubt that the power supply line may be redundant due to simple linear movement.
In the first place, as the point which is common to the above-mentioned patent documents 1-3 is lacking, while appropriately and evenly irradiating the light (the light for promoting growth, the light for controlling pests, etc.) necessary for growing plants. However, there is no idea that at the same time the operator's workability and extensibility are realized.

  The present invention has been made in view of an example to solve such a problem, and light necessary for cultivating plants (light for promoting growth, light for controlling pests and the like, etc.) can be appropriately shared. It is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile plant lighting unit capable of simultaneously achieving the operator's workability and expandability while irradiating light.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned subject, a lighting unit for mobile plants concerning one embodiment of the present invention is: (1) Drive truck self-propelled on a rail constructed in a plant growing room, and the 1st connection with the drive truck A connecting carriage which is connected via a member and follows the rails, an illumination light source mounted on the connecting carriage and emitting light necessary for growing a plant, and the illumination light source starts illumination And a controller configured to move the drive carriage from the standby point to the illumination point, and to control the drive carriage to return to the standby point at the end of the illumination.

  In addition, in the illumination unit for mobile plants as described in (1) above, (2) the rails are branched and installed along the plant cultivation line at the ceiling of the plant cultivation room. An area rail, and a withdrawal rail connected to each of the plurality of illumination area rails and constructed to extend to the waiting point provided outside the plant cultivation row area; preferable.

  Moreover, in the illumination unit for mobile plants according to (1) or (2) described above, (3) a plurality of the connecting carriages are connected to the driving carriage, and the connecting carriage is connected to the connecting carriage more than the first connecting member. It is preferable that the plurality of connecting carriages are connected to each other via a second connecting member in which expansion and contraction operations in the traveling direction are large.

  Further, in the mobile plant lighting unit according to any one of the above (3), (4) the second connection member includes at least two connecting rods connecting between the adjacent connecting carriages, It is preferable that the connecting portion between the two connecting rods be bendable, and that the connecting portion between the connecting carriage and the connecting rod can swing in a direction intersecting the traveling direction.

  Moreover, in the illumination unit for mobile plants in any one of (1)-(4) mentioned above, (5) The said illumination light source irradiates UV-B light which controls the pest attached to the said plant It is preferred to include a lamp.

  In addition, in the mobile plant illumination unit according to any one of (1) to (5) described above, (6) the illumination light source is an LED light source having a wavelength longer than the wavelength of the UV-B light. Furthermore, it is preferable that the plurality of connecting carriages mount a plurality of types of light sources having different wavelengths.

  According to the present invention, while appropriately and evenly irradiating the light necessary for cultivating plants (light for promoting growth, light for controlling pests, etc.), and at the same time the workability and extensibility of the worker are realized. It is possible to

It is a schematic diagram which shows the illumination unit 100 for mobile plants which concerns on 1st Embodiment. FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the drive carriage 20 in the mobile plant lighting unit 100. It is an external view which shows an example of the 1st connection member J1 and the 2nd connection member J2. It is the schematic diagram which looked over the plant cultivation room 1 in which several plant cultivation row 2 was installed from upper direction. It is the schematic diagram which looked at the case where a plant cultivation room 1 in which several plant cultivation row 2 was installed, and an example of the lighting unit 100 for mobile plants are applied in this plant cultivation room 1 from the upper part. As an example which actualized plant cultivation room 1, it is a reference figure at the time of seeing from the arrow G direction in Drawing 4 (a). It is the schematic diagram which looked at the case where a plant cultivation room 1 in which several plant cultivation row 2 was installed, and an example of the lighting unit 100 for mobile plants are applied in this plant cultivation room 1 from the upper part. It is the schematic diagram which looked at the case where a plant cultivation room 1 in which several plant cultivation row 2 was installed, and an example of the lighting unit 100 for mobile plants are applied in this plant cultivation room 1 from the upper part. It is the schematic diagram which looked at the case where a plant cultivation room 1 in which several plant cultivation row 2 was installed, and an example of the lighting unit 100 for mobile plants are applied in this plant cultivation room 1 from the upper part. It is a flow chart explaining the lighting method using lighting unit 100 for mobile plants concerning a 1st embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of a locus | trajectory which the drive trolley 20 of the lighting unit 100 for mobile plants moves. It is a schematic diagram which shows the illumination unit 200 for mobile plants which concerns on 2nd Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be described. In each figure, the direction in which the plant cultivation row extends is defined as X direction, the height (gravity) direction of the plant cultivation row is defined as Z direction, and the direction orthogonal to the X direction and Z direction is defined as Y direction for convenience. did. However, these directions are for the purpose of clarifying the description and do not limit the technical scope of the present invention.

First Embodiment
<Mobile Plant Lighting Unit 100>
A mobile plant lighting unit 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described using FIGS. 1 to 3.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a mobile plant lighting unit 100. As shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the mobile plant lighting unit 100 includes a rail 10, a driving carriage 20, a connecting carriage 30, an illumination light source 40, and a control device 50.

  The drive carriage 20 has a function of self-propelled on the rail 10 built in the plant cultivation room 1 under the control of the control device 50 described later. And the drive trolley 20 of this embodiment connects the 1 or several connection trolley | bogie 30 via the 1st connection part J1, and moves the rail 10 top so that it may mention later.

  As shown in FIG. 2, such a drive carriage 20 is configured to include an exterior case 21, a traveling mechanism unit 22, a sensor unit 23, a power supply line 24, and a control board 25.

  The exterior case 21 is a hollow casing that houses a part of the sensor unit 23 described above, the control board 25 and the like. As a material of the exterior case 21, it is preferable to have weatherability and moisture resistance, and for example, a resin such as FRP is used. In addition to the resin, known metal materials such as aluminum may be used as long as the moisture resistance can be secured.

  The traveling mechanism unit 22 can adopt a known pulley mechanism provided with a wheel that rotates in a state of being suspended from the rail 10. An electric motor (not shown) is mounted on the traveling mechanism unit 22 according to the present embodiment, and the motor can be driven by receiving power from a power supply line 24 described later.

  In the present embodiment, the rail 10 is run on the rail 10 by the motor drive mechanism using the pulleys. However, the present invention is not limited to this mode. Linear motor drive using an electromagnet may be used, and other known drive mechanisms are applied. You may

  In the present embodiment, the sensor unit 23 is provided before and behind the traveling mechanism unit 22 in the traveling direction TD (see FIG. 2). In addition, as a specific example of the sensor part 23, a well-known optical sensor, a magnetic sensor, etc. are applicable, for example.

On the other hand, on the rail 10 of the present embodiment, reading tags are provided at a plurality of predetermined places (for example, before and after a branch point to be described later) so as to face the sensor unit 23.
Therefore, the sensor unit 23 can acquire movement command information (pass, stop, reverse, and the like) from the reading tag by sensing the reading tag during traveling.

  The power supply line 24 has a function of supplying necessary power to the drive carriage 20 and the illumination light source 40 from a power supply (not shown) (such as a commercial power supply). In the present embodiment, power is supplied to the drive carriage 20 and the illumination light source 40 by distributing electric power from one power supply line 24. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment and the drive carriage 20 and the illumination light source 40 Individual power supply lines may be pulled.

  In addition, the power supply line 24 in the present embodiment is suspended by a known runner on the rail 10, so that the power supply line 24 is prevented from hanging down unnecessarily at the standby point WP.

  The control board 25 also functions as a receiver for performing wired or wireless communication with a control device 50 described later. The control board 25 also has a function of driving the traveling mechanism 22 and moving the rail 10 under the control of the control device 50.

  Furthermore, the control board 25 of the present embodiment is electrically connected to an illumination light source 40 described later, and has a function of turning on or off the illumination light source 40 under the control of the control device 50. . In the present embodiment, an example in which a plurality of illumination light sources 40 are turned on or off collectively will be described. However, when two or more coupling carriages 30 (each equipped with the illumination light sources 40) are coupled to the drive carriage 20 To turn on or off individually.

  The connecting carriage 30 has a function of being connected via the driving carriage 20 and the first connecting member J1 or the second connecting member J2 described above and following the rail 10. Although the connecting carriage 30 has a pulley (not shown) and can move on the rail 10, the connecting carriage 30 alone does not have a function of freely traveling on the rail 10.

  And as shown in FIG. 2, the connecting carriage 30 of the present embodiment suspends and fixes the illumination light source 40 via the fixing portion 31. In addition, as a specific example of this fixing | fixed part 31, you may employ | adopt various well-known fixing methods, such as fastening with a volt | bolt, fixing with a screw, or adsorption fixation with a magnet (for example, neodymium magnet etc.).

  The illumination light source 40 is mounted on the connecting carriage 30 described above, and has a function of irradiating the light L necessary for cultivating the plant P. As light L which this illumination light source 40 irradiates, ultraviolet light is illustrated, for example. Among these, it is desirable that light in a UV-B region (hereinafter, also referred to as "UV-B light") having a wavelength effective for controlling pests particularly adhering to plants is used in the present embodiment.

  In addition, although UV-B light was used for pest control in this embodiment, it is not restricted to this form, for example, in the UV-A region which is a wavelength range which promotes the growth of a plant, as long as it promotes the growth of a plant. Light or light in other wavelength ranges may be used.

  Moreover, there is no restriction | limiting in particular as a structure of the illumination light source 40 in particular, For example, a longitudinally long cylindrical straight tube type light bulb etc. are preferable. Also, as the illumination light source 40, a so-called bulb-type light source (bulb-type UV lamp having a wavelength of UV-B) may be used in consideration of cost and availability. As such a light bulb-shaped light source, it is sufficient if the outer shape is a light bulb shape, for example, in addition to light bulbs (incandescent bulbs), various known bulbs such as bulb halogen lamps, bulb fluorescent tubes, compact fluorescent tubes and bulb LEDs The structure of may be applied.

  As described above, the illumination light source 40 of the present embodiment is controlled to be turned on and off under the control of the control device 50. In other words, the illumination light source 40 is configured to be turned on and off remotely by remote control. In addition, as long as the illumination light source 40 is a light source whose wavelength can be switched, the wavelength to be irradiated to the plant P may be appropriately switched via the control device 50.

  The control device 50 has a function of moving the drive carriage 20 from the standby point WP to the illumination point ILP when the illumination light source 40 starts illumination, and performing control to return the drive carriage 20 to the standby point WP at the end of illumination. ing.

  As a specific example of such a control device 50, a known computer provided with a central processing unit CPU, a communication device, and a storage unit such as an HDD or a memory is exemplified. Moreover, as another example of the control apparatus 50, you may be portable information terminals, such as a smart phone provided with the said communication device and a calculation function.

  The control device 50 in the present embodiment performs information communication with the control substrate 25 of the drive carriage 20 via wireless communication. As an example of such wireless communication, in the present embodiment, Wifi, which is one of wireless LAN standards, is applied. In the present embodiment, Wifi is adopted. However, the present invention is not limited to this wireless communication standard. For example, other communication standards such as Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) may be applied.

<Connection form by two kinds of connection members>
Next, the connection aspect of the drive carriage 20 and the connection carriage 30 in the present embodiment and the connection aspect of the connection carriages 30 will be described using FIGS. 1 and 3.

  First, as shown in FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, the drive carriage 20 and the connection carriage 30 are connected to each other via the first connection member J1, while the connection carriages 30 are connected to the first connection member J1. Are connected to each other via a second connecting member J2 having a different structure.

  The first connecting member J1 has a structure exemplified in FIG. 3A, for example, and maintains the distance between the drive carriage 20 and the connecting carriage 30 while maintaining the horizontal direction HD centered on the traveling direction TD (see FIG. 2) It is possible to swing the other with respect to one). Thereby, for example, when the rail 10 is a curve, the connecting carriage 30 can be moved in the horizontal direction with respect to the drive carriage 20 by following the degree of bending, and the curve portion on the rail 10 is smoothly bent It is possible to run.

Next, referring back to FIG. 1 again, in the present embodiment, a plurality of connection carriages (for example, four connection carriages 30a to 30d) are connected to the drive carriage 20 via the second connection member J2.
The second connecting member J2 has a larger expansion and contraction operation in the traveling direction TD of the connecting carriage 20 than the first connecting member J1 described above.

  More specifically, the second connection member J2 of the present embodiment includes at least two connection rods J2a connecting between adjacent connection carriages 30 as a structure shown as an example in FIG. 3B, and The connecting portion J2b of the at least two connecting rods is bendable, and the connecting portion J2b can swing in the horizontal direction HD intersecting with the traveling direction TD.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 1, the connection portion J2b in the connection rods J2a of the present embodiment is jumped by one rail so as to be folded in a zigzag shape at the time of expansion and contraction (when the distance between the connection carriages 30 is reduced). 10 is suspended and supported via a known runner.

  According to the second connection member J2 of the present embodiment described above, the distance between the adjacent connection carriages 30 is variable in a narrow state and in a wide state of a constant distance. Therefore, when the illumination light source 40 on the connecting carriage 30 is lit, the space between the illumination light sources 40 is kept constant, and when waiting at the waiting point WP, the mobile plant illumination unit 100 is compact and clean. It is possible to keep it waiting.

  In addition, since both the first connecting member J1 and the second connecting member J2 can swing in the horizontal direction HD (that one side can be moved in the horizontal direction HD while connecting), the rail 10 has a curved shape. Even when it becomes, it is possible to move smoothly.

<Arrangement Form of Mobile Plant Lighting Unit 100>
Next, the arrangement of the mobile plant illumination unit 100 in the plant cultivation room 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown to Fig.4 (a), the plant cultivation room 1 with which the lighting unit 100 for movable plants of this embodiment is suitable is greenhouse spaces, such as a rectangular parallelepiped vinyl greenhouse. As an example which actualized this plant cultivation room 1, it shows in FIG.4 (b) as a reference figure at the time of seeing from the arrow G direction.

  And while the plant cultivation row 2 of a predetermined size extends in the X direction in the plant cultivation room 1, this plant cultivation row 2 separates a predetermined distance (for example, several tens cm to several m) in the Y direction. Are arranged side by side. In the present embodiment, in the plant cultivation room 1, nine plant cultivation lines 2 are juxtaposed in the Y direction.

The example which applied the lighting unit 100 for movable plants of this embodiment with respect to such a plant cultivation room 1 is shown to FIG.4 (c)-(e).
As shown in these figures, the rail 10 is installed on the ceiling 1 a of the plant cultivation room 1. The rail 10 is connected to the plurality of illumination area rails 11 and the plurality of illumination area rails 11 which are respectively branched and installed along the plant cultivation line 2 by the ceiling 1 a and a plant cultivation line It is comprised including the evacuation rail 12 constructed toward the waiting | standby point WP provided out of area | region PA.

Here, “branch” in the present embodiment means a mode in which branches and extends from the evacuation rails 12 provided outside the plant cultivation row area PA toward the plant cultivation row 2 respectively.
Moreover, "plant cultivation row area PA" of the present embodiment is disposed in the plant cultivation room 1 so as to include the outermost plant cultivation row 2 among the plurality of plant cultivation rows 2 arranged along the predetermined direction. The region of the outer edge in the XY plane direction covering the group of the plant cultivation row 2 is referred to (see, for example, FIGS. 4 (c) to 4 (e)).
And in this embodiment, since the illumination light source 40 is turned on in this plant cultivation row area PA, the "illumination point" is on the illumination area rail 11 and at any position within the plant cultivation row area PA. It can be said that there is.

  Among them, in the arrangement form (also referred to as single-sided branch type) shown in FIG. 4C, the waiting point WP is shifted to the end side (one side) than the center in the group of plant cultivation row 2 and Each of the illumination area rails 11 is characterized in that it is sequentially branched in the same form from the evacuation rail 12 extending from one side of the standby point WP.

On the other hand, in the arrangement shown in FIG. 4 (d) (also referred to as a bifurcated type), the waiting point WP is arranged so as to be bifurcatable from substantially the center to both sides in the group of plant cultivation row 2; The evacuation rails 12 extend on both sides from the standby point WP, and each of the illumination area rails 11 is characterized by being sequentially branched toward both sides in a symmetrical manner based on the standby point WP.
In addition, in FIG. 4 (c) mentioned above, the waiting position WP is arrange | positioned at the tip (position separated in-X direction from the -X direction side edge part of the plant cultivation row 2) of the direction which the plant cultivation row 2 extends. However, it may be modified as shown in FIG. 4 (e). That is, as shown in FIG. 4E, the standby position WP may be arranged at the end of the direction in which the groups of plant cultivation rows 2 are arranged (a position separated from the plant cultivation row 2 at the left end in the -Y direction) .

Even if any of the arrangement forms of the present embodiment is adopted, the wiring configuration of the power supply line 24 can be remarkably shortened as compared with the conventionally used configuration by adopting the rail configuration of the branch type. It becomes possible. Moreover, it becomes possible to move to each irradiation point in the group of the plant cultivation row 2 in a short time and a short distance by setting it as the rail structure of a branch type.
And in this embodiment, the rails 11 for illumination area | region are installed so that the plant cultivation row 2 may become a line jump, and, thereby, the unevenness of the irradiation amount, such as double irradiation unevenness at the time of arranging every interval between rows. Can be suppressed. Of course, as long as the amount of irradiation from the illumination light source 40 can be adjusted, the illumination area rails 11 may be laid between each row instead of jumping one row.

  In addition, it is preferable that the waiting | standby point WP in this embodiment is provided in the outer side of plant cultivation row area PA, so that it may not get in the way of a worker. In this case, the mobile plant lighting unit 100 waiting at the waiting point WP may be partitioned by the storage case so as to be sealed from the periphery, or by closing the shielding material such as a curtain from the ceiling 1a without closing. It is good also as a form divided with the circumference.

<Lighting method using mobile plant lighting unit 100>
Next, a lighting method using the mobile plant lighting unit 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

As a result of intensive studies, the present inventors are calculated by the product of the irradiation time and the intensity in order to uniformly irradiate the light L uniformly in the horizontal direction to the group in the plant cultivation row 2. It came to the fact that the cumulative dose was important.
Then, for example, when traveling at a predetermined irradiation section at a constant speed, the estimated irradiation integration amount can be obtained from the above time and intensity. Therefore, if the target irradiation integrated amount or the limit integrated irradiation amount necessary for the plant P is previously obtained by an experiment or the like, it is possible to calculate the necessary traveling speed from the target irradiation integrated amount or the limit integrated irradiation amount.

  In the illumination method described below, an example will be described in which the mobile plant illumination unit 100 travels at a constant speed on the illumination area rail 11 standing on the above viewpoint. However, the sections traveling at a constant speed do not have to be all on the illumination area rail 11 installed in the plant cultivation room 1, and for example, each part on the illumination area rail 11 (for example, each branched The sections may be divided into a plurality of illumination area rails 11) and the speed may be set constant in this section. In this case, the mobile plant lighting unit 100 may travel at different speeds for each of the plurality of sections.

  Further, in the lighting method described below, the speed at which the mobile plant lighting unit 100 travels on the lighting area rail 11 and the speed at which the mobile plant lighting unit 100 travels on the evacuation rail 12 It was set to the same speed. However, the present invention is not limited to this form, and these speeds may be different from one another.

  First, as initial setting of the mobile plant illumination unit 100, in step S10, it is selected whether the plant P is irradiated with light L by a program operation or the plant P is irradiated with light L by a manual operation.

  Among these operations, the program operation refers to a mode in which the mobile plant lighting unit 100 travels while driving the illumination light source 40 based on a preset time and a set movement trajectory. According to this program operation, it is possible to automatically irradiate the plant P with the light L in a time zone in which no person is present in the plant cultivation room 1, for example, at night.

  On the other hand, in the manual operation, the operator sets the movement locus of the mobile plant lighting unit 100 via the control device 50 and drives the lighting light source 40 at an arbitrary time while the mobile plant lighting unit 100 is driven. Say the form to run the. According to this program operation, it is possible to irradiate the light L to the plant P in the intended place according to the intended traveling speed in the time zone intended by the worker.

That is, when the manual operation is selected in step S10, the movement locus of the mobile plant illumination unit 100 is determined in step S21. At this time, as described above, the time and the traveling speed to start traveling of the mobile plant lighting unit 100 are also determined.
In addition, in the case of determination of this driving | running | working speed, it may be an aspect which is determined, for example, displaying the integral irradiation amount on a monitor etc. by the control apparatus 50. FIG.

  In step S22, the illumination light source 40 and the drive carriage 20 are driven by the control device 50 at the time determined in step S21. As a result, the mobile plant lighting unit 100 travels on the evacuation rail 12 from the standby point WP, and further branches to travel on the respective illumination area rails 11 (illumination points) while irradiating the plant P with light L. It will be done.

Next, in step S23, it is determined whether or not the mobile plant lighting unit 100 has returned to the standby point WP after the irradiation of the light L to the plant P is finished. More specifically, it is detected whether or not the sensor unit 23 of the drive carriage 20 senses a reading tag provided at the waiting point WP of the rail 10.
When it is determined in step S23 that the mobile plant lighting unit 100 has returned to the waiting point WP, the light irradiation on the plant P based on this manual operation is completed.

On the other hand, when the program operation is selected in step S10, the operator also selects which operation program to execute.
That is, in a storage unit (not shown) of the control device 50, information on a plurality of types of operation programs for which movement trajectories have been determined in advance is stored.

Here, an example of this operation program will be described with reference to FIG.
First, FIG. 6A shows an example of a movement trajectory based on the operation program in the above-described one-side branch type.

As shown in FIG. 6 (a), when starting from the waiting point WP, the first branch is bent to enter the illumination zone rail 11 of "1". Then, after being folded at the end of the illumination area rail 11 of “1”, it returns to the point of “2”, is folded again at “2”, and enters onto the illumination area rail 11 of “3”. Next, after being folded back at the end of the illumination area rail 11 of this "3", it returns to the point of "4", and is folded back again and similarly for the evacuation rail 12 and illumination area from "5" to "9" Travel on rails 11.
Then, after being folded at the end of the illumination area rail 11 of “9”, control is performed so as to return to the waiting point WP.

  As described above, the reading tags are provided on the rail 10 at positions corresponding to “1” to “9” and before and after a branch point, and the reading tags are sequentially read by the sensor unit 23 of the driving carriage 20 Then, the drive carriage 20 travels on the rail 10 based on this movement trajectory.

  Next, FIG. 6 (b) shows an example of a movement trajectory based on the operation program in the above-mentioned both-side branching type.

As shown in FIG. 6 (b), when starting from the waiting point WP, first pass through the evacuation rail 12 common to the left and right plant cultivation row 2, then turn the first reference branch K to the right and locate on the left side in the figure. It passes on the rail 11 for illumination area of "1" (illumination point) through the evacuation rail 12 as it is. Then, after turning back at the end of the illumination area rail 11 of “1”, after passing through the above-described first reference branch K, the direction is changed, and the first reference branch K is turned to the left. Go straight ahead, go through the first branch through the evacuation rail 12 located on the right side in the figure and enter the illumination zone rail 11 of "2". Next, after folding back at the end of the illumination area rail 11 of “2”, similarly, after passing through the above-mentioned first reference branch K once, turn around and turn the first reference branch K to the right and Go through the second branch through the evacuation rail 12 located on the left side in the middle and enter the “3” illumination area rail 11. Similarly to the above, thereafter, the vehicle travels on the evacuation rail 12 and the illumination area rail 11 via the first reference branch K from “4” to “6”.
Then, after turning back at the end of the illumination area rail 11 of “6”, control is performed so as to pass through the first reference branch K as it is and return to the waiting point WP.

  As described above, the reading tags are provided on the rail 10 at positions corresponding to “1” to “6” and before and after each branch point including the first reference branch K. By sequentially reading the read tag by the unit 23, the drive carriage 20 travels on the rail 10 based on the movement locus.

  As described above, after the program operation is selected in step S10, it is determined in step S31 whether or not a prescribed time has arrived. In other words, the control device 50 manages the scheduled operation time through a timer such as a timer (not shown). When the control device 50 detects that this scheduled time has arrived, in step S32, control is performed to read out a traveling locus based on the selected program operation from a storage means (not shown) or the like.

After the traveling locus based on the selected program operation is read out, in step S33, the control device 50 drives the illumination light source 40 and the driving carriage 20 in the same manner as step S22 described above to place on the illumination area rail 11. Control is performed to irradiate the plant P with light L at (the illumination point).
Then, in step S34, as in step S23, it is determined whether or not the mobile plant illumination unit 100 has returned to the waiting point WP after the irradiation of the light L to the plant P is finished.

  Conventionally, a large number of illumination light sources are required to irradiate uniformly in the horizontal direction, but according to this embodiment, relatively few illumination light sources are moved to efficiently and uniformly light the plants P. It becomes possible to irradiate L.

  Moreover, since the illumination light source 40 of this embodiment is a mobile illumination, the number of lighting fixtures per plant cultivation section can be reduced compared to a stationary type illumination light source. In addition, after lighting on the plant P, the light source 40 and the like do not interfere with the worker's agricultural work because they move to the waiting point WP.

Moreover, since the method of making the illumination light source 40 self-propelled by the drive trolley 20, it becomes possible to irradiate the light L to the plant P automatically, for example at night time zone etc., without putting a human hand.
Furthermore, when spraying pesticides etc. to the plant P, there is also a possibility that a part may scatter and adhere to the illumination light source 40, but according to the present embodiment, when not in use, the illumination light source 40 The above-mentioned deterioration can be suppressed by placing it.

Second Embodiment
Next, a second embodiment of the present embodiment will be described using FIG.
In the first embodiment described above, the total number of connecting carriages 30 connected to the driving carriage 20 is four, and each connecting carriage 30 is provided with the illumination light source 40 of the same wavelength, but in the present embodiment The feature is mainly characterized in that the illumination light sources 40 of plural kinds of wavelengths are mounted by three connecting carriages 30.
Therefore, in the following, points different from the above-described embodiment will be mainly described, and members having the same functions as the above-described embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be appropriately omitted.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the mobile plant lighting unit 200 according to the present embodiment includes the rail 10, the driving carriage 20, the connecting carriage 30, the lighting light source 40 (lamp 40a, LED light source 40b), and the control device 50. It is configured.

In particular, the illumination light source 40 according to the present embodiment includes a lamp 40a that emits UV-B light for controlling pests adhering to the plant P, and an LED light source 40b having a wavelength longer than the wavelength of the UV-B light. It is characterized by
And the connection trolley 30 of this embodiment becomes 30a, 30b and 30c in order from the side connected with the drive trolley 20. As shown in FIG. Among these, the lamps 40a are mounted on the connecting carriages 30a and 30c, and the LED light source 40b is mounted on the connecting carriage 30b.
In addition, although it was set as the structure which irradiates the light L of two types of wavelengths toward plant P from the connection trolley 30 in this embodiment, it is an aspect which irradiates the light L of three or more types of wavelengths towards plant P May be

  And in this embodiment, the number of the light sources which irradiate UV-B light is more than the number of the light sources which irradiate the light of a wavelength longer than the wavelength of UV-B light. Thereby, it is possible to control a pest with the light of UV-B while promoting the growth of the plant P with the light having a wavelength longer than the wavelength of the UV-B light.

  The number of light sources emitting UV-B light may be the same as the number of light sources emitting light having a wavelength longer than the wavelength of UV-B light, or light having a wavelength longer than the wavelength of UV-B light At least better than the number of light sources that illuminate the

  Moreover, in this embodiment, although the 3 connection trolleys 30 were comprised, the aspect which connects 2 units | sets or 5 units or more may be sufficient. In this case, it is not essential to mount the illumination light sources 40 of a plurality of types of wavelengths, and as in the first embodiment, a single type of illumination light sources 40 may be mounted by the respective connecting carriages 30.

Each embodiment described above is an example, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
For example, a new mobile plant lighting unit may be configured by appropriately combining the first embodiment and the second embodiment described above.

  As explained above, the lighting unit for mobile plants of the present invention can be widely applied in the plant cultivation field regardless of the type of plant.

100, 200 mobile plant lighting unit 1 plant growing room 2 plant growing row 10 rail 11 illumination area rail 12 evacuation rail 20 drive carriage 21 exterior case 22 travel mechanism unit 23 sensor unit 24 power line 25 control board 30 connected carriage 31 fixed part 40 illumination light source 50 control device J1 first connecting member J2 second connecting member P plant L light WP waiting point ILP illumination point

Claims (6)

A driving carriage that runs on rails built in the plant growing room;
A coupling carriage coupled to the drive carriage via a first coupling member and following the rail;
An illumination light source mounted on the connecting carriage and emitting light necessary for cultivating a plant;
A control device that moves the drive carriage from the standby point to the illumination point when the illumination light source starts illumination, and controls the drive carriage to return to the standby point when the illumination ends.
A lighting unit for mobile plants, characterized in that it comprises: The rails are
A plurality of illumination area rails that are branched and installed along the plant cultivation row at the ceiling of the plant cultivation room,
An evacuation rail connected to each of the plurality of illumination area rails and installed to the standby point provided outside the plant cultivation row area;
A mobile plant lighting unit according to claim 1, comprising A plurality of the connection carriages are connected to the drive carriage,
The mobile plant lighting unit according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of connecting bogies are connected to each other via a second connecting member whose telescopic movement in the traveling direction of the connecting bogie is larger than that of the first connecting member. . The second connection member includes at least two connection rods connecting between the adjacent connection carriages,
The movable type according to claim 3, wherein the connecting portion between the two connecting rods is bendable, and the connecting portion between the connecting carriage and the connecting rod can be pivoted in a direction intersecting the traveling direction. Plant lighting unit.   The said illumination light source contains the lamp | ramp which irradiates the UV-B light which controls the pest which adheres to the said plant. The lighting unit as described in any one of Claims 1-4.   The mobile plant according to claim 5, wherein the illumination light source further includes an LED light source having a wavelength longer than the wavelength of the UV-B light, and the plurality of connected carriages carry a plurality of light sources of different wavelengths. Lighting unit.