JP2021087386A - Device for removing insect for edible flower and method for removing insect for edible flower - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a device for removing insects for edible flower and a method for removing insects for edible flower capable of reducing manual insect removing work.SOLUTION: The device 1 for removing insects for edible flower according to the present invention includes at least a holding part 12 and an air current generation part 32; the holding part 12 holds an edible flower 70 in a state in which the edible flower 70 is turned upside-down; the air current generation part 32 generates air current downward toward the edible flower 70 held by the holding part 12; in the method for removing insects for edible flower according to the present invention, the edible flower 70 is turned upside-down to discharge insects falling down from the edible flower 70 downward by the air current.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an edible flower insecticidal device for removing insects attached to an edible flower from an edible flower and an edible flower insecticidal method.

In recent years, edible flowers have become widespread as ingredients that color dishes.

Unlike ornamental flowers, edible flowers need to suppress residual pesticides, but flowers for which standard values for residual pesticides are set are limited to a small number of varieties such as pansies and torenia. Therefore, in order to ship flowers of varieties for which standard values for residual pesticides have not been set as edible flowers, it is necessary to cultivate them without pesticides.

Since edible flowers cultivated without pesticides are susceptible to insects such as thrips and aphids, it is necessary to remove insects from the edible flowers after harvesting. Insect removal work usually requires a great deal of manual labor.

On the other hand, a method has been proposed in which leafy vegetables after harvesting are washed by dynamically contacting them with water at 30 ° C. or higher or electrolyzed water (Patent Document 1). Although this method is intended for leafy vegetables, it can be expected to have an insecticidal effect at a temperature of warm water of 50 ° C. or higher for water and at a lower temperature for electrolyzed water.

JP-A-2018-61502

However, warm water or electrolyzed water may cause damage or fading of thin petals of edible flowers, which may impair the value of edible flowers called Aya. Therefore, even now, the work of removing edible flowers is still dependent on human hands.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an edible flower insecticidal apparatus and an edible flower insecticidal method capable of reducing manual insect removal work.

[1] One aspect of the edible flower insecticidal device according to the present invention is
A holding part that holds the edible flower in a state where the edible flower is turned upside down,
An airflow generating part that generates an airflow downward with respect to the edible flower held by the holding part,
It is characterized by having.

[2] In one aspect of the above-mentioned edible flower insecticidal device,
The holding portion may hold the edible flower by sandwiching the stem, stem or peduncle of the edible flower.

[3] In one aspect of the above-mentioned edible flower insecticidal device,
The airflow generator can include a plurality of fans arranged below the edible flower.

[4] In one aspect of the above-mentioned edible flower insecticidal device,
A supply unit that supplies the edible flower to the holding unit,
An insecticide unit provided with the airflow generation unit and
An inspection unit that inspects the edible flowers that have passed through the insect removal unit for the presence of insects,
The take-out part for taking out the edible flower and
A transport unit that transports the edible flower supplied by the supply unit to the insect control unit, the inspection unit, and the take-out unit.
With more
The holding portion can be provided in the transport portion.

[5] One aspect of the edible flower insecticidal method according to the present invention is
The edible flower is turned upside down, and the insects that have fallen from the edible flower are discharged downward by an air flow.

According to one aspect of the edible flower insecticidal apparatus according to the present invention and one aspect of the edible flower insecticidal method according to the present invention, manual insect removal work can be reduced.

It is a schematic diagram of the edible flower insecticide device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a partially enlarged plan view of the holding part. It is a flowchart of the edible flower insect removal method which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The embodiments described below do not unreasonably limit the content of the present invention described in the claims. Moreover, not all of the configurations described below are essential constituent requirements of the present invention.

The edible flower insecticidal device according to one embodiment has a holding portion for holding the edible flower in an upside-down state and an air flow downward with respect to the edible flower held by the holding portion. It is characterized by including an airflow generating unit for generating the above.

1. 1. Edible flower insecticidal device 1 The edible flower insecticidal device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an edible flower insecticidal device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged plan view of a holding portion 12.

As shown in FIG. 1, the edible flower insect repellent device 1 includes a supply unit 10, an inversion unit 20, an insect repellent unit 30, an inspection unit 40, an extraction unit 50, and a transport unit 60. The supply unit 10, the reversing unit 20, the insect removal unit 30, the inspection unit 40, and the extraction unit 50 are arranged side by side in this order, for example, on a straight line. The transport unit 60 sequentially transports the edible flower 70 supplied by the supply unit 10 to the reversing unit 20, the insect removal unit 30, the inspection unit 40, and the take-out unit 50.

Edible flowers 70 include, for example, viola, pansy, sweet arissum, nasturtium, begonia, snapdragon, marigold, rose, carnation, calendula, chamomile, stock, impatiens, daisy, dianthus, north pole, impatiens, celestial red, torenia, petunia. , Barbena, Petunia, Primula, Flox, Linaria, etc. Examples of the edible 70 include a supply unit 10 and an inversion unit 2 which will be described later.
It is preferable that it has a form that can be held at 0.

1.1. Supply section As shown in FIG. 1, the supply section 10 is a section for supplying the harvested edible flower 70 to the edible flower insecticidal device 1. The edible flower 70 supplied by the supply unit 10 is sequentially transported to each processing unit by the transport unit 60. The transport direction C of the edible flower 70 in the transport unit 60 is indicated by an arrow in FIG.

The transport unit 60 may be a belt conveyor that is passed over to the supply unit 10, the reversing unit 20, the insect removal unit 30, the inspection unit 40, and the take-out unit 50. As shown in FIG. 2, the transport portion 60 can be composed of two endless belts, for example, the holding portion 12 has an edible flower 70 at a distance between the first belt 121 and the second belt 122. The floral pattern 74 may be sandwiched to hold the edible flower 70. In the example of FIG. 2, the floral pattern 74 of the edible flower 70 is sandwiched between two belts, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the edible flower 70 is held by sandwiching the stem and the flower axis of the edible flower 70. May be good.

The supply unit 10 supplies the harvested edible flower 70 to the holding unit 12 provided in the transport unit 60. The supply unit 10 causes the holding unit 12 to hold the edible flower 70 with the petals 72 of the edible flower 70 on the top and the floral pattern 74 on the bottom. The holding portion 12 may slightly widen the distance between the first belt 121 and the second belt 122 and insert the floral pattern 74 into the gap so that the floral pattern 74 is sandwiched between the two belts. The first belt 121 and the second belt 122 may be made of, for example, rubber having an elastic surface, and can hold the edible flower 70 without damaging the floral pattern 74.

In the supply unit 10, the edible flower 70 holds the floral pattern 74 in the holding unit 12, but the present invention is not limited to this, and when the floral pattern 74 is short, for example, a stem or a flower axis portion close to the floral pattern 74 is used. May be retained.

1.2. Reversing part The reversing part 20 can turn the holding part 12 upside down, and the holding part 12 holds the edible flower 70 in a state where the edible flower 70 is turned upside down. The edible flower 70 inverted by the inversion portion 20 is held by the holding portion 12 with the floral pattern 74 facing up. The reversing section 20 can employ a mechanism capable of holding the edible flower 70 upside down. For example, the transport section 60 can be transported while keeping the arrangement of the first belt 121, the floral pattern 74, and the second belt 122. It may be twisted 90 degrees around the direction C. The edible flower 70 held upside down by the reversing section 20 is carried into the insect removal section 30 by the transport section 60 while being held by the holding section 12.

1.3. Vermis The vermis 30 includes an airflow generating section 32, a catching section 34, and an insect removing mechanism 36. The insect removal unit 30 can remove the insects attached to the edible flower 70 carried from the inversion unit 20 from the edible flower 70. The insect removal unit 30 is located in a housing 38 having openings on both the inversion unit 20 side and the inspection unit 40 side through which the edible flowers 70 held by the transport unit 60 and the holding unit 12 can pass.

As shown in FIG. 1, the airflow generating unit 32 generates an airflow downward with respect to the edible flower 70 held by the holding unit 12. The airflow generation unit 32 includes, for example, a plurality of fans 320 arranged below the edible flower 70 hanging from the transport unit 60. The fan 320 is, for example, an axial fan capable of blowing downward air. A plurality of through holes 381 are provided above the transport portion 60 and on the upper surface of the housing 38. By rotating the fan 320, the outside air introduced from the through hole 381 can be applied to the edible flower 70 as an air flow flowing downward. The airflow generated by the airflow generating unit 32 can guide the insects that have fallen from the edible flower 70 held upside down downward.

As described above, according to the edible flower insecticidal device 1, the insect removal unit 30 can remove insects from the edible flower 70, so that the manual insect removal work can be reduced.

The capture unit 34 is located at the bottom of the housing 38 and stores a liquid that captures insects that have fallen from the edible flower 70. The capture unit 34 prevents the insects from flying toward the edible flower 70 again.

The insect repellent mechanism 36 has a function of keeping the insects away from the edible flower 70 while having little influence on the quality of the edible flower 70. The insect repellent mechanism 36 can be selected and combined from, for example, light, sound, odor, vibration, heat, etc., depending on the type of insect to be removed from the edible flower 70 and the like. If the insecticidal mechanism 36 can irradiate the edible flower 70 with light of a specific wavelength, for example, when the insect is separated from the edible flower 70 by the light, the insect is placed on the airflow of the airflow generating unit 32. , Insects can be captured by the capture unit 34.

1.4. Inspection unit The inspection unit 40 has a function of inspecting the edible flower 70 that has passed through the insect removal unit 30 for the presence or absence of insects. The inspection unit 40 includes, for example, a camera 42 that captures the edible flower 70 held upside down from below, and a determination unit 44 that determines the presence or absence of insects using the image data captured by the camera 42.

The camera 42 can be, for example, an area sensor camera, and for example, image data captured for each edible flower 70 of a single flower can be sent to the determination unit 44.

The determination unit 44 can be a part of the control unit of the edible flower insecticide device 1, and the control unit can be, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), or an SSD (Solid State Drive). , ROM (Read-Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory) and other storage devices, keyboards, mice, touchpads and other input devices, liquid crystal displays, organic EL (Electro Luminescence) displays and other display devices. The determination unit 44 outputs the determination result associated with each edible flower 70. The control unit outputs an operation command of the holding unit 12 in the extraction unit 50 based on the determination result.

1.5. Extraction unit The extraction unit 50 takes out the edible flower 70 that has been inspected by the inspection unit 40 to the outside of the edible flower insecticidal device 1. The extraction unit 50 can select the edible flowers 70 based on the determination result of the inspection unit 40 and take them out from the edible flower insecticidal device 1.

The take-out unit 50 includes, for example, a first collection unit 51 and a second collection unit 52. The edible flower 70 determined to be free of insects by the determination result of the inspection unit 40 is collected by the first collection unit 51. The edible flower 70 determined to have insects in the determination result of the inspection unit 40 is collected by the second collection unit 52.

The edible flower 70 collected by the first collecting unit 51 is, for example, taken out from the edible flower insecticidal device 1 and packed as a product in a shipping box or the like.

The edible flower 70 collected by the second collecting unit 52 is, for example, taken out from the edible flower insecticidal device 1 and re-performed by a human being, and then packed as a product in a shipping box or the like. By removing insects using the edible flower insecticidal device 1, the number of edible flowers 70 that must be manually removed can be reduced.

2. Edible flower insecticidal method The edible flower insecticidal method according to one embodiment is characterized in that the edible flower is turned upside down and the insects that have fallen from the edible flower are discharged downward by an air flow.

The edible flower insecticidal method according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an edible flower insecticidal method according to an embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 3, the edible flower insect removal method includes, for example, a supply step (S10), an inversion step (S12), an insect discharge step (S14), an imaging step (S20), a determination step (S22), and a first method. The collection step (S30), the second collection step (S32), and the manual removal step (S40) are included.

S10: In the supply step, the supply unit 10 holds the flower pattern 74 of the harvested edible flower 70 so as to be sandwiched by the holding unit 12 of the transport unit 60. The edible flower 70 in the supply unit 10 is held by the holding unit 12 with the petals up and the floral pattern 74 down.

S12: In the reversing step, the edible flower 70 is turned upside down while being held by the holding portion 12 in the reversing portion 20. The edible flower 70 after the inversion step is held in the holding portion 12 in an inverted state with the petals 72 down and the floral pattern 74 up.

S14: In the insect discharge step, the insect removal unit 30 discharges the insects that have fallen from the edible flower 70 held upside down by the air flow. In the insect discharge step, the insect removal mechanism 36 may act on the insect removal unit 30 to remove insects from the edible flower 70. The insects discharged downward by the air flow may be further captured by the capture unit 34 and discharged from the edible flower insecticide device 1.

S20: In the imaging step, the edible flower 70 after the insect discharge step (S14) is imaged by the camera 42 of the inspection unit 40. The image data is sent to the determination unit 44 after, for example, image processing.

S22: In the determination step, the determination unit 44 determines the presence or absence of insects for each edible flower 70.

S30: In the first collection step, the edible flower 70 determined to be free of insects by the determination result in the determination unit 44 is transported to the top of the first collection unit 51 by the transport unit 60 and then released from the holding unit 12. Then, it is dropped onto the first collecting unit 51 for collecting.

S32: In the second collection step, the edible flower 70 determined to have insects in the determination result of the determination unit 44 is transported to the top of the second collection unit 52 by the transport unit 60 and then released from the holding unit. It is dropped on the second collecting unit 52 and collected.

S40: In the manual removal step, the worker manually removes the insects from the edible flowers 70 collected by the second collecting unit 52.

As described above, according to one aspect of the edible flower insect removal method, the manual insect removal work can be reduced by providing the insect discharge step (S14).

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, the present invention includes substantially the same configurations as those described in the embodiments (eg, configurations with the same function, method, and result, or configurations with the same purpose and effect). The present invention also includes a configuration in which a non-essential part of the configuration described in the embodiment is replaced. In addition, the present invention includes a configuration that exhibits the same effects as the configuration described in the embodiment or a configuration that can achieve the same object. Further, the present invention includes a configuration in which a known technique is added to the configuration described in the embodiment.

1 ... Edible flower insecticidal device, 10 ... Supply unit, 12 ... Holding unit, 121 ... 1st belt, 122 ... 2nd belt, 20 ... Inverting part, 30 ... Insect removal unit, 32 ... Airflow generator, 320 ... Fan, 34 ... capture unit, 36 ... insect removal mechanism, 38 ... housing, 381 ... through hole, 40 ... inspection unit, 42 ... camera, 44 ... judgment unit, 50 ... extraction unit, 51 ... first collection unit, 52 ... 2nd collection unit, 60 ... transport unit, 70 ... edible flower, 72 ... petals, 74 ... floral pattern, C ... transport direction

Claims (5)

A holding part that holds the edible flower in a state where the edible flower is turned upside down,
An airflow generating part that generates an airflow downward with respect to the edible flower held by the holding part,
An edible flower insecticide. In claim 1,
The holding portion is an edible flower insecticidal device that holds the edible flower by sandwiching the stem, the flower shaft, or the floral pattern of the edible flower. In claim 1 or 2,
The airflow generating unit is an edible flower insecticidal device including a plurality of fans arranged below the edible flower. In any one of claims 1 to 3,
A supply unit that supplies the edible flower to the holding unit,
An insecticide unit provided with the airflow generation unit and
An inspection unit that inspects the edible flowers that have passed through the insect removal unit for the presence of insects,
The take-out part for taking out the edible flower and
A transport unit that transports the edible flower supplied by the supply unit to the insect control unit, the inspection unit, and the take-out unit.
With more
The holding portion is an edible flower insecticidal device provided in the transport portion. An edible flower insect removal method in which an edible flower is turned upside down and insects that have fallen from the edible flower are discharged downward by an air flow.

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