JP5999842B2 - Egg inspection apparatus and inspection method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an inspection apparatus and an inspection method for inspecting the life and death of a seed egg, and more particularly, to an inspection apparatus and an inspection method for changing a condition relating to the inspection time when inspecting the life and death of an egg based on a biological activity.

  Bird eggs (hereinafter simply referred to as “eggs”) are broadly divided into edible eggs on the table for food and seed eggs used for chick production, vaccine production, and the like. These eggs are subjected to various treatments and inspections depending on the purpose. For example, eggs are washed in the outer shell before being placed on the table, checked for cracks, and the internal conditions, packed in packs, and then distributed to the market. In addition, the seed eggs are hatched in an environment such as a predetermined temperature and humidity, and in the middle of the hatching process, an inspection is performed to determine the growth of the embryo inside the seed eggs, that is, whether the seed eggs are alive or dead.

  On a breeding chicken farm that hatches eggs, it may be necessary to test for mortality of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of eggs per day. Therefore, mechanization is desired in order to easily and accurately inspect the activity and life / death of a large number of eggs.

  As one method of mechanization, as in the inspection apparatus described in Patent Document 1, there is a method for determining whether a seed is alive or not based on the amount of light transmitted through the eggs when light is projected onto the eggs, that is, the transmittance of the eggs. is there. Such an inspection apparatus has a drawback that the seed eggs that can be inspected are limited by the age of the eggs, because of the characteristics of the transmittance of the eggs by the age of the eggs.

  As another method of mechanization that eliminates this drawback, as in the inspection apparatus described in Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3, light is emitted to the egg and the pulsation of the blood vessels of the embryo inside the egg (pulse), Some of them determine the degree of activity from information on biological activities such as embryonic movement. In addition, as in the inspection apparatus described in Patent Document 4, there is an apparatus that applies an electrode to a seed egg and determines the activity from a heartbeat that is a biological activity.

JP 2005-052156 A JP-A-9-127096 JP 2011-106882 A US Pat. No. 6,488,156

  By the way, the inspection apparatus described in Patent Documents 2 to 4 acquires information on the life of an embryo inside a seed egg that fluctuates with time, that is, information related to biological activity, and determines the life or death of the seed egg from that information. Therefore, if the time for acquiring the information is lengthened, it is presumed that the information regarding the biological activity can be acquired with certainty, so that the examination accuracy is improved. However, in an egg inspection apparatus that requires a large amount of inspection, it is natural to reduce the inspection time.

  In addition, in the seed eggs, the inner embryos grow as the age progresses, and the state inside the seed eggs changes according to the age. Corresponding to this change in the state of the eggs, the chicken farm has a demand to determine whether the eggs are of various ages. For example, there is a case where life / death is determined using a 10-day embryo whose age is 10 days, and then life / death is determined using an 18-day embryo immediately before hatching. The purpose of this is to facilitate the temperature setting when hatching the seed eggs by selecting the surviving eggs from the seed eggs that died at the stage of the 10th day embryo.

  In addition, since eggs hatch at 21 days of age, it is often determined whether the embryos are 18 days old or not. However, it is necessary to determine whether a vaccine egg is alive on the 10th day before virus injection. Therefore, a 10-day embryo is determined to be alive or dead. Thus, the age at which a life / death determination is required differs depending on the purpose of producing the egg. In addition, depending on the farm, there is a demand for examining the viability of the seed eggs at each age of 9 days embryo, 12 days embryo, 15 days, etc.

  Thus, in the test of a seed egg, there exists a merit which test | inspects the egg of various age. However, having a plurality of inspection devices corresponding to inspections of various ages is not realistic from the viewpoint of the purchase cost and storage location of the inspection devices.

  The present invention has been made to satisfy the above-described requirements, and it is possible to inspect eggs of various ages with a single egg inspection apparatus, and achieve an activity test in an appropriate time. It is in.

One egg inspection apparatus according to the present invention irradiates light to each of a large number of eggs for each inspection unit, receives light transmitted through the various eggs, and generates a living body inside the eggs from the received light. The information regarding the biological activity in which the animal is active is acquired, and the activity of various eggs is examined from the information regarding the biological activity. The said inspection apparatus can test | inspect the said activity with respect to several test | inspection unit, and can change the test | inspection conditions regarding time according to the age of a seed egg in each test | inspection unit.

According to the inspection apparatus for a single egg according to the present invention, the activity of the seed egg is checked based on information related to biological activities such as pulse and fetal movement performed by a living body inside the egg. In the inspection of this activity, a number of hatching eggs as a test unit, in each examination unit, that could be changed inspection condition regarding the time of inspection in accordance with the ages of hatching eggs. That is, the inspection condition regarding time can be changed according to the age of the egg to be inspected.

  And, in the activity inspection by the inspection device, since the inspection conditions relating to the inspection time can be changed, for example, the inspection accuracy can be improved by increasing the inspection time, while reducing the inspection time. Can reduce the inspection cost.

  By the way, as for the egg, the state of a living body changes greatly with age, and it becomes easier to obtain information on life activity as the age advances. Therefore, by appropriately setting the time-related conditions according to the age, an accurate activity test can be achieved at an appropriate time. It also meets the need to reduce the time required for inspection in exchange for inspection accuracy. That is, the egg activity can be achieved with appropriate accuracy and with appropriate time.

  Moreover, the information regarding the egg test apparatus and the life activity can be acquired with a predetermined acquisition time as one cycle, and the inspection condition regarding the time can include the number of cycles and the acquisition time for acquiring the information regarding the life activity.

  According to this inspection apparatus, the inspection condition related to time includes the acquisition time for acquiring information related to life activity and the number of cycles, and the inspection condition related to time is changed by changing at least one of these. . Therefore, by appropriately setting the acquisition time or the number of cycles, the activity of the egg can be achieved with appropriate accuracy and with appropriate time.

In addition, another egg testing apparatus according to the present invention includes a light irradiating unit that irradiates light to each of a large number of eggs, a light receiving unit that individually receives light transmitted through various eggs, and various types from the received light. A test control unit that acquires information on a biological activity in which the living body inside the egg is active, and inspects the activity of each egg based on the information on the biological activity; The said test | inspection control part can acquire the information regarding the said biological activity by predetermined | prescribed acquisition time and the predetermined | prescribed cycle number, and can change the said acquisition time or the said cycle number according to the age of a seed egg .

According to the other egg testing apparatus according to the present invention, the activity of the egg is tested based on information on the biological activity such as pulse and fetal movement performed by the living body inside the egg. In this activity test, the test control unit acquires information related to the biological activity at a predetermined acquisition time and a predetermined number of cycles, and changes at least one of these to change the age of the egg. inspection conditions about the time that could be changed. Therefore, by appropriately setting the acquisition time or the number of cycles, the activity of the egg can be achieved with appropriate accuracy and with appropriate time.

  Also, the acquisition time is the same for the multiple eggs, and the cycle number can be changed for various eggs.

  According to this inspection device, the acquisition time can be fixed and the number of acquisition cycles can be changed for various eggs, so a cycle for acquiring further information is added to the egg eggs whose test results are unclear in the first cycle. Thus, the activity can be examined.

  The number of cycles is one, and the acquisition time can be changed for various eggs.

  According to this inspection apparatus, since the number of cycles can be fixed and the acquisition time can be changed for various eggs, it is possible to acquire information on life activity and test the activity until a clear inspection result is obtained. it can.

  Moreover, the said test | inspection control part may test | inspect the activity of various eggs from the information regarding a biological activity, and the information regarding the light quantity which permeate | transmits a seed egg.

  According to this inspection apparatus, in addition to the information on the biological activity, the activity of the seed egg is inspected based on the information on the amount of light transmitted through the egg, so that the accuracy of the inspection can be increased.

  The activity test may be a test of live or dead eggs.

  According to this inspection apparatus, since the test of the activity is the life / death test of the egg, the determination of the test is easier than the activity, so that the condition setting regarding the test time is facilitated.

The method for inspecting eggs according to the present invention includes a first step of irradiating light to each of a large number of eggs, a second step of receiving light transmitted through various eggs, and a method for detecting various eggs from the received light. A third step of acquiring information relating to a biological activity in which an internal living body is active, a fourth step of examining the activity of various eggs from the information relating to the biological activity, and prior to the third step, And a fifth step of changing the inspection condition regarding time according to the age of the egg .

According to the method for inspecting a seed egg according to the present invention, prior to the step of obtaining information on the biological activity of the seed egg, in order to change the conditions regarding the time according to the age of the seed egg for various eggs, It can be achieved with appropriate accuracy and time.

  In addition, after the fourth step is completed, the method for inspecting the seed eggs further includes various steps from the received light following the sixth step and the sixth step for changing the inspection conditions regarding time for various eggs. Activity of various eggs from the information on the biological activity acquired in at least one of the seventh step, the third step, and the seventh step of acquiring information on the biological activity in which the living body inside the egg is active An eighth step of checking the degree can be included.

  According to this egg testing method, the conditions relating to the examination time are changed, the information relating to the biological activity is acquired under the conditions relating to the changed (set) time, and the activity of each egg is determined from the information relating to the biological activity. Since the inspection is performed twice, the activity of the egg can be inspected with higher accuracy at an appropriate time.

  Further, in the egg inspection method, the third and fourth steps may be repeated after the fourth step.

  According to this egg testing method, the conditions relating to the examination time are changed, the information relating to the biological activity is acquired under the conditions relating to the changed (set) time, and the activity of each egg is determined from the information relating to the biological activity. Since the inspection is performed a plurality of times, the activity of the egg can be inspected with higher accuracy at an appropriate time.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a test apparatus for testing eggs, which can test eggs of various ages and can achieve accurate activity of the eggs in an appropriate time.

It is the schematic which shows the outline of the inspection apparatus of the egg egg which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the inspection apparatus of FIG. It is a top view which shows the egg container shown in FIG. It is a front view which shows the test | inspection part of the test | inspection apparatus shown in FIG. It is a front view which shows the state by which the egg container was carried in to the test | inspection part main body of the test | inspection apparatus shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the test | inspection control apparatus of the test | inspection control part shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the inspection method of the egg which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  An egg inspection apparatus and an inspection method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the following description, a preferred embodiment of an inspection apparatus and an inspection method for inspecting eggs used for the production of chicken chicks will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the inspection apparatus and the inspection method according to the present invention can also be used for inspection of eggs other than chicken chicks.

  Chicken eggs are generally hatched 21 days after being laid. Meanwhile, the embryo grows inside the seed egg according to the age. In the description of the present embodiment, for example, an embryo within 10 days after egg laying, that is, a 10-day-old egg is referred to as a 10-day embryo.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the egg inspection apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention accommodates an egg filled with the egg E to be inspected from the previous process of the egg inspection apparatus 1. The receiving unit 2 that receives the container T, the inspection unit 3 that inspects the egg container T that has been loaded from the loading unit 2, the egg container T that is filled with the egg E that has been inspected by the inspection unit 3, And an unloading section 4 for sending out toward the process. The egg container T is sent from the carry-in unit 2 to the inspection unit 3 as shown by an arrow a, and is sent from the inspection unit 3 to the carry-out unit 4 as shown by an arrow b after receiving the inspection. The inspection apparatus 1 simultaneously inspects a large number of eggs filled in the egg container T as one inspection unit.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the egg container T stores eggs in an egg storage seat T <b> 1 arranged in m rows × n columns (m and n are natural numbers). In the example shown in the figure, the eggs E are filled in 6 rows × 7 columns in the egg container T with their sharp ends facing downward and blunt ends facing upward. A large number of eggs E filled in the egg container T are carried in, inspected, and carried out for each egg container T (one inspection unit). At the time of inspection, the egg container T is stopped in the inspection unit 3, whereby a large number of eggs E are arranged in a predetermined position.

  Each egg receiving seat T1 is formed with a plurality of protrusions T3 for supporting the seed egg E from below on a frame T2 for supporting the seed egg from the side in conformity with the shape of the seed egg. And hold from below. Each egg accommodating seat T1 allows light to pass from a portion other than the frame portion T2 and the protruding portion T3 with respect to light from below. Since the projection T3 is small with respect to the egg E, the light traveling from below to the egg is irradiated to the egg without being substantially inhibited.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the inspection unit 3 includes an inspection unit body 7 having a transport path 6 through which the egg container T is transported. The inspection unit main body 7 includes a large number of light irradiation units 12 that irradiate light from below toward the egg E, and a cap 19 that contracts in contact with the corresponding egg E so as to allow only light transmitted through the egg E to pass therethrough. A large number of light passing sections 9, a light receiving section 10 that receives light that has passed through each light passing section 9, an inspection control section 14 that controls the inspection apparatus 3, and a time condition setting section 15 that sets inspection conditions relating to time. The inspection start button 16 for starting the inspection and the inspection end button 17 for ending the inspection are provided.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the inspection unit main body 7 includes an upper part of the inspection part main body 7 provided with the light receiving part 10 and the light passage part 9 and a lower part of the inspection part main body 7 provided with the light irradiation part 12. It is relatively movable in the direction (the direction of the double arrow c). Thereby, the upper part of the test | inspection part main body 7 descend | falls in the state which the egg container T filled with the seed egg E was carried in to the test | inspection part 3, and the state which made the opening of the cap 19 of the light passage part 9 contact the seed egg E It becomes.

  In this state, each light passage portion 9 is configured to shield light passing through the inside from other light. Each light receiving unit 10 can receive only the light that has passed through the various eggs E and passed through the light passing unit 9 among the light irradiated from the light irradiation unit 12.

  The inspection control unit 14 includes a plurality of inspection control devices 20 provided corresponding to each egg E to be inspected. As shown in FIG. 6, each inspection control device 20 includes a photoelectric conversion unit 22, a determination calculation unit 24, a storage unit 26, a display unit 28, and a light source light amount control unit 30, as in the egg inspection device disclosed in JP 2011-106882. And a light source on / off switch 32 and the like.

  The light source light quantity control unit 30 and the light source on / off switch 32 are connected to the light irradiating unit 12 and control turning on / off of the light irradiating unit 12 and adjusting the light quantity. Thereby, in each test | inspection control apparatus 20, in the state by which the various eggs E with which the egg container T was filled were carried in to the test | inspection part 3, the light source lighting / extinguishing switch 32 controls the light irradiation part 12 and directed to the egg E. The light source light amount control unit 30 controls the light irradiation unit to adjust the light amount of the light irradiation unit.

  The photoelectric conversion unit 22 is connected to the light receiving unit 10 and converts the light received by the light receiving unit 10 into an electrical signal. The determination calculation unit 24 includes a calculation device such as a microcomputer, and is connected to the photoelectric conversion unit 22 to determine an electric signal subjected to photoelectric conversion. The determination calculation unit 24 is connected to the light source light amount control unit 30 and controls the light source light amount control unit 30. The storage unit 26 is connected to the determination unit 24 and appropriately stores information for determination. The display unit 28 is connected to the determination unit 24 and displays determination results and the like.

  Since the light irradiated from the light irradiation part 12 permeate | transmits the egg E and is received by the light-receiving part 10, it contains the information regarding the biological activity inside a egg. The photoelectric conversion unit 22 converts the light received by the light receiving unit 10 into an electrical signal. Therefore, this electrical signal contains information regarding the biological activity inside the egg.

  The determination calculation part 24 acquires the electrical signal photoelectrically converted, and inspects the activity level of the egg from the information on the life activity of the egg. The determination calculation unit 24 acquires at least one cycle of information related to life activity, with a predetermined acquisition time for acquiring an electrical signal as one cycle. At this time, the storage unit 26 stores information on the electrical signal received by the determination calculation unit 24, information on the determination result, and the like. The display unit 28 displays the result of the activity test performed by the determination calculation unit 24.

  The activity of the egg includes information on whether the embryo inside the egg is alive or dead, and how active the embryo is when it is alive (for example, not dead but dying) Information). Therefore, based on the degree of activity, life / death of the egg can be inspected, and the degree of activity of the egg can be inspected.

  The determination calculation unit 24 determines (inspects) the degree of activity of the egg from information related to the biological activity in which the living body inside the egg is active. The determination of the activity is based on an electrical signal obtained by photoelectrically converting the light received by the light receiving unit 10, as described in JP 2011-1089A or JP 9-127096, such as heart rate and fetal movement of the embryo inside the egg. This is performed based on the biological activity in which the living body is active. As described in JP-A-9-127096, the pulse and fetal movement can be detected if the age is at least 8 days. In addition, the determination calculation unit 24 determines that the degree of activity is unknown when the degree of activity cannot be clearly determined by inspection.

  The heartbeat of the embryo inside the egg has a certain period of about several Hz, and the longer the acquisition time of the electric signal or the more the number of cycles for acquiring the electric signal, the more accurate the heartbeat period can be obtained. Although fetal movement does not occur periodically, the number of times fetal movement is detected increases as the acquisition time of the electric signal is longer or the number of cycles for acquiring the electric signal is larger. Therefore, the longer the acquisition time of the information related to the life activity, the more accurate the information related to the life activity can be acquired, and the inspection accuracy of the activity level increases.

  On the other hand, in the inspection of the egg, since a large amount of the egg is required to be inspected, there is a demand for shortening the inspection time (time-related inspection conditions). Further, the accuracy of the inspection varies depending on the purpose of the inspection. For example, there is a case where it is desired to test the activity determination with accuracy as much as possible with a 10-day embryo, or a case where it is desired to preliminarily test a 10-day embryo with a high accuracy.

  In addition, the purpose of the inspection and the content of the inspection are different for each day-old embryo, and various inspection times and inspection accuracy are required. Therefore, in the egg test apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the acquisition time and the number of cycles for acquiring an electrical signal including information related to life activity, that is, the setting of the test condition related to time are appropriately changed according to the test.

  Similar to the inspection apparatus described in JP2011-10689A, the light source light amount control unit 30 has a light source light amount suitable for various eggs according to the light amount received by the light receiving unit 10, that is, the light amount transmitted through the egg E. The light irradiation unit 12 is controlled. The determination calculation unit 24 can also inspect the life and death of the seed eggs based on the amount of light transmitted through the seed eggs, that is, the transmittance of the seed eggs. For example, an egg E having a significantly large amount of transmitted light can be determined as an infertile egg (ie, dead in a life-and-death test) because no embryo has been generated.

The time condition setting unit 15 is connected to the inspection control unit 14 and can set inspection conditions relating to time in four stages of setting 1, setting 2, setting 3, and setting 4. In this embodiment,
The conditions relating to the examination time include the adjustment time of the light source light amount, the acquisition time of information relating to the biological activity, and the number of cycles. The time condition setting unit 15 may be automatically set by the inspection control unit 14 in addition to the case where the operator directly sets the time condition setting unit 15.

  In the present embodiment, in setting 1, in addition to the adjustment time of the light source light amount, the acquisition time of information relating to life activity is 10 seconds and the number of cycles is one. In setting 2, in addition to the adjustment time of the light source light amount, the acquisition time of information relating to the biological activity is set to 20 seconds and the cycle number is set to one.

  Moreover, in setting 3, in addition to the adjustment time of the light source light amount, the acquisition time of the information related to the biological activity is set to 10 seconds, and the activity level of the egg based on the biological activity acquired in one cycle of 10 seconds becomes unknown Furthermore, the biological activity is acquired in one cycle of 10 seconds. In other words, in setting 3, information related to biological activity is acquired in one cycle for a large number of eggs, and information related to biological activity in one cycle is further acquired for a seed egg whose activity is determined to be unknown.

  Furthermore, in setting 4, the time for acquiring information related to life activity is 0 seconds, that is, the information related to life activity is not acquired, and the inspection is performed only by adjusting the light source light amount. Therefore, in the setting 4, the life and death are inspected only based on the transmission rate of the egg, and the adjustment time of the light source light amount occupies most of the inspection time.

  In the present embodiment, for example, an 18-day embryo that is easy to detect a biological activity is inspected in setting 1, and a 10-day embryo that is difficult to detect a biological activity is inspected in setting 2. A life / death test can be performed based on the determination of the activity level in an appropriate test time while maintaining a constant test accuracy. In addition, in setting 1, there are also eggs whose activity level is unknown, but in setting 3, it is possible to reduce the number of eggs whose activity level is unknown by performing repeated inspections.

  Furthermore, by performing a simple test with setting 4, it is possible to preliminarily test whether the 18-day embryo or the 10-day embryo is alive based on the transmission rate of the egg. In this way, according to the egg inspection apparatus 1, by making it possible to change the conditions regarding the inspection time, it is possible to deal with the purpose of inspection and the content of the inspection with a single inspection apparatus.

  In the settings 1 to 3, the inspection apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment determines whether the eggs are alive or dead from both the transmission rate of the eggs obtained by the light amount adjustment and the information related to the biological activity, but the light amount is adjusted. Alternatively, the life / death determination may be performed based on the degree of activity based on the information on the life activity under a constant light amount. That is, the life / death determination may be inspected only from information relating to the biological activity without using the transmission rate of the egg.

  Next, an egg inspection method according to the embodiment of the present invention using the egg inspection apparatus 1 will be described. In the inspection of the seed eggs according to the present embodiment, the life / death inspection of the seed eggs is performed based on the activity based on the information on the biological activity and the permeability of the seed eggs. However, as for the test of a seed egg, the test of life or death may be performed from either one of the activity based on the information on the biological activity and the permeability of the seed egg.

  In the inspection of the egg, the inspection time is first set by the time condition setting unit 15 of the egg inspection apparatus 1. The inspection time may be set according to the age of the egg, or may be set according to the required accuracy of the inspection. In the following description, the examination of two types of eggs that are different in age between the 18-day embryo and the 10-day embryo will be described.

  When inspecting an embryo on the 18th, the time condition setting unit of the inspection apparatus is set to setting 1, and the inspection start button 16 is pressed. As a result, a tray filled with a large number of eggs E having 18-day embryos is carried from the carry-in unit 2 to the test unit 3, and the upper part of the test unit body 7 provided with the light passage unit 9 is lowered and filled. Then, the various eggs E are covered with the cap 19 of the light passage portion 9 so that the light receiving portion 10 can receive the light transmitted through the various eggs E.

  In this state, after the light amount adjustment according to the egg E is performed, the inspection unit 3 acquires information based on information related to life activity.

  First, light is irradiated from the light irradiation part 12 toward many seed eggs with which the egg container T was filled (S1). The inspection apparatus 1 is provided with one light irradiation unit corresponding to various eggs, and all the light irradiation units simultaneously emit light. However, each light irradiation unit may sequentially emit light toward the corresponding egg.

  Next, the light receiving unit 10 receives the light transmitted through the various eggs E (S2). The light received by the light receiving unit 10 is photoelectrically converted by the photoelectric conversion unit 22 and transmitted to the determination calculation unit 24 as electrical information. The determination calculation unit 24 is connected to the light source light amount control unit 30, determines the light amount received by the light receiving unit 10, and the light source light amount control unit so that the light receiving unit 10 receives the light amount suitable for the inspection based on information related to life activity. 30 controls the light quantity of the light irradiation unit 12.

  Next, based on the light received by the light receiving unit 10, the determination calculation unit 24 acquires an electrical signal including information related to the biological activity (S3), and determines the activity of the embryo of the seed egg from the information related to the biological activity (S4). ). In setting 1, information related to life activity is acquired with an acquisition time of 10 seconds and a cycle number of one. The light irradiation unit 12, the light receiving unit 10, and the like are controlled so that information relating to life activity can be acquired under the condition that the acquisition time is 10 seconds and the number of cycles is one.

  In addition to the determination of the degree of activity based on the information related to the biological activity, the determination calculation unit 24 may inspect the life and death from the transmittance of the egg. Moreover, the determination calculating part 24 determines that it is unclear when it cannot determine the activity level of the egg from the information on the biological activity acquired in one cycle of 10 seconds.

  Next, after acquiring information on the biological activity and checking the activity of the egg, the cap is removed from the egg E, and the egg E that has been inspected is transported from the inspection part to the carry-out part. Thereafter, the next egg container T is carried into the inspection unit, and the seed eggs filled in the egg container T are inspected.

  The loading, inspection and unloading of the egg E are repeated, and when the inspection of a predetermined number of eggs is completed, the inspection end button is pressed, and the inspection apparatus stops. In the inspection apparatus 1, the inspection from when the inspection start button is pressed until the inspection end button is pressed is automatically performed. Prior to this automatic inspection, the setting of the time condition setting unit 15 is changed (S5). The time condition setting part 15 should just be set before acquiring the information regarding a biological activity at least.

  Next, when the 10-day embryo is inspected, the time condition setting unit of the inspection apparatus is set to setting 2, and the inspection start button is pressed. The 10-day embryo is less active in life than the 18-day embryo, and it is difficult to obtain information on the life activity. Therefore, setting 2 having a long examination time is selected for the purpose of increasing the acquisition time of information related to life activity and improving the examination accuracy.

  The examination according to setting 2 is the same as the examination according to setting 1 except that the examination time for acquiring the life activity is different. Therefore, the same steps are described with the same reference numerals.

  When inspecting a 10-day embryo, the time condition setting unit 15 of the inspection apparatus is set to setting 2, and the inspection start button 16 is pressed. As a result, a tray filled with a large number of eggs E having 10-day embryos is carried from the carry-in unit 2 to the test unit 3, and the upper part of the test unit body 7 provided with the light passage unit 9 is lowered and filled. Then, the various eggs E are covered with the cap 19 of the light passage portion 9 so that the light receiving portion 10 can receive the light transmitted through the various eggs E.

  In this state, the inspection unit 3 performs the inspection based on the information related to the biological activity after the light amount adjustment according to the egg E is performed.

  First, light is irradiated from the light irradiation part 12 toward many seed eggs with which the egg container T was filled (S1). The inspection apparatus 1 is provided with one light irradiation unit corresponding to various eggs, and all the light irradiation units simultaneously emit light.

  Next, the light receiving unit 10 receives the light transmitted through the various eggs E (S2). The light received by the light receiving unit 10 is photoelectrically converted by the photoelectric conversion unit 22 and transmitted to the determination calculation unit 24 as an electrical signal. The determination calculation unit 24 is connected to the light source light amount control unit 30, determines the light amount received by the light receiving unit 10, and the light source light amount control unit so that the light receiving unit 10 receives the light amount suitable for the inspection based on information related to life activity. 30 controls the light quantity of the light irradiation unit 12.

  Next, based on the light received by the light receiving unit 10, the determination calculation unit 24 acquires an electrical signal including information related to the biological activity (S3), and determines the activity of the embryo of the seed egg from the information related to the biological activity (S4). ). In setting 1, information on life activity is acquired with an acquisition time of 20 seconds and a cycle number of one. The light irradiation unit 12, the light receiving unit 10, and the like are controlled so that information relating to life activity can be acquired under the condition that the acquisition time is 10 seconds and the number of cycles is one.

  In addition to the determination of the degree of activity based on the information related to the biological activity, the determination calculation unit 24 may inspect the life and death from the transmittance of the egg. Moreover, the determination calculating part 24 determines that it is unclear when it cannot determine the activity level of the egg from the information on the biological activity acquired in one cycle of 20 seconds.

  Next, after acquiring information on the biological activity and checking the activity of the egg, the cap is removed from the egg E, and the egg E that has been inspected is transported from the inspection part to the carry-out part. Thereafter, the next egg container T is carried into the inspection unit, and the seed eggs filled in the egg container T are inspected.

  The loading, inspection and unloading of the egg E are repeated, and when the inspection of a predetermined number of eggs is completed, the inspection end button is pressed, and the inspection apparatus stops. In the inspection apparatus 1, the inspection from when the inspection start button is pressed until the inspection end button is pressed is automatically performed. Prior to this automatic inspection, the setting of the time condition setting unit 15 is changed (S5). The time condition setting part 15 should just be set before acquiring the information regarding a biological activity at least.

  Next, a repeated test according to setting 3 for reducing the unknown result of the activity test will be described. In the repeated inspection, the time condition setting unit of the inspection apparatus is set to setting 3, and the inspection start button 16 is pressed. As a result, a tray filled with a large number of eggs E having 18-day embryos is carried from the carry-in unit 2 to the test unit 3, and the upper part of the test unit body 7 provided with the light passage unit 9 is lowered and filled. Then, the various eggs E are covered with the cap 19 of the light passage portion 9 so that the light receiving portion 10 can receive the light transmitted through the various eggs E.

  In this state, after the light amount adjustment according to the egg E is performed, the inspection unit 3 acquires information based on information related to life activity.

  First, light is irradiated from the light irradiation part 12 toward many seed eggs with which the egg container T was filled (S1). The inspection apparatus 1 is provided with one light irradiation unit corresponding to various eggs, and all the light irradiation units simultaneously emit light. However, each light irradiation unit may sequentially emit light toward the corresponding egg.

  Next, the light receiving unit 10 receives the light transmitted through the various eggs E (S2). The light received by the light receiving unit 10 is photoelectrically converted by the photoelectric conversion unit 22 and transmitted to the determination calculation unit 24 as an electrical signal. The determination calculation unit 24 is connected to the light source light amount control unit 30, determines the light amount received by the light receiving unit 10, and the light source light amount control unit so that the light receiving unit 10 receives the light amount suitable for the inspection based on information related to life activity. 30 controls the light quantity of the light irradiation unit 12.

  Next, based on the light received by the light receiving unit, the determination calculation unit 24 acquires an electrical signal including information related to the biological activity (S3), and determines the activity of the embryo of the seed egg from the information related to the biological activity (S4). . In setting 3, information related to biological activity is acquired for one cycle of 10 seconds for each egg, and information related to biological activity is again obtained for one cycle of 10 seconds for the egg whose activity level is unknown in this one cycle. get. The light irradiation unit 12, the light receiving unit 10, and the like are controlled so that information relating to life activity can be acquired in two cycles of 10 seconds.

  The determination calculation unit 24 determines that the activity level of the egg is unknown if it cannot be determined from the information regarding the biological activity acquired in two cycles of 10 seconds. Moreover, in addition to the determination of the degree of activity based on the information regarding the biological activity, the determination calculation unit 24 may inspect the life and death from the transmission rate of the egg.

  Next, after acquiring information on the biological activity and checking the activity of the egg, the cap is removed from the egg E, and the egg E that has been inspected is transported from the inspection part to the carry-out part. Thereafter, the next egg container T is carried into the inspection unit, and the seed eggs filled in the egg container T are inspected.

  The loading, inspection, and unloading of the egg E are repeated, and when the inspection of a predetermined number of eggs is completed, the inspection end button is pressed and the inspection apparatus 1 stops. In the inspection apparatus 1, the inspection from when the inspection start button 16 is pressed until the inspection end button 17 is pressed is automatically performed. Prior to this automatic inspection, the setting of the time condition setting unit 15 is changed (S5). The time condition setting part 15 should just be set before acquiring the information regarding a biological activity at least.

  In addition, the 10-day embryo and the 18-day embryo may be subjected to a test for determining whether they are alive or dead according to the setting 4 based only on the transmission rate of the seed eggs. The transmittance of the egg can be acquired from the light amount adjusted by the light source light amount adjusting unit 30 before acquiring information on the biological activity. Therefore, since setting 3 does not acquire information related to life activity, the life / death determination test can be performed in a shorter time than setting 1 or setting 2.

  In the present embodiment, the 18-day embryo was inspected with setting 1 and the 10-day embryo was inspected with setting 2. However, the age at which to inspect in each setting may be changed as appropriate. For example, 10 embryos may be examined in setting 1. This is useful as a simple test. Alternatively, 18 day embryos may be examined in setting 2. This is useful as a close inspection. Furthermore, seed eggs other than 10-day embryos and 18-day embryos may be examined in each setting.

  Further, in setting 1 and setting 2, setting the time condition setting unit 15 (S5), obtaining information relating to life activity (S3), and determining the activity level of the egg from the information relating to life activity (S4) May be repeated. Furthermore, the acquisition time for acquiring the information on the life activity of the setting 1 and the setting 2 is 10 seconds and 20 seconds, respectively, and the number of cycles is 1, but the acquisition time and the number of cycles are appropriately adjusted. May be.

  In the present embodiment, the setting 3 sets the acquisition time to 10 seconds and the number of cycles to repeat the inspection, but the acquisition time and the number of cycles may be adjusted as appropriate. For example, the acquisition time may be another time, or the number of cycles may be repeated three or more times. Further, the number of cycles may be a plurality of times, and each time may be the same acquisition time, or the acquisition time may be changed for each acquisition of one cycle.

  In the present embodiment, in setting 3, the number of cycles is set to a plurality of times only for the egg eggs whose activity is unknown, but the number of cycles may be set to a plurality of times for all the eggs tested for activity. Good. In this case, the result of the inspection can be obtained comprehensively based on the result of each inspection.

  In the present embodiment, the time condition setting unit 15 has four stages of setting 1, setting 2, setting 3, and setting 4, but may be two stages or five or more stages. Moreover, the setting which performs the test | inspection of the viability determination by the transmittance | permeability of the egg egg like setting 4 does not need to be provided.

  The embodiment disclosed this time is an example, and the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the scope described above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

  The present invention can be used for the inspection of eggs typified by chicken eggs.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inspection apparatus, 2 carry-in part, 3 inspection part, 4 carry-out part, 6 conveyance path, 7 inspection part main body, 9 light passage part, 10 light-receiving part, 12 light irradiation part, 14 inspection control part, 15 time condition setting part, 16 inspection start button, 17 inspection end button, 19 cap, 20 inspection control device, 22 photoelectric conversion unit, 24 determination operation unit, 26 storage unit, 28 display unit, 30 light source light quantity control unit, 32 light source on / off switch, T egg Container, T1 egg storage seat.

Claims (8)

In one test unit, each of a large number of eggs is irradiated with light, each of the lights transmitted through the various eggs is received, and information on the biological activity in which the living organisms inside the various eggs are activated is obtained from the received light. An inspection device that inspects the activity of various eggs from information on biological activity,
Performing the activity test on a plurality of test units;
In each inspection unit, an egg inspection apparatus capable of changing the inspection condition regarding time according to the age of the egg. Information on the biological activity is acquired with a predetermined acquisition time as one cycle,
The egg inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the time-related inspection condition includes a cycle number and an acquisition time for acquiring information regarding the life activity. A light irradiation unit that irradiates light to each of a large number of eggs,
A light receiving unit that individually receives light transmitted through various eggs;
Obtaining information on the biological activity in which the living organisms inside the various eggs are active from the received light, and comprising a test control unit that examines the activity of the various eggs from the information on the biological activity,
The said test | inspection control part acquires the information regarding the said biological activity with the predetermined | prescribed acquisition time and the predetermined | prescribed cycle number, The inspection apparatus of the egg hatching which can change the said acquisition time or the said cycle number according to the age of the egg. The acquisition time is the same for the multiple eggs,
The egg inspection apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the number of cycles is changed for various eggs. The number of cycles is one;
4. The egg inspection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the acquisition time is changed for various eggs. A first step of irradiating each of a large number of eggs with light;
A second step for receiving light transmitted through various eggs,
A third step of acquiring information relating to biological activities in which the living organisms in various eggs are active from the received light;
4th step which test | inspects the activity of various eggs from the information regarding the said biological activity,
Prior to the third step, at least a fifth step of changing the inspection condition regarding time according to the age of the seed egg for various eggs. After the completion of the fourth step, a sixth step for further changing the inspection condition regarding time for various eggs,
Subsequent to the sixth step, a seventh step of acquiring information on the biological activity in which the living body inside the various eggs is active from the received light,
The test for eggs according to claim 6 , comprising an eighth step of testing the activity of various eggs from information relating to the biological activity acquired in at least one of the third step and the seventh step. Method. The method for inspecting eggs according to claim 6 , wherein the third and fourth steps are repeated after the fourth step.

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