JPH01256325A - System for producing plant - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve operating efficiency, by automating entrance and exit of trays from shelves and connecting a tray warehousing and delivering device and a workplace with conveyors in a system for containing a tray carrying growth vessels for culturing plant tissues, seeds and seedlings in rotating shelves, culturing and cultivating the plant tissues, seeds and seedlings. CONSTITUTION:A system for producing plants, having an automatic warehousing and delivering device 20 for automatically warehousing and delivering trays 6 with plural culture vessels 5 for plant tissues, seeds and seedlings installed adjacent to a rotating shelf device provided with plural housing shelves 3 revolved along a prescribed orbit, carrying conveyors 23 and 24 provided between the warehousing and delivering device 20 and a workplace for carrying out inoculation of the plant tissues or planting of seedlings in the culture vessels 5 and illuminators installed above the trays in the housing shelves 3 and used for growing tissues, seeds and seedlings in the culture vessels 5 in a state starkly arranged in the housing shelves 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a plant production system, and particularly to a plant production system including culturing of plant tissue, raising of seedlings, and cultivation of vegetables, fruits, ornamental plants, etc.

[Conventional technology]

Today, we are cultivating M1 plants, growing seeds, vegetables, fruits,
Many methods have been proposed for plant production, including the cultivation of ornamental plants, etc., in which the environmental conditions for growing plants, such as temperature and light, are controlled in large-scale growth chambers or greenhouses. One such method is, for example, a cultivation cart moving system as shown in FIG. 15.

The cultivation cart moving system consists of a plurality of rows of moving rails 61 provided in a greenhouse, and a large number of bots 62 that run on these moving rails 61 and constitute a cultivation bed for growing plants to be cultivated. There is.

Other methods include the triangular roof slope cultivation method and the pot hanging method; the former involves forming a sloping cultivation bed in a greenhouse, while the latter uses pots that form a multi-tiered cultivation bed. is suspended directly on a trolley conveyor for transportation.

[Invention or problem to be solved]

However, all of the above-mentioned methods have problems in that they require very large-scale equipment and devices and require a large area to occupy.

In addition, seedling planting, transplanting, inspection, and harvesting, which are generally conducted in a relatively high-temperature, constant temperature and humidity-controlled space for culturing, growing, and cultivating plants, require long hours of manual labor and pain. It was accompanied by

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a plurality of storage shelves capable of storing trays capable of arranging a plurality of culture vessels in a plurality of vertical stages, and a system for making these storage shelves revolve along a constant trajectory. a rotating shelf device comprising a storage shelf rotating device; a lighting device provided above the tray in the storage shelf for illuminating the tray; and a lighting device for automatically loading and unloading the tray into the storage shelf. It consists of an automatic loading and unloading device, and a conveyor provided between the loading and unloading device and a workshop for performing various operations such as inoculating the culture containers with plant tissues and planting seedlings.

[Effect]

The present invention uses the above-mentioned means to perform various operations such as inoculating plant tissue into culture containers and planting seedlings in a workplace, and then placing these containers on trays, and then placing these containers on a conveyor. The trays are placed on the tray and transported to an automatic loading/unloading device, and the trays are stored in storage shelves by the automatic loading/unloading device, and cultivation, growth, and cultivation are performed while the trays revolve on a constant orbit. Then, the plants that have been cultivated are taken out of the tray by an automatic loading/unloading device from the storage shelf, and transported by a conveyor to a work site, where they are subjected to harvesting work, etc.

Therefore, the work opening allows various operations such as bacterial seeding, harvesting, etc. to be performed at a fixed position, and the operations can be performed in a comfortable environment. In addition, the rotating shelving device can effectively utilize three-dimensional space and occupy an extremely small area compared to the conventional method of arranging cultivation beds horizontally, so equipment costs can be kept low.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the plant production system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 14.

As shown in FIG. 1, the plant production system of the present invention includes a plant production chamber 1 in which the environment such as temperature and humidity is adjusted to predetermined conditions.
A rotary shelf device 2 is disposed within the plant production chamber 1.

The rotating shelf device 2 consists of a plurality of storage shelves 3 connected in a loop shape by a chain 7, and each storage shelf 3 has a plurality of shelves 4 as shown in FIG. A tray 6 on which a plurality of containers 5 can be arranged can be stored in a plurality of vertical stages.

Further, a roller r is provided on the bottom surface of each storage s3 as shown in FIG.
It is possible to walk on it.

Therefore, each storage shelf 3 and chain 7 are fixed together on the back side of the storage shelf 3 as shown in FIG. 4, and the chain 7 is fixed as shown in FIG. It is wound around a regular hexagonal drive sprocket 8 and driven sprocket 9 at both left and right ends. The drive sprocket 8 is connected to a motor M1 via a chain 10, and the chain 7 is driven by the rotation of the motor M1, so that each storage llll3 is run on a loop-shaped rail 11 by a roller r. ing.

In addition, as shown in Fig. 3, a frame 12 is provided inside each storage unit II3 arranged in a loop shape, and the frame 12 stands up from the floor. The power supply device Z13.13 is provided with a guide rail 14.13 slightly below the power supply device Z13.13.
14 has been extended. The power supply device 13.13 has a contact bar 15.15 installed upright from the wall of each storage shelf 3.
are in contact with each other, and power is supplied to a lighting device 16 (shown in FIG. 5) provided at the top of each shelf of each storage shelf 3. Further, rollers r provided on the top wall of each storage shelf 3 are engaged with the guide rails 14.14.

In addition, FIG. 5 (a) shows an example in which the lighting device 16 is arranged from the shelf frontage side to the depth side, and FIG. For example, a fluorescent lamp for plant cultivation is used as the lighting device 16, and the illumination intensity (1) is selected according to the plants to be produced. Device 1
6 may be a fixed lighting device as shown in FIG.

That is, a fixed lighting device 16 is provided on the inner wall and the center of the plant production room 1, and the tray 6 is placed on a mountain-shaped inclined slope 6a, 6a.
Formed so as to have. In this example, the trolley type power supply device is not required.

In addition, the plant production room 1 is provided with an opening/closing door 18.
An automatic loading/unloading bag 7120 is disposed adjacent to the opening/closing door 18. As shown in FIG. 2, the automatic loading and unloading device 20 includes a lifting table 21, a tray loading and unloading device 26 provided on the R table 21, and a lifting device that lifts and lowers the lifting table 21 (the lifting device is a lifting motor). and (not shown because it is a normal type with a balance weight).

A loading/unloading conveyor 23, 24 is provided between the automatic loading/unloading device 20 and a workplace for performing various operations such as inoculating plant cells into the culture containers 5 and planting seedlings. The tray 6 is conveyed from the work place to the conveyance roller 22 arranged on the lifting table 21 by the conveyor 23 for warehousing, and the tray 6 is conveyed from the lift table 21 to the work place by the conveyor 24 for outgoing. ing. Furthermore, a device equipped with a transfer table 25 that can be raised and lowered is disposed at one end of the conveyor 23, 24.

On the other hand, the tray loading/unloading device 26 is supported by a support frame f that is erected from the lifting table 21 so as to be located slightly above the conveyor 17-ra 22 of the lifting table 21, as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9. has been done. The tray loading/unloading device 26 includes a pair of channel-shaped base frames 2.
7.28, and a pair of guide rails 29.30 are fixed to this base frame 27.28.

Further, an L-shaped support fitting 31 is arranged in the center of the pair of base frames 27 and 28 in parallel with them.
A pair of front and rear Sugerockets 32 and 33 are attached to this support fitting 31.
is rotatably supported. An endless chain 34 is wound between the pair of sprockets 32 and 33, and the front sprocket rocket 32 is driven by a deceleration motor M2 attached to the base frame 27.

A pair of left and right rollers 35, 35; 36, 36 are engaged with the pair of left and right rails 29, 30, the pair of rollers 35, 35 are held by a roller mounting plate 37, and the pair of rollers 36, 36 are It is held by a roller mounting plate 38.

A running plate 39 is supported by roller mounting plates 37 and 38, and this running plate 39 and the endless chain 31
1 through a first linking plate 40, and the three running plates move back and forth along the rails 29 and 30 by the rotation of the Sugerocket 32.

Furthermore, bearing plates 42.43 are provided hanging down from the three running plates, and the center portion of a swinging arm 45 having an upwardly directed hook 44 at its tip is pivoted to this bearing plate 42.43.

The rear end of the swinging arm 45 and the first linking plate 40 are connected to the second linking plate 4.
It is linked by 6.

In the above-mentioned tray loading/unloading device 26, as shown in FIG. ! When the end chain 34 rotates counterclockwise, the running plate 39
Since the rear end of the first linking plate 40 moves over the upper part of the endless chain 34, the swinging arm 45 moves forward with its front end directed diagonally downward. After the pivot point on the endless chain 34 reaches above the sprocket 32, the first linking plate 40
The rear end of the sprocket 32 is lowered along the circumferential side of the sprocket 32.

Therefore, via the second linking plate 46, the upward hook 44 at the front end of the swinging arm 45 swings upward while moving slightly forward in an arc, as shown by the imaginary line 18.

When the lower end of the first linking plate 40 reaches below the sprocket 32, the upward hook 44 engages with the hook piece 6a of the tray 6, and the holding plate 4 protruding from the running plate 39
Press the tray against the bottom surface of 9, and then press the endless chain 3
4, when the lower end of the first linking plate 40 begins to retreat,
Together with the running plate 39, the tray is pulled out onto the conveying roller 22.

When the three running plates retreat to the rear end, each member moves in the opposite manner to that described above, as shown in FIG. Move to the 23° and 24 sides of the conveyor.

On the other hand, when storing trays, when the endless chain 34 is rotated clockwise in FIG. Stored while engaged? ! Advance towards PI3. After the pivot portion on the endless chain 34 reaches below the sprocket 32, the rear end of the first linking plate 40 is raised along the circumferential side of the sprocket 32. Then, the upward hook 44 at the front end of the swinging arm 45 swings downward via the second linking plate 46, and the engagement between the piece 6a and the upward hook 44 of the tray 6 is released, and the tray 6 is Stock receipt is completed.

Next, a culture solution supply device 50 for supplying a culture solution to a culture container will be explained with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.

The culture medium supply device 50 is arranged at position A in FIG. 1, that is, adjacent to the conveyor 23, 24 as shown in FIG. The culture solution supply device 50 consists of a culture solution supply tank 51, a delivery pump 52, and a supply pipe 53.
The culture solution in the container 5 is poured out under pressure by a delivery bonder 52 and is sprayed and supplied to the plants in the container 5 on the tray 6 through a supply pipe 53.

Further, FIG. 11 shows an example in which the culture solution supply device 50 is provided at position B in FIG. 1, that is, it shows an example in which it is provided adjacent to the storage shelf 3. The culture solution supply device 50 shown in FIG. 1 is composed of a culture solution supply tank 51, a delivery pump 52, and a supply pipe 53 as in FIG. multiple books (53a
.

53b and 53c). and,
Each supply pipe 53a, 53b, 53c can move forward and backward, and only when supplying the culture solution to the plants in the container 5.
It is designed to extend into the storage shelf 3.

Next, the operation of the plant production system configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIGS. 12 to 14.

Plant tissue is inoculated into the culture container 5 at the workshop (12th
These containers 5 After placing the tray 6 on the tray 6, the tray 6, which can be raised and lowered, is placed on the transfer table 25 as shown in FIG.
3, it is conveyed to the conveyance roller 22 on the lifting table 21 of the automatic loading/unloading device 20. In addition, the culture solution is supplied by the culture solution supply device 50 while being transported by the storage conveyor 23. Then, the tray loading/unloading device 26 starts operating, and the endless chain 34 is rotated clockwise by the deceleration motor M2, and the swinging arm 45 is rotated as shown in FIG.
swings upward, and the upward hook 44 at the tip of the tray 6
The hook moves forward toward the storage shelf 3 while being engaged with the piece 6a. At this time, the opening/closing door 18 is in an open state. Then, after the tray 6 is placed on the shelf board 4 of the storage shelf 3, the swinging arm 45 swings downward and is disengaged from the upward hook 44, thereby completing storage of the tray 6. Tray 6 like this
are stored one after another in a storage shelf 3 stopped at a position opposite to an opening/closing door 18 of a plant production room 1. When one shelf 3 is full, the next shelf 3 is moved to the position of the opening/closing door 18 and the trays 6 are stored in the same manner as described above.

When this storage work is completed, each storage shelf 3 revolves on a loop-shaped orbit by the rotating shelf device 2, and production such as culturing, growing, and cultivation of plants is performed in the plant production room 1 maintained in an optimal environment. It will be done. When the production process is finished after a specified period of time,
The automatic loading/unloading device 20 takes the tray 6 out of the warehouse.
This is done by transferring the images from the storage shelf 3 to the conveyance rollers 22 on the lifting table 21. Then, the transport 17-ra 2
The trays 6 on the trays 2 are conveyed to a transfer table 25 by the unloading conveyors 2 and 4, and harvesting work is performed in a work area adjacent to the table 25.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the description of the embodiments described above, according to the present invention, after various operations such as inoculating plant tissue into culture containers and planting seedlings in a workshop are performed, these containers are placed on a tray. After that, this tray is placed on a conveyor and transported to an automatic loading/unloading device 2. The tray is stored in a storage shelf by this automatic loading/unloading device, and while it revolves on a constant orbit, it is cultured, grown, and Cultivation takes place. After cultivation, etc., the plants are unloaded from the tray-by-tray storage fence by an automatic loading/unloading device and conveyed to a work site by a conveyor, where they are subjected to harvesting work, etc. Therefore, workers can perform various tasks such as seedling, sowing, and harvesting from a fixed position.
Able to work in a comfortable environment.

In addition, since many tasks can be performed efficiently, considerable labor savings can be achieved when the scale of production is large.

Furthermore, the rotating shelving device can effectively utilize three-dimensional space and occupy an extremely small area compared to the conventional method of arranging cultivation beds horizontally, so equipment costs can be kept low.

Further, according to the present invention, nutrients can be automatically supplied to the culture container by the culture solution supply device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an embodiment of the plant production system according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the plant production system, Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the plant production system, and Fig. 4 is a schematic plan view of the plant production system according to the present invention. An enlarged plan view of the main parts of the production system, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the lighting device of the plant production system, FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a modification of the lighting device of the same plant production system, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the lighting device of the same plant production system. Front view of the tray loading/unloading device of the production system, Figure 8 is same as 1
- A plan view of the tray loading/unloading device, FIG. 9 is a side view of the same tray loading/unloading device, FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of the culture solution supply device of the same plant production system, and FIG. 11 is a modification of the same culture solution supply device. The schematic diagrams shown in FIGS. 12 to 14 are explanatory views of the operation of the plant production system, and FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing a conventional plant production system. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Plant production room, 2... Rotating shelf device, 3... Storage shelf, 4... Shelf board, 5... Culture container, 6... Tray, 7... Chain, 8 ... Drive sprocket, 9
... Driven sprocket, 10... Chain, 12.
... Frame, 13... Power supply device, 14... Guide rail, 15... Contact bar, 16... Lighting device, 1
8...Opening/closing door, 20...Automatic entry/exit device, 21...
- Elevating table, 22... Conveyance roller, 23... Conveyance conveyor for warehousing, 24... Conveyance conveyor for outbound storage, 2
6... Tray entry/exit device, 27. 28... Base frame, 29. 30... Kite rail, 31... Support metal fittings, 32. 33... Sprocket, 34... Endless chain, 35. 36... Roller, 37... Roller mounting plate, 38... Roller mounting plate, 39... Running plate,
40...First linking plate, 42.43...Bearing plate, 44
. . . upward hook, 45 . . . swinging arm, 46 . . . second linking plate, 50 . . . culture solution supply device. Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Figure 14 Figure 15 [;]

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A plurality of storage shelves capable of storing trays capable of arranging a plurality of culture vessels in a plurality of vertical stages, and a storage shelf for causing these plurality of storage shelves to revolve along a constant trajectory. a rotating shelf device including a rotating device; a lighting device provided above the tray in the storage shelf for illuminating the plants in the tray;
an automatic loading and unloading device for automatically loading and unloading the trays into the storage shelf; a workshop and the loading and unloading device for performing various operations such as inoculating the culture containers with plant tissue and planting seedlings; A plant production system consisting of a conveyor installed between the plants. 2. The plant production system according to claim 1, further comprising a culture solution supply device for supplying a culture solution to the culture container.