JPH0328749Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a mushroom culture medium transport control device.

Artificial cultivation of mushrooms such as enoki-dake involves mixing sawdust and rice bran, adding water and stirring to create a culture medium, filling this into cultivation bottles, and planting the seed fungus. recent years,
With the development of various cultivation equipment, productivity has improved and it has become possible to cultivate in large numbers with a small number of people, but development often focuses only on equipment for each process,
The development of systems for coordination between each process is not sufficient. For example, mixers are used to make culture media, and bottling machines have been developed to bottle culture media, and each of these machines is suitable for mass production. However, when the culture medium produced in the mixer is conveyed into the hopper of the packing machine, it is carried out by a simple conveyor, and no control device is attached. However, since the conveyance amount of the conveyor is not constant and there are differences in the throughput of the filling machine, the current situation is that a supervisor is assigned to monitor the excess or deficiency of culture medium in the hopper.

In view of the above, the present invention aims to provide an apparatus that can automatically deliver an appropriate amount of culture medium during production of culture medium and bottling of culture medium without any supervision. It is. The gist of this is that in a conveyor system in which the mushroom culture medium taken out from the outlet of a mixer is carried into the hopper of a stuffing machine by a conveyor, a slide opening/closing plate that opens and closes the outlet of the mixer, and a slide opening/closing plate inside the hopper of the stuffing machine are used. This is a mushroom culture medium transport control device comprising a detection means for detecting the level of the culture medium, and a forward/reverse motor for moving the slide opening/closing plate according to the output of the detection means.

The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings shown as examples. 1 is a mixer for stirring the culture medium, which is equipped with stirring blades (not shown); Materials such as the following are carried in and a mushroom culture medium is manufactured within the mixer 1. Reference numeral 3 denotes an outlet provided at the lower part of the body of the mixer 1. Guide rails 4 are attached to the top and bottom of the outside of the outlet 3, and a slide opening/closing mechanism is guided by the guide rail 4 to open and close the outlet 3. A plate 5 is fitted so as to be movable in the horizontal direction. This opening/closing plate 5
A rack 6 is attached directly or indirectly to the motor, and a pinion 8 attached to the shaft of a forward/reverse motor 7 is engaged with the rack 6.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a belt conveyor, one end of which is placed directly below the outlet 3 of the mixer 1, and the other end of which is placed at the hopper 11 of the packing machine 10. Although this conveyor 9 is not shown, it is constantly rotated by another motor while the apparatus is in operation.

The filling machine 10 includes a stand 1 for setting a plurality of culture bottles 12 under a hole provided at the bottom of the hopper 11.
3, and a protruding rod 1 that pistons up and down in this hole.
It consists of 4. 15 is a detection means for detecting the level of the culture medium in the hopper 11, and is, for example, a reflective phototube. The output of this detection means 15 is applied to a forward/reverse motor 7, and when the culture medium is below a certain level, the motor 7 rotates forward, and when the culture medium is above a certain level, it rotates reversely.

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the culture medium material is carried into the mixer 1, mixed, and when the mixing is completed, the conveyor 9 is driven,
A culture bottle 12 is set in the filling machine 10 in advance.

At the initial stage, there is no culture medium in the hopper 11 of the packing machine 10, so the forward/reverse motor 7 rotates in the normal direction, and the slide opening/closing plate 5 is guided by the guide rail 4 and moves in the direction to open the outlet 3. (Towards the right in Figure 3). When the outlet 3 opens, the stirred culture medium falls onto one end of the conveyor 9 and is conveyed into the hopper 11. When the detection means 15 detects that the level of the culture medium in the hopper 11 has reached a certain level, a reverse rotation signal is sent to the forward/reverse motor 7, and the motor 7 starts reverse rotation, and as a result, the slide opening/closing plate 5 Move in the closing direction (to the left in Figure 3) and exit the outlet 3 of mixer 1.
The amount of culture medium falling from the hopper 11 is thus reduced, and the level of culture medium within the hopper 11 is thus maintained at an appropriate level.

As described above, in the present invention, the level of the culture medium in the hopper 11 is detected and the amount of culture medium delivered from the mixer 1 is adjusted by opening and closing the slide opening/closing plate 5, so that there is no possibility of excess or deficiency of culture medium in the hopper. There is no need for a supervisor to be present, and since a suitable amount of culture medium remains in the hopper, smooth and uniform bottling of the culture medium can be performed. In particular, in the present invention, the slide opening/closing plate that opens and closes the outlet at the bottom of the mixer's body is installed so that it can move freely in the horizontal direction, and the opening/closing operation is a linear movement from side to side. A small amount of power is sufficient, and the slide opening/closing plate does not move unexpectedly due to the rotational friction of the internal culture medium.Furthermore, even with the curvature of the slide opening/closing plate, it does not slide vertically. There is no need to consider alignment with the curvature of the mixer's body, and unlike those that move up and down, the slide opening/closing plate of the present invention, which moves horizontally, has a constant weight in both opening and closing directions. , the drive means such as a motor can have a simple configuration without becoming complicated.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of the conveyance system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partial vertical sectional view of the slide opening/closing plate portion of the mixer, and FIG. 3 is a partial side view of the sliding opening/closing plate portion. 1... Mixer, 3... Outlet, 4... Guide rail, 5... Slide opening/closing plate, 7... Forward/reverse motor, 9... Conveyor, 10... Packing machine, 11... Hopper, 12... Culture bottle, 15... detection means.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a conveyance system in which the mushroom culture medium taken out from the outlet of a mixer is carried into the hopper of a stuffing machine by a conveyor, a slide opening/closing plate slides horizontally to open and close the outlet provided below the mixer. , a detection means for detecting the level of the culture medium retained in the hopper of the packing machine, and a forward/reverse motor for moving the slide opening/closing plate according to the output of the means. Control device.