JPH05256680A - Remote measuring method of residual quantity in feed tank - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the efficient replenishment of feed to each individual feed tank achievable by enabling it to remotely measure the residual quantity of feed in the respective feed tanks in each farm, and eliminating any dead time to go round a number of farmhouses so frequently for only checking the feed residual quantity. CONSTITUTION:An ultrasonic sensor S is attached to the backside of a cover 4 of each feed tank T installed in each farm, measuring a distance up to a surface of residual feed. Each of these respective sensors is connected to a computer unit installed in a center through a telephone line, thereby transmitting the residual quantity of feed as distance data up to the surface of the residual feed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for remotely calibrating the remaining amount of feed in a feed tank, in which the remaining amount of feed in each feed tank installed in each farm is remotely calibrated.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Dairy farms, fattening cattle farms, pig farms, and even poultry farms are equipped with a plurality of feed tanks (3 to 8 in general farms) and store feed in these tanks. When the remaining amount of feed in the tank falls below a certain level, feed is transported by the feed carrier of the feed manufacturer (or the feed transport company outsourced by the manufacturer) to replenish the feed tank. ..

To check the amount of feed remaining in the feed tank, once a week, a sales employee of the feed sales company directly visits each farmer and uses the traps attached to the feed tank. Then, you can check by climbing on this and removing the lid, or visually by seeing through the transparent window provided on the feed tank itself, and further hitting the tank wall,
The actual situation is that the sound is used to confirm it empirically. The number of feed tanks, the size of feed tanks, the amount of feed used, etc. all differ depending on the individual farm, and if the patrol is conducted about once a week, the remaining amount can be accurately checked without causing feed shortage. It's getting harder to replenish. In addition, any of the methods for confirming the remaining amount of feed is performed visually by a person based on his / her experience, and thus there is a problem of lack of accuracy. Therefore, in order to efficiently replenish each feed tank of each farmer with feed so that feed will be replenished when the remaining feed falls below a certain level without causing feed shortage, increase the number of patrols or make an emergency. Feed sales companies are required to have a certain amount of inventory in order to prepare for orders. On the other hand, under the working situation where the two-day work week system has been established, in preparation for the holidays, sales employees run around each farmer before the holidays to check the remaining amount of feed for the holidays.
And the fact is that they are supplementing it.

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention makes it possible to remotely calibrate the amount of feed remaining in each feed tank of each farm, so that a person frequently travels around the farm only to check the amount of feed remaining. It is an issue to eliminate the above problem so that each farm can efficiently replenish each feed tank with feed.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The means adopted by the present invention for solving this problem is an extra measure for measuring the distance to the surface of the remaining feed in each feed tank installed in each farm. Each of the ultrasonic sensor devices is attached, the computer device on the center side and each ultrasonic sensor device are connected via a communication line, and the remaining amount of feed in each feed tank is remotely measured by access on the center side. It is configured as follows.

[0006]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to examples. 1 is a sectional view of the feed tank T, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a method for calibrating the remaining amount of feed according to the present invention.
In the feed tank T, a feed inlet 2 is provided at the upper end of a main body 1 in which upper and lower end portions of a cylindrical portion are concatenated with conical portions, and a feed outlet 3 is provided at the lower end thereof. There is.
A lid 4 is provided on the feed inlet 2 of the main body 1, and a bottom lid 5 is provided on the feed outlet 4. The main body 1 of the feed tank T is provided on the ground via a plurality of pedestals 6. The bottom cover 5 is opened to allow the feed contained in the main body 1 to be naturally discharged, and the cover 4 is opened to supplement the feed from the feed inlet 2.

In the present invention, an ultrasonic sensor device S for detecting the remaining amount of the feed 7 contained in the main body 1 of the feed tank T is attached to the back surface of the lid 4.
This ultrasonic sensor device S uses piezoelectric ceramics that can easily generate ultrasonic waves. An ultrasonic beam is emitted from the piezoelectric ceramics toward the lower side of the lid body 4 and reflected on the surface of the residual feed 7. The distance (H) between the sensor device S and the surface of the residual feed 7 is detected by receiving the received wave and detecting the received wave level.
Is configured to be measured. As described above, the ultrasonic sensor device is most suitable for detecting the position from the specific point to the surface of the remaining feed when the position of the surface changes depending on the amount of the remaining feed in the feed tank T. Moreover, since the feed tank T has a diameter of about 2 m and a height of 3 to 5 m, the distance from the specific point to the surface of the remaining feed can be detected with high accuracy by the ultrasonic sensor device. Further, the back surface of the lid body 4 is selected as the mounting portion of the ultrasonic sensor device S because the lid body 4 is located at the portion where the distance to the surface of the residual feed 7 is most easily measured. This is because it is easy to put on, and the adverse effects of stored feed and rainwater are small. However, in the present invention, the mounting site of the ultrasonic sensor device S in the feed tank T is not limited to the back surface of the lid 4. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 8 denotes a lead wire connected to the ultrasonic sensor device S, and the main body 1 of the tank T
It is wired through the air holes provided in.

In FIG. 2, each farm generally has a plurality of feed tanks T, and each of the feed tanks T is equipped with the above ultrasonic sensor device S, and each farm owns each feed tank T. The plurality of sensor devices S of T are
It is connected to the terminal network control device 12 via the adapter 11, and by communication with one terminal network control device 12, it is possible to simultaneously calibrate the remaining feed amount of a plurality of feed tanks T owned by one farmer. is there. The terminal network control device 12 is provided near the installation part of the feed tank T on the farm, and the telephone 13 is connected to it.

Each farm is provided with the terminal network control device 12 as described above, and the large number of terminal network control devices 12 and the center network control device 14 installed in the center C are connected by telephone lines. It is tied at 15. Center C
A host computer 16, a printer device 17 connected to the host computer 16, a protocol conversion device 18, and the center network control device 14 are provided. As will be described later, since the operating time of the host computer 16 is short and the host computer 16 does not operate all day long, a 16-bit personal computer is sufficient. Also, when the communication volume is high, a dedicated line can be used instead of the telephone line. It should be noted that in FIG. 2, reference numeral 19 indicates an exchange owned by a telecommunications carrier. The configuration of these communication means is no different from that of general data communication.

In the center C, when a specific farm is accessed through the telephone line 15 about once a day, the terminal C is connected to the terminal network control device 12,
The distance data detected by the ultrasonic sensor devices S of the plurality of feed tanks T owned by the farmer are transmitted to the center C and input to the host computer 16. The data input to the host computer 16 relates to the distance between the surface of the remaining feed 7 in the feed tank T and the sensor device S, and does not directly indicate the remaining feed amount. However, since the shape of each tank T such as the diameter is known in advance, if the distance between the surface of the remaining feed 7 and the sensor device S is known, the remaining amount of feed can be immediately known by the calculation formula. Therefore, if this calculation formula is input to the host computer 16, the remaining amount of feed is calculated and output by the computer 16. Therefore, on the side of the center C, it is possible to remotely and accurately measure the remaining amount of feed in each feed tank of a large number of farmers managed by the center C.

[0011]

Industrial Applicability According to the present invention, an ultrasonic sensor device for measuring the distance to the surface of the residual feed in the tank is attached to each feed tank provided in each farm. Since the ultrasonic sensor device is connected via a communication line and the amount of feed remaining in each feed tank is remotely calibrated by access from the center side, feed remaining in each tank of many farms is adjusted. The center can accurately grasp and manage the amount. For this reason, it is possible to efficiently replenish the individual feed tanks with the feeds, and to eliminate the waste of the people frequently traveling around the farm only for checking the remaining amount of the feeds in the tanks as in the conventional case.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a feed tank T.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a method for calibrating the remaining amount of feed according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 C: Center S: Ultrasonic sensor device T: Feed tank 4: Feed tank lid 15: Telephone line (communication line)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ultrasonic sensor device for measuring the distance to the surface of the residual feed in the tank is attached to each feed tank provided in each farm, and a computer device on the center side and each of the ultrasonic sensor devices are attached. Is connected via a communication line, and the remaining amount of feed in each feed tank is remotely calibrated by access from the center side. Calibration method.