JPH06201445A - Weighing system for walking animal - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize simplification of control mechanism by eliminating the need of a sensor for detecting passage of walking animal at an inlet gate through the use of the essential mechanism of weighing system. CONSTITUTION:A weighing section 2 is disposed at a part of a path 1 for introducing a walking animal and an inlet gate 3 shading the front view of the walking animal under fully closed state is installed at an inlet section wherein the inlet gate 3 is switched between the fully closed state and an intermediate state. Under the intermediate state, a gate open/close means 5 allows the walking animal to push open the gate and a control means 100 controls the gate open/close means 5 such that the inlet gate 3 is switched to the intermediate state when a walking animal passing through the outlet part of the weighing section is detected whereas the inlet gate 3 is switched to fully-closed state when a walking animal passing through the inlet gate 3 is detected. When the weighed value at the weighing section 2 makes a transition from a state lower than a set value to a state higher than the set value, the control means 100 decides that a walking animal passing through the inlet gate 3 has detected.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention provides a weighing section for weighing a plurality of walking animals, which is provided in a part of a guideway for guiding a plurality of walking animals. An entrance gate that blocks the forward field of view of the walking animal is provided in a state of being urged to return to the fully closed state side, and the entrance gate is switched between the fully closed state and an intermediate state between fully closed and fully opened,
And, in the midway state, the gate opening and closing means that allows the walking animal to push open to pass, and the entrance gate is switched to the midway state with the passage of the walking animal at the exit portion of the weighing unit, and The present invention relates to a walking animal weighing apparatus, which is provided with control means for controlling the operation of the gate opening / closing means so as to switch the entrance gate to the fully closed state as a walking animal passes through the entrance gate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In such a walking animal weighing device, when weighing a group of walking animals (for example, walking animals such as cows, sheep and horses), when forward sight is interrupted, the forward movement is stopped. Using the nature of walking animals that move forward when the forward view is opened, the entrance gate is switched to an intermediate state with the passage of walking animals at the exit of the weighing unit, and subsequent walking animals enter the weighing unit. One of the herds (cattle, etc.) is allowed by switching the entrance gate to the fully closed state with the passage of walking animals at the entrance gate to prevent the next walking animal from entering the weighing section. In this case, the number of animals is counted as one, so in the following, they were individually guided to the weighing section to weigh the walking animal.

[0003] Conventionally, as a means for detecting passage of a walking animal at the entrance gate when switching the entrance gate from the midway state to the fully closed state, for example, the entrance gate is provided around the vertical axis at the lateral end of the taxiway. A magnetic proximity sensor that is configured as a swingable gate made of a magnetic material and that swings toward the end of the taxiway in the lateral width direction due to the passage of a walking animal. It is configured to be provided (for example, see Japanese Patent Application No. 4-71790 previously proposed by the applicant). In other words, the proximity sensor detects the passage of a walking animal at the entrance gate,
Based on this detection information, the opening / closing means is operated so as to switch the entrance gate from the halfway state to the fully closed state.

[0004]

However, in the above prior art, it is necessary to provide a special sensor such as a proximity sensor in order to detect the passage of a walking animal at the entrance gate, which complicates the structure of the weighing device. There was a problem.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to make it possible to detect the passage of a walking animal at an entrance gate by utilizing the original structure of a weighing device. Is to simplify.

[0006]

According to a characteristic configuration of a weighing apparatus for a walking animal according to the present invention, the control means is such that, in a midway state of the entrance gate, the weighing value of the weighing section is set to a value smaller than a set value. The point is configured to determine that a walking animal is passing through the entrance gate when the state changes to a larger state.

[0007]

The characteristic configuration of the present invention is that the weighing value is once reduced as the walking animal being weighed passes through the exit portion, and the entrance gate is switched to an intermediate state so that the following walking animal is weighed. In order to effectively use the point that the weighing value increases again as the vehicle enters the control section, the control means compares the weighing value of the weighing section with the set value in the middle of the entrance gate, and the weighing value is If the state changes from a state smaller than the set value to a state larger than the set value, it is determined that the walking animal is passing through the entrance gate, the entrance gate is switched to the fully closed state, and the walking animal in the rear enters the weighing section. The gate opening / closing means is operated so as to prevent

[0008]

According to the characterizing feature of the present invention, the weighing information of the weighing unit which originally exists for the purpose of weighing is utilized,
Since the passage of the walking animal at the entrance gate is detected, it is not necessary to provide an extra detection means such as a proximity sensor for that purpose, and the overall configuration can be simplified.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the overall structure of a walking animal weighing apparatus according to the present invention. The weighing apparatus is provided with a taxiway 1 for guiding a herd of cattle, which is an example of a walking animal. A part of 1 is provided with a weighing platform 2 as a weighing unit for weighing one cow in the herd in a state of being separated from the cows in front and behind. A pair of fences 1A and 1B are provided on both sides of the weighing platform 2 and the passages before and after it, and the pair of fences 1A and 1B make the passageway width of the taxiway 1 slightly larger than the width of one cow. Is set. Further, an inlet gate 3 which is opened and closed by a gate opening / closing means 5 is provided at the inlet of the weighing platform 2, and an outlet gate 4 is provided at the outlet of the weighing platform 2.

The weighing platform 2 includes four load cells 21 and 2.
The four corners are supported by 2, 23, 24.
The total value of the outputs of the two load cells 21, 22, 23, 24 is the load applied to the weighing platform 2. The weighing information by the four load cells 21, 22, 23, 24 is transmitted to the control device 9 using a microcomputer, and in the control device 9, only one cow is on the weighing table 2 as described later. State, four load cells 21, 22, 23, 24
The total value of is calculated as the weighing value of the cow.

As shown in FIG. 2, ankle tag T which is a transmitting means for transmitting individual identification information (individual number) of the cow is attached to the ankle of the right hind leg of the cow. Uncle Tag T
Includes a memory for storing an individual number and bidirectional RF communication means. On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, when the whole cow is on the entrance side of the weighing platform 2, the individual number transmitted from the ankle tag T is received on the entrance side of the weighing platform 2. An antenna 6 for this purpose is built in the weighing table 2. The antenna 6 is a flat rectangular antenna wound in a loop shape, and its lateral width is slightly smaller than the lateral surface of the placing surface of the weighing platform 2, and its length is the entire cow considering the size of the cow. Is on the entrance side of the weighing platform 2 and the ankle tag T
It is set to receive the individual number sent from. Further, the directivity of the antenna 6 is set so as to be in a direction perpendicular to the mounting surface of the weighing platform 2, that is, in the vertical direction. Therefore, the directivity of the ankle tag T is also in the vertical direction. Attached to the ankle of.

The entrance gates 3 are symmetrically erected at positions corresponding to the entrances of the weighing platform 2 on the fences 1A and 1B on both sides, and are rotatable about a pair of left and right longitudinal axis shafts.
a, a pair of left and right door bodies 3b integrally attached to the respective rotating shafts 3a, and a pair of columnar bodies 3c erected on the upper portions of the respective door bodies 3b. The pair of left and right door bodies 3b are
It has a structure of swinging open / close in a double-opening manner, and in a fully closed state where both the pair of left and right door bodies 3b intersect with the guideway 1 at a crossing angle of 90 °, the pair of left and right door bodies 3b overlap each other. It blocks the front view of the
A spring (not shown) attached to a is urged to return to the fully closed state side. The pair of columnar bodies 3c are provided for opening and closing the entrance gate 3 by the gate opening / closing means 5 pushing the columnar bodies 3c.

As shown in FIG. 2, the gate opening / closing means 5 is attached to a beam 1C provided at a position corresponding to the upper part of the entrance of the weighing platform 2 so as to be orthogonal to the taxiway 1. There is. Then, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the beam body 1C
And the electric motor 5 attached to the
One link 52 fixed to the rotary shaft 51A, and a link 53 pivotally connected to the link 52 by a shaft 52A.
And a link 54 pivotally connected to the link 53 by a shaft 53A and pivotally connected to the beam 1C by a shaft 54A, and fixed to the free end side of the link 54 in a state orthogonal to the guideway 1. The pushing member 55 described above is provided.

The link 54 is specifically a rod-shaped body 54a pivotally connected to the link 53 by a shaft 53A and pivotally connected to the beam 1C by a shaft 54A, the rod-shaped body 54a and a shaft 54b. Rods 5 pivotally connected by
4c, a rod-shaped body 54c thereof, and a restricting body 54d for allowing the shaft 54b to bend in the direction of arrow a in FIG. 4 and restricting the bending of the rod 54c in the direction of arrow b in FIG. Is attached to the restricting body 54d in a direction in which the spring is pressed in a direction of pressing the restricting body 54d. Pushing member 5
5 is fixed to the rod-shaped body 54c in a state orthogonal to the guide path 1.

The gate opening / closing means 5 has a structure in which the link 54 can be swung with the shaft 54A as a rotating shaft by the rotation of the electric motor 51, and the control device 9 causes the pushing member 55 to move. The electric motor 51 can be stopped in a state where the electric motor 51 is located at each of the X position and the Y position in FIG. That is, in the state in which the pushing member 55 is located at the X position, the link 54 moves in the direction of the arrow b.
In the state in which bending of the pushing member 55 is restricted,
The pair of columnar bodies 3c erected above the door bodies 3b by
Is pressed to open the entrance gate 3 in the intermediate state between full closing and full opening (note that the movement of the entrance gate 3 toward the opening side is not restricted in this intermediate state). This state is a state in which a trailing walking animal is given a forward field of view to motivate the walking animal to move forward into the weighing platform 2, and a cow passes through the entrance gate 3 to enter the weighing platform 2. It is in an acceptable state. On the other hand, in the state where the pushing member 55 is located at the Y position, the pushing member 55 is located rearward of the position where the pushing member 55 is in the fully closed state of the door body 3b (the position where the guiding member 1 intersects the guideway 1 at a crossing angle of 90 °). Therefore, the entrance gate 3 returns to the fully closed state. This state is a state in which the forward view of the succeeding cow is obstructed to discourage the walking animal from moving forward and prevent the cow from entering the weighing platform 2. Therefore, the gate opening / closing means 5
The entrance gate 3 is configured to be switched between the fully closed state and the midway state, and in the midway state, the walking animal is allowed to be pushed open for passing.

When the pushing member 55 is located at the Y position, if the entrance gate 3 opens in the opposite direction, the columnar body 3c is prevented from hitting the pushing member 55. There is no problem in the operation of the gate opening / closing means 5. Further, if for some reason the inlet gate 3 is fully closed and the pushing member 55 is in the X position, the pushing member 55 is forcibly placed in the Y position in this state. But in this case the link 54
4 is allowed to bend in the direction of arrow a in FIG. 4, the pushing member 55 hits the cylindrical body 3c.
5 can be located at the Y position by overcoming the cylindrical body 3c.

The exit gate 4 is specifically the fence 1 on both sides.
Rotating shafts 4a that are rotatable symmetrically about a pair of left and right vertical axis shafts that are symmetrically erected at positions corresponding to the outlets of the weighing platforms 2 in A and 1B, and left and right integrally attached to the respective rotating shafts 4a. It is provided with a pair of door bodies 4b. The pair of left and right door bodies 4b of the exit gate 4 are made of a magnetic material,
Similar to the pair of left and right door bodies 3b of the entrance gate 3, it has a structure capable of swinging open / close in a double-opening manner. Both of the pair of left and right door bodies 4b are fully closed to intersect with the guideway 1 at a crossing angle of 90 °. In the state, the front end portions of the pair of left and right door bodies 4b are slightly separated from each other to maintain the forward view of the cow.
Further, a spring (not shown) attached to the rotary shaft 4a
Is urged to return to the fully closed state.

Further, a proximity sensor 7 for detecting passage of a cow at the outlet of the weighing platform 2 is attached to a portion of each of the fences 1A and 1B on both sides corresponding to the outlet of the weighing platform 2. Specifically, the proximity sensor 7 is composed of a magnetic proximity sensor, detects that the exit gate 4 composed of the magnetic material has opened and approaches the proximity sensor 7, and measures the cow weighing platform. It is designed to detect the passage at the outlet of No. 2.

As shown in FIG. 1, weighing information from the four load cells 21, 22, 23, 24, reception information of the antenna 6, and detection information of the proximity sensor 7 are input to the control device 9. In addition, the control device 9 outputs a drive signal for operating the gate opening / closing means 5 and a drive signal for the display 8 for displaying information such as the weight value of the cow and its individual number. . Although not shown, the control device 9 and the display 8 are provided on the weighing table 2
Although not described in detail, the control device 9 is installed at a side position of the control unit 9 for identifying the individual number of the cow from the received information of the antenna 6, or for the cow of the same individual number. A processing unit that outputs the change information of the weighing value up to the present time to a printer (not shown) or the like is configured.

Then, the control device 9 is used to switch the inlet gate 3 to the midway state when the passage of a cow at the outlet of the weighing platform 2 is detected, and
Control means 1 for controlling the operation of the gate opening / closing means 5 so that the entrance gate 3 is switched to the fully closed state when passage of a cow at the entrance gate 3 is detected.
00, and the control means 100 further controls the detection information of the weighing platform 2, that is, the four load cells 21, 2.
Based on the weighing information from 2, 23, 24, when the weighing value changes from a state smaller than a set value to a state larger than the set value, it is determined that passage of a cow at the entrance gate 3 is detected. Has been done. The opening / closing operation of the entrance gate 4 by the controller 9 will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 6 (a), when the preceding cow has passed through the exit gate 4 and there is no cow on the weighing platform 2, the information of the proximity sensor 7 and the load cells 21, 22, 23 ,.
When detected by the weighing information of 24, the control device 9
The entrance gate 3 is switched to the intermediate state (pushing member 5
The gate opening / closing means 5 is operated so that 5 is located at the X position). Therefore, the front view of the cow located in front of the cow opens, and the cow is motivated to move forward and tries to enter the weighing table 2. The entrance gate 3, which is in the state of being fully closed and fully opened, is allowed to rotate to the open side, and is pushed open by the passage of the cow to be in the fully opened state, as shown in FIG. , The cow can enter the weighing platform 2.

Then, based on the weighing information of the weighing platform 2 at this time, the load applied to the weighing platform 2, that is, the weighing value is compared with a set value, and the state where the weighing value is smaller than the set value is changed to a state larger than the set value. When it is determined that the cow has passed and the passage of the cow at the entrance gate 3 is detected, the control device 9
Switches the entrance gate 3 to the fully closed state (pushing member 5
The gate opening / closing means 5 is operated so that 5 is located at the Y position). In that state, as shown in FIG. 6C, when the cow passes through the entrance gate 3 and enters the weighing platform 2, the entrance gate 3 is closed by the action of the spring that biases the entrance gate 3 in the closing direction. It turns to full closed state.

As shown in FIG. 6B, the set value is set on the basis of the data of the weighing value when the cow is passing through the entrance gate 3, and for example, is it the same as these weighing values? Alternatively, a value smaller than that is appropriately selected and set. Incidentally, in the above-mentioned prior application (Japanese Patent Application No. 4-71790), when the passage of the cow at the outlet of the weighing unit is detected, the weighing value of the weighing unit 2 is compared with the set value and the weighing value is When it is in a state of being larger than the set value, it is judged that the following cow is in the weighing section 2 and the entrance gate 3 is controlled so as not to be switched to the midway state.
As shown in FIG. 6 (d), based on the weighing value data in a state where the cow is passing through the outlet of the weighing unit 2, the weighing values are sufficiently larger than those weighing values, and Is set to a sufficiently small value, so that the setting value of the present application is set to a value smaller than the setting value of the above-mentioned prior application.

Subsequently, the cow reaching the front of the exit gate 4 maintains the forward view of the cow even when the exit gate 4 is in the fully closed state, so that the cow is motivated to move forward,
It tries to move forward and pass the exit gate 4. Then, as shown in FIG. 6D, the exit gate 4 is pushed open by the passage of the cow to be in the fully opened state, and the proximity sensor 7 detects the approach of the exit gate 4 and the exit of the weighing platform 2 is detected. When the passage of a cow in the section is detected, the entrance gate 3 is switched to the intermediate state. Therefore, the forward view of the cow located in front of it opens, and the cow is motivated to move forward,
Trying to enter the weighing platform 2.

When the proximity sensor 7 detects the approach of the exit gate 4 and the weighing value of the weighing unit 2 is larger than the weight value of, for example, 1/2 cow, FIG. As shown, immediately after the cow passing through the exit gate 4, it is judged that there is another cow on the weighing platform 2, and the control device 9 does not switch the entrance gate 3 to the intermediate state. The operation of the gate opening / closing means 5 is controlled. That is, the entrance gate 3 is maintained in the fully closed state. Then, when the rear cow of the two cows of FIG. 7 has advanced to the state shown in FIG. 6D, the control device 9 outputs the information of the proximity sensor 7 and The same processing as above is performed based on the information of the measured value.

[Other Embodiments] Next, other embodiments will be listed. In the above embodiment, when the proximity sensor 7 detects the passage of the walking animal at the outlet of the weighing platform 2, it detects that the cow is passing through the outlet of the weighing platform 2. It is also possible to detect the start state or the state where the passage is completed. When detecting the state where the passage is completed, FIG.
As shown in, the proximity sensor 7 and the exit gate 4 are
It is configured so that it is installed at a predetermined distance from the exit of the weighing platform 2 in the traveling direction of the cow, and when the whole cow is completely moved from the exit of the weighing platform 2 to the taxiway 1 on the traveling direction, the exit gate 4 is pushed open so that the proximity sensor 7 detects the approach of the exit gate 4.

In the above embodiment, the weighing platform 2 for walking animals is used.
In order to detect passage at the exit of the
Information is used together with the weighing information of the weighing platform 2, but the information is not used by the proximity sensor 7, but the passage is detected only by the weighing information of the weighing platform 2 to further simplify the control configuration. It can also be realized.

In the above embodiment, the proximity sensor 7 is composed of a magnetic proximity sensor, but it may be composed of an optical sensor or the like.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the inlet gate 3 has a double swing type that can swing and open and close is illustrated. However, the structure of the inlet gate 3 is not limited, and for example, a double swing type slidable structure is used. Gate opening / closing means 5 corresponding to the entrance gate 3 having a structure that can be slidably opened in both directions.
The structure can be

In the above embodiment, the case where the exit gate 4 is provided has been illustrated, but the exit gate 4 may not be provided.

In the above embodiment, the case where the gate opening / closing means 5 is configured by the electric motor 51 or the like has been described as an example, but instead of this, for example, it may be configured by a cylinder or the like.

The weighing device of the present invention can be applied not only to the case where the weighing is performed as in the above-described embodiment, but also to the case where processing such as inspection is performed. Further, it may be applied when treating walking animals other than cows, for example, walking animals such as goats, horses and chickens.

It should be noted that reference numerals are given in the claims for convenience of comparison with the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the structures of the accompanying drawings by the entry.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the overall configuration of a walking animal weighing device.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a main part of a walking animal weighing device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the operation of the gate opening / closing means.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a gate opening / closing means.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a gate opening / closing means.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory diagram (plan view) of a walking animal weighing device.

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory view (plan view) of the walking animal weighing device.

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory view (plan view) of a weighing device for walking animals according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Taxiway 2 Weighing section 3 Entrance gate 5 Gate opening / closing means 100 Control means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A taxiway (1) for guiding a plurality of walking animals.
A weighing section (2) for weighing the walking animal is provided in a part of the, and an entrance gate (3) for blocking the forward view of the walking animal in the fully closed state is provided at the entrance of the weighing section (2). It is provided in a state of being urged to return to the fully closed state side, and the entrance gate (3) is switched between the fully closed state and an intermediate state between fully closed and fully opened, and in the intermediate state, a walking animal is A gate opening / closing means (5) that allows pushing and opening to pass, and the entrance gate (3) is switched to the midway state with the passage of a walking animal at the exit of the weighing unit (2), and Control means (100) is provided for controlling the operation of the gate opening / closing means (5) so as to switch the entrance gate (3) to the fully closed state as a walking animal passes through the entrance gate (3). A walking animal weighing device Therefore, when the control means (100) changes the weighing value of the weighing unit (2) from a state smaller than the set value to a state larger than the set value in the middle of the entrance gate (3), the entrance A walking animal weighing device configured to determine that the walking animal is passing through the gate (3).