JPH0727598A - Transit detecting device for walking animal - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accurately detect the transit timing of a walking animal by rotatably fitting a door made of an oblong plate body to a frame body on the outlet side of a weighing base at the height of the shoulder bone of the walking animal. CONSTITUTION:An outlet gate G2 is rotatably supported on a fence 3 on the right side of the outlet section of a weighing base 1, and it is constituted of a door member 13 or the like energized to be returned to the closed state. The door member 13 is an oblong plate body, and it is installed at the height of 90-95cm from the floor surface of the weighing base 1 so that its free end collides with the shoulder bone section of a cow. Since the shoulder bone section of the cow has little dispersion in height among individuals, the door member 13 collides with only the shoulder bone section of the cow, and the transit timing can be accurately known. A magnetic detecting sensor 14 and a detected piece 15 are fitted to the door member 13, the sensor 14 is turned on when the door member 13 is rotated by a prescribed angle or above, and a control means drives the drive motor of an inlet gate to set an inlet door to the half- opened state.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a state in which a frame which is lateral to a passage through which a walking animal such as a cow passes is rotatably supported about a longitudinal axis and blocks the passage. The present invention relates to a walking animal passage detection device including a door member that is biased to return and a detection unit that detects that the door member is pushed and rotated by a walking animal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Such a passage detecting device for a walking animal is provided, for example, at an exit gate of a dynamic weighing device for calculating the weight of the walking animal on the basis of load data obtained when the walking animal walks through a weighing platform. The detection information is used for opening / closing control of the entrance gate. Alternatively, it can be used when a group of walking animals is passed through a narrow passage one by one to count the number of herds.

Conventionally, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, a passage detecting device provided at an exit gate of a dynamic measuring device for cattle has a relatively long vertically long door member 20 covering from the height of the back to the height of the abdomen. Was using. In the figure, a pair of left and right door members 20 are rotatably supported around a vertical axis 21 and are biased to return to the illustrated state (a state in which a passage is blocked). When the door member 20 is pushed and rotated by the cow, a detection means (not shown) detects the rotation.

[0004]

When a pregnant cow passes through the above-mentioned conventional passage detecting device, the protrusion of the abdomen varies greatly depending on the month of pregnancy, so that the detection timing tends to vary. Then, the timing of the opening / closing control of the entrance gate, which is executed based on this detection timing, greatly varies, which is not preferable. Further, if the door member is large, unnecessary stress may be applied to passing cows and the like, which hinders downsizing of the entire apparatus. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a passing animal detection device for a walking animal that achieves both miniaturization of a door member and accurate detection.

[0005]

A walking animal passage detecting apparatus according to the present invention is rotatably supported around a longitudinal axis in a frame on a side of a passage through which a walking animal such as a cow walks. And a door member that is biased to return to a state of blocking the passage, and a detection unit that detects that the door member is pushed and rotated by a walking animal, and its characteristic configuration is: The door member is a horizontally long plate-shaped body, the central portion in the up-down direction is located at the height of the shoulder bone part of the walking animal, and its free end is configured to hit only the shoulder bone part of the walking animal. There is a point. A preferred specific configuration for implementing the above characteristic configuration will be described later together with the operation.

[0006]

According to the above characteristic structure, since the door member which is a horizontally long plate-shaped member hits only the shoulder bone portion of the walking animal, the passage timing can be accurately set even if the protrusion of the abdomen greatly varies, as in a pregnant cow. Can be detected. Further, since it does not hit the head of the walking animal, there is no possibility of giving unnecessary stress to the walking animal.

When the walking animal is a cow, the distance between the central portion in the vertical direction of the door member and the floor surface of the passage is 90 to 95 cm.
It is preferably within the range. This is because the height of the shoulder bones of adult cows is almost constant regardless of variations in body weight. Further, it is preferable that the tip end portion of the door member is covered with a rubber elastic material, so that the impact when the shoulder bone part of the walking animal hits the door member is mitigated.

[0008]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a passage detecting device which contributes to downsizing of the entire device by downsizing the door member and can accurately detect the passage timing of a walking animal. .

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an exit gate of a cattle dynamic measuring device will be described below with reference to the drawings. The dynamic weighing apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is for calculating the weight of a cow based on time-series load data obtained when the cow walks past the weighing platform 1. Before and after the weighing platform 1,
A fence 2 for forming a cow guideway is erected on the left and right. A pair of left and right fences 3 are also erected on the weighing platform 1 to form a passage through which cows can walk through the weighing platform 1 one by one. In front of the entrance of the weighing platform 1, an entrance gate G1 is installed which is controlled to open and close in order to raise each cow to the weighing platform 1 one by one, and an exit gate G provided with a passage detection device at the exit of the weighing platform 1 is installed.
2 is attached.

The weighing platform 1 is provided with a steel frame body and a FRP (fiber reinforced resin) foot plate mounted on the frame body,
The four corners are supported by the load cell 4. The load applied to the tread and the frame when the cow walks through the weighing platform 1 is 4
It is detected as the total value of the outputs of the load cells 4. However, since the value changes according to the walking cycle of the cow, it is necessary to estimate and calculate the stationary weight by an appropriate calculation process. This changing weight output (analog voltage) is input to the processing device 5 and subjected to signal processing such as amplification and smoothing. Further, the weight calculation means 5 provided in the processing device 5 is A / D converted at a predetermined sampling time and provided as a digital value.
a) (see FIG. 7). The weight calculation means 5a temporarily stores the load data, which are sequentially digital values, in the memory, and calculates the weight of the cow as described later.

The calculated weight is displayed and output together with the individual number of the cow on the display provided in the processing device 5,
Also, it is printed out by the printer. The cow individual number is automatically entered as follows. A transponder T for transmitting the cow's individual number is attached to the ankle of the hind leg of the cow. The transponder T includes a memory for storing an individual number and a micro wireless communication device, and transmits the individual number in response to a transmission request by wireless communication. A loop antenna 6 for receiving the individual number from the transponder T is installed on the footboard of the weighing platform 1.

With the above-mentioned structure, the processing device 5 automatically identifies the individual number of the cow by the following procedure. When the weighing of one cow is completed, a response request signal and a radio wave serving as a power supply are transmitted from the loop antenna 6 at a constant cycle in order to receive the individual number of the next cow. When the next cow goes up to the weighing platform 1 and the transmitting means T attached to the ankle thereof is supplied with electric power by the radio wave and becomes active, it transmits the stored information (that is, the individual number) in response to the response request signal. This signal is input to the processing device 5 via the loop antenna 6 for both transmission and reception.

The entrance gate G1 is constructed as shown in FIGS. A pair of left and right door members 8 and 9 are pivotally supported by the left and right columns so as to be swingable around the vertical axis. The pair of door members 8 and 9 are biased to return to the closed state indicated by the solid line in FIG. 4 by a torsion coil spring (not shown).

The door member 8 on the right side (the left side in FIG. 3) facing the entrance gate is urged by the opening / closing drive motor 10 to have its position biased between a position shown by a solid line and a position shown by an imaginary line in FIG. It is rotationally driven so that it can be switched between. That is, the closed state shown by the solid line and the half-open state shown by the imaginary line are switched. When the entrance gate is in the closed state, the cow stops before the entrance gate, and when the entrance gate is in the half-opened state, the cow pushes the door members 8 and 9 open and goes up to the weighing platform 1. The opening / closing drive device 10 is driven by a control signal from the control means 5b (see FIG. 7) in the processing device 5.

A magnetic proximity sensor 11 and its detected piece 12 are provided on the door member 9 and the fixed frame on the left side of the entrance gate.
Is provided, and the proximity sensor 11 is turned on when the door member 9 rotates by a predetermined angle α or more. This detection signal is used as a signal for determining that the cow is passing through the entrance gate or has passed the control means 5
Input to b.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the exit gate G2 is pivotally supported by a fence 3 on the right side of the exit of the weighing platform 1 so as to be swingable about the longitudinal axis, and is biased to return to the closed state. Door member 13
Etc. The door member 13 is a horizontally long plate-shaped body, and its free end portion 13a is configured to contact only the shoulder bone portion Ck of the cow. That is, the width in the vertical direction is slightly larger than the vertical dimension of the shoulder bone portion Ck of the cow,
The distance H between the vertical center and the floor of the weighing platform 1 is 90
It is set within the range of ~ 95 cm.

The height of the shoulder bone portion Ck of an adult cow varies little among individuals. For example, even if the weight of a pregnant cow varies within the range of 400 to 800 kg depending on the month of pregnancy, the height of the shoulder bone portion Ck is high. And the shoulder width does not vary much. Therefore, due to the above-mentioned positional dimensions, the central portion in the vertical direction of the door member 13 is located at the height of the shoulder bone portion Ck of the cow, and the free end portion 13 thereof is located.
a hits only the shoulder bone part Ck of the cow and is pushed open. Further, the free end portion 13a of the door member 13 is covered with a rubber elastic material so as to absorb the impact when the shoulder bone portion Ck of the cow hits the free end portion 13a of the door member 13. There is.

As a means for detecting that the door member 13 is pushed and rotated by a cow, a magnetic proximity sensor 14 is attached to the frame body (fence) 3 as shown in FIG. The detection piece 15 is attached to the door member 13. With this configuration, when the door member 13 rotates by the predetermined angle β or more, the proximity sensor 14 is turned on. This detection signal is input to the control means 5b as a signal for determining that the cow is passing or has passed the exit gate.

Next, an algorithm for weight calculation processing executed by the weight calculation means 5a and the control means 5b of the processing device 5 will be schematically described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a control block diagram showing the flow of signals. In the figure, the weight calculation means 5a and the control means 5b are actually configured as one microcomputer program, and information is exchanged with each other. FIG. 8 shows a simplified example of a change in the load (smoothed voltage) obtained from the weighing platform 1 when each cow sequentially walks through the weighing platform 1. In the figure, S11 and S14 are respectively a proximity sensor 11 having an input gate or a proximity sensor 1 having an output gate.
4 shows an ON signal, that is, a signal indicating that the cow is passing through the input gate or the output gate, and the level is changed for clarity.

First, when the control means 5b drives the entrance gate opening / closing drive motor 10 to open the door member 8 in a half-opened state, the cow pushes the door members 8 and 9 open and moves up to the weighing table 1. When the ON signal S11 of the proximity sensor 11 at the input gate is detected and the sequential load data input from the weighing platform 1 through the processing by the low pass filter, the A / D converter, etc. exceeds the predetermined threshold value, the weight calculation is performed. The means 5a starts writing the load data into the memory. Further, the control means 5b returns the door member 8 of the entrance gate to the closed state. Then, the weight calculation means 5a extracts the maximum values P1, P2, P3, ... Which appear in a relatively long cycle corresponding to the walking cycle of the cow from changes in the load data and stores them. When the number of stored maximum values reaches three, the first maximum value P1 to the third maximum value P3
Is calculated as the effective data section T1, and the average value of the load data in this section is calculated and used as the rest weight of the cow.

When the cow eventually comes down from the weighing platform 1 through the exit gate, the ON signal S14 of the proximity sensor 14 at the exit gate is detected as shown in FIG. The member 8 is brought into the anti-opening state.
Then, the next cow pushes open the door members 8 and 9 and goes up to the weighing platform 1, so that the ON signal S11 of the proximity sensor 11 is detected, the valid data section T2 is obtained in the same manner as described above, and the average value during that period. The weight of the cow is calculated from this. By repeating such a process, continuous weighing of a plurality of cows can be automatically performed.

Although the door member of the above-mentioned embodiment is covered with the rubber elastic material at its free end so as to contribute to the impact relaxation, the free end or the whole of the door member may be formed of the elastic resin.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied not only to cows but also to passage detection devices for walking animals such as horses. Further, the present invention can be applied to various gates such as a gate for counting the number of heads of a flock, not limited to the exit gate of the dynamic measuring device as in the above embodiment. It should be noted that reference numerals are added to the claims for convenience of comparison with the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the configurations of the accompanying drawings by the entry.

[0023]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a cow dynamic weighing device.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a dynamic measuring device.

[Figure 3] Front view of the entrance gate

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the entrance gate.

FIG. 5 is a front view of an exit gate including a passage detection device.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the exit gate.

FIG. 7 is a control block diagram.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing an example of changes in load values and the like when a walking animal passes a weighing platform.

FIG. 9 is a front view of an exit gate including a passage detection device according to a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Frame 13 Door member 13a Free end 14 Detection means Ck Scapular part of walking animal H Distance between door member center and floor P P Vertical axis

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A state in which a frame (3) on the side of a passage through which a walking animal such as a cow walks is rotatably supported around a vertical axis (P) and blocks the passage. A walking animal passage detection device comprising: a return-biased door member (13); and detection means (14) for detecting that the door member (13) is pushed and rotated by a walking animal, The door member (13) is a horizontally long plate-like body, the central part in the up-down direction is located at the height of the shoulder bone part (Ck) of the walking animal, and the free end part (13a) thereof is the shoulder of the walking animal. Bone (C
A device for detecting passage of a walking animal configured to hit only k). 2. The walking animal passage detection device according to claim 1, wherein a distance (H) between the central portion of the door member (13) in the vertical direction and the floor surface of the passage is within a range of 90 to 95 cm. 3. A free end (13) of the door member (13).
The passage detection device for a walking animal according to claim 1, wherein a) is covered with a rubber elastic material.