JPH08191612A - Seed-feeding mechanism in gel coating processing device for seed - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide the subject mechanism designed not to leak air pressure or negative pressure from a suction chip equipped on, and ensuring just a single seed to be sucked. CONSTITUTION: The lower end of a suction chip 36 is provided with a lower end wall having a seed suction hole smaller in diameter than seed grain size and the upper end of the suction chip 36 is provided with a head with its outer peripheral surface puffed out, a clamping member 32 is furnished with a chamber with the head holdable in and a threading hole on the lower part of the chamber, and the lower end of a pipe joint 8' fitted on a rotary arm 5 is mounted with the clamping member 32 to effect pressure contact of the upper face of the head with the pipe joint 8'.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a seed supply mechanism which is one unit constituting a seed gel coating processing apparatus for producing gel coated seed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, seeds are generally sown without being coated, but in order to protect the seeds from animal feeding damage and to carry out pretreatment such as sterilization and germination promotion treatment before sowing the seeds. There is a coated seed that coats the seed. As a conventional coated seed, a binder such as CMC or the like in which viscosity, fine sand or sugar is mixed is sprayed and attached to the seed surface, and even when a bactericidal agent, an oxygen generating agent or the like is added to the coating agent. is there. These are comparatively hard coatings, but there are also soft coatings in which the seeds are coated with a gel or gelatinous substance that swells when it contains water.

However, in the conventional coating technology, no example has been found of coating seeds with an aqueous gel that cures only the surface layer. For this purpose, a seed gel coating apparatus has been developed in which the seed is dropped and supplied onto a gel formed in a film shape to coat the seed with a gel film to make the seed into a large-diameter sphere (Actual Kaihei 5-7015). No., Actual Kaihei 5-
7016, etc.).

FIG. 5 is a front view of essential parts showing a conventional example of a seed gel coating apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of essential parts common to the conventional example and the seed gel coating apparatus of the present invention. Figure 5
As shown in FIG. 3, a rotation driving device 3 which is an air-driven rotary actuator is fastened to the upper surface of the mounting table 2 fixed to the upper end of the support column 1 with a screw 4. Rotary drive 3
Causes the output shaft 3a to reciprocally rotate and stop within a range of 180 degrees by pneumatic pressure. A cylindrical rotating shaft 6 provided at the center of the rotating arm 5 is attached to the output shaft 3a, and is fixed by a screw 7.

The pipe joint 8 is inserted into the holes provided at both ends of the rotary arm 5, and the two nuts 9 (see FIG. 5) are screwed into the male screw 8a (see FIG. 6) provided on the outer peripheral surface of the pipe joint 8. ), The pipe joint 8 is fixed to both ends of the rotary arm 5. A tube pipe joint 10 (see FIG. 5) is screwed into an internal thread 8b (see FIG. 6) screwed on the upper end of the pipe joint 8 to connect a flexible pipe line (tube) 11 to the tube pipe joint 10. Communicate with a pneumatic pressure source and a negative pressure source (not shown) via a solenoid valve (not shown).

A small-diameter cylindrical portion 1 extending at the lower end of the pipe joint 8.
A suction tip 13 made of a rigid resin material is removably fitted to 2 (see FIG. 6). The suction tip 13 is formed in a cylindrical shape having a taper whose diameter decreases toward the lower end, and when the suction tip 13 is pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion 12 having a small diameter,
The suction tip 13 is fitted into the small-diameter cylindrical portion 12 with elastic deformation. The rotary drive device 3, the rotary arm 5, and the like described above.
A seed supply mechanism A is configured by the pipe joint 8, the flexible pipe line 11, and the suction tip 13.

A slide guide member 14 is screwed to one side (right side in FIG. 5) of the column 1, and an elevating arm 15 moves up and down along the slide guide member 14 by an air cylinder (not shown) for raising and lowering. It is possible. The seed container 16 attached to the end of the elevating arm 15 has an open top and accommodates a large number of seeds.

As shown in FIG. 4, the machining nozzle B, to which the machining nozzle B is attached on the other side (left side in FIG. 5) of the column 1, has a space 18 inside the valve body 17 of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped.
Is formed, and in the opening 19 at the lower end surface of the valve body 17,
A pipe line (not shown) communicating with a coating agent tank (not shown) is attached, and a check valve 20 composed of a steel ball 20a and a spring 20b is provided between the opening 19 and the space 18. The valve case 21 is attached to the left side surface of the valve body 17.

In the valve case 21, a valve seat 22a is formed at the lower end of a plunger insertion hole 22 penetrating in the vertical direction, and a bush 23 is fitted on the inner surface of the plunger insertion hole 22.
A hollow nozzle plunger 24 is vertically slidably inserted into the bush 23. On the outer peripheral surface of the nozzle plunger 24, the pressure receiving surface 24a is formed by reducing the diameter of the lower half portion. A coating agent flow path 25 that connects the plunger insertion hole 22 and the space portion 18 is provided, and the coating material (gelling agent) in the coating material tank is supplied to the space portion 18 via the opening 19 and the check valve 20. The coating agent flow path 25 and the plunger insertion hole 2
2 is filled.

A cylindrical portion 26 surrounding the plunger insertion hole 22 is provided on the upper surface of the valve case 21.
A female screw 27a provided on the inner surface of the spring adjuster 27 is screwed into a male screw 26a screwed on the outer peripheral surface of 6. A spring holder 28 is provided on the nozzle plunger 24.
Is mounted, a spring 29 is inserted between the spring receiver 28 and the spring adjuster 27, and a pressurizing device (not shown) provided outside the valve body 17 projects and retracts into the space portion 18 (shown in the figure). Not).

The gel film forming operation by the processing nozzle B configured as described above is performed by the seed supply mechanism A and the seed container 16
The lower end of the nozzle plunger 24 that is biased downward closes the valve seat 22a, but the plunger of the pressurizing device projects into the space 18 to pressurize the coating agent. Then, the pressure receiving surface 2 passes through the coating agent flow path 25.
4a is pressed, the nozzle plunger 24 rises and opens the valve, and the coating agent flowing out from the lower end of the nozzle plunger 24 forms a gel film.

The plunger of the pressurizing device retracts and the space 1
When the pressure of 8 is reduced, the nozzle plunger 24 pressed by the spring 29 descends and closes, and the check valve 20 replenishes the coating material. When the nozzle plunger 24 descends and closes the valve, the discharge of the coating material stops, but the coating material that is stagnant on the lower surface of the valve seat 22a forms a gel film that covers the lower portion of the plunger insertion hole 22, and the weight of the coating material is reduced by its own weight. Gradually hang down.

On the other hand, after the seed container 16 is raised and the seed is sucked by the suction tip 13 to which the negative pressure is supplied, the rotation tip of the rotary arm 5 is rotated by 180 degrees, and the suction tip 13 positioned above the processing nozzle B is rotated. Air pressure is supplied to the seeds, and the seeds drop onto the gel film and are supplied. The seeds dropped and supplied, together with air bubbles, are wrapped in a hanging gel film, and the gel supplemented by the next valve opening covers the upper part of the hanging gel film, and the gel film does not support the increased weight and moves downward. It is supplied to a lower curing tank (not shown) while being spherical due to the surface tension, and the surface is cured by the curing agent in the curing tank, and then sent to a water washing tank to remove the curing agent.

[0014]

As described above, the seed supply mechanism A has the following problems in the gel coating apparatus for efficiently continuously producing gel-coated seeds. (1) The suction tip 13 has the advantage that it can be elastically fitted by a simple operation of pushing it into the small-diameter cylindrical portion 12 of the pipe joint 8, but on the other hand, since the seed is sucked and discharged repeatedly,
Since the negative pressure and the air pressure are repeatedly applied to the suction tip 13, the fitting of the suction tip 13 is loosened, and the negative pressure leaks from the gap between the small-diameter cylindrical portion 12 of the pipe joint 8 and the suction tip 13. However, there has been a problem that seed suction power is reduced and seed suction is uncertain.

(2) The lower end of the suction tip 13 is thin so as to suck only one seed, but when the seed S is a fine seed or a seed having a protrusion on the surface, a plurality of seeds may be used. Sometimes, the tips of the seeds S or projections of the grains were sucked at the same time (see FIG. 5). An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and to provide a seed supply mechanism of a seed gel coating apparatus capable of reliably sucking seeds and preventing simultaneous suction of a plurality of seeds S. It is a thing.

[0016]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention uses a cylindrical suction tip fitted to a pipe joint connected to a negative pressure source to suck a seed in a seed container to form a gel. In the gel coating apparatus for seeds supplied to a processing nozzle for forming a film, a lower end wall having seed suction holes with a diameter smaller than the grain size of seeds was provided at the lower end of the suction tip. A head with a bulged outer peripheral surface is formed at the upper end of the suction tip, a storage chamber for inserting the head is opened at one end, and an insertion hole for inserting the suction tip is continuously provided from the storage chamber to the other end. The tightening member may be attached to the lower end of the pipe joint. A gasket can be inserted between the head inserted into the accommodation chamber and the lower end of the pipe joint.

[0017]

The seed supply mechanism of the seed gel coating apparatus having the above-described structure is inserted through the insertion hole of the tightening member,
After the head is housed in the housing chamber, the fastening member is attached to the pipe joint so that the upper surface of the head is pressed against the pipe joint to be airtight. At this time, airtightness is surely secured by placing a gasket on the upper surface of the head and press-contacting the pipe joint. Therefore, the air pressure and the negative pressure supplied to the inside of the pipe joint are supplied to the tip of the suction tip without leaking.

Since the tightening member is firmly attached to the pipe joint, it does not loosen even if air pressure and negative pressure are repeatedly supplied, and the negative pressure does not decrease, so that the seed is reliably sucked. The lower end wall of the suction tip has a seed suction hole with a diameter smaller than the grain size of the seed, so only one seed receives the suction force, and the other seed blocks the adsorption by the lower end wall. To be done.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view of essential parts of a seed gel coating apparatus equipped with a seed supply mechanism A ₁ of the present invention, and FIG. It is the elements on larger scale of FIG. The present invention is an improvement of the seed supply mechanism A of the conventional seed gel coating apparatus.
The same parts as those of the conventional example are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted. It is the same as in the conventional example that the rotation driving device 3 fixed to the mounting table 2 of the column 1 with the screw 4 reciprocally rotates the rotation arm 5 by 180 degrees.

Pipe joints 8'mounted on both ends of the rotary arm 5 are fixed by tightening two nuts 9, and a pipe line 11 connected to the upper end of the pipe joint 8'is connected to a pneumatic source and a negative pressure source via a solenoid valve. The communication with the pressure source is the same as in the conventional example, but in order to increase the contact area of the gasket 31 that abuts on the lower end surface of the pipe joint 8 ', a small-diameter extending at the lower end portion of the pipe joint 8'is used. The tubular portion 12 'is formed to have a smaller diameter than the conventional tubular portion 12. Further, the length of the tubular portion 12 'is shorter than that of the conventional tubular portion 12 (see FIG. 3).

A male screw 8 screwed on the outer peripheral surface of the pipe joint 8 '.
A tightening member 32 is screwed into a. Tightening member 3
2, the female screw 34 that is screwed into the male screw 8a is provided at the upper end (see FIG. 3) of the accommodation chamber 33, and the insertion hole 35 that opens at the other end surface of the fastening member 32 is provided at the lower end of the accommodation chamber 33. .

A suction tip 36 inserted through the insertion hole 35.
Has a head portion 37 whose outer peripheral surface bulges at the upper end (see FIG. 3). The diameter of the head portion 37 is larger than the inner diameter of the insertion hole 35 and is a size that can be accommodated in the accommodation chamber 33. A lower end wall 39 having a seed suction hole 38 is provided at the lower end of the suction tip 36.

The seed suction hole 38 has a diameter which is considerably smaller than the grain size of the seed so that only one seed is adsorbed, and the lower end wall 39 functions as a seed prevention wall for preventing the adsorption of other seeds. . In addition, when a plurality of suction tips 36 having different diameters of the seed suction holes 38 are prepared and the suction tips 36 are replaced according to the size of the seed to suck a large and heavy seed, the seed suction is performed. A suction tip 36 having a large diameter of the hole 38 is used. Processing nozzle B and seed container 1
6 is the same as the conventional example.

Next, a method of attaching the suction tip 36 will be described. First, the suction tip 36 is inserted into the insertion hole 35 of the fastening member 32, and the head portion 37 of the suction tip 36 is inserted into the accommodation chamber 33. When the gasket 31 is placed on the head portion 37 and the female screw 34 of the tightening member 32 is screwed into the male screw 8a of the pipe joint 8'and tightened, the lower surface of the pipe joint 8'and the upper surface of the head portion 37 of the suction tip 36. Is sealed with a gasket. Therefore, the air pressure and the negative pressure supplied to the inside of the pipe joint 8 ′ are supplied to the suction tip 36 without leaking.

After the suction tip 36 is attached, the seed gel-coating processing device is operated in the same manner as in the conventional example to continuously produce gel-coated seeds. The tightening member 32 is a pipe joint 8 '.
Since it is screwed tightly to the pipe fitting 8'and the suction tip 36
The space between and is sealed by the gasket 31 and does not loosen even if the air pressure and the negative pressure are repeatedly supplied.

Therefore, there is no possibility that air pressure and negative pressure will leak and fall, and even if the seed suction hole 38 of the suction tip 36 is made considerably smaller than the size of the seed, the negative pressure will surely suck the seed. The seeds are now reliably discharged to the processing nozzle B. Since only one seed is sucked into the small seed suction hole 38 and the other seeds are prevented from being sucked by the lower end wall 39, the problem of sucking a plurality of seeds does not occur.

[0027]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION Since the present invention is configured as described above, even if the seed gel coating apparatus is continuously operated for a long time,
Air pressure and negative pressure never leaked from the seed supply mechanism, and the seed suction and discharge operations were reliably performed. Also, since the negative pressure does not decrease, even if the seed suction hole is made smaller for the seed, the seed is surely sucked, and the problem of sucking a plurality of seeds due to the seed blocking effect of the small seed suction hole and the lower end wall is solved. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a main portion of a seed gel coating processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of essential parts common to a conventional example and a seed gel coating apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view illustrating a processing nozzle of a seed gel coating processing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing an example of a conventional seed gel coating apparatus.

6 is a partially enlarged view of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

A ₁ seed supply mechanism B processing nozzle 3 rotation drive device 3a output shaft 5 rotation arm 8'pipe joint 12 'small diameter cylinder 16 seed container 31 gasket 32 tightening member 33 accommodating chamber 34 female screw 35 insertion hole 36 suction tip 37 head 38 seed suction hole 39 lower end wall

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A seed gel coating apparatus for sucking seed in a seed container by a cylindrical suction tip fitted to a pipe joint connected to a negative pressure source and supplying the seed to a processing nozzle for forming a gel film. A seed gel coating apparatus, wherein a lower end wall having a seed suction hole having a diameter smaller than the grain size of the seed is provided at the lower end of the suction tip. 2. A head having a bulged outer peripheral surface is formed at an upper end of the suction tip, and an accommodation chamber for inserting the head is opened at one end, and an insertion hole for inserting the suction tip is provided from the accommodation chamber. The seed supply mechanism of the seed gel coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a fastening member continuously provided at the other end is attached to the lower end of the pipe joint. 3. The seed feeding mechanism of the seed gel coating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a gasket is inserted between the head portion inserted into the accommodation chamber and the lower end of the pipe joint.