KR20150042428A - Apparatus for controlling of agricultural facility - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for controlling an agricultural facility, which can efficiently control an agricultural facility by transceiving data via organic connection among a plurality of micro controllers and a main micro controller for the environment monitoring and remote control. The apparatus for controlling an agricultural facility comprises: a remote terminal for collecting the control materials for the agricultural facility, which has been received through the network, processing the statistics, storing and transmitting remote control commands for the agricultural facility through the network; and an agricultural facility controller for transceiving the control commands and the status information through the data communications with the remote terminal or other agricultural facility controllers via the network, and automatically controlling the agricultural facility on a basis of the detected environment information. Accordingly, the apparatus for controlling an agricultural facility can efficiently control an agricultural facility, and can conveniently widen a wireless network range with a plurality of routers and extenders by utilizing WPS and WDS, which are wireless network bridge technologies. Furthermore, the apparatus for controlling an agricultural facility can protect a system and a circuit from the rush current or the over current with an electrically insulating structure.

Description

[0001] Apparatus for controlling agricultural facilities [

The present invention relates to an agricultural facility control, and more particularly, to an agricultural facility control method and system for controlling an agricultural facility by transmitting and receiving data through an organic interlock between a plurality of microcontrollers for environmental monitoring and remote control and a main microcontroller The present invention relates to an agricultural facility control apparatus.

Here, the agricultural facility means a greenhouse that can be opened and closed automatically, a ceiling curtain that can be automatically controlled, a water supply pump, and a shower to automatically spray water on crops.

In recent years, high-tech agricultural facilities, which combine high-tech IT technology with agriculture, are spreading in order to overcome labor shortages of farm households and improve productivity.

These state-of-the-art farm facilities can be remotely controlled via a network, remote monitoring of agricultural facilities, and automatic control of agricultural facilities by automatically detecting environmental information.

Conventional techniques for controlling agricultural facilities remotely are disclosed in Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0766542 (published on Oct. 12, 2007) and Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2012- 0048201 (published May 15, 2012).

Patent Document 1 described above automatically controls greenhouse facilities by performing water quality measurement, water level measurement, indoor / outdoor temperature and humidity measurement, soil moisture measurement, fertilizer concentration measurement, video surveillance, etc., To control the greenhouse facilities automatically. In other words, it provides video and audio of at least one greenhouse facilities at a remote place through a network, measures water quality and soil so that agricultural products can grow efficiently, transmits measured values to a remote place by bi-directional communication, Control is executed remotely.

In addition, Patent Document 2 discloses a wireless communication system capable of configuring a wireless network through various wireless transceivers, incorporating a wireless camera using a wireless wide area communication network, and using a signal of a receiving and transmitting terminal of a wireless module, Crop protection cover, etc.).

Korean Registered Patent Registration No. 10-0766542 (Notice of October 12, 2007) Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2012-0048201 (2012.05.15. Disclosed)

However, the above-mentioned advanced agricultural facilities incorporating the IT technology and the conventional technologies have disadvantages in that it is impossible to organically interlock the control devices because the control devices for controlling the agricultural facilities are independently implemented.

In addition, conventional technologies have a disadvantage in that the network construction cost is high and complex. That is, since the scale of the farm growers is now expanding and a large number of farm households are large-scale, the network environment must be expanded. However, since the conventional technology uses the wireless wide area network (CDMA / WCDMA) There is a drawback that it is complicated to carry a lot.

In addition, since the agricultural facility driving apparatus is a mechanical control system and the driving apparatus and the control apparatus are physically connected to each other, there is a disadvantage that the system and the circuit are damaged by an overcurrent or an inrush current during operation. That is, in the case of the mechanical control method, DC conversion (AC24V -> DC24V) using a rectifier such as a power source (AC220V), AC power conversion (AC24V) through a transformer and a diode, a magnetic switch for normal / And the system or circuit is damaged due to overcurrent or inrush current.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems in the advanced agricultural facilities and the related art that incorporate the general IT technology as described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a micro- The present invention provides an agricultural facility control device that enables efficient control of agricultural facilities by transmitting and receiving data through organic interlocking between controllers.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an agricultural facility control apparatus which can easily expand a wireless network area using a plurality of Internet routers and an extender utilizing WPS and WDS which are wireless network bridge technologies.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method of protecting a system and a circuit from an inrush current or an overcurrent generated during a switch contact or a motor operation by implementing a driving device with an electrically insulating structure using a semiconductor switch that is not physically connected And to provide an agricultural facility control device.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an agricultural facility control device that simplifies system implementation and enables stable system operation by implementing switchgear motors by electronic control.

In order to achieve the above object, an agricultural facility control apparatus according to the present invention collects agricultural facility control data received through a network, and then statistically processes and stores the collected data. A transmitting remote terminal; And an agricultural facility controller that transmits and receives control command and status information through data communication with the remote terminal or another agricultural facility controller through the network and automatically controls the agricultural facility based on the detected environment information .

The remote terminal may be a personal computer connected to the agricultural facility controller through the network, or a portable terminal connected wirelessly with the agricultural facility controller.

Wherein the agricultural facility controller comprises a network interface device for transmitting and receiving data to and from the remote terminal or another agricultural facility controller through a network.

The agricultural facility controller includes a sensor unit including an environmental sensor for detecting environmental information including temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide, and a human body sensor for sensing a human body; And a sub micro controller connected to the sensor unit to collect information of the sensor and transmit the collected information to the remote terminal and the main microcontroller as a control device through a network.

The agricultural facility controller includes a main microcontroller for automatically controlling the agricultural facility according to an instruction transmitted from the remote terminal or control command data transmitted from the other agricultural facility controller or acquired environmental information.

The agricultural facility controller includes a CCTV apparatus for capturing an image of the vicinity of an agricultural facility and transmitting the surveillance image to the remote terminal through the Internet.

Wherein the agricultural facility controller includes: a motor driver for performing an opening / closing operation of the house cover through electronic control under the control of the main microcontroller; And an opening / closing unit for opening / closing the house cover according to the opening / closing operation of the motor driver, wherein the motor driver performs speed control and forward / reverse switching control of the house cover.

The agricultural facility controller controls the operation of the agricultural facility driving apparatus in a state of being electrically insulated from the agricultural facility driving apparatus under the control of the main microcontroller and protects the system from the inrush current and the overcurrent generated during the operation of the motor And an agricultural facility control unit.

Wherein the agricultural facility control unit comprises: a main relay for generating a driving signal under the control of the main microcontroller; A semiconductor switch for performing a switching operation according to an operation of the main relay; And an electromagnetic contactor for generating a driving signal to the agricultural facility driving apparatus according to the operation of the semiconductor switch and stopping the driving operation of the agricultural facility driving apparatus according to the detected limit signal and the forward / reverse switching signal.

Wherein the agricultural facility controller controls the agricultural facility according to the command data transmitted from the remote terminal or wirelessly relays the transmitted command data to the other agricultural facility controller, and the environmental information transmitted wirelessly from the other agricultural facility controller To the remote terminal, and controls the agricultural facility according to the control command to expand the wireless network area.

According to the present invention, data can be transmitted and received through a plurality of microcontrollers for environmental monitoring and remote control and the main microcontroller through an organic interlock, thereby providing efficiency in controlling agricultural facilities.

In addition, according to the present invention, a wireless network area can be easily expanded by using a plurality of Internet routers and extender utilizing Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) and Wireless Distribution System (WDS) , Which makes it possible to implement wireless networks without blind spots and shadow areas.

In addition, according to the present invention, by implementing a driving device with an electrically insulated structure using a semiconductor switch which is not physically connected, it is possible to protect the system and the circuit from an inrush current or an overcurrent generated during switch contact or motor operation have.

Further, according to the present invention, by implementing the switch-type motor as an electronic control, there is also an advantage that the system implementation can be simplified and the system can be operated stably.

1 is a configuration diagram of an agricultural facility control apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
2 is a conceptual diagram of a wireless network expansion applied to the present invention;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an agricultural facility control apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an agricultural facility control apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, which includes remote terminals 300 and 400, the Internet 200, and an agricultural facility controller 100.

The remote terminals 300 and 400 are terminals used by the user. The remote terminals 300 and 400 collect the agricultural facility control data received via the network (wired / wireless internet), statistically process and store them, It sends the command. Here, the remote terminal may be implemented as a personal computer 400 connected to the agricultural facility controller 100 through the network, or a portable terminal 300 connected wirelessly with the agricultural facility controller 100. The portable terminal 300 may be a mobile phone that can be used while moving, but is preferably implemented as a normal smart phone.

The farm facility controller 100 transmits and receives control commands and status information through the network to the remote terminal 300 or 400 or other farm facility controller through data communication and automatically transmits the control command and status information to the agricultural facility And the like.

Wherein the farm facility controller 100 comprises a network interface device 105 for sending and receiving data to and from the remote terminal 400 or another farm facility controller via a network; A sensor unit 101 including an environmental sensor for detecting environmental information such as temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, and the like, and a human body sensor for sensing the human body; A sub micro controller 102 connected to the sensor unit 101 for collecting sensor information and transmitting the sensor information to the remote terminal 400 and the main microcontroller 108 as a control device .

The agricultural facility controller 100 preferably further includes a main control unit for automatically controlling the agricultural facility according to the command transmitted from the remote terminal 300 or 400 or the control command data transmitted from the other agricultural facility controller, A micro controller (Main Micro Controller) 108; And a CCTV device 104 for capturing an image of the vicinity of the agricultural facility and transmitting the captured image to the remote terminal 300 via the Internet 200 as security and surveillance images. Here, the CCTV apparatus 104 includes a CCTV camera for capturing an image, an image processor, and an image transmission apparatus for transmitting an image through a network.

The agricultural facility controller (100) further includes a motor driver (109) for performing an opening / closing operation of the house cover through electronic control under the control of the main microcontroller (108); And a switch 110 for opening and closing the house cover according to the opening and closing operation of the motor driver 109. The motor driver 109 performs speed control and forward / reverse switching control of the house cover. The switch 110 is preferably implemented as a motor.

The agricultural facility controller 100 controls the operation of the agricultural facility driving apparatus 117 in a state of being electrically insulated from the agricultural facility driving apparatus 117 under the control of the main microcontroller 108, And an agricultural facility control unit 120 for protecting the system from an inrush current and an overcurrent generated during operation.

The agricultural facility control unit 120 includes a main relay 112 for generating a driving signal under the control of the main microcontroller 108; A semiconductor switch 113 for performing a switching operation according to the operation of the main relay 112; The agricultural machine driving device 117 generates a driving signal in response to the operation of the semiconductor switch 113 and stops the driving operation of the agricultural equipment driving device 117 according to the detected limit signal and the forward / (114).

The agricultural facility driving apparatus 117 includes a ceiling curtain motor 117a for controlling the opening and closing of a ceiling curtain, a pump motor 117b for driving the pump, a shower motor 117c for driving a shower for spraying water on the crop, .

And a limit switch 118 for detecting whether the ceiling curtain is opened or closed to a desired position when driving an agricultural facility such as a ceiling curtain; And a forward / reverse switch 119 for forward / reverse rotation switching.

The operation of the agricultural facility control apparatus according to the present invention will now be described in detail.

First, a CCTV device 104 installed in an agricultural facility takes a picture of the vicinity of an agricultural facility or crops to generate a security and surveillance image or a crop image, and transmits it to the remote terminal 300 through the Internet 200 . That is, the surveillance CCTV apparatus generates the surveillance image, and the crop capturing CCTV apparatus generates the crop image. The generated image may be transmitted to the remote terminal 400 as a personal computer via the Internet 200, the network interface device 105 and the main microcontroller 108 as needed.

Therefore, the user can easily manage the agricultural facility remotely without managing the agricultural facility in the place where the agricultural facility is installed.

Here, the remote terminal 400 stores the received monitoring image and the crop image in the storage device so that the user can check the image later.

The user can remotely transmit a control command for controlling the agricultural facility through the remote terminal 300 or 400. The remote control command data thus transmitted is transmitted to the main microcontroller 100 in the agricultural facility controller 100 through the network 108). Accordingly, the main microcontroller 108 automatically controls the agricultural facility according to the received remote control command, so that the user can conveniently control the agricultural facility remotely.

Meanwhile, the sensor unit 101 installed in an agricultural facility measures temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide concentration using various environmental monitoring sensors, and detects a human body using a human body detection sensor or the like. The environmental information and human body detection information thus detected are separately processed by the sub micro controller 102 and transmitted to the remote terminal 400 and the main micro controller 108 through the network.

Particularly, it is possible to reduce the load sharing of the main microcontroller 108 by separately implementing the microcontroller in each sensor or the sensing device, and causing each microcontroller and the main microcontroller 108 to organically link through the network So that the main microcontroller 108 can quickly and efficiently control agricultural facilities.

In addition, the remote terminal 400 receives the acquired environment information and human body detection information through the data communication with the sub micro controller 102 via the network, and stores and manages the environment information and the human body detection information. In particular, the environmental information is statistically processed through classification codes such as hourly, daily, monthly, yearly, and seasonal, and then stored, thereby making it convenient for the user to use the environmental information later.

The main microcontroller 108 acquires environment information through interlocking with the sub micro controller 102. The main microcontroller 108 compares the acquired environmental information with the reference value stored in advance in the internal memory for automatic control, . For example, the main microcontroller 108 automatically opens and closes the ceiling curtain and / or the house cover when the acquired temperature is higher or lower than the reference value, or automatically activates or deactivates the shower when the humidity is higher or lower than the reference value To control agricultural facilities.

When the control target is the house cover, control data for opening or closing the house cover is generated and transmitted to the motor driver 109. The motor driver 109 operates the switch 110 according to the control data to be transmitted, The house cover is opened or closed. In this case, since it is a mechanical control method using a relay that relays the motor to change the direction of rotation of the motor instantaneously during the normal / reverse conversion of the opening / closing motor, the system and the motor are unreasonably affected, and system malfunction and motor malfunction frequently occur. That is, the method of simultaneously driving a plurality of switch motors through a single relay has made it difficult for the system and the motor. Here, in the event of a system failure or motor damage, it is impossible to control agricultural facilities, which can cause damage to crops. In particular, the conventional mechanical control method has a drawback in that it requires a lot of devices such as a magnet switch, a fuse, and a toggle switch, and the device configuration is complicated and maintenance is difficult due to difficulty in repairing a fault. In order to solve the problems of the conventional mechanical control system, the present invention has designed an existing mechanical control system as an electronic control system. Here, the electronic control system is a system that precisely controls the motor by pulse width modulation (PWM) such as stop, delay, reverse rotation, low speed, high speed, etc., Thereby preventing motor damage. Therefore, by preventing system failure and motor damage, it is possible to save maintenance time and cost by requiring little maintenance. In addition, although the mechanical control system can not control the opening and closing amount of the house cover, the electronic control system according to the present invention can be finely controlled, so that the opening and closing amount of the house cover can be controlled.

It is preferable that the constant voltage is stably supplied to the motor driver 109 and the switch 110 which are the electronic control devices through the constant voltage unit 111. [

On the other hand, the main microcontroller 108 generates control signals for controlling other agricultural facilities in addition to the house cover, and transmits the control signals to the agricultural facility control unit 120. Here, the signal for the agricultural facility control is generated by generating the control signal according to the environment information automatically sensed as described above, or when the user transmits a remote command through the remote terminal 300 or 400, Signal.

The main relay 120 of the agricultural facility control unit 120 receiving the agricultural facility driving signal operates to generate the agricultural facility driving signal and the semiconductor switch 113 is operated by the generated agricultural facility driving signal, And generates a facility drive signal. Then, the electromagnetic contactor 114 operates according to the generated agricultural facility driving signal to drive the agricultural facility driving device 114 connected thereto to open or close the ceiling curtain, to drive or stop the pump, to drive the shower Or off. The LED lighting unit 115 and the ventilation fan 116 are connected to the semiconductor switch 113 so as to drive the lighting apparatus or control the operation of the ventilation fan as required. For example, when the interior of the house is dark, the lighting apparatus is driven to illuminate the lighting or to supply a necessary heat source. When the concentration of the carbon dioxide or the like is high, the ventilation fan or the like is operated, The outside air is introduced, and the ventilation is performed.

The limit switch 118 confirms a predetermined control range when driving the agricultural facility and transmits the control signal to the electromagnetic contactor 114. The electromagnetic contactor 114 is connected to the ceiling curtain motor 110 in accordance with the limit signal detected through the limit switch 118, Thereby controlling the driving of the motor 117a. That is, the limit switch 118 is provided at a position where it is desired to open and close. When the limit switch 118 is in the open position, the limit switch 118 senses the contact through the contact and transmits the position information to the electromagnetic contactor 114. The electromagnetic contactor 114 controls the driving of the motor in accordance with the position information. Further, the user can select the driving direction of the motor by using the forward / reverse switch 119. [ For example, assuming that the ceiling curtain is opened in the forward direction of the motor and the ceiling curtain is closed in the reverse direction of the motor, if the ceiling curtain is to be opened, the forward / reverse switch 119 is set to the forward position, and the ceiling curtain is closed The normal / reverse changeover switch 119 is placed in the reverse position. The electromagnetic contactor 114 drives the motor in the forward or reverse direction according to the operation of the normal / reverse changeover switch 119.

Here, as another feature of the present invention, the agricultural facility control unit 120 does not physically connect the agricultural facility drive unit 117 and the system (e.g., the main microcontroller, the main relay, etc.) . That is, by using the solid state relay such as SSR as the semiconductor switch 113, the agricultural facility drive device 117 is electrically isolated from the system. Therefore, the inrush current or the overcurrent generated when the switch is contacted to drive the agricultural facility or the motor for driving the agricultural facility is not introduced into the system, thereby protecting the system and the circuit from the inrush current and the overcurrent. By preventing such inrush currents and overcurrents, system and circuit damage can be prevented, thereby reducing maintenance time and maintenance costs.

Meanwhile, as another feature of the present invention, the agricultural facility controller 100 controls the agricultural facility according to the command data transmitted from the remote terminal 300 or 400, or transmits the transmitted command data to the other agricultural facility controller Relay. The environment information transmitted from the other agricultural facility controller wirelessly is relayed to the remote terminals 300 and 400 and the agricultural facility is controlled according to the control command to expand the wireless network area.

For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 2, when it is necessary to construct an agricultural facility controller in a plurality of farms with a wide range of farms, a wireless network bridge technology such as WPS or WDS is applied, The wireless network area can be freely extended. In FIG. 2, reference numerals 501 to 504 denote an access point and an agricultural facility controller for controlling an actual agricultural facility.

With the use of such a wireless router, it is possible to conveniently and easily expand the wireless network area in a wide field like a farm.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the above embodiments, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

The present invention is applied to technology for controlling agricultural facilities using IT technology. In particular, it applies to technologies for remotely controlling agricultural facilities through a network or for monitoring agricultural facilities.

100: Agricultural facility controller
101:
102: Sub-microcontroller
104: CCTV device
105: Network interface device
108: main microcontroller
109: Motor driver
110: Actuator
120: Agricultural Facility Control Department
112: main relay
113: Semiconductor switch (Solid state relay)
114: Magnetic contactor
117: Farm facility drive system

Claims (10)

A remote terminal collecting agricultural facility control data received through a network, statistically processing and storing the data, and transmitting a remote control command of the agricultural facility through the network;
And an agricultural facility controller that transmits and receives control command and status information through data communication with the remote terminal or another agricultural facility controller through the network and automatically controls the agricultural facility based on the detected environment information Agricultural facility control equipment.
The agricultural facility control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the remote terminal is a personal computer connected to the agricultural facility controller via the network, or a portable terminal connected wirelessly to the agricultural facility controller.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the farm facility controller comprises a network interface device for transmitting and receiving data to and from the remote terminal or another farm facility controller via a network.
[2] The system of claim 1, wherein the agricultural facility controller includes: a sensor unit including an environmental sensor for detecting environmental information including temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide; and a human body sensor for sensing a human body; And a sub micro controller connected to the sensor unit for collecting information of the sensor and transmitting the collected information to the remote terminal and the main microcontroller as a control device through a network.
The agricultural facility controller according to claim 1, wherein the agricultural facility controller includes a main microcontroller for automatically controlling the agricultural facility according to an instruction transmitted from the remote terminal or control command data transmitted from the other agricultural facility controller or obtained environmental information Agricultural facility control device.
The agricultural facility control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the agricultural facility controller includes a CCTV apparatus for capturing an image of an area around an agricultural facility and transmitting the image as a monitoring image to the remote terminal via the Internet.
The agricultural machine controller according to claim 5, further comprising: a motor driver for performing an opening / closing operation of the house cover through electronic control under the control of the main microcontroller; And an opening and closing device for opening and closing the house lid according to an opening and closing operation of the motor driver, wherein the motor driver performs speed control and forward / reverse switching control of the house lid.
[7] The agricultural equipment controller of claim 5, wherein the agricultural facility controller controls operations of the agricultural facility driving apparatus in a state of being electrically insulated from the agricultural facility driving apparatus under the control of the main microcontroller, And an agricultural facility control unit for protecting the system.
The agricultural equipment control system according to claim 8, wherein the agricultural facility control unit comprises: a main relay for generating a driving signal under the control of the main microcontroller; A semiconductor switch for performing a switching operation according to an operation of the main relay; And an electromagnetic contactor for generating a drive signal to the agricultural facility driving apparatus according to the operation of the semiconductor switch and stopping the driving operation of the agricultural facility driving apparatus according to the detected limit signal and the forward / reverse switching signal. Control device.
The system according to claim 1, wherein the farm facility controller controls an agricultural facility according to command data transmitted from the remote terminal or wirelessly relays the transmitted command data to the other agricultural facility controller, and wirelessly transmits And relaying the environment information to the remote terminal and controlling the agricultural facility according to the control command to expand the wireless network area.

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