NL2033135B1 - Arthropod distributor with an inner reservoir and external housing delimiting a transportation space with an Archimedes screw therein. - Google Patents

Abstract

An arthropod distributor 2 comprises an inner reservoir 18 for holding arthropods and an external housing 4. An Archimedes screw 14 is provided in a transportation space between a circumferential wall of the reservoir and a outer circumferential wall of the housing. Outlet openings 12 are provided in an upper part of the circumferential wall of the housing at the end of the transportation space. A drive 10 is provided to co-rotate the screw, reservoir and/or housing in an inclined position around a central axis X. The reservoir is provided with transfer openings 22 in a lower part of its circumferential wall for releasing portions of the arthropods into a lower part of the transportation space during driving in rotation that then get transported sliding upwards over a bottom portion of the inclined transportation space towards the outlet openings.

Description

P35895NLOO/RR

Title: Arthropod distributor with an inner reservoir and external housing delimiting a transportation space with an Archimedes screw therein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an arthropod distributor for the distribution of arthropods over plants or crops to serve as biological pest control.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Sustainable food and environmentally friendly approaches in agriculture and horticulture have become more important in the last decades. Consequently the distribution of beneficial arthropods, such as predatory mites, parasite wasps, and assassin bugs, which can entirely or at least partly replace pesticides is a very important factor in integrated pest management. These beneficial arthropods may for example be released on crops manually or via sachets which are hung between the plants or crops, for example in a greenhouse.

Unfortunately the manual release of the arthropods has proven to be a time-consuming task without achieving a uniform distribution of the organisms. Alternatively, devices may be used that mechanically release the arthropods over the plants or crops in the environment.

Such devices are for example known from WO-2007/136246 which discloses a distribution device provided with a cylindrical arthropod reservoir in which a supply of arthropods is held. The reservoir comprises a number of outlet openings in a lower part of its circumferential wall. The reservoir is rotatable around a central axis. During rotation, portions of the arthropods will, under the influence of gravity, fall out through the outlet openings each time one of the outlet openings gets to pass its lowermost rotation position. The downwards falling arthropods will enter a forced air flow that is forced to blow out of a ventilator which is positioned sideways below the reservoir. The air flow carries the portion of arthropods and blows them away over several meters in a sideways direction such that they get distributed over the plants and crops below.

A disadvantage hereof is that the distribution of the arthropods leaves to be desired. In particular the distribution is not always uniform and for example has appeared to be dependent on a filling degree of the reservoir. This filling degree however inevitably varies over time as the arthropods are distributed while the reservoir gradually empties. As a result, local deviations arise in the portions of arthropods that get distributed. Due to this uneven distribution of arthropods it is required to distribute larger amounts of arthropods to ensure the efficacy and efficiency of the biological pest control.

Another disadvantage hereof is that when the reservoir temporarily is not to be driven in rotation, for example because the end of a growing path in a greenhouse is reached, arthropods shall still continue to flow out of the outlet openings. Thus the entire reservoir may flow empty while distribution of the living organisms at that moment is no longer desired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention aims to overcome those disadvantages at least partly or to provide a usable alternative. In particular the invention aims to provide an animal-friendly arthropod distributor which is able to distribute living arthropods while ensuring a uniform distribution in the crop.

According to the present invention this aim is achieved by an arthropod distributor for distributing arthropods according to claim 1. The arthropod distributor comprises an arthropod reservoir for holding arthropods that has an inner circumferential wall. The arthropod reservoir takes in an inclined position in which its central axis extends angled relative to the vertical direction. One or more outlet openings are provided for dispensing arthropods for distribution into the environment, and a drive is provided that is configured for driving at least the arthropod reservoir in rotation in its inclined position around said central axis. According to the inventive thought the arthropod distributor further comprises an external housing that has a bottom plate and an outer circumferential wall, which extends from the bottom plate and lies spaced apart around the inner circumferential wall of the arthropod reservoir for delimiting a transportation space between them. An Archimedes screw is provided in the transportation space between the inner circumferential wall of the arthropod reservoir and the outer circumferential wall of the external housing. The one or more outlet openings are provided in an upper part of the outer circumferential wall of the external housing at the end of the transportation space. The drive is configured to co-rotate the Archimedes screw with the arthropod reservoir in said inclined position around said central axis. The arthropod reservoir is provided with one or more transfer openings in a lower part of its inner circumferential wall that are configured for releasing portions of the arthropods into a lower part of the transportation space during driving in rotation that then get transported sliding upwards over a bottom portion of the inclined transportation space towards the one or more outlet openings.

Thus advantageously a truly uniform distribution of arthropods has become possible, that is independent of the filling degree of the reservoir, and that can easily and fully be stopped simply by switching of the drive and stop the co-rotation of at least the reservoir and

Archimedes screw. As soon as the drive is switched on again, the uniform distribution shall immediately be able to continue to take place, because the portions locked up between the respective windings are unable to slide back towards the lower part of the transportation space during standstills. Thus a true fine-tuning in distribution can take place only there where itis desired. Distributing an excess of arthropods is no longer required to be able meet minimum distribution demands all the time. Thus an important saving in the distribution of the expensive arthropods can be obtained.

The arthropod reservoir is configured to automatically start releasing portions of the arthropods out of the reservoir each time one of its transfer openings gets rotated passed by its lowermost position. The one or more transfer openings may for example be formed by one or more recesses or holes in the lower part of the inner circumferential wall. The quantities of arthropods shall fall through the transfer opening(s) under the influence of gravity each time when such a transfer opening gets rotated facing substantially downwards. Hence, when the reservoir is driven in rotation, quantities of arthropods will fall into the lower part of the housing cq transportation space.

The released portions of the arthropods directly arrive between lowermost windings of the Archimedes screw in a lower part of the transportation space and end up intermittently in between those respective lowermost windings of the Archimedes screw that at that moment are passing by along that lower part of the transportation space due to the driving of both the reservoir and Archimedes screw in rotation. The Archimedes screw has a helical blad that gradually spirals upwards through the transportation space, starting at the lower part where the transfer openings are provided in the inner circumferential wall of the reservoir and extending at least until the upper part where the outlet openings are provided in the outer circumferential wall of the external housing. The intermittent taking along of arthropods by the lowermost windings of the Archimedes screw in the transportation space ensures a proper functioning of the Archimedes screw for which it is required that not the entire transportation space gets filled with arthropods, but merely with limited portions thereof and for the rest with air. Only then those limited portions of arthropods each time have the opportunity to slide back to an inclined bottom portion of the transportation space while keep on getting pushed gradually forwards/upwards along this inclined bottom portion by the passing by inclined upwards spiralling helical blade of the Archimedes screw.

Thus from out of this lower part of the transportation space, the Archimedes screw is well able to safely transport the living arthropods inclined upwards towards the outlet openings for as long as the drive is kept switched on without harming or damaging the vulnerable arthropods whatsoever. When reaching the outlet openings, at least a part of the upwardly transported portions of the arthropods shall fall out via them into the environment under the influence of gravity.

Advantageously, this sliding movement of the intermittent portions during driving in rotation has appeared to be able to provide a constant distribution volume of arthropods that falls out through the outlet openings. In contrast to the prior art the volumes of arthropods falling through the outlet openings therefore do not have to diminish with dropping degrees of arthropods present in the reservoir. When variables like surface area of the outlet openings, rotational driving speed, and/or inclination angle at which the reservoir and housing of the distributor are placed are kept constant, the doses of arthropods falling through the outlet openings can be kept constant over time as well. This constant dosing of arthropods leads to a better distribution of the living organisms and thus to lower costs, healthier crop, higher production and profits, and to less or no hazardous pesticides being necessary during cultivation.

Another important advantage of the present invention is that the arthropod distributor requires only a minimal number of moving/rotating components and thus hardly requires maintenance or cleaning.

According to a preferred embodiment the outer circumferential wall of the external housing may exceed the inner circumferential wall of the arthropod reservoir and/or one or more overflow inlet openings can be provided in an upper part of the inner circumferential wall of the arthropod reservoir. This brings the important advantage that any excess of arthropods that gets to arrive in the upper part of the transportation space and that is unable to immediately leave the transportation space fall via the one or more outlet openings, shall not start to accumulate in this upper part of the transportation space, but instead shall automatically fall back into the reservoir over an entire free upper edge of the reservoir or via the one or more overflow inlet openings. With this the inclined position of the arthropod distributor ensures that this overflow of excess of arthropods shall automatically fall in a downward direction on top of the remaining amount of arthropods still present in the reservoir.

To prevent the arthropods from leaving the distributor at its upper part, it may be preferred to provide a top wall, a lid or a in inwardly projecting rim that at least partly close of atop of the housing. Preferably this top wall or lid is removable such that the reservoir can easily and quickly be filled with arthropods whenever necessary or desired.

According to a preferred embodiment the drive can be configured to co-rotate the external housing with the Archimedes screw and arthropod reservoir in said inclined position around said central axis. The inner and outer circumferential walls as well as the Archimedes screw locked up between them, are all brought together in rotation by the drive. This brings the advantage that the relative sharp edges of the helical blade do not get to slide along either one of the circumferential walls, but instead are at standstill relative to each other and thus are unable to damage the vulnerable arthropods. Furthermore this brings the advantage that no wear shall occur between the circumferential walls and the Archimedes screw. 5 In a preferred embodiment an inner edge of the Archimedes screw may lie against the inner circumferential wall of the arthropod reservoir, and an outer edge may lie against the outer circumferential wall of the external housing. Thus no arthropods may get stuck or start sliding back between the helical blade and the inner circumferential wall, nor between the helical blade and the outer circumferential wall. Also no deterioration may start to accumulate there.

In a preferred embodiment the Archimedes screw can be fixedly connected with the inner circumferential wall of the arthropod reservoir and be releasably provided with a sliding fit inside the outer circumferential wall of the external housing. Thus the reservoir together with the helical blade of the Archimedes screw extending around and fixedly connected to its outer side can easily be removed together from out of the external housing for cleaning and maintenance purposes. Furthermore, the fixation of the Archimedes screw around the reservoir helps to maintain a correct divided positioning of the respective windings of the helical blade along the axial direction.

The rate of distribution of arthropods out of the distributor when driven in rotation preferably is adjustable.

For this an operable valve adjuster can be provided for adjusting a closing/opening surface area of the one or more outlet openings. This valve adjuster for example can be formed by a rotatable ring or capping lid that can be manually adjusted in rotational position and depending on this rotational position close of or open up the outlet openings to a lesser or bigger degree. The valve adjuster may be present on the upper part of the outer circumferential wall and preferably comprises one or more holes of which the placement and sizes correspond to the one or more outlet openings in the outer circumferential wall. Rotation of the valve adjuster then may cause centrelines of the holes to correspond lesser or more to centrelines of the outlet openings, and thus adjust maximal volumes of arthropods to fall out.

Rotation of the valve adjuster may also close of the one or more outlet openings completely.

Rotation of the valve adjuster may be performed manually and thus provide an easy way to adjust the volume of arthropods that is distributed.

In addition thereto or in the alternative an operable angle adjuster can be provided for adjusting the inclined position of the central axis. A large inclination angle relative to the vertical, wherein the central axis of the distributor's housing/screw/reservoir for example is nearly horizontal, causes the largest doses of arthropods to be distributed, while a small inclination angle relative to the vertical, wherein the central axis of distributor's housing/screw/reservoir is nearly vertical, provides the smallest doses arthropods to be distributed.

In addition thereto or in the alternative an operable speed adjuster can be provided for adjusting the rotational speed at which the drive gets to co-rotate the distributor's reservoir, screw and/or housing.

In a preferred embodiment, the Archimedes screw defines a helical path inside the transportation space, wherein a plurality of the outlet openings are provided adjacent each other along an end part of this helical path. This placement of a plurality of the outlet openings along the helical path helps to ensure the aimed uniform distribution of the arthropods.

The number and size of the outlet openings may vary dependent on the type and amount of arthropods to be distributed. However, it is preferred that the outlet openings each have cross-sections ranging from 10-30 mm, preferably about 20 mm.

In an embodiment, the arthropod distributor may comprise a blower device for spreading the arthropods that fall out of the outlet openings. The blower device advantageously allows the arthropods to be spread a horizontal distance from the arthropod distributor. In the alternative the arthropods may also directly fall down and thus get uniformly distributed over plants or crops.

The arthropod distributor, with or without blower device, may be handheld and be moved over and along crops or plants while walking. It may however also form part of an automated transportation construction that is movable over and along the crops or plants. For this a dedicated transportation device can be provided. It is also possible to mount the distributor to other devices that also need to be periodically transported over and/or along the crops or plants, for example a spraying device for pesticides or a tube-rail trolley.

Further preferred embodiments of the invention are stated in the dependent subclaims.

The invention also relates to a method for distributing arthropods with the arthropod distributor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention shall now be explained in more detail below by means of describing some exemplary embodiments in a non-limiting way with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: - Fig. 1 shows a perspective view from the side of an embodiment of the arthropod distributor according to the invention; - Fig. 2 shows a perspective view from the top of the arthropod distributor of fig. 1; - Fig. 3 shows a cross-sectional view over the line A-A in fig. 2; - Fig. 4 schematically shows the cross-sectional view of fig. 3 while in operation for three levels of filling; and - Fig. 5 shows an embodiment of the arthropod distributor with a blowing device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In fig. 1-3 an arthropod distributor is shown that has been given the reference numeral 2. The arthropod distributor 2 comprises a cylindrical external housing 4 which has a bottom plate 6, an open top 7 and an outer circumferential wall 8 extending from the bottom plate 6 around a central axis X. The bottom plate 6 comprises an inwardly projecting sleeve part 9 inside which a drive 10, here formed by an electromotor, is placed that has a rotation axle 11 via which the housing 4 can be driven in rotation around the central axis X. The outer circumferential wall 8 at its upper side comprises outlet openings 12 that connect to the environment.

A dosing funnel 16 is provided as adjustable valve around an upper edge of the outer circumferential wall 8 which is configured to adjust opened up surface areas of the outlet openings 12. For this the dosing funnel 16 comprises holes 17 complementary to the outlet openings 12. In the shown rotational orientation of the dosing funnel 16, centrelines of the holes 17 fully correspond to centrelines of the outlet openings 12. This provides maximal volume of arthropods to be able to fall out. Rotation of the dosing funnel 16 may close of the outlet openings 12 partly or completely. The dosing funnel 16 has a central opening which allows easy deposition of arthropods in the reservoir 18 through the open top 7.

A cylindrical reservoir 18 is placed co-axially inside the housing 4. The reservoir 18 has an open bottom, an open top, and an inner circumferential wall 20 extending from the bottom plate 8 around the central axis X, as can best be seen in fig. 2-4. The reservoir 18 has a smaller diameter than the housing 4 such that a transportation space is delimited between them. The inner circumferential wall 20 at its lower side comprises a number of downwardly extending struts 21, here three divided around the circumference, with which it rests upon the bottom plate 6. The struts 21 delimit recesses that form transfer openings 22 that connect to the transportation space.

An Archimedes screw 14 formed by a spiralling helical blade is provided that extends through the transportation space while lying with its inner edge against the inner circumferential wall 20 of the reservoir 18 and while lying with its outer edge against the outer circumferential wall 8 of the housing 4.

Neighbouring ones of the outlet openings 12 are positioned along the end part of the transportation space along the same helical path as the Archimedes screw 14 itself, such that they get to lie fully in between neighbouring windings of the Archimedes screw 14.

The Archimedes screw 14 fits with a sliding fit inside the housing 4, and is fixedly connected to the reservoir 18. This makes it possible to detach and remove the sub-assembly of reservoir 18 and Archimedes screw 14 out of the housing 4 for cleaning purposes.

The entire assembly of the housing 4, the reservoir 18 as well as the Archimedes screw 14 locked up between them can be driven in rotation around the common central axis

X by the rotation axle 11 of the drive 10. The drive 10 can lie with some play inside the complementary inwardly projecting sleeve part 9 of the bottom plate 6 such that its rotation axle 11 is able to exert a rotational driving force relative to and around the drive 10 on the entire assembly of the housing 4, the reservoir 18 as well as the Archimedes screw 14 locked up between them to start rotating around the drive 10. It is possible to provide bearings or other types of friction reducing elements between the drive 10 and the bottom plate 6. For the housing 4 to be able to take along the Archimedes screw 14 and reservoir 18 along in rotation around the central axis X, the external housing 4 is coupled rotation fixed with the

Archimedes screw 14 and/or the reservoir 18. This rotation fixed coupling here is made between the bottom plate 6 and the struts 21 respectively the lowermost windings of the

Archimedes screw 14.

When the arthropod distributor 2 is in use, an arthropod mixture comprising living arthropods and a support and/or dissemination substrate material is present inside the reservoir 18. When subsequently the assembly of the housing 4, the Archimedes screw 14 and the reservoir 18 are driven in rotation, small quantities of arthropod mixture shall intermittently get the freedom to fall downwards out of the lower part of the reservoir 18 each time one of the transfer openings 22 passes by its lowermost rotation position. The thus downwards falling portions of arthropods drop down into the lower part of the transportation space in between two lowermost neighbouring windings of the Archimedes screw 14.

The co-rotating Archimedes screw 14 there scoops the released portion of the arthropod mixture and, via a helicoid of the Archimedes screw 14, starts to transport that portion of the arthropod mixture in the axial direction X angled upwards through the transportation space. The release of the portions of arthropods in the transportation space in between adjacent windings ensures that each released portion of arthropods gets followed by an amount of air. This gives the limited portions of arthropods the opportunity to keep on sliding back to the bottom side of the transportation space. This sliding back results in the portions continuing to get pushed gradually forwards/upwards over the bottom side of the transportation space by the inclined upwards spiralling helical blade of the Archimedes screw 14

When the portions of the arthropods ultimately reach the upper part of the distributor, they also shall have freedom to fall down through the outlet openings 12 that get to pass by due to the fact that the housing 4 is co-rotating. Uniform quantities of the arthropod mixture then shall intermittently get the freedom to fall downwards out of the upper part of the housing 4 each time one of the outlet openings 12 passes by its lowermost rotation position. The thus downwards falling arthropods drop down into the environment, for example directly on crops of plants.

Depending on the extent to which the outlet openings 12 are opened, only a part of the arthropods mixture falls through the outlet openings 12 while the remainder of the arthropods is transported over the outlet openings 12 to the upper edge of the housing 4, where the mixture bumps against the dosing funnel 16. From there the excess arthropod mixture falls back over the free upper edge 24 of the inner circumferential wall 20 of the reservoir 18 that delimits the open top of the reservoir 18. Thus the distribution speed can be controlled by simple rotation of the dosing funnel 16 for opening up or closing off the outlet openings 12 to a lesser or bigger amount.

Due to this circular movement there is a constant volume of arthropod mixture that falls through the outlet openings 12, independent on the amount of arthropod mixture present in the reservoir 18. This effect is demonstrated in fig. 4A-C, wherein a housing 4 is filled for 100% (A), 50% (B) and 10% (C). When the housing 4, the reservoir 18 and the Archimedes screw 14 rotate around their central axis X (shown with (1)} the arthropod mixture is transported upwards till the level of the outlet openings 12 that lie above the inner circumferential wall 20, after which the mixture either starts to fall through the outlet openings {shown with (2) or starts to fall back as overflow over the free upper edge 22 into the reservoir 18 (shown with (3) due to the inclined angle a of the housing 4.

The distributed volume of arthropod mixture falling through the outlet openings 12 is thus independent on the amount of arthropod mixture present in the reservoir 18. Instead, the volume of arthropod mixture falling through the outlet openings 12 only depends on the opened up surface areas of the outlet openings 12, the specific rotation speed of the drive, and the inclination angle a at which the housing 4 is placed. Each of those variables can easily and quickly be adjusted without negatively influencing the uniformity of release out of the outlet openings 12.

In fig. 5 the housing 4 of the arthropod distributor 2 is shown attached to a blower device 24.

Both the distributor 2 and the blowing device 24 are energized by a battery pack 26. A semi- collar-shaped collector 28 is placed partly around and underneath the outlet openings 12 to collect the fallen arthropod mixture. This collector 28 is connected via a vacuum connecting point 30 to a vacuum connecting point 32 of an air blowing tunnel 34. The arthropod distributor 2 further comprises a stand 36 for the distributor 2 to remain stable while standing, and a handgrip 38 for carrying the distributor 2.

The handgrip 38 is provided with an operable speed adjuster for adjusting the rotational speed at which the drive 10 rotates the housing 4 together with the Archimedes screw 14 and arthropod reservoir 18 placed therein and coupled rotation fixed thereto. Thus the distribution speed can be controlled. In the alternative or in addition thereto, the operable speed adjuster can also be used for adjusting the blowing force. Thus the spreading range of distribution can be controlled.

Between the distributor 2 and the battery pack 26 respectively the stand 36 an operable angle adjuster is provided for adjusting the inclined position of the central axis X of the housing 4, Archimedes screw 14 and reservoir 18. Thus the distribution speed can also be controlled.

During energizing of the drive 10, arthropod mixture is transported out of the reservoir 18 via the Archimedes screw-transportation space upwards through the housing 4 towards the outlet openings 12 and from there collected in the collector 28. The collected arthropods are then transported via the vacuum connecting points 30, 32 to the air blowing tunnel 34, from where the arthropods can be blown over crops or plants.

Besides the embodiments shown numerous variants are possible. Instead of using the distributor for mites it can also be used for distribution of other types of useful arthropods for biological pest control. The dimensions and shapes of the various components may be varied. For example the number of outlet openings and their shape and size may be altered, and depending on the type of arthropods and support and/or dissemination substrate material that needs to be distributed, the size of for example the external housing and/or inner reservoir chamber can be varied, thus also being able to increase or decrease the volume of the transportation space. The housing, reservoir and/or Archimedes screw of the arthropod distributor are preferably made out of plastic but can also be made out of other materials like metal.

Thus according to the invention an economic and user-friendly arthropod distributor is obtained with which the arthropods can be distributed in an efficient automated manner inside a greenhouse or the like.

It should be understood that various changes and modifications to the presently preferred embodiments can be made without departing from the scope of the invention, and therefore will be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims.

Claims (12)

CONCLUSIONS 1. Arthropod distributor (2) for distributing arthropods, comprising an arthropod reservoir (18) with an inner peripheral wall (20) for containing arthropods, the arthropod reservoir (18) being in an inclined position with its central axis (X ) is in an inclined position with respect to the vertical direction; e one or more outlets (12) for the distribution of arthropods to the environment; and e a drive (10) configured to at least rotate the arthropod reservoir (18) in its inclined position about the central axis (X); characterized in that it further comprises: e an external housing (4) having a bottom plate (8) and an outer peripheral wall (8) extending from the bottom plate (6) and spaced from the inner peripheral wall (20) of the arthropod reservoir (18) for defining a transport space between the two; and e an Archimedes screw (14) provided in the transport space between the inner circumferential wall (20) of the arthropod reservoir (18) and the outer circumferential wall (8) of the external housing (4), wherein the one or more outlet openings ( 12) are provided in an upper part of the outer peripheral wall (8) of the external housing (4) at the end of the transport space, with the drive (10) configured to drive the Archimedes screw (14) together with the arthropod reservoir ( 18) in the inclined position to rotate about the central axis (X), and wherein the arthropod reservoir (18) is provided with one or more transfer openings (22) in a lower portion of the inner peripheral wall (20) configured for release of portions of the arthropods in a lower part of the transport space during rotation, which are then transported slidingly upwards over a lower part of the inclined transport space to the one or more outlet openings (12). Arthropod distributor (2) according to claim 1, wherein the outer circumferential wall (8) is higher than the inner circumferential wall (20) and/or wherein one or more overflow inlet openings are provided in an upper part of the inner circumferential wall (20). Arthropod distributor (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the drive (10) is configured to move the external housing (4) together with the Archimedes screw (14) and the arthropod reservoir (18) into the inclined position around the central axis (X) to rotate. Arthropod distributor (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the Archimedes screw (14) rests with an inner edge against the inner circumferential wall (20) of the arthropod reservoir (18) and with an outer edge against the outer circumferential wall (8) of the external housing (4). Arthropod distributor (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the Archimedes screw (14) is firmly connected to the inner circumferential wall (20) of the arthropod reservoir (18) and is detachably provided inside the outer circumferential wall (8) of the external housing (4). Arthropod distributor (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein an operable valve controller is provided for adjusting the surface area of the one or more outlet openings (12). Arthropod distributor (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein an operable angle adjuster is provided for adjusting the inclined position of the central axis (X). Arthropod distributor (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein an operable speed controller is provided for adjusting the rotation speed at which the drive rotates the Archimedes screw (14) and the arthropod reservoir (18) simultaneously. An arthropod distributor (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a blowing device (24) for dispersing the arthropods that have fallen through the at least one outlet opening (12), the drive (10) being configured to also blowing device (24) or wherein the arthropod distributor (2) contains a second drive for driving the blowing device (24). Arthropod distributor (2) according to claim 9, wherein the blowing device (24) comprises a collector (28) for collecting the fallen arthropods and an air blower for dispersing arthropods via blown air, with a vacuum connection (30, 32) is configured to supply the collected arthropods from the collector (28) to an air blow tunnel (34). Method for distributing arthropods with an arthropod distributor (2) according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising the steps of - simultaneously driving at least the arthropod reservoir (18) and the Archimedes screw (14) in rotation in the inclined position around the central axis (X); - releasing portions of the arthropods into the lower part of the transport space whenever one of the transfer openings (22) in the lower part of the inner peripheral wall (20) passes the lower part of the transport space; - transporting the released portions of the arthropods that slide upwards over the lower portion of the inclined transport space to the one or more outlet openings (12); — distributing at least part of the upwardly transported arthropods via the one or more outlet openings (12) for distribution in the environment. Method according to claim 11, wherein at least part of the arthropods transported upwards fall back into the arthropod reservoir (18).