JP7639628B2 - Plant Cultivation Equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a plant cultivation facility.

In the plant cultivation equipment, a guide wire is provided on the upper side of the cultivation bed along the cultivation rows, and the cultivated plants are guided and supported by guide strings hanging down from the guide wire (Patent Document 1).

JP 2017-158598 A

According to Patent Document 1, as the plants grow and the fruit is harvested, the fruit gradually grows higher, so the harvesting work can be done by lowering the guide string to lower the position of the fruit. However, the branches and leaves of the plants extend beyond the cultivation bed into the aisle, making it difficult to carry out various work while moving along the aisle.

The objective of this invention is to make various tasks easier to perform.

The first aspect of the present invention is
In a plant cultivation facility provided with a cultivation bed (5) for cultivating a plant (P) and with vertical attracting members (17) provided at a predetermined interval on the cultivation bed (5), a plant support frame (20) is configured on the left and right of the plant (P), and the plant support frame (20) is provided with vertical frames (21) extending in the vertical direction from attracting hooks (16) from which the attracting members (17) hang down, at least on the left and right sides of the plant (P), respectively;
The plant support frame (20) is a plant cultivation facility characterized by having horizontal frames (22) between a plurality of vertical frames (21) against which branches, leaves and fruits are abutted.
The second aspect of the present invention is
This is a first plant cultivation facility of the present invention, in which a reel portion (16a) of an attracting hook (16) that pays out an attracting member (17) is supported on the upper portion of a vertical frame (21).
The third aspect of the present invention is
The vertical frames (21) are a pair, and the spacing between the pair of vertical frames (21a, 21b) is parallel to each other over a predetermined range on the upper side, and bent and sloped downward from the middle part, so that the spacing is gradually wider toward the lower side compared to the upper side, in the first or second plant cultivation equipment of the present invention.
The fourth aspect of the present invention is
This is a plant cultivation facility according to any one of the first to third aspects of the present invention, in which the lower end of the vertical frame (21) is inserted into and supported by gutters (23, 23) that are arranged in parallel to the side of the cultivation bed (5) and allow waste liquid to flow.
The first invention related to the present invention is a plant cultivation facility having a cultivation bed 5 for cultivating a plant P, and vertical attraction members 17 provided at predetermined intervals on the cultivation bed 5, in which a plant support frame 20 is formed on the left and right sides of the plant P, and the plant support frame 20 has vertical frames 21 extending in the vertical direction from the attraction hook 16 portion on at least the left and right sides of the plant P.

A second invention related to the present invention is the first invention related to the present invention , in which the plant support frame 20 is provided with horizontal frames 22 between a plurality of vertical frames 21 against which branches, leaves and fruits are abutted.

A third invention related to the present invention is the first or second invention related to the present invention , in which a reel portion 16 a of an attracting hook 16 that pays out an attracting member 17 is supported on an upper portion of a vertical frame 21 .

A fourth invention related to the present invention is any one of the first to third inventions related to the present invention , in which the vertical frames 21 are a pair, and the spacing between the pair of vertical frames 21a, 21b is parallel to each other over a predetermined range on the upper side, and is bent and sloped downward from the middle part, so that the spacing is gradually wider toward the lower side compared to the spacing at the upper side.

The fifth invention related to the present invention is any one of the first to fourth inventions related to the present invention , in which the lower end of the vertical frame 21 is supported by being inserted into girders 23, 23 that are arranged in parallel on the side of the cultivation bed 5 and allow waste liquid to flow.

According to the present invention, the branches and leaves of the plant P can be prevented from coming into contact with the vertical frames 21a, 21b and the horizontal frame 22 and protruding into the aisle, so that various tasks can be carried out smoothly on the aisle side.
According to the first or second invention related to the present invention , the branches and leaves of the plant P can be prevented from abutting against the vertical frames 21a, 21b or the horizontal frame 22 and protruding into the aisle, allowing various tasks to be carried out smoothly on the aisle side.

It also makes it easier for the fruit to separate from the branches and leaves, making fruit harvesting easier. In particular, it makes it easier for harvesters to operate the harvesting arm robot.

According to the third invention related to the present invention, in addition to the effects of the first or second invention related to the present invention , the reel section 16a that reels out the attraction member 17 is supported on the upper part of the vertical frame 21, so that the attraction member 17 and the support frame 20 can be attached and detached as a single unit.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects of the first to third aspects of the present invention , it is easy to abut and support lush branches and leaves.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects of the first to fourth aspects of the present invention , the configuration is simplified and attachment and detachment are easy.

1 is a schematic diagram of a plant cultivation facility according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a side view showing an overview of a part of a plant cultivation facility according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a front view showing an overview of a part of a plant cultivation facility according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1A is a side view of an overview of a portion of a plant cultivation facility according to an embodiment of the present invention and a harvesting work mobile vehicle, and FIG. 1 is a side view of an overview of a portion of a plant cultivation facility according to an embodiment of the present invention and a harvesting work mobile vehicle. 1 is a side view of an overview of a portion of a plant cultivation facility according to an embodiment of the present invention and a harvesting work mobile vehicle. 1A and 1B are side views showing an outline of the operation of a harvesting work vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1A and 1B are front views showing an example of a harvest storage box and a fruit case according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1A and 1B are side views showing an outline of the operation of a harvesting vehicle according to a different embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example of the operation of the transport conveyor according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The greenhouse equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention is described below.

Figure 1 shows an example of a cultivation facility, which includes a cultivation room 1, which is a greenhouse where the temperature, humidity, and other indoor conditions are controlled by heaters and humidifiers, and a shipping room 2 adjacent to the cultivation room 1. In the center of the cultivation room 1, a main passage 4 is provided through which workers or mobile work vehicles (work carts) 3, also called mobile work vehicles, or pest control vehicles, can pass, and this main passage 4 is a concrete passage with a concrete road surface. On both sides of the main passage 4, a cultivation space 6 for cultivating crops is formed by arranging multiple rows of cultivation beds 5, which serve as cultivation units. The cultivation beds 5 are cultivation beds made of rock wool, which serves as a culture medium, and nutrient solution is supplied to each cultivation bed 5 from a nutrient solution supplying device 7 in the shipping room 2.

In addition, entrances 8 to the cultivation room 1 equipped with opening and closing doors are provided at both ends of the main passage 4, and one of the entrances 8 allows access to the adjacent shipping room 2. The other entrance 8 allows access from the outside of the cultivation facility. The work vehicle 3 can be moved from the main passage 4 to the sub-passage 9 between each cultivation bed 5, and various tasks can be performed on the plants being cultivated while moving the work vehicle 3 along the cultivation beds 5 on the sub-passage 9. The sub-passage 9 is a passage formed in the front-to-rear direction between the left and right sides of each cultivation bed 5. The work vehicle 3 runs on the left and right heating pipes laid on the sub-passage 9 for heating the entire greenhouse, using them as running rails 13.

The shipping room 2 is equipped with the nutrient solution supplying device 7 and a sorting device 10 that sorts the harvested crops (fruits) such as tomatoes by weight, size, or grade. The sorting device 10 is a pre-treatment device that processes the cultivated crops before shipping. The sorting device 10 is equipped with a sorting conveyor 11 that transports and sorts the harvested crops, and harvested product storage sections 12 for each class that are provided on both sides of the sorting conveyor 11, and is configured to supply the harvested crops from the sorting conveyor 11 to each harvested product storage section 12 and sort them into each class. The sorting conveyor 11 is bent in an L-shape when viewed from above. Each harvested product storage section 12 is provided with a storage box for storing the harvested crops, and the harvested crops can be shipped by this storage box.

An attracting wire 15 is provided on the upper side of the cultivation bed 5 along the cultivation rows, and the cultivated plant P is attracted by an attracting string 17 that hangs down from the attracting wire 15 via an attracting hook 16. The attracting hook 16 is suspended from the attracting wire 15, and the attracting string 17 wound around the reel part 16a is appropriately unwound to hang down, as is well known. After the plant grows to a predetermined height (near the attracting hook 16), the attracting string 17 is unwound from the attracting hook 16 while being shifted in sequence in the arrangement direction of the multiple cultivated plants, i.e., in the longitudinal direction of the cultivation bed 5, to lower the height of the plant, and the plant P is continuously cultivated. Therefore, for example, when cultivating tomatoes, the tomato stem c will extend from the cultivation bed 5 along the attracting string 17.

A plant support frame 20 is constructed on the left and right of the plant P. The plant support frame 20 is constructed with vertical frames 21 extending vertically from the attraction hook 16 on the left and right sides of the plant P, and horizontal frames 22 in a ladder shape between the vertical frames 21. In the illustrated example, a pair of vertical frames 21a and 21b are used. Therefore, the stem of the plant P is located between the pair of vertical frames 21a and 21b in a side view, and the branches and leaves abut against the pair of vertical frames 21a and 21b and the horizontal frame 22 to prevent them from protruding into the aisle. As the fruit grows, it tends to come out of the frame made up of the vertical frames 21a and 21b and the horizontal frame 22, and the overgrown branches and leaves tend to abut against the frame made up of the vertical frames 21a and 21a and the horizontal frame 22, making it easier to distinguish between the two. The pair of vertical frames 21a and 21b are connected at their upper ends to the attraction hook 16 and are provided with a length that reaches the cultivation bed 5 at their lower ends. The vertical frames 21 are arranged on the left and right sides of the plant P, i.e., on either side of the cultivation bed 5. As described above, a pair of vertical frames 21a, 21b are provided on the left and right sides of the plant P, and multiple horizontal frames 22a, 22b, 22c are arranged in a ladder shape between the pair of vertical frames 21a, 21b, so that the fruit of the plant P can grow, but the branches and leaves can be held in contact with each other so that they do not spill out onto the sub-passage 9 side.

The reel portion 16a of the attraction hook 16 is supported in a clamped manner at the upper portion of the pair of vertical frames 21a, 21b that constitute the plant support frame 20. The hanging hook portion 16b of the attraction hook 16 is supported by the attraction wire 15, so that the plant support frame 20 is also supported in a hanging state as a whole.

The spacing between the pair of vertical frames 21a, 21b is almost parallel in a certain range on the upper side, but is gradually wider on the lower side compared to the upper side, bending and slanting downward from the middle part. Therefore, since the lower side where the fruit f grows is wider, the fruit f is easily separated from the stem and leaves.

The lower ends of the vertical frames 21a, 21b of the plant support frame 20 and the lowest horizontal frame 22c are inserted into gutters (grooves) 23, 23 that are provided in parallel on the sides of the cultivation bed 5 to drain waste liquid, thus forming a support structure for the lower end. This makes it easy to attach and detach the support frame 20.

The work vehicle 3 is a harvesting work vehicle equipped with front, rear, left and right running wheels 25, a step 26 on which the worker boards, and a harvesting arm 27. The harvesting arm 27 is composed of a first arm 27a that can rotate 360 degrees around a vertical axis and whose length can be controlled to expand and contract, a second arm 27b that is connected to the first arm 27a and whose lift height can be changed and controlled, and a hand unit 27c that grasps and harvests fruits f such as tomatoes, at the top of a mechanism body 28 that houses a drive mechanism, and a hand unit 27c that grasps and harvests fruits f such as tomatoes. The operation of the first arm 27a, the second arm 27b and the hand unit 27c is controlled to harvest the fruits f, and the control output is based on the image output of an unillustrated image capturing camera. That is, the step 26 of the work vehicle 3 is equipped with an image capturing camera on one or both sides of the front and rear in the traveling direction, and is configured so that the location information and coloring information can be transmitted to the work vehicle control unit (not shown) based on the image data of the fruits f while the work vehicle 3 is moving. The control unit can determine whether or not it is the right time to harvest based on the coloring information, and based on the position information of the fruit that is the right time to harvest, output a harvest command signal to the harvesting arm 27 to rotate the arm, extend and retract, and perform the harvesting operation.

Next, the harvest storage box 30 that stores the harvested fruit will be described. The harvest storage box 30 is configured with multiple shelves and can store fruit cases 31, 31..., and the harvest storage box 30 with an empty fruit case 31 set in it and waiting in the sub-passage 9 can be placed on the forklift unit 29 provided at the front of the mobile work vehicle 3 and lifted.

The fruit case 31 is formed as a fruit inlet by removing the wall on the side corresponding to the mobile work vehicle 3 body, and furthermore, this fruit inlet side is formed with a slightly higher inclined bottom surface and a lower back side, so that it can receive the harvested fruit f by the harvesting arm 27 and store it in a way that makes it easy to roll it to the back side.

The mobile work vehicle 3 moves forward and approaches the storage box 30 that has been placed in advance in the sub-passage 9 (Figure 4), and is placed on the forklift unit 29 and held at a specified height (Figure 5). As the mobile work vehicle 3 moves forward, the harvesting arm 27 harvests the fruit f, and the fruit f is stored through the fruit inlet of the topmost fruit case 31 (Figure 6). When the topmost fruit case 31 is full (Figure 7(A)), it rises in sequence so that the fruit can be stored in the lower fruit cases 31 (Figure 7(B)).

Figures 8 (A) and (B) show an example of a multi-tiered fruit case 31. By arranging multiple fruit cases 31 on the left and right at the same height, the harvested fruit f can be stored while being guided in a line, simplifying the control of the relative positions of the harvesting arm 27 and the fruit case 31. Also, by varying the width of the fruit inlet of the fruit case 31, Figure 8 (A) can accommodate spherical fruit, while Figure 8 (B) can accommodate long vegetables such as cucumbers.

Figure 9 shows the state of fruit storage in the fruit case 31 when the harvesting arms 27A and 27B are arranged at the front and rear of the vehicle body to improve work efficiency. The harvested fruits f by the harvesting arm 27A installed at the front are directly supplied to the fruit case 31, and the harvested fruits f by the harvesting arm 27B installed at the rear are transported forward by a transport conveyor 32 installed on the vehicle body and supplied to the fruit case 31 in the middle of the storage box 30. With this configuration, work efficiency can be improved by having the front and rear harvesting arms 27A or 27B correspond to the plants P in the cultivation beds 5, 5 on the left or right side of the sub-passage 9 to perform harvesting work. Work efficiency can be improved by configuring the supply to the fruit case 31 by the front harvesting arm 27A to be supplied to the fruit case 31 located closest to the position of the fruit f harvested and held by the harvesting arm 27A. In addition, by providing a sensor that can detect fullness in each fruit case 31 or harvesting arm 27A, oversupply can be prevented and appropriate fruit supply can be achieved. Furthermore, the transport conveyor 32 can be made wide, and the supply to the waiting fruit case 31 can be varied depending on the drop position of the harvesting arm 27B, improving work efficiency (Figure 10).

5 Cultivation bed 16 Attraction hook 16a Reel part 17 Attraction member 20 Plant support frame 21 Vertical frame 22 Horizontal frame 23 Gutter P Plant f Fruit

Claims (4)

In a plant cultivation facility provided with a cultivation bed (5) for cultivating a plant (P) and with vertical attracting members (17) provided at a predetermined interval on the cultivation bed (5), a plant support frame (20) is configured on the left and right of the plant (P), and the plant support frame (20) is provided with vertical frames (21) extending in the vertical direction from attracting hooks (16) from which the attracting members (17) hang down, at least on the left and right sides of the plant (P), respectively;
The plant support frame (20) is a plant cultivation facility characterized by having horizontal frames (22) between a plurality of vertical frames (21) against which branches, leaves and fruits are abutted . 2. The plant cultivation facility according to claim 1 , wherein the reel portion (16a) of the attracting hook (16) for paying out the attracting member (17) is supported on an upper portion of the vertical frame (21). 3. The plant cultivation facility according to claim 1, wherein the vertical frames (21) are a pair, and the spacing between the pair of vertical frames (21a, 21b ) is parallel to each other over a predetermined range on the upper side and bent and downward from the middle part, so that the spacing is gradually wider toward the lower side compared to the spacing on the upper side. 4. A plant cultivation facility as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lower end of the vertical frame (21) is inserted into and supported by gutters (23, 23) arranged in parallel on the side of the cultivation bed (5) for draining waste liquid.

Images