JPS601060B2 - Automatic watering device for gardening - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a horticultural watering device used in horticultural cultivation equipment such as a greenhouse, and in particular has various effects such as unmanned watering, uniform watering to cultivated plants and pots, and automatic adjustment of watering amount. This invention relates to an automatic watering device for gardening.

In general, in the management of horticultural facilities, even in the case of soil bed cultivation, a large amount of labor is spent on watering to grow plants, and watering cannot be stopped even on holidays such as Sundays and public holidays, so recent labor costs are high. In view of the rising cost of water, there is a demand for the development of an automatic horticultural watering device that can automatically perform ripple watering work without an operator.

However, when it comes to unmanned spring water work, no automatic watering device has yet been developed that can be used for plant growth by uniformly applying water to a wide variety of potted plants without damaging them. Therefore, in response to the above-mentioned needs, it is an object of the present invention to achieve unmanned watering operations and uniform watering effects in horticultural cultivation, as well as automatic adjustment of watering amount and automatic spraying of pesticides and liquid fertilizers as well as watering. can be done,
The present invention provides an automatic watering device for gardening that can achieve high-quality plant growth. According to the invention, rinsing garden plants;
In an automatic horticultural watering device used for cultivation, there is a watering section consisting of a water supply pipe suitable for a water supply source or a cultivation liquid source and a spray nozzle attached to this water supply pipe, and a watering area where plants or pots to be watered are installed. Left and right 1 with constant length on both sides above
a guide path forming a pair of straight parallel paths and on which the water sprinkling section is movably mounted; a traction wire coupled to the water spraying section; a traction drum for driving the traction wire; and an electric motor for rotating the traction drum at a constant speed. A driving device equipped with a mower and permanently installed at one corner of the watering area, and a plurality of hook devices movably attached to the guide path, are loosely supported, and connect the water supply source or cultivation liquid source to the watering section. The water supply pipe made of a flexible hose material that connects the water supply pipe and the guide path are provided at the front and rear ends of the straight parallel path formed by the water supply pipe to detect the arrival of the water spraying section, and the detection signal is used to detect the arrival of the water supply section. A gardening device comprising a detection device that controls a reversal/stop circuit of an electric motor of a drive device, and automatically and uniformly watering plants or pots to be irrigated according to the automatic movement of the watering section. Automatic watering equipment is provided.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment in which the automatic watering device for gardening according to the present invention is applied to growing potted plants in a greenhouse facility.

In FIG. 1, 10' is a pot stand installed in a greenhouse, and usually a plurality of pot stands 10 are arranged at appropriate intervals in the greenhouse.

On these pot stands 10, several hundred to several thousand cultivation pots 12 are lined up in large scale cases, and plants or seeds are planted or sown in each pot 12, respectively. Reference numeral 14 indicates upper beams or square beams installed at the front and rear of the greenhouse using the beams of the greenhouse, and is fixed at a height above the pot stand 10.

On the other hand, 16 is installed using the upper beam material or hollow square material such as lightweight alloy material provided on the left stone part of the greenhouse using the beam of the greenhouse. Now, 18 and 20 are water supply pipes and water sprinkling nozzles forming the water sprinkling part of the automatic water sprinkling device according to the present invention.
0 and uniformly spray pots 1 from these watering nozzles 20.
Watering is performed toward the plant or pot surface of No. 2. The water supply pipe 18 extends in the left and right directions of the greenhouse, and is moved in the front and rear directions of the greenhouse using the left and right upper beams 16 as guide paths via a pair of suspension devices 22, as will be described later. It is set up so that it can be driven. That is, the suspension device 22 includes a traction wire 30 that is stretched via a pulley 32 that is held on the upper beam member 14 via appropriate holding arms at the four points of the greenhouse.
1 is fixed, and the traction wire 30 is pulled to reciprocate along the guide path 16 in the front and back direction of the greenhouse. The arrow EOP in Figure 1 is
Water supply pipe 18 and water nozzle 20 suspended from suspension device 22
shows the direction of travel when moving from the front to the rear of the greenhouse. Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the structure of the suspension device 22. As shown in the figure, the suspension device 22 includes a bracket 26, a T-shaped roller arm 24 fixed to the bracket 26 and the water supply pipe 18, and a pair of rollers 28 attached to the T-shaped roller arm 24. The roller 28 is firmly inserted into the hollow interior of the upper beam member 16 forming a guide path, and is configured so that the suspension device 22 and the water sprinkling section travel and move by rolling on the inner bottom surface. ing. The suspension device 22 is connected to the above-mentioned traction wire 30 at the upper surface of the bracket 26 thereof. Note that it is also possible to omit the bracket 26 and to directly connect the traction wire 30 and the arm 24. Now, referring again to FIG. 1, the traction wire 30
is fixed at both ends to the traction drum 36 and is wound around the outer periphery of the drum to form an endless traction path with the traction drum 36 as a connection point, and is configured to be pulled and driven by the rotation of the traction drum 36. There is.

Therefore, when the rotational direction of the traction drum 36 is changed from forward to reverse,
The towing direction of the traction wire 30 is reversed, and accordingly, the forward and backward moving directions of the suspension device 22 are also reversed. That is, the moving direction of the suspension device 22, etc., indicated by the arrow EOP in FIG. When the endless towing path is towed in a direction opposite to the direction of arrows Q and R shown in the figure, the suspension device 22 is moved in the direction opposite to the direction of arrow EOP with a water sprinkling section consisting of a water supply pipe 18 and a water sprinkling nozzle 20. When returning, move from the rear of the greenhouse to the front. In addition, instead of fixing both ends of the traction wire to the traction drum 36 to form an endless traction path as described above, the middle part of the traction wire 30, which has been joined in advance in a loop shape, is appropriately wound around the traction drum 36. An endless traction path may be formed in which the traction wire 30 is frictionally driven in two directions according to the forward and reverse rotation of the traction wire 36. Also, the traction wire 30
A slight elongation occurs in the initial stage of installing and using this device, but this can be avoided by, for example, adjusting the movement of the upper beam 14 using bolts and nuts that connect the greenhouse beam and the upper beam 14. It is sufficient to absorb the elongation that occurs, and normally, if such initial adjustment is performed, the traction wire will not elongate. The above-mentioned traction drum 36 is driven by an electric motor 34 which is secured to the upper beam 14 at the front of the greenhouse via a belt and pulley arrangement or chain sprocket arrangement 38.
It is configured to be rotationally driven by the belt and
The rotation is reduced by an appropriate reduction ratio of the pulley device 38. Further, the electric motor 34 is selected from commercially available motors at a suitable low speed, and can also be used with an appropriate speed reduction device or a continuously variable transmission attached thereto, if necessary. On the other hand, a water supply pipe 40 made of a flexible hose material such as a rubber hose is connected to the water supply pipe 18 forming the water sprinkling section.

In the illustrated embodiment, one water pipe 40 is the water supply pipe 18.
from the water supply pipe 40 to the water supply pipe 18.
Water is supplied to the tank at a constant pressure. For this purpose, the other end of the water pipe 40 is connected to the electromagnetic on-off valve 4.
8, connected to a water supply source (not shown) via a pressure gauge 46, a pressure regulating valve 44, and an on-off valve 42. Note that the water supply source may be a normal water supply or, if necessary, a water supply source composed of a water tank and a pump. Furthermore, if the automatic watering device of the present invention is connected to a cultivation source that supplies cultivation fluid such as agrochemical solution or liquid fertilizer using pump pressure instead of a water supply source, the automatic watering device of the present invention can spray the cultivation fluid as needed. The on-off valve 42 is a valve for manually opening and closing the connection between the water supply source or the cultivation liquid source and the water pipe 40 as appropriate.
For example, when stopping the operation of the automatic watering device according to the present invention, such as when stopping watering work for a long time, the water supply from the water supply source can be completely stopped by manually closing the valve. The pressure regulating valve 44 is a valve for setting and regulating the water supply pressure to an appropriate level according to the scale of the pressure gauge 46. In addition, the electromagnetic on-off valve 48 is controlled by an electric signal, which will be described later, during the watering work process in which the above-mentioned watering section starts watering and travels back and forth along the guide path 16. This is a valve that enables supply of pressure water or cultivation liquid set at a certain appropriate level by the pressure adjustment valve 44, and closes again when the watering section returns to the watering start position at the front of the greenhouse at the end of the watering process. . In addition, since the water pipe 40 is made of a flexible material such as a rubber hose as described above, the guide path 1
If it is held by a suitable hook device 40a which is movably attached to the water supply tube 6, no trouble will be caused when the water spray section consisting of the water supply pipe 18 and the water spray nozzle 20 moves. Next, reference number 5 Kawama in FIG. 1 includes a power supply circuit for the starting switch and electric motor 34 of the automatic watering system according to the present invention, a forward/reverse rotation control circuit for the motor 34, an opening/closing control circuit for the electromagnetic on-off valve 48, and a timer device. It is a control box with built-in equipment. In addition, a limit switch 52 is installed at the front end of the greenhouse and the rear end of the greenhouse of the upper beam village 16 that forms the guide path.
, 54 are installed, and these limit switches 52, 5
4 contact circuits are also built into the control box 50'. The limit switch 54 has a switch contact that is activated when the suspension device 22 moves along the guide path 16 together with a water sprinkling section and comes into contact with the limit switch 54, and has a water sprinkling section consisting of a water supply pipe 18 and a water sprinkling nozzle 20. detects that the robot has reached the rear of the greenhouse. When a detection signal is issued from the limit switch 54, the direction of rotation of the electric motor 34 is reversed, and therefore the direction of traction of the traction wire 30 is reversed, so that the suspension device 22 is moved back to the front of the greenhouse together with the watering section. I am moving to return to the department. When the water sprinkler and suspension device 22 reaches the front of the greenhouse in this manner, the limit switch 52 is activated. That is, the limit switch 52 is provided to detect when the hanging device 22 with the water sprinkling unit has returned after completing the water sprinkling operation.
Therefore, when the limit switch 52 is activated and a detection signal is issued, the electric motor 34 is stopped and the electromagnetic on-off valve 4 is stopped.
8 is opened and the water supply is stopped. Next, the electric control circuit provided in the control box 50 of the automatic watering system according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of an electric control circuit of an automatic watering device according to the present invention, in which the electric motor 34, which is described above with reference to FIG.
Electric circuits for an electromagnetic on-off valve 48 and limit switches 52 and 54 are also built-in. In the figure, reference numeral 56 denotes a brake force for turning on the power. When the play force 56 is closed, power is applied to the electric control circuit via the fuse 57, and the power indicator light 66 lights up. 58a, 58b
is an automatic/manual changeover switch, and both switches 58
When a and 58b are set to the automatic side, the automatic indicator light 68 lights up and the automatic watering device according to the present invention automatically performs the watering operation at the time set by the timer.

That is, this electric control circuit includes a 24-hour timer 60, a timer 62 for forward movement of the water sprinkler, and a timer 64 for backward movement.
is incorporated. Therefore, by setting the watering period in a day using the timer 601 in advance, the automatic watering device according to the present invention can automatically perform the watering operation unattended at the set time. Now, timer 60
'When the set time comes, the contact 60-la
is closed, contact 62-lb of timer 62, closing contact 82-lb of self-holding relay 82, limit switch 54
The closing contact 54-1a of the magnetic contactor 78, the closing contact 78-lb of the magnetic contactor 78, and the circuit of the magnetic contactor 76 are energized, and the contact 76- of the magnetic contactor 76 is energized.
1 is closed, the electric motor 34 and the electromagnetic on-off valve 48 are energized, and the forward running light 72 is turned on. As a result, water or cultivation liquid is supplied to the water supply pipe 18 of the watering section, watering by the watering nozzle 201 is started, and the watering section is moved together with the suspension device 22 from the front to the rear of the greenhouse, and the pots are 1
2 or the plants planted thereon are automatically and sequentially watered from above. Advance timer 62 at the same time as watering starts
is activated, and the self-holding relay 80 is energized and its self-holding contact 80-oa is closed. Forward timer 6
2, the timer contact 62 will open after a set time.
-lb is released. And this timer contact 62-lb
After opening, the electric motor 34 and the electromagnetic on-off valve 48 are energized via the self-holding contact 80-oa. If a configuration is explored in which power is supplied through the self-holding contact 80-oa of the self-holding relay 80 in this way, even if a power outage accident occurs during watering work, a special glue setting action will not be required once the accident is repaired. This has the advantage that the watering work can be resumed unattended without having to do so. Next, when the water sprinkler pipe and suspension device 22 reach the end of their forward movement and reach the limit switch 54, the contact point 54-1a opens and the energization of the electric motor 34 and the electromagnetic on-off valve 48 is temporarily interrupted. As a result, the electric motor 34 is stopped, and the forward movement of the water sprinkler section and suspension device 22 is stopped, and at the same time, the water supply to the water supply pipe 18 is also stopped. However, even if the water supply to the water supply pipe 18 stops, the watering operation of the watering nozzle 20 does not stop immediately.
The watering efficiency will only slightly decrease. Thereafter, in the limit switch 54, the contact 54-lb is opened. When this contact 54-lb is closed, the reverse timer 64 is activated, and after a set time, its contact 64-la is closed, and the contact 52-la of the limit switch 52, the contact 76-1b of the magnetic contactor 76, and the magnetic contact The circuit of the motor 78 is energized. Therefore, the contact 78-1 of the magnetic contactor 78 is closed and the electric motor 34
The reversing circuit is energized, and the electromagnetic on-off valve 48 is again energized and opened. Therefore, the suspension device 22 with a water spray part
starts to move backward from the rear of the greenhouse toward the front, and water or cultivation liquid is supplied again to the water supply pipe 18 of the watering section, which improves the efficiency of watering from the watering nozzle 20.
2 or the plants planted therein are watered. Note that the reverse driving light 74 is turned on at the same time as the backward movement starts. Further, a self-holding relay 82 is also provided in the reverse circuit,
Since the self-holding contact 82-oa is kept closed at the start of retreat, even if a power outage accident occurs, watering will be performed again from the watering section immediately after the accident is repaired, and the watering section will move backward toward the front of the greenhouse. resume. Thereafter, when the water spraying unit 22 moves backward to the end of the front part of the greenhouse, it comes into contact with the limit switch 52, and its contact 52-la is opened.
Contact 52-lb is closed. Therefore, the electric motor 34 and the electromagnetic on-off valve 48 are completely deenergized and the watering operation is stopped, and the self-holding relay 82 is reset and its self-holding contact 82-0a is opened. An auxiliary relay 88 is provided in this electric control circuit, and contacts 64- of the backward timer 64 are activated when switching from forward movement to backward movement.
2a is closed and this auxiliary relay 88 is energized, so the contact 88-1a is closed and the self-holding relay 8 of the forward circuit is activated.
0 is reset and its contact 80-oa is opened, so that the circuit switching from forward to reverse is reliably achieved. Therefore, the risk of the automatic watering device of the invention malfunctioning is completely avoided. Further, the automatic watering device according to the present invention allows the operator to manually operate the device as desired by switching the automatic/manual switch 58, 58b to the manual side. It is also possible to perform intensive watering on plants. Reference numerals 84 and 86 are push-button switches for starting watering work by moving forward or backward during manual operation;
This is a push button switch to stop watering work by moving backward.

In addition, the magnetic Kosotactor 76 during manual operation,
The contacts of 78 are shown as 76-la and 78-1a. Further, 94 is a thermal relay for overheat protection. As is clear from the above explanation, according to the automatic watering device for gardening according to the present invention, by incorporating a timer device in the control circuit to set the watering work time in advance, watering can be performed completely automatically, so that it is unattended. can be achieved, resulting in a significant reduction in labor costs.Furthermore, if the water supply pressure is appropriately selected in advance, and the arrangement of the water spray nozzle and the moving speed of the water spray part are appropriately selected and set in advance, it will always be optimal. Since uniform port water work can be carried out, the effect of promoting plant growth is extremely significant.

In addition, a method in which the water spraying unit moves along a guide path is being explored, so compared to the case where many watering nozzles are arranged in a greenhouse and watering is performed all at once under high water pressure, the water supply pressure is controlled at the source. It is sufficient to form a simple piping path under high pressure, and the piping distance is short and the pipe diameter is small, so the effect of reducing equipment costs is significant. Furthermore, while the watering unit is moving, various maintenance tasks can be performed on plants in areas that are not being watered, making plant cultivation more efficient than when watering all the plants in the greenhouse at once. There are advantages to doing so. Furthermore, the automatic watering device of the present invention is being developed to use the upper beam of a greenhouse as a part of the device, so it can be easily installed in an existing greenhouse, etc. You can also. Next, specific embodiments of the automatic watering device for gardening according to the present invention will be briefly described below.

In implementation, the width is 5.3 skins, the length is 63 skins, and the area under the eaves is 1.8 m.
In a greenhouse, the width is 0.9, the length is 1.8, and the height is 0.
A total of 8 pots, each with 4 pots of 9 kites, were set up side by side, and each of these pot stands had 20 pots with a height of 90 willows and a diameter of 100 ribs.
0 pieces were placed.

Then, the diameter of the water supply pipe was selected to be 15, the water pressure was set to 2 kg/gauge pressure, and a total of 8 water nozzles were installed as flat type spray nozzles to the water supply pipe. As a result of continuous operation for 60 days by equalizing the watering amount and selecting the watering efficiency of the flat type spray nozzle at 0.8 liters/minute under the above water pressure, the results showed that the soil was reduced compared to conventional manual watering work. It was surprising how quickly the seeds were sown, and the germination of the plants after sowing was also very good. At this time, the moving speed of the water spraying section was selected to be lm/sec.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing an embodiment of the automatic horticultural watering device according to the present invention for greenhouse cultivation, and Fig. 2 is a cross section showing part A in Fig. 1, that is, the structure of the hanging device in detail. 3 are circuit diagrams showing one embodiment of an electric control circuit provided in a control box of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1. In the figure, 10... pot stand, 12... pot, 14, 16... upper beam material, 18... water supply pipe, 20... watering nozzle, 22
... Suspension device, 30... Traction wire, 34...
Electric motor, 36... Traction drum, 40... Water pipe, 48... Solenoid on/off valve, 50... Control box, 52, 5
4...Limit switch. Figure 1: Swallow in Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An automatic horticultural watering device used for watering and growing horticultural plants, comprising a watering section consisting of a water supply pipe communicating with a water supply source or a cultivation solution source and a spray nozzle attached to this water supply pipe;
a guide path forming a pair of left and right straight parallel paths having a certain length on both sides above the watering area where the plants or pots to be watered are provided, and on which the watering section is movably mounted; and the watering section. a traction wire coupled to the traction wire, a traction drum for driving the traction wire, a drive device permanently installed at one corner of the watering area, including an electric motor for rotating the traction drum at a constant speed, and a drive device movable to the guide path. a water supply pipe made of a flexible hose material that is loosely supported by a plurality of fitted hook devices and connects the water supply source or the washing liquid source to the water supply pipe of the water sprinkling section; and the straight line formed by the guide path. and a detection device provided at the front and rear ends of the parallel path to detect the arrival of the water sprinkling section and control a reversal/stop circuit of the electric motor of the drive device based on the detection signal, and the water sprinkling section An automatic horticultural watering device, characterized in that it automatically and uniformly sprinkles water on a plant to be irrigated or on a pot surface according to the automatic traveling movement of the device. 2. In the automatic watering device for gardening according to claim 1, an electromagnetic on-off valve is provided in a connection path between the water supply source or the cultivation liquid source and the water supply pipe of the watering section, and the opening/closing control of the electromagnetic on-off valve is controlled. An automatic watering device for gardening, characterized in that the circuit is configured to be controlled by an electric signal from the detection device. 3. In the automatic watering device for gardening according to claim 1, a valve device for adjusting water pressure and a pressure gauge are further arranged in the connection path between the water supply source or cultivation liquid source and the water supply pipe of the watering section. An automatic watering device for gardening, characterized in that the water pressure in the water supply pipe can be set to an appropriate value. 4. In the automatic horticultural watering device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the watering section may be configured by attaching a plurality of spraying nozzles to a water supply pipe at appropriately selected intervals. Automatic watering device for gardening. 5. The automatic horticultural watering device according to claim 4, characterized in that the spraying nozzle of the watering section is a flat type spray nozzle.