JPS637749B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a fruit ripening process control device for controlling the ripening process of citrus fruits and the like.

A conventional device of this type is shown in FIG. In the figure, 1 is a ripening storage, 2 is a citrus fruit, 3 is a warming machine, 4 is a humidifier, 5 is a temperature/humidity detector, and 6 is a temperature/humidity controller.

7 is an air intake damper, 8 is a blower, and 9 is a blower starter, and these three constitute ventilation means. 10 is a cylinder containing ethylene gas,
11 is a manual valve.

Figure 3 shows a control program for temperature, humidity, and ethylene gas concentration in the ripening process. be.

Next, the operation will be explained. Citrus fruits 2 to be ripened are placed in a ripening warehouse 1. In the ripening process, it is necessary to maintain the temperature, humidity, and ethylene gas concentration in the ripening process chamber 1 as shown in FIG. 3 above.

For this purpose, the temperature and humidity inside the refrigerator are detected by the temperature and humidity detector 5, and the detected temperature and humidity are compared with the set temperature and humidity by the temperature and humidity controller 6. operating and in control. For ethylene gas concentration, cylinder 1
The delivery amount from 0 is controlled by adjusting the manual valve 11.

Ventilation before and after ripening and during ripening is controlled by adjusting the opening of the air intake damper 7 and operating the blower 8 with a blower starter 9.

Note that the above temperature and humidity, ethylene gas concentration, and ripening treatment time must be changed depending on the variety of fruit, amount of stock, and degree of coloring.

Conventional fruit ripening processing control devices are configured as described above, so it is necessary to calculate the target value and change the settings every time the variety of fruit, quantity received, and degree of coloring differs, and during the processing, it is necessary to calculate the target value and change the settings at regular intervals. It was necessary to manually change set values and stop the blower.

This invention was made in order to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional ones as described above, and its purpose is to provide a fruit ripening processing control device that can automatically control temperature and humidity, ethylene gas concentration, ventilation, etc. .

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 2, numerals 1 to 10 indicate the same or equivalent parts as in FIG. 1. 21 is a control valve, 22 is a microcomputer as an arithmetic processing means, and this microcomputer 22 is connected to the input circuit 2.
21, central processing unit (CPU) 222 as arithmetic processing means, memory 223, output circuit 22
4. It has a keyboard 225 as an input means.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a setting value table stored in the memory 223. For example, the degree of coloring is divided into 0 to 10 levels for each type of fruit, and the ripening processing time and storage time are set according to each coloring degree. Setting values for internal temperature, internal humidity, and ethylene gas concentration, as well as a ripening process control program shown in FIG. 3 are stored.

Note that even for the same product type and degree of coloring, each of the above setting values differs depending on the amount received, and these setting values are also stored in the memory in the same way as above, but this setting value table is Not shown to simplify explanation.

Next, the operation will be explained. First, by using the keyboard 225, commands are inputted for the variety of fruit stored in the ripening processing warehouse 1, the amount of fruit stored in the warehouse 1, and the degree of coloring, and a signal to start ripening is given to the central processing unit 222.

This central processing unit 222 executes a control program read out from the memory 223 in accordance with the variety of fruit, amount of stock, and degree of coloring inputted through the keyboard 225, each set value, and the input circuit 221.
Control signals for temperature, humidity, ventilation, and ethylene gas concentration inside the ripening chamber 1 are derived based on the temperature and humidity inside the ripening chamber 1 supplied from the temperature and humidity detecting means via the temperature and humidity detecting means.

These control signals are transmitted through the output circuit 224 to the temperature/humidity controller 6, blower starter 9,
The ethylene gas is supplied to a control valve 21 for sending out ethylene gas.

Therefore, the temperature/humidity controller 6 operates the warming machine 3 and the humidifier 4 to control the temperature and humidity inside the refrigerator, and the blower starter 9 operates the blower 8 to control and adjust the ventilation inside the refrigerator. The valve 21 automatically controls the ethylene gas concentration in the refrigerator by changing the amount of ethylene gas supplied.

Note that when the calculation result in the central processing unit 222 becomes an abnormal value, an alarm device (not shown) is activated to issue an alarm.
In the above embodiment, a single ripening warehouse 1 is controlled, but a plurality of ripening warehouses may be controlled by one microcomputer. Furthermore, the present invention is also applicable to the ripening of fruits other than citrus fruits.

As described above, according to the present invention, the ripening process time, the internal temperature, and the internal temperature are read out from the memory in accordance with the variety of fruit to be ripened, the amount of storage, and the degree of coloring, which are commanded by the input means. It is configured to automatically control the temperature and humidity, ethylene gas concentration, ventilation, etc. inside the ripening chamber based on the set values for humidity and ethylene gas concentration and the temperature and humidity inside the chamber detected by the temperature and humidity detection means. Therefore, the effect is that highly accurate ripening processing can be performed with simple operations.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a conventional ripening process control device, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a ripening process control device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a ripening process program. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a setting value table in the ripening process. 1 is a ripening storage, 2 is a citrus fruit, 3 is a warming machine, 4 is a humidifier, 5 is a temperature/humidity detector, 6 is a temperature/humidity controller, 7 is an air intake damper, 8 is a blower, 9 is a A starter for the blower, 10 an ethylene gas cylinder, 12 a control valve, 22 a microcomputer (arithmetic processing means), 223 a memory, and 225 a keyboard (input means). In addition, in the figures, the same reference numerals indicate the same or equivalent parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A heating machine and a humidifier installed in a ripening warehouse that stores fruits to be ripened, a temperature and humidity detection means for detecting the temperature and humidity inside the ripening warehouse, and a temperature and humidity detection means for detecting the temperature and humidity inside the ripening warehouse. In a fruit ripening control device having a ventilation means for ventilation and an ethylene gas concentration control means for controlling the ethylene gas concentration in the ripening storage, a ripening treatment time corresponding to the variety of fruit, the amount received, and the degree of coloring. , a memory that stores a control program and each setting value for the temperature, humidity, and ethylene gas concentration in the ripening warehouse, and commands are input for the variety, amount of fruit stored in the ripening warehouse, and degree of coloring. a control program and each set value read from the memory corresponding to the variety of fruit, the amount of stock, and the degree of coloration inputted by the input means, and the temperature and humidity detected by the temperature and humidity detection means; 1. A fruit ripening process control device comprising arithmetic processing means for deriving control signals for the warming machine, humidifier, ventilation means, and ethylene gas concentration control means based on the above-mentioned information.