1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an agricultural sterilizing and detoxifying assembly for vegetables and fruit, and more particularly to an agricultural assembly that can sterilize and detoxify vegetables and fruit and recycle used water.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, millions of microorganisms parasitize crops such as vegetables and fruit on farms. More than ten kinds of microorganisms parasitize fruit, such as Cladosporium, Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, Alternaria, Rhizopus, Mucor, Saccharomyces and Staphylococcus aureus. More than twenty kinds of microorganisms parasitize vegetables and flowers, such as Erwinia, Bacillus, Aerobacter, Flavobacterium, Alcaligenes, Cellulomonas, Chromobacterium, Streptococcus, Leuconstoc, Lactobacillus, Micrococcus, Nisseria, Pseudmonas, Mycobacterium, Phytomonas, Sarcina, Seratia, Staphylococcus and Vibrio.
Thus, farmers spray various insecticides to prevent blight from striking corps and to ensure good harvests. Because the insecticides adhere to the fruit and vegetables, people must wash the fruit and vegetables before eating them. However, after fruit or vegetables have been washed repeatedly in a container of water, the insecticide cannot be removed thoroughly. The residual insecticide will harm people's bodies and cause disease or chronic disease.
Moreover, the vegetables and fruit decay at a rate proportional to how many microorganisms parasitize the vegetables and fruit. If vegetables and fruit can be sterilized before they are refrigerated, transported or stored, they will stay fresh for a long time.
Furthermore, tap water is generally used to wash the vegetables and fruit, but wastewater with the insecticides flow directly into a sewer and pollute the environment.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an agricultural sterilizing and detoxifying assembly for vegetables and fruit to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an agricultural sterilizing and detoxifying assembly for vegetables and fruit, which can sterilize and detoxify vegetables and fruit and recycle wastewater.
To achieve the objective, the agricultural sterilizing and detoxifying assembly in accordance with the present invention for vegetables and fruit has a rough-washing tank, a re-washing tank, a water-clarifying assembly and a sterilizing assembly. The rough-washing tank holds vegetables and fruit to be washed the first time. The re-washing tank communicates with the rough-washing tank and holds vegetables and fruit to be washed again. The sterilizing assembly provides purified water to the re-washing tank and the water-clarifying assembly. The purified water is full of ozone, free radicals and emulsified bubbles to breakdown insecticides and destroy microorganisms adhering to the vegetables and fruit. Suspended sediment and wastewater flow to the water-clarifying assembly to be purified, and purified water is pumped back to the re-washing tank and the rough-washing tank, so water can be recycled.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
With further reference to
The re-washing tank (20) communicates with and provides water to the rough-washing tank (10) and may abut the rough-washing tank (10) or be connected to the rough-washing tank (10) by a sluice pipe (24) with a pump and a valve. The re-washing tank (20) has a chamber, a closed bottom, an open top (25), a sidewall, an aeration pipe (23), a sludge drainpipe (26), a water inlet (21) and a conveyor belt (22). The closed bottom may be V-shaped. The open top (25) allows vegetables and fruit from the rough-washing tank (10) to be placed in the re-washing tank (20) so the vegetables and fruit will be washed again. When the re-washing tank (10) abuts the rough-washing tank (10), water may flow from the open top (25) of re-washing tank (20) directly into the rough-washing tank (10). The aeration pipe (23) is made of porous material, is mounted in the chamber of the re-washing tank (20) near the closed bottom, is connected to the air pump (15) and has multiple pores. The pores allow air to be pumped through the aeration pipe (23), agitate water in the re-washing tank (20) and turn the vegetables and fruit repeatedly so the vegetables and fruit will be washed thoroughly. Each pore has a dimension of 20-60 micrometers. The sludge drainpipe (26) is mounted in the chamber of the re-washing tank (20) near the closed bottom and is connected to the sludge drainpipe (14) of the rough-washing tank (10) to remove sediment from the re-washing tank (20). The water inlet (21) is formed through the sidewall of the re-washing tank (20), communicates with the chamber of the re-washing tank (20) and allows water to enter the re-washing tank (20). The conveyor belt (22) is meshed, is mounted above the open top (25) and allows vegetables and fruit to be put on the conveyor belt (22).
With further reference to
The sterilizing assembly communicates with the re-washing tank (20) and the purifier (43) of the water-clarifying assembly (40), provides sterilized water to the re-washing tank (20) and the purifier (43) and has a re-washing pipe (54), a purifying pipe (55), two ozone generators (51, 51a), two high-pressure pumps (52, 52a) and two high-pressure emulsifying apparatuses (53, 53a). The re-washing pipe (54) is mounted between the sterilizing assembly and the re-washing tank (20) to allow water to flow from the re-washing tank (20) through the sterilizing assembly and back to the re-washing tank (20). The purifying pipe (55) is mounted between the sterilizing assembly and the purifier (43) to allow water to flow from the purifier (43) through the sterilizing assembly and back to the purifier (43). The ozone generators (51, 51a) are connected respectively to the re-washing pipe (54) and the purifying pipe (55) and inject ozone respectively into the re-washing pipe (54) and the purifying pipe (55) to react with water in the re-washing pipe (54) and the purifying pipe (55) and generate free radicals. Free radicals will breakdown insecticides and kill microorganisms in a few minutes. The high-pressure pumps (52, 52a) are connected respectively to the re-washing pipe (54) and the purifying pipe (55), are connected to the backflow inlet (422) to the rough filter (42) and pressurize water in the re-washing pipe (54) and the purifying pipe (55) to 5-10 kg/cm2, so ozone in the water has a concentration of 0.5-10 mg/l. The high-pressure emulsifying apparatuses (53, 53a) are connected respectively to the high-pressure pumps (52, 52a), and the backflow inlet (422) is mounted between the high-pressure emulsifying apparatuses (53a) and the high-pressure pump (52a). The high-pressure emulsifying apparatuses (53, 53a) release micro-bubbles into the water. Surface tension of the micro-bubbles attracts and holds suspended solid so the micro-bubbles and suspended solids can be removed by the removal apparatus in the purifier (43).
The packing platform (30) communicates with the conveyor belt (22) to receive vegetables and fruit from the conveyor belt (22) so the vegetables and fruit can be packed into appropriate containers for shipping or storage.
The refrigerator (60) communicates with the rough-washing tank (10) to cool the water, so the vegetables and fruit will cool down and be preserved for a long time.
Vegetables and fruit can be washed in the rough-washing tank (10) first and then washed in the re-washing tank (20). The re-washing tank (20) has water full of ozone, free radicals and emulsified bubbles to breakdown insecticide and destroy microorganisms adhering to the vegetables and fruit. Sediment and wastewater flow to water-clarifying assembly (40) through the water drainpipe (12) and the sludge drainpipe (14), and purified water flows back to the re-washing tank (20) and rough-washing tank (10) to recycle the water.
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.