The present invention relates to a plant-transplanting device that transplants a seedbed from a plant holder to a cultivation pallet.
In the prior art, there is known an automatic planting device for a hydroponic seedling, which includes a seedbed transfer conveyor that transfers a seedbed by performing intermittent rotation and lateral reciprocation, a planting panel transfer conveyor that is provided below the seedbed transfer conveyor and transfers a planting panel by performing the intermittent rotation, several transfer opening/closing holders that are positioned above the front end part of the seedbed transfer conveyor, hold and separate several seedbed pieces positioned collectively in the front end row of the seedbed on the seedbed transfer conveyor, and transfer the seedbed pieces forward, several insertion opening/closing holders that are positioned in front of the several transfer opening/closing holders, hold and lower the seedbed pieces transferred by the transfer opening/closing holders, and plant the seedbed pieces by inserting same into holes of the planting panel on the planting panel transfer conveyor, and an operation mechanism that is coupled to the seedbed transfer conveyor and causes the seedbed transfer conveyor to intermittently reciprocate in a lateral direction by the width of the seedbed piece of the seedbed (see, e.g., Patent Literature 1).
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-4699
In the automatic planting device in Patent Literature 1, as a step before the seedbed is set in the automatic planting device, a step of taking the seedbed out from a nursery container that is filled with water in order to germinate seeds of a plant planted in the seedbed is required. However, since the seedbed is formed of a sponge-like material and is soft, it is difficult to automate the step of taking the seedbed out from the nursery container and the step needs to be carried out manually, so there is a problem of a workload being heavy and the seedbed being easily contaminated by sweat and various germs adherent to a human body.
In addition, since the seedbed is handled by using the insertion opening/closing holder to grasp one block of the seedbed from above, there is a problem in that the insertion opening/closing holder, when grasping the seedbed, may damage a sprout of a plant that juts out laterally from the seedbed.
The present invention has been devised to solve these problems, and an object thereof is to provide a plant-transplanting device that, with a simple structure and at a low cost, realizes speedy and stable transplantation, prevents damage to a plant, and is easily automated.
The present invention is a plant-transplanting device for transplanting a seedbed from a plant holder, in ;which a plurality of holder seedbed retaining parts that pass through the plant holder in a vertical direction are disposed in a horizontal direction, to a cultivation pallet that has a pallet seedbed retaining part that passes through the cultivation pallet in the vertical direction, the plant-transplanting device including a holder retaining mechanism for retaining the plant holder, a pallet retaining mechanism for retaining the cultivation pallet below a holder retaining position of the holder retaining mechanism, and a lowering mechanism for lowering the seedbed retained by each of the holder seedbed retaining parts downward and inserting the seedbed into the pallet seedbed retaining part, whereby the above problem is solved.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, by adopting the configuration in which the seedbed held by the plant holder is transplanted into the cultivation pallet, when the seedbed is set in the plant-transplanting device, it is only necessary to set the plant holder that holds a plurality of the seedbeds in the plant-transplanting device, and hence it is not necessary to directly handle the soft seedbed, and it is possible to improve handling ease of the seedbed.
With this, also in the step of taking the seedbed out from the nursery container that is performed before the seedbed is set in the plant-transplanting device, it is only necessary to take the plant holder that holds a plurality of the seedbeds from the nursery container, and hence automation is facilitated and, with the facilitation of the automation, it is possible to prevent the seedbed from being contaminated by sweat and various germs adhering to a human body.
In addition, by transferring the seedbed without holding the soft seedbed from above, it is possible to prevent damage to a plant that juts out upward from the seedbed.
Further, by adopting the configuration in which the seedbed is inserted into the pallet seedbed retaining part by lowering the seedbed, even in the case where the sprout of the plant juts out from the top of the seedbed and spreads laterally, it is possible to prevent the sprout of the plant from being held between the pallet seedbed retaining part and the seedbed, and it is possible to reliably prevent the sprout of the plant that juts out from the top of the seedbed from being damage or contaminated by bringing a lowering member of the lowering mechanism into contact with the undersurface of the seedbed.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the lowering mechanism has at least one lowering member that is movable in the vertical direction, and the lowering member has a holding part that holds the seedbed, whereby, even in the case where the seedbed serving as a transplantation target and the seedbed positioned adjacent to the seedbed as the transplantation target are partially joined together or the case where the lowering member is not in contact with the seedbed properly, it is possible to hold the seedbed using the holding part when the seedbed is lowered, and realize reliable transplantation of the seedbed. In the case where the plant-transplanting device is configured such that part of the seedbed is held by the holding part, it is only necessary to compress and deform part of the seedbed instead of deforming the entire seedbed, and hence it is possible to realize a stable transplantation operation and prevent leakage of a liquid such as water penetrated into the seedbed to the outside of the seedbed.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the plant-transplanting device includes a moving mechanism for moving the plant holder and the cultivation pallet relative to each other in the horizontal direction, whereby it is possible to adjust the positional relationship between the holder seedbed retaining part and the pallet seedbed retaining part in the horizontal direction using the moving mechanism, and hence it is possible to improve flexibility in the design of the plant holder and the cultivation pallet such as the size of each of the plant holder and the cultivation pallet and the position of formation of each of the holder seedbed retaining part and the pallet seedbed retaining part.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a first pitch between the holder seedbed retaining parts and a second pitch between the pallet seedbed retaining parts in a longitudinal direction are set so as to satisfy an expression nP1=mP2 (where P1 is the first pitch, P2 is the second pitch, n is an integer of 1 or more, and m is an integer of 1 or more) , whereby it is possible to transplant a plurality of the seedbeds collectively with one lowering operation in the longitudinal direction, and hence it is possible to realize speedy transplantation.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a third pitch between the holder seedbed retaining parts and a fourth pitch between the pallet seedbed retaining parts in a lateral direction are set so as to satisfy an expression oP3=pP4 (where P3 is the third pitch, P4 is the fourth pitch, o is an integer of 1 or more, and p is an integer of 1 or more), whereby it is possible to transplant a plurality of the seedbeds collectively with one lowering operation in longitudinal and lateral directions, and hence it is possible to realize the speedy transplantation.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, by providing a holder table for placing the plant holder, it is possible to easily retain the plant holder using the holder table and, by forming a plurality of guide holes in the holder table with an arrangement pattern identical to that of the plurality of the holder seedbed retaining parts, it is possible to reliably prevent the seedbed positioned adjacent to the seedbed serving as the transplantation target from being lowered together with the seedbed as the transplantation target when the seedbed is lowered.
Hereinbelow, a plant-transplanting device 100 as an embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.
As shown in
The seedbed B in the present embodiment is formed of urethane or the like, and is formed into a mat-like shape in which a plurality of seedbeds E1 each having a seed and seedling accommodating part B2 are coupled to each other longitudinally and laterally, as shown in
The plant holder 110 is formed of a material having adequate strength such as metal. As shown in
As shown in
Note that the specific form of the plant holder 110 may be any form as long as a plurality of the holder seedbed retaining parts 111 that pass through the plant holder 110 in the vertical direction are disposed in a horizontal direction.
The cultivation pallet 120 is formed of synthetic resin or the like (mainly foam polystyrene) and, as shown in
As shown in
In addition, as shown in
The nursery container (not shown) is a container that is filled with water, and is for accommodating the plant holder 110 that holds a plurality of the seedbeds B to germinate seeds of a plant planted in the seedbed B. Water tightness is required of the nursery container (not shown), and the nursery container may be provided with a handle for automation or the like.
The holder retaining/moving mechanism 130 retains the plant holder 110 and moves the plant holder 110 in the longitudinal and lateral directions. As shown in
Thus, by providing the moving mechanism that moves the plant holder 110 and the cultivation pallet 120 relative to each other in the horizontal direction, it is possible to adjust the positional relationship between the holder seedbed retaining part 111 and the pallet seedbed retaining part 121 in the horizontal direction using the moving mechanism, and hence it is possible to improve flexibility in the design of the plant holder 110 and the cultivation pallet 120 such as the size of each of the plant holder 110 and the cultivation pallet 120 and the position of formation of each of the holder seedbed retaining part 111 and the pallet seedbed retaining part 121. Note that the specific form of the holder retaining/moving mechanism 130 is not limited to the form described above, and the specific form thereof may be any form such as a hand arm that retains and moves the plant holder 110.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The lowering mechanism 150 lowers the seedbed B retained by the holder seedbed retaining part 111 downward, and inserts the seedbed B into the pallet seedbed retaining part 121.
As shown in
As shown in
Note that, in the present embodiment, the individual lowering members 152 are configured so as to be able to operate (an opening/closing operation of the claw parts and the advance/retreat driving in the vertical direction) independently of each other and, in the case where all of the lowering members 152 are configured so as to perform the same operation at the same time, the rotational driving part 152e and the advance/retreat driving part 152f may be provided so as to be shared by the plurality of the lowering members 152.
In addition, in the present embodiment, the plurality of the lowering members 152 are provided, but it is only necessary to provide at least one lowering member 152.
In the case where the lowering members 152 that are equal in number (nine) to the pallet seedbed retaining parts 121 in the lateral direction are arranged in a row, it is not necessary to provide the lateral linear actuator 153 that moves the supporting part 151 in the lateral direction.
Further, in the case where the lowering members 152 that are equal in number to the plurality of the pallet seedbed retaining parts 121 are disposed with the arrangement pattern identical to that of the plurality of the pallet seedbed retaining parts 121 when viewed in the vertical direction, it is not necessary to move the lowering member 152 in the horizontal direction, and hence it is not necessary to provide the lateral linear actuator 153 and the longitudinal linear actuator 154.
The handling mechanism (not shown) moves the plant holder 110 to the holder table 131, and sets the plant holder 110 on the holder table 131. The specific form of the handling mechanism (not shown) may be any form such as a mechanism having a holding claw or a supporting arm.
Next, the transplanting flow of the seedbed B in the present embodiment will be described based on
First, after moving the lowering member 152 to a position below the seedbed B serving as the transfer target, the lowering member 152 is moved upward, and the seedbed B is held by the claw parts 152a′ and 152b′ of the lowering member 152.
Next, the lowering member 152 is moved downward while the seedbed B is held, and the seedbed B is thereby inserted into the pallet seedbed retaining part 121.
Next, the holding of the seedbed B by the claw parts 152a′ and 152b′ is released, and the lowering member 152 is retreated downward.
In the plant-transplanting device 100 of the present embodiment obtained in this manner, by moving the plant holder 110 having a small size, it is easy to secure movement space as compared with the case where the cultivation pallet 120 having a large size is moved, and hence it is possible to save space.
In addition, the lowering mechanism 150 has a plurality of the lowering members 152, whereby it is possible to transplant a plurality of the seedbeds B collectively with one lowering operation, and hence it is possible to realize transplantation that requires a short length of time.
Further, by providing the handling mechanism (not shown) that moves the plant holder 110 to the holder retaining/moving mechanism 130, it is possible to avoid direct contact of a human hand with the plant holder 110 when the plant holder 110 is set in the holder retaining/moving mechanism 130, and prevent the seedbed B from being contaminated by sweat and various germs adhering to a human body.
Thus, the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various design changes can be made without departing from the present invention described in the claims.
For example, in the embodiment described above, the description has been made on the assumption that the cultivation pallet is installed in the fixed state, and the plant holder and the lowering mechanism are moved in the horizontal direction, but the specific embodiment is not limited thereto and, for example, the plant holder may be installed in the fixed state, and the cultivation pallet and the lowering mechanism may be moved in the horizontal direction.
In addition, in the embodiment described above, the description has been made on the assumption that the lowering member has the holding part (the first holding member and the second holding member) for holding the seedbed, but an engaging part that engages with the seedbed may be provided in the lowering member without providing the holding part in the lowering member. In the case where the holding part is provided in the lowering member, the specific form of the holding part is not limited to the form described above.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2014-131626 | Jun 2014 | JP | national |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/JP2015/058030 | Mar 2015 | US |
Child | 15389560 | US |