Cultivation plate

Abstract

To provide a cultivation plate and a hydroponic planter using the same, which ensure convenience during installation and removal, and which, even if deformation occurs due to aging, will not overlap vertically due to pushing or pulling, damaging plants or falling out of the nutrient solution tank. [Solution] A cultivation plate is installed in a row on a nutrient solution tank, having plant-holding holes formed therein, a roughly rectangular plate-shaped span that spans both side walls in the short direction of the rectangular nutrient solution tank, and guide parts that extend downward from both sides in the short direction and cover the side walls from the outside to guide movement on the nutrient solution tank, wherein the thickness dimension of the guide part in the short direction is set to be greater than the difference between the outer width dimension of the nutrient solution tank and the inner width dimension between the guide parts.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a cultivation plate arranged on a nutrient solution tank of a hydroponic planter used in a plant factory or the like.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, a hydroponic planter used in a plant factory or the like includes a nutrient solution tank 2 having a rectangular shape in plan view, as shown by reference numeral 1 in FIG. 5, and a plurality of cultivation plates 3 that are spanned across both side walls 21, 21 located at both ends in the short side direction (width direction) thereof and are arranged in a row so as to be aligned in the longitudinal direction. The cultivation plate 3 holds plants (not shown) in a large number of plant holding holes 3a formed to penetrate in the vertical direction, and the roots of the plants that come out below are immersed in the nutrient solution stored in the nutrient solution tank 2.

[0003] An operator places the cultivation plate 3 from the proximal end (rear end) 2a side of the nutrient solution tank 2, abuts the front edge of the next plate against the rear edge thereof, and sequentially slides and installs the cultivation plate 3 in a row by pushing it forward (in the direction of arrow A). Further, one end of a string-like body S is tied to a pulling tool 4 engaged with the front edge of the installed plate row, and the operator pulls the other end of the string-like body S from the proximal end 2a side and pulls it backward (in the direction of arrow B) to slide it, and sequentially recovers the cultivation plate 3 (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

[0004] As shown in Figures 5 and 6(a), the cultivation plate 3 has numerous plant-holding holes 3a formed therein, and is formed in a U-shape in cross-section. It has a roughly rectangular plate-shaped bridge portion 31 on both sides (both ends in the width direction) that rests on the side walls 21, 21 of the nutrient solution tank 2 and spans horizontally, and a guide portion 32 that extends downward from the above-mentioned side sides and engages with the side walls 21, 21 from the outside to guide the sliding movement of the bridge portion 31 on the nutrient solution tank 2. The cultivation plate 3 is made from a flat plate extruded from thermoplastic synthetic resins such as PE (polyethylene), PVC (polyvinyl chloride), and PP (polypropylene), which is cut into a rectangular shape, the plant-holding holes 3a are punched out, and both ends are heated and bent.

[0005] Incidentally, the extruded plates used are thin, with a thickness of t1 (approximately 2-5 mm), to prevent the cultivation plate 3 from becoming too heavy, taking into consideration the burden on workers during installation and retrieval. Furthermore, both the nutrient solution tank 2 and the cultivation plate 3 are large items with widths ranging from several tens of centimeters to 1 meter, resulting in manufacturing dimensional errors of approximately ± several millimeters for each. There is a concern that these manufacturing dimensional errors may prevent the cultivation plate 3 from fitting onto the outside of the nutrient solution tank 2, making it impossible to install it on the nutrient solution tank 2. To avoid this, as shown in Figure 6(a), the inner width dimension W2 between the guide sections 32 is set to be larger than the outer width dimension W1 in the short direction of the nutrient solution tank 1.

[0006] Therefore, as shown in Figure 6(b), if adjacent cultivation plates 3 in the row direction are misaligned in opposite directions, a gap G (=W1-W2) is created between them. If this gap is greater than the plate thickness t1 of the cultivation plate 3 (guide portion 32) (G>t1), the guide portions 32 will not come into contact with each other at all. However, as shown in Figure 6(b), if the connecting portions 31 are in direct contact with each other, there will be no problem in pushing out or pulling in the plate rows. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0007] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2012-152174 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2017-195863 [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0008] However, the bridging portion 31 of the cultivation plate 3, while bearing its own weight and the weight of the plants, is exposed to the strong LED light of the plant factory and gets wet with nutrient solution, and is used for a long period of time, undergoes various changes over time, such as sagging, bulging, wavy, or twisting, even though it was originally straight. In such cases, for example, as shown by the thick arrow in Figure 6(c), a state may occur where adjacent cultivation plates 3 only slightly touch each other.

[0009] In the state shown in Figure 6(c), when the cultivation plates 3 are installed or removed, the edges that are only slightly in contact with each other are pushed against each other with a large load. As a result, with even a slight jolt, one of two adjacent cultivation plates 3 may ride up onto the other cultivation plate 3, as shown by the thick arrow in Figure 6(d), causing the cultivation plates 3 to partially overlap vertically. When the cultivation plates 3 overlap vertically, the plants they hold can be damaged by the edges of the other plate, and the guiding function of the guide section 32 may be impaired, causing them to fall off the nutrient solution tank 1.

[0010] Furthermore, if the extruded plates used as the plate material are made thick (for example, with a thickness of about 10-15 mm), even if some deformation occurs over time, the edges of the cultivation plates 3 will not be able to come into contact with each other, and the above-mentioned problems will not occur as often. However, each plate will become too heavy, making it impossible to push or pull the plate rows by hand. There is also a method of connecting adjacent cultivation plates 3 to prevent misalignment, but considering the workload during installation and removal, this is not practical.

[0011] In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides a cultivation plate and a hydroponic planter using the same, which ensure convenience during installation and retrieval, and which, even if deformation occurs due to aging, will not overlap vertically due to pushing or pulling, damaging plants or falling out of the nutrient solution tank. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] The invention of claim 1 is, A cultivation plate is installed on a nutrient solution tank having a roughly rectangular planar shape, spanning both side walls located at both ends in the short direction of the tank, and positioned longitudinally on the tank, and capable of sliding along the longitudinal direction on the tank, The cultivation plate is formed in a U-shape in cross-section and consists of a substantially rectangular plate-shaped bridge portion having plant-holding holes and whose sides rest on the side walls, and guide portions extending downward from the side sides and along the outside of the side walls to guide the sliding movement of the bridge portion. The cultivation plate is characterized in that the thickness dimension of each guide portion in the short direction is set to be greater than the difference between the outer width dimension of the nutrient solution tank in the short direction and the inner width dimension between the guide portions. To provide.

[0013] The invention of claim 2 is, The cultivation plate according to claim 1, characterized in that the thickness dimension of each guide portion in the short direction is set to be greater than the thickness dimension of the span portion in the vertical direction. To provide.

[0014] The invention of claim 3 is, The cultivation plate according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that reinforcing ribs are integrally formed on the aforementioned bridging portion. To provide.

[0015] The invention of claim 4 is, The cultivation plate according to claim 3, characterized in that the reinforcing ribs are formed in a grid pattern. To provide.

[0016] The invention according to claim 5 A hydroponic planter according to claim 1 or 2, comprising the nutrient solution tank and a plurality of the cultivation plates arranged in a row on the nutrient solution tank is provided.

Advantages of the Invention

[0017] According to the invention of claim 1, since the thickness dimension of the guide part is set to be larger than the dimensional difference between the outer width in the short side direction of the nutrient solution tank and the inner width between the guide parts, that is, the lateral displacement dimension occurring between adjacent cultivation plates, the guide parts will surely come into contact with each other. Thereby, even when the bridging parts hardly contact each other due to deformation caused by aging, when the cultivation plate slides during movement, it is possible to prevent a situation where the cultivation plates overlap vertically and damage the plants or the cultivation plates fall off from the nutrient solution tank.

[0018] According to the invention of claim 2, while increasing the thickness dimension of the guide part, by suppressing the thickness dimension of the bridging part, the amount of material used is reduced, and an increase in material cost and plate weight can be suppressed.

[0019] According to the invention of claim 3, by integrally forming reinforcing ribs on the bridging part, deformation due to aging can be suppressed.

[0020] According to the invention of claim 4, by forming lattice-shaped reinforcing ribs on the bridging part, deformation due to aging can be suppressed so as to cover the entire plane.

[0021] According to the hydroponic planter according to the invention of claim 5, the same effects as those of the inventions of claims 1 to 6 can be achieved.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0022] [Figure 1] A view showing the cultivation plate of the present invention. [Figure 2]A partial cross-sectional view of a hydroponic planter using the cultivation plate of the present invention. [Figure 3] A diagram showing a modified example of the cultivation plate of the present invention. [Figure 4] A diagram showing another modified example of the cultivation plate of the present invention. [Figure 5] An overall perspective view of the present invention and a conventional hydroponic planter. [Figure 6] Partial cross-sectional view of a hydroponic planter using conventional cultivation plates. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0023] (Embodiments of the present invention) Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The hydroponic planter 1 according to this embodiment has the exact same configuration as the conventional hydroponic planter described above in terms of the nutrient solution tank, puller, and string-like body. The cultivation plate 3 also has the same basic shape, with only the thickness of the plate being partially different. Therefore, in describing this embodiment, we will use Figure 5, which was used in the description of the prior art described above, and use the same reference numerals for each part, omitting detailed descriptions of common parts.

[0024] Figure 1 is a front view (a) and a top view (b) of the cultivation plate 3 according to this embodiment, and Figure 2 is a diagram showing the upper part of a cross-section of a hydroponic planter 1 in which the cultivation plate 3 is stretched across the nutrient solution tank 2 as shown in Figure 5. The cultivation plate 3 has a roughly rectangular plate-shaped stretching section 31 in which plant holding holes 3a are formed and stretched across both side walls 21, 21 of the nutrient solution tank 2, and guide sections 32 that extend downward from both sides of the stretching section 31 at right angles and are placed along each side wall 21, 21 so as to cover them from the outside and guide the sliding movement of the cultivation plate 3 on the nutrient solution tank 2, and is installed in a row on the nutrient solution tank 2.

[0025] As shown in Figures 1, 2(a), and 2(b), the cultivation plate 3 of this embodiment differs from the conventional cultivation plate in that the thickness dimension t2 of the guide portion 32 in the lateral direction (short side direction of the nutrient solution tank) is set to be greater than the thickness dimension t1 of the bridge portion 31 in the vertical direction (t2>t1), and is also greater than the gap G (Figure 2(b)) that occurs as the difference in dimensions between the outer width dimension W1 of the nutrient solution tank 2 and the inner width dimension W2 between the guide portions 32 (W2-W1) (t2>G). In order to achieve different thicknesses for the bridge portion 31 and the guide portion 32, the cultivation plate 3 is manufactured using an injection molding die rather than by bending an extruded plate of constant thickness. This reduces the manufacturing dimensional error of the cultivation plate 3 and also reduces the gap G.

[0026] As described above, even if a lateral displacement occurs between adjacent cultivation plates 3 on the nutrient solution tank 2, the ends of the guide portions 32 will always come into contact with each other, as indicated by the arrows in Figure 2(c). Furthermore, for these contact portions to separate from each other, one plate would need to slide up significantly to the position indicated by the dashed line in the same figure. Even if a large load is generated in the direction of the plate row, such a phenomenon cannot easily occur. Therefore, even if the connecting portion 31 deforms due to aging and the connecting portions 31 of adjacent cultivation plates 3 do not come into direct contact with each other, one plate will not ride up onto the other as in the conventional cultivation plates described above. In addition, since the thickness dimension t1 of the connecting portion 31 is thin, the increase in material costs and plate weight is kept to a minimum.

[0027] (Modified version of the above embodiment) In the above embodiment, the cultivation plate 3 had a straight edge, but fitting portions can be provided at both ends of the guide portion 32 that fit together to prevent relative vertical movement. For example, as shown in Figure 3(a), by providing a convex fitting portion 32a with a side-view arc shape in the shape of a concave fitting portion 32b at both ends of the guide portion 32, the cultivation plates 3 can be fitted together as shown in Figure 3(b) when they are placed adjacent to each other on the nutrient solution tank 2.

[0028] As a result, even if a force is generated that would cause adjacent cultivation plates 3 to push against each other under a large load during installation and removal, potentially causing them to shift vertically, the actual shifting is prevented. This further ensures that the plates do not overlap vertically or fall out of the nutrient solution tank. As shown in Figure 3(a), by reversing the positions of the fitting portions 32a and 32b between the guide portions 32 on both the left and right sides of the cultivation plate 3, the fitting portions 32a and 32b will always fit together, eliminating the need to worry about the orientation of the plate during installation. The shape of the fitting portion can be a wedge shape as shown in Figure 3(c) instead of the arc shape shown in Figure 3(b), and various other shapes can be adopted.

[0029] In the above embodiment, the cultivation plate 3 is made of a flat material with no irregularities on both its upper and lower surfaces. However, in order to suppress deformation due to changes over time, reinforcing ribs 33 may be integrally formed on the surface of the bridge portion 31, as shown in Figure 4. The reinforcing ribs 33 have a rectangular cross-section with a width of about 5 mm and a height of about 5 to 10 mm, and are formed to extend in the direction in which the plate is bridged (the short side of the nutrient solution tank 1) and in directions perpendicular to it, forming a grid. This suppresses deformation of the entire plane of the bridge portion, including not only sagging and undulation of the plate in the bridge direction, but also twisting accompanied by deformation in directions perpendicular to it.

[0030] Furthermore, the reinforcing ribs 33 are formed in a grid shape to individually surround each plant-holding hole 3a, thereby preventing the plate from deforming along the alignment of the plant-holding holes 3a. In Figure 4, the reinforcing ribs 33 are provided only on the lower side of the bridge section 31, but they may also be provided on the upper side, or on both the upper and lower sides. They may also be provided not only on the bridge section 31 but also on the guide section 32. They are not limited to a grid shape; they may be provided only in the bridge direction, or they may be provided to extend diagonally with respect to the bridge direction.

[0031] The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and modifications, and can be applied with appropriate modifications without changing the gist of the invention. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0032] 1 Hydroponic planter 2 Nutrient solution tanks 3. Cultivation Plate 3a Plant retention hole 31. Bridge section 32 Guide section 32a Mating part 32b Fitting part 33 Reinforcement Ribs 4. Pulling device S string-like body

Claims

1. A cultivation plate is installed on a nutrient solution tank having a roughly rectangular planar shape, spanning both side walls located at both ends in the short direction of the tank, and positioned longitudinally on the tank, and capable of sliding along the longitudinal direction on the tank, The cultivation plate is formed in a U-shape in cross-section and consists of a substantially rectangular plate-shaped bridge portion having plant-holding holes and whose sides rest on the side walls, and guide portions extending downward from the side sides and along the outside of the side walls to guide the sliding movement of the bridge portion. A cultivation plate characterized in that the thickness dimension of each guide portion in the short direction is set to be greater than the difference between the outer width dimension of the nutrient solution tank in the short direction and the inner width dimension between the guide portions.

2. The cultivation plate according to claim 1, characterized in that the thickness dimension of each guide portion in the short direction is set to be greater than the thickness dimension of the span portion in the vertical direction.

3. The cultivation plate according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that reinforcing ribs are integrally formed on the aforementioned bridging portion.

4. The cultivation plate according to claim 3, characterized in that the reinforcing ribs are formed in a grid pattern.

5. The hydroponic planter according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by comprising the nutrient solution tank and a plurality of cultivation plates arranged in a row on the nutrient solution tank.

Images