Feeding device

Abstract

The invention discloses a feeding device, and relates to the technical field of feeding utensils. The feeding device comprises a first channel, a second channel and a pushing assembly. The second channel is arranged below the first channel, an opening is formed in the bottom end of the first channel, and the opening in the bottom end of the first channel is communicated with the second channel; an outlet is formed in one end of the second channel, the pushing assembly comprises a thrust table, the thrust table can slide from the end, away from the outlet, of the second channel to the outlet along the second channel, and the sliding path of the thrust table passes through the position, corresponding to the opening, in the second channel. And the pushing mechanism is used for pushing the fruit blocks falling from the opening to the outlet of the second channel. According to the feeding device, the situation that fruits are extruded to deform or clamped and crushed in the fruit food feeding process can be avoided to a certain extent.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of feeding utensils, in particular to a feeding device. Background Art

[0002] Primates need to be fed fruits such as apples in daily feeding and cognitive behavior test experiments. Specifically, in daily feeding, experimental animals need to be fed fruits at regular intervals and in fixed quantities. When conducting test experiments, it is necessary to judge whether to feed fruits based on the behavior of the animals in order to reward the experimental animals.

[0003] Most of the existing feeders are feed feeders, which are used to feed dry food such as feed. The design of feeders for dry food is relatively simple. For feeding devices used to feed fruit food, it is necessary to consider the factor that fruits are easily squeezed and deformed, and squeezed, deformed or crushed fruits will affect the feeding effect of primate experimental animals. That is, the existing feeders cannot be well applied to the occasion of feeding fruit food to primates, and there is a situation that the fruit is stuck or crushed during the feeding process.

[0004] In view of the problems existing in the above-mentioned prior art, those skilled in the art are in urgent need of a feeding device that can feed fruit food to primates and avoid, to a certain extent, the situation where the food gets stuck or crushed during the pushing process. Summary of the invention

[0005] The object of the present invention is to provide a feeding device to solve the problems existing in the above-mentioned prior art and to avoid, to a certain extent, the situation in which the fruit is squeezed, deformed, stuck or crushed during the feeding process of fruit food.

[0006] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following solutions:

[0007] The present invention provides a feeding device, comprising a first channel, a second channel and a pushing assembly; the second channel is arranged below the first channel, an opening is arranged at the bottom end of the first channel, and the bottom end opening of the first channel is connected with the second channel; an outlet is arranged at one end of the second channel, and the pushing assembly comprises a thrust platform, the thrust platform can slide along the second channel toward the outlet from one end of the second channel away from the outlet, and the sliding path of the thrust platform passes through a position corresponding to the opening in the second channel, and is used to push fruit pieces falling from the opening to the outlet of the second channel.

[0008] In some embodiments, it also includes an outer shell; the inner bottom of the outer shell is provided with the second channel arranged in the horizontal direction, and one end of the second channel passes through the side wall of the outer shell to form the outlet connected to the outside; the inner end of the outer shell is provided with the first channel arranged in the vertical direction near the outlet, and the top of the first channel is provided with an inlet connected to the outside; the pushing component is arranged at one end of the inner bottom of the outer shell away from the outlet.

[0009] In some embodiments, a first vertical plate and a second vertical plate are disposed inside the outer shell, the first vertical plate and the second vertical plate are both disposed in a vertical direction and are parallel to each other, and the opposite sides of the first vertical plate and the second vertical plate are perpendicular to the sliding direction of the thrust platform; the first vertical plate and the second vertical plate are both connected to the inner wall of the outer shell and enclose to form the first channel, and the spacing between the bottom end of the first vertical plate and the inner bottom end of the outer shell is equal to the spacing between the bottom end of the second vertical plate and the inner bottom end of the outer shell.

[0010] In some embodiments, the pushing assembly also includes a driving device, which is connected to the thrust platform and is used to drive the thrust platform to slide back and forth between a first position away from the outlet and a second position close to the outlet, and the sliding path of the thrust platform passes through the space below the first vertical plate and the second vertical plate; when the thrust platform is at the first position, the opening is connected to the second channel; when the thrust platform is at the second position, the thrust platform can block the opening.

[0011] In some embodiments, the thrust platform includes a pushing part and a limiting part, the limiting part is arranged on the side of the top end of the pushing part away from the outlet, and the size of the limiting part along the sliding direction is smaller than the size of the pushing part along the sliding direction; the pushing part can slide back and forth between the first position and the second position along the second channel, and the spacing dimension between the bottom end of the first vertical plate or the second vertical plate and the inner bottom end of the outer shell is adapted to the height dimension of the pushing part; when the pushing part is located at the second position, the top end of the pushing part can block the opening, and the limiting part abuts against the side of the first vertical plate away from the outlet for limiting.

[0012] In some embodiments, an adjustment assembly is installed on the opposite side of the first vertical plate and the second vertical plate; the adjustment assembly includes an adjustment plate and a slider assembly, and the opposite side of the first vertical plate and the second vertical plate are provided with a long strip of slide grooves arranged along the vertical direction; the slider assembly is provided on the side of the adjustment plate close to the slide groove, the slider assembly can be clamped in the slide groove and slide along the slide groove, and the bottom end of the adjustment plate can move downward to a position lower than the bottom end of the first vertical plate or the second vertical plate.

[0013] In some embodiments, the slider assembly includes a first slider, a second slider and an elastic member; the first slider is formed with assembly grooves at both ends of a side away from the adjustment plate, the elastic member is installed in the assembly groove, one end of the second slider extends into the assembly groove and is connected to the elastic member, and the other end extends out of the assembly groove; the side of the first slider close to the adjustment plate and the side of the second slider away from the adjustment plate are respectively pressed against the two sides of the inner wall of the slide groove.

[0014] In some embodiments, a partition is provided above the pushing assembly, the partition is connected to the inner side wall of the outer shell, and the partition has a first chamber above and a second chamber below, and a cover that can be opened and closed is provided at the top of the first chamber; hooks are provided at the bottom of the outer shell at positions corresponding to both sides of the outlet, and a clamping plate is provided at the bottom of the outer shell at positions corresponding to below the hooks; the hooks are used to clamp with the side walls of the feeding device, and there is a distance between the clamping plate and the side walls of the feeding device; and / or a plurality of protruding structures are arranged on opposite sides of the first vertical plate and the second vertical plate.

[0015] In some embodiments, the height of the side of the pushing portion perpendicular to the sliding direction and close to the outlet is adapted to the maximum dimension of the fruit piece along the direction perpendicular to the sliding direction; and the spacing dimension between the bottom end of the first vertical plate or the second vertical plate and the inner bottom end of the outer shell is adapted to the maximum dimension of the fruit piece along the direction perpendicular to the sliding direction.

[0016] In some embodiments, a control system is also included, which includes a timing module, an I / O module and a relay; the driving device is an electric push rod; the timing module and the I / O module are both connected to the relay for controlling the on and off of the relay, and the relay is connected to the power supply of the electric push rod for controlling the on and off of the power supply; and / or the outer shell has a side panel arranged along a pushing direction parallel to the thrust platform, and the side panel is made of a transparent material.

[0017] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has achieved the following technical effects:

[0018] The feeding device of the present invention is used for feeding fruit food, and comprises a first channel and a second channel located below the first channel; wherein the first channel is used for storing fruit pieces to be fed, and the fruit pieces can fall from the opening at the bottom of the first channel into the second channel under the action of their own gravity, and one end of the second channel is an outlet, and the thrust platform of the pushing component can slide along the second channel and pass through the position corresponding to the opening in the second channel, so that during the sliding process, the thrust platform can push the fruit pieces falling from the opening to the outlet of the second channel, and then make the fruit pieces fall into the feeding device for the animal to take. The present invention adopts the method of placing the fruit pieces in the first channel above and arranging the pushing component in the second channel below. On the one hand, the thrust platform of the pushing component can make the fruit pieces evenly stressed, and on the other hand, in the process of pushing the fruit pieces, only the falling fruit pieces are pushed to avoid squeezing between the fruit pieces caused by pushing all the fruit pieces, so as to avoid squeezing, deformation, jamming and crushing of the fruit in the process of feeding the fruit food.

[0019] Furthermore, the height of the side of the pushing portion perpendicular to the sliding direction and close to the outlet is adapted to the maximum dimension of the fruit piece perpendicular to the sliding direction; and the dimension of the bottom end of the first vertical plate or the second vertical plate from the bottom end of the outer shell is adapted to the maximum dimension of the fruit piece perpendicular to the sliding direction; to ensure that the pushing portion pushes just one piece of fruit to the outlet each time, avoiding the situation in which the fruit is squeezed, deformed, stuck or crushed during the pushing process.

[0020] Furthermore, the first channel of the present invention is arranged in the vertical direction, and the second channel is arranged in the horizontal direction. The first channel adopts a vertical design, and the number of fruit pieces stored inside increases with the height of the first channel and occupies less space. And the pusher of the present invention can slide back and forth between the first position and the second position along the horizontal second channel under the drive of the driving device. When the pusher slides to the first position, the opening is connected with the second channel so that the fruit pieces can fall from the opening into the second channel; when the pusher slides to the second position, the pusher can push a certain number of fruit pieces to the exit of the second channel, and the pusher can block the opening so that the fruit pieces no longer continue to fall, and then the pusher returns to the first position to complete a feeding operation. Therefore, the present invention can achieve the effect of automatically feeding a certain number of fruit pieces; the spacing size of the first vertical plate or the second vertical plate from the bottom end of the outer shell body is adapted to the height size of the pusher, and the pusher makes the fruit pieces evenly stressed and avoids getting stuck or crushed during the pushing process.

[0021] Furthermore, the driving device of the present invention adopts a telescopic electric push rod, which produces low noise during operation. When feeding is required, the timing module or I / O module of the control system outputs a level signal to the relay, and the relay can control the on and off of the power supply of the electric push rod. The present invention can control the electric push rod to be extended and retracted once by outputting a level signal to achieve automatic quantitative feeding. The extension range is fixed and precise, and the number of feeding times can be automatically controlled by controlling the number of output level signals.

[0022] Furthermore, the present invention arranges an adjustment component on the first vertical plate and the second vertical plate to adjust the height dimension of the bottom opening of the first channel from the bottom end of the second channel. Specifically, the slider component of the adjustment component can slide along the slide groove arranged in the vertical direction, and then the adjustment plate can move downward in the vertical direction. When the bottom end of the adjustment plate is lower than the bottom ends of the first vertical plate and the second vertical plate, the bottom ends of the two adjustment plates are the bottom opening position of the first channel. Therefore, the present invention can adjust the position of the opening, and then adjust the height of the opening from the bottom end of the second channel to adapt to fruit pieces of different sizes, thereby avoiding the situation where the fruit pieces do not completely fall into the second channel and get stuck and crushed when the size of the fed fruit pieces changes.

[0023] Furthermore, the overall frame structure composed of the outer shell, the first vertical plate, the second vertical plate, the partition plate and the cover plate of the present invention is firm and not easy to shake; the side plate of the outer shell is made of transparent material, which is convenient for observing the situation inside the device. The outer shell is clamped with the side wall of the feeding device through a hook, and the spacing between the clamping plate and the side wall of the feeding device is set to be clamped on the crossbeam of the cage. The feeding device of the present invention can be adapted to various existing breeding cages, and the installation and fixing effect is good. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0025] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the installation of the feeding device and the feeding cage in some embodiments of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a feeding device according to a first embodiment of the present invention, in which the thrust platform is in a first position;

[0027] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the first embodiment of the feeding device of the present invention, in which the thrust platform is in the second position;

[0028] Figure 4 A front view of a first embodiment of a feeding device of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 5 is one of the schematic diagrams of a second embodiment of the feeding device of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 6 FIG2 is a second schematic diagram of a second embodiment of the feeding device of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 7 The third schematic diagram of the second embodiment of the feeding device of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the adjustment component in some embodiments of the present invention;

[0033] Fig. 9 Schematic diagram of the positions of the assembly grooves and the elastic members in some embodiments of the present invention.

[0034] In the figure: 1-first channel; 2-second channel; 3-pushing assembly; 4-outer shell; 5-partition; 6-adjusting assembly; 7-raised structure; 8-feeding device; 9-feeding cage; 11-opening; 12-entrance; 13-first vertical plate; 14-second vertical plate; 15-slide; 21-exit; 31-driving device; 32-thrust platform; 41-first side plate; 42-second side plate; 43-third side plate; 44-bottom plate; 45-cover plate; 46-hook; 47-card plate; 48-connecting plate; 61-first slider; 62-second slider; 63-adjusting plate; 64-elastic member; 65-assembly groove; 321-pushing part; 322-limiting part. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0036] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a feeding device to solve the problems existing in the prior art and to avoid, to a certain extent, the situation in which fruits are squeezed, deformed, stuck, or crushed during the process of feeding fruit food.

[0037] In order to make the above-mentioned objects, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0038] Embodiment 1

[0039] This embodiment provides a feeding device, such as Figures 1 to 4 As shown, it includes a first channel 1, a second channel 2 and a pushing assembly 3; wherein the first channel 1 is arranged in a vertical direction and stores fruit pieces to be put in, the top of the first channel 1 is an entrance 12, and the bottom is an opening 11; the second channel 2 is arranged below the first channel 1 and is connected to the bottom opening 11 of the first channel 1, and the fruit pieces to be put in the first channel 1 can fall from the bottom opening 11 to the second channel 2 under the action of its own gravity. The second channel 2 is arranged in a horizontal direction, and one end of the second channel 2 is an outlet 21, which corresponds to the position of the feeding device 8.

[0040] It should be noted that this embodiment is described by taking the first channel 1 arranged in the vertical direction as an example, and those skilled in the art may also set the first channel 1 to be at a smaller angle with the vertical direction. This embodiment is described by taking the second channel 2 arranged in the horizontal direction as an example, and those skilled in the art may also set the second channel 2 to be at a smaller angle with the horizontal direction. This embodiment is described by taking the inlet 12 arranged at the top of the first channel 1 as an example, and those skilled in the art may also set the inlet 12 at other positions on the upper part of the first channel 1. The present invention does not make any specific limitations.

[0041] The pushing assembly 3 includes a pushing platform 32, which is arranged at one end of the second channel 2 away from the outlet 21. The pushing platform 32 can slide along the second channel 2, and its sliding path passes through a first position away from the outlet 21 and a second position close to the outlet 21. In the process of sliding from the first position to the second position, the pushing platform 32 passes through a position corresponding to the opening 11 in the second channel 2, so that the fruit pieces falling from the opening 11 can be pushed to the outlet 21 and then the fruit pieces fall into the feeding device 8 for the animal to take. Figure 2 The thrust platform 32 is located at the first position, at which time the fruit pieces in the first channel 1 can fall into the second channel 2 from the bottom opening 11 . Figure 3 The middle thrust platform 32 is in the second position, at which time the thrust platform 32 can block the opening 11, so that the fruit pieces in the first channel 1 no longer fall, that is, the thrust platform 32 can gradually block the opening 11 during the process of sliding from the first position to the second position. The thrust platform 32 can also return from the second position to the initial first position for the next pushing operation.

[0042] In this embodiment, the pushing assembly 3 further includes a driving device 31, which is connected to the thrust platform 32 and is used to drive the thrust platform 32 to slide back and forth along the second channel 2. The thrust platform 32 includes a pushing portion 321 and a limiting portion 322, wherein the limiting portion 322 is disposed at an end of the top end surface of the pushing portion 321 away from the outlet 21, and in the pushing direction, the size of the limiting portion 322 is smaller than the size of the pushing portion 321. The pushing portion 321 can slide from a first position to a second position along the second channel 2, such as Figure 2 As shown, when the push part 321 is in the first position, the opening 11 is connected to the second channel 2; the height dimension of the push part 321 along the vertical sliding direction matches the height dimension of the opening 11 from the bottom end of the second channel 2. When the push part 321 slides to the second position, the top of the push part 321 can gradually block the opening 11. Here, blocking should be understood as the top of the push part 321 can prevent other fruit pieces in the first channel 1 from continuing to fall from the opening 11. The top of the push part 321 can be in contact with the opening 11 or slightly lower than the opening 11, as long as it can ensure that the apple pieces do not continue to fall; and as shown in FIG. Figure 3 As shown, when the pushing portion 321 is located at the second position, the limiting portion 322 abuts against the side wall of the first channel 1 for limiting position, that is, the limiting portion 322 abuts against the side of the first vertical plate 13 away from the outlet 21 for limiting position.

[0043] It should be noted that the height dimension of the pushing portion 321 of the present embodiment is adapted to the height dimension of the opening 11 from the inner bottom end of the second channel 2. It should be understood that the height dimension of the pushing portion 321 can be equal to or slightly smaller than the height dimension of the opening 11 from the inner bottom end of the second channel 2, so that the pushing portion 321 can slide along the second channel 2 and the top end of the pushing portion 321 can also block the opening 11.

[0044] In this embodiment, the feeding device further comprises an outer shell 4, which comprises a first side plate 41, a second side plate 42, a third side plate 43, a bottom plate 44 and a cover plate 45; Figure 2 , Figure 3 and Figure 4 In order to facilitate the display of the internal structure, the first side plate 41 is removed.

[0045] The inner bottom of the outer shell 4 is provided with a second channel 2 arranged in the horizontal direction, and an outlet 21 connecting the second channel 2 and the outside is formed at one end of the bottom of the outer shell 4. The inside of the outer shell 4 is provided with vertical and parallel first vertical plates 13 and second vertical plates 14 in sequence along the sliding direction of the thrust platform 32, that is, the opposite sides of the first vertical plates 13 and the second vertical plates 14 are perpendicular to the sliding direction of the thrust platform 32; there is a spacing between the bottom end of the first vertical plate 13 and the inner bottom end of the outer shell 4, and there is a spacing between the bottom end of the second vertical plate 14 and the inner bottom end of the outer shell 4, and the bottom end position of the first vertical plate 13 and the second vertical plate 14 is the position of the opening 11; and the spacing between the bottom end of the first vertical plate 13 and the inner bottom end of the outer shell 4 is equal to the spacing between the second vertical plate 14 and the inner bottom end of the outer shell 4. The second vertical plate 13 and the second vertical plate 14 are both fixedly connected to the first side plate 41 and the second side plate 42 and together form the first channel 1.

[0046] It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the second vertical plate 14 is closer to the outlet 21 than the second vertical plate 13; those skilled in the art may also arrange that the first vertical plate 13 is closer to the outlet 21 than the second vertical plate 14, that is, the first vertical plate 13 and the second vertical plate 14 may be swapped, and accordingly, the limit plate 322 of the thrust platform 32 may abut against the second vertical plate 14 for limit.

[0047] In this embodiment, the height of the side of the pushing portion 321 perpendicular to the sliding direction and close to the outlet 21 is adapted to the maximum dimension of the fruit piece along the direction perpendicular to the sliding direction. The adaptation here should be understood as that the height of the side of the pushing portion 321 perpendicular to the sliding direction is equal to or slightly smaller than the maximum dimension of the fruit piece along the direction perpendicular to the sliding direction, so as to ensure that the pushing portion 321 can push the first fruit piece that falls completely into the second channel 2 and does not squeeze the second fruit piece above the first fruit piece.

[0048] And the size of the bottom end of the first vertical board 13 or the second vertical board 14 from the inner bottom end of the outer shell 4 is adapted to the maximum size of the fruit piece along the direction perpendicular to the sliding direction. The adaptation here should be understood as that the size of the bottom end of the first vertical board 13 or the second vertical board 14 from the inner bottom end of the outer shell 4 is equal to or slightly larger than the maximum size of the fruit piece along the direction perpendicular to the sliding direction, so as to ensure that the first fruit piece at the bottom can completely fall into the second channel 2 and the second fruit piece is completely or mostly located in the first channel 1, so that the pushing part 321 only pushes the first fruit piece without squeezing the second fruit piece.

[0049] Therefore, the present invention can ensure that the pushing portion 321 pushes exactly one piece of fruit to the outlet 21 each time, thereby preventing the fruit from being squeezed, deformed, stuck or crushed during the pushing process.

[0050] In this embodiment, a horizontally arranged partition 5 is installed in the chamber above the pushing component 3, the partition 5 has a first chamber above and a second chamber below, the pushing component 3 is arranged in the second chamber, the first chamber is used to store fruits to be fed, and a cover plate 45 that can be opened and closed is arranged on the top of the first chamber; specifically, one end of the cover plate 45 is hinged to the third side plate 43, and the other end is an opening and closing end, which can be locked or opened with the top of the first vertical plate 13.

[0051] In this embodiment, if Figure 2 As shown, a plurality of protrusion structures 7 are arranged on the opposite end surfaces of the first vertical plate 13 and the second vertical plate 14, and the protrusion structures 7 can increase the contact friction between the fruit pieces stored in the first channel 1 and the side wall of the first channel 1, thereby reducing the squeezing force between the fruit pieces stacked in the first channel 1, but will not restrict the fruit pieces from falling under the action of gravity. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can specifically set the size, shape and arrangement of the protrusion structures 7, and the present invention does not specifically limit them.

[0052] In this embodiment, hooks 46 are respectively provided at the bottom of the outer shell 4 at positions corresponding to both sides of the opening 21, and a clamping plate 47 connected to the bottom plate 44 is provided below the hook 46. The hook 46 is used to clamp with the side wall of the feeding device 8. The feeding device 8 of this embodiment is a feeding box, see Figure 1 The figure shows the installation schematic diagram of the feeding device of the present invention and the feeding cage 9. During installation, the feeding box is located inside the feeding cage 9, and the outer shell 4 is located outside the feeding cage 9. The hook 46 on the outer shell 4 extends into the feeding cage 9 and is clamped with the side wall of the feeding box. The clamping plate 47 is spaced from the side wall of the feeding box and is clamped on the crossbeam of the feeding cage 9. The feeding box and the clamping plate 47 are also connected and fixed by fasteners. A connecting plate 48 is provided on the top of the outer shell 4. The connecting plate 48 is provided on the inner side of the feeding cage 9 and is connected to the side wall of the outer shell 4 by fasteners, thereby realizing connection and fixation with the feeding cage 9. The fasteners mentioned in this embodiment can be bolts, screws or other parts that can realize the fastening function.

[0053] In this embodiment, a control system is also included, and the control system includes a timing module, an I / O module and a relay. The timing module is used to control the output of a level signal to the relay after the set time is reached in daily feeding, that is, the timing module can control the on and off of the relay. In the experimental scenario, after the animal is trained to complete a certain behavior, the behavior triggers a level signal, which is collected and input by the I / O module of the control system, and the I / O module controls the output of the level signal to the relay, that is, the I / O module can control the on and off of the relay; or in the experimental scenario, the animal behavior is monitored by real-time video recording, and it is determined whether to feed and reward. When feeding is required, a level signal is also output to the relay. The driving device 31 of this embodiment is an electric push rod, and the relay is connected to the power supply of the electric push rod to control the on and off of the power supply. When the relay receives the level signal, it is turned on, and then the power supply of the electric push rod is turned on, so that the electric push rod is extended and retracted and drives the thrust platform 32 to push to achieve automatic feeding. When feeding, the number of times the electric push rod is extended and retracted can be controlled by controlling the number of output level signals, so as to achieve timed and quantitative feeding, save manpower and avoid waste caused by excessive feeding at one time.

[0054] In this embodiment, the first side plate 41 and the second side plate 42 of the outer shell 4 are made of transparent materials to facilitate observation of the internal operation of the device, for example, a transparent PC plate or an acrylic plate or other transparent materials may be used.

[0055] The third side plate 43, the bottom plate 44, the cover plate 45, the first vertical plate 13 and the second vertical plate 14 are all made of metal, such as stainless steel, and the overall frame structure is firm and not easy to shake. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can select the materials of the third side plate 43, the bottom plate 44, the cover plate 45 and the first vertical plate 13 and the second vertical plate 14 according to actual conditions, and the present invention does not make specific limitations.

[0056] In addition, the thrust platform 32 of this embodiment is made of plastic material, and the thrust platform 32 can make the fruit pieces evenly stressed during the pushing process to avoid the fruit pieces being squeezed and deformed. It can be understood that the thrust platform 32 can also be made of other materials, and the present invention does not make specific limitations.

[0057] When the feeding device of this embodiment is in use, for example, when it is necessary to feed fruits such as apples to animals, the apples are cut into apple pieces by an apple slicer, and the apple pieces are placed in the first channel 1. At this time, the thrust platform 32 is in the first position, and the apple pieces fall downward from the opening 11 at the bottom of the first channel 1 to the second channel 2; the driving device 31 is controlled to operate in a timed manner or according to the behavior of the animal, and the driving device 31 drives the thrust platform 32 to slide from the first position along the second channel 2 to the second position, and pushes the apple pieces that fall into the second channel 2 to the outlet 21 and drops them into the feeding device 8 for the animal to take, and at this time, the thrust platform 32 can block the opening 11. Then the driving device 31 can drive the thrust platform 32 to return from the second position to the first position, and at this time, the apple pieces in the first channel 1 can fall from the opening 11 to the second channel 2 again for the next feeding. The cross-sectional size of the first channel 1 is adapted to the size of the apple pieces, the height size of the opening 11 from the inner bottom end of the second channel 2, that is, the height size of the bottom end of the first vertical plate 13 or the second vertical plate 14 from the inner bottom end of the shell 4 is adapted to the size of the apple pieces, and the height size of the pushing portion 321 is adapted to the size of the apple pieces, so that the apple pieces can fall smoothly into the second channel 2 under the action of gravity and avoid jamming. The thrust platform 32 can push one apple piece at a time.

[0058] It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the thrust platform 32 pushes one piece of fruit at a time. Those skilled in the art can specifically adjust the height dimension of the opening 11 from the inner bottom end of the second channel 2 and the height dimension of the pushing portion 321 to achieve pushing two or more apple pieces each time; the present invention does not make any specific limitation.

[0059] The present invention can realize the timed and quantitative feeding of primate experimental animals, effectively saving manpower and time, and has a wide range of applications. It can be used in daily feeding scenarios and can also be used in experimental tests as a reward device to feed fruit pieces to primate experimental animals before and after the experiment as a reward.

[0060] Embodiment 2

[0061] This embodiment provides a feeding device. The difference between this embodiment and the first embodiment is that: Figures 5 to 9 As shown, in this embodiment, an adjustment component 6 is installed on the side opposite to the first vertical plate 13 and the second vertical plate 14, and the adjustment component 6 can slide vertically downward to adjust the distance between the opening 11 and the inner bottom end of the second channel 2, that is, the distance between the opening 11 and the inner bottom end of the shell 4.

[0062] This embodiment Figure 5 , Figure 6 and Figure 7 In order to facilitate the display of the internal structure, the first side plate 41 is removed; and Figure 7In order to show the guide slot 15, the adjustment component 6 has been removed.

[0063] like Figure 7 As shown, a long strip-shaped slide groove 15 arranged along the vertical direction is provided on the opposite sides of the first vertical plate 13 and the second vertical plate 14, and the adjustment component 6 includes an adjustment plate 63 and a slider component, and the slider component can be clamped in the slide groove 15 and can slide along the slide groove 15. Figure 8 and Fig. 9 As shown, the slider assembly includes a first slider 61, a second slider 62 and an elastic member 64. A side of the adjustment plate 63 close to the slide groove 15 is provided with a long strip of the first slider 61, and both ends of the side of the first slider 61 away from the adjustment plate 63 are respectively provided with assembly grooves 65, and the elastic member 64 is installed in the assembly groove 65. One end of the second slider 62 extends into the assembly groove 65 and is connected to the elastic member 64, and the other end extends out of the assembly groove 65.

[0064] When the slider assembly is engaged with the slide groove 15, a side of the first slider 61 close to the adjustment plate 63 and a side of the second slider 62 away from the adjustment plate 63 respectively abut against the two side surfaces opposite to the inner wall of the slide groove 15. At this time, the elastic member 64 between the first slider 61 and the second slider 62 is in a compressed state, and the elastic force of the elastic member 64 makes the first slider 61 and the second slider 62 press against the inner wall of the slide groove 15.

[0065] When the slider assembly slides along the slide groove 15, by pressing the adjustment plate 63, the second slider 62 moves into the assembly groove 65 of the first slider 61 and compresses the elastic member 64, thereby reducing the overall thickness of the first slider 61 and the second slider 62. At this time, the first slider 61 and the second slider 62 are no longer tightly pressed against the inner wall of the slide groove 15, and the adjustment assembly 6 as a whole can slide along the slide groove 15.

[0066] like Figure 6As shown, when the adjustment component 6 slides vertically downward for a distance, the bottom end of the adjustment plate 63 of the adjustment component 6 is lower than the bottom ends of the first vertical plate 13 and the second vertical plate 14, and the position of the bottom ends of the two adjustment plates 63 is the position of the opening 11 of the first channel 1, that is, the position of the opening 11 changes with the sliding of the adjustment component 6, and the spacing between the opening 11 and the inner bottom end of the shell 4 can be adjusted. When it is necessary to feed fruit pieces of different sizes, by sliding the adjustment component 6, the spacing between the opening 11 and the inner bottom end of the shell 4 is adapted to the size of the fruit pieces, so as to avoid squeezing the fruit pieces when the fruit pieces do not fall completely into the second channel during the pushing process; for example, when it is necessary to feed apple pieces, according to the size of the apple pieces, by adjusting the position of the adjustment component 6, the spacing between the opening 11 and the inner bottom end of the shell 4 can ensure that one or several apple pieces fall into the second channel 2, and then the thrust platform 32 just pushes one or several apple pieces to the outlet 21 each time, so as to achieve quantitative feeding of one or several apple pieces each time.

[0067] In addition, the height dimension of the pushing portion 321 of the thrust platform 32 of the present invention is compatible with the height dimension of the opening 11 from the inner bottom end of the shell 4. When the sliding adjustment component 6 is adjusted, a pushing portion 321 of a corresponding size is required so that the pushing portion 321 of the thrust platform 32 can slide along the second channel 2 and can block the opening 11.

[0068] The present invention uses specific examples to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of the present invention. The above examples are only used to help understand the method and core ideas of the present invention. At the same time, for those skilled in the art, according to the ideas of the present invention, there will be changes in the specific implementation methods and application scope. In summary, the content of this specification should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

Claims

1. A feeding device, characterized in that: It includes a first channel, a second channel and a pushing component; The second channel is arranged below the first channel, the bottom end of the first channel is provided with an opening, and the bottom end opening of the first channel is communicated with the second channel; An outlet is provided at one end of the second channel, and the pushing assembly includes a thrust platform, which can slide along the second channel toward the outlet from one end of the second channel away from the outlet, and the sliding path of the thrust platform passes through a position corresponding to the opening in the second channel, so as to push the fruit pieces falling from the opening to the outlet of the second channel.

2. The feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that Also includes an outer shell; The inner bottom of the outer shell is provided with the second channel arranged in the horizontal direction, and one end of the second channel passes through the side wall of the outer shell to form the outlet communicating with the outside; The first channel arranged in the vertical direction is provided at one end of the inner part of the outer shell close to the outlet, and the top of the first channel is provided with an inlet communicating with the outside; The pushing assembly is arranged at an end of the inner bottom of the outer shell away from the outlet.

3. The feeding device according to claim 2, characterized in that: A first vertical plate and a second vertical plate are arranged inside the outer shell, the first vertical plate and the second vertical plate are arranged in a vertical direction and are parallel to each other, and the opposite sides of the first vertical plate and the second vertical plate are perpendicular to the sliding direction of the thrust platform; The first vertical plate and the second vertical plate are both connected to the inner wall of the outer shell and enclose the first channel, and the distance between the bottom end of the first vertical plate and the inner bottom end of the outer shell is equal to the distance between the bottom end of the second vertical plate and the inner bottom end of the outer shell.

4. The feeding device according to claim 3, characterized in that The pushing assembly further includes a driving device, which is connected to the thrust platform and is used to drive the thrust platform to slide back and forth between a first position away from the outlet and a second position close to the outlet, and a sliding path of the thrust platform passes through the space below the first vertical plate and the second vertical plate; When the thrust platform is located at the first position, the opening is communicated with the second channel; when the thrust platform is located at the second position, the thrust platform can block the opening.

5. The feeding device according to claim 4, characterized in that The thrust platform comprises a pushing portion and a limiting portion, wherein the limiting portion is arranged at a side of the top end of the pushing portion away from the outlet, and a dimension of the limiting portion along the sliding direction is smaller than a dimension of the pushing portion along the sliding direction; The pushing portion can slide back and forth between the first position and the second position along the second channel, and the spacing between the bottom end of the first vertical plate or the second vertical plate and the inner bottom end of the outer shell is matched with the height of the pushing portion; When the pushing portion is located at the second position, the top end of the pushing portion can block the opening, and the limiting portion abuts against a side of the first vertical plate away from the outlet for limiting.

6. The feeding device according to claim 3, characterized in that: Adjustment components are installed on the opposite sides of the first vertical plate and the second vertical plate; The adjustment assembly includes an adjustment plate and a slider assembly, and the first vertical plate and the second vertical plate are both provided with a long strip-shaped slide groove arranged in the vertical direction on the opposite sides thereof; The slider assembly is arranged on one side of the adjustment plate close to the slide slot. The slider assembly can be engaged in the slide slot and slide along the slide slot, and the bottom end of the adjustment plate can move downward to a position lower than the bottom end of the first vertical plate or the second vertical plate.

7. The feeding device according to claim 6, characterized in that The slider assembly includes a first slider, a second slider and an elastic member; The first slider is formed with assembly grooves at both ends of a side away from the adjustment plate, the elastic member is installed in the assembly groove, one end of the second slider extends into the assembly groove and is connected to the elastic member, and the other end extends out of the assembly groove; A side of the first sliding block close to the adjustment plate and a side of the second sliding block away from the adjustment plate are respectively pressed against two sides of the inner wall of the sliding groove.

8. The feeding device according to claim 3, characterized in that: A partition is provided above the pushing assembly, the partition is connected to the inner side wall of the outer shell, and the first chamber is above the partition and the second chamber is below the partition, and a cover that can be opened and closed is provided at the top of the first chamber; The bottom of the outer shell is provided with hooks at positions corresponding to both sides of the outlet, and the bottom of the outer shell is provided with a clamping plate at positions corresponding to below the hooks; the hooks are used to clamp with the side walls of the feeding device, and there is a distance between the clamping plate and the side walls of the feeding device; and / or A plurality of protrusion structures are arranged on one side opposite to the first vertical plate and the second vertical plate.

9. The feeding device according to claim 5, characterized in that The height of the side surface of the pushing portion perpendicular to the sliding direction and close to the outlet is adapted to the maximum dimension of the fruit piece perpendicular to the sliding direction; And the distance between the bottom end of the first vertical board or the second vertical board and the inner bottom end of the outer shell is matched with the maximum size of the fruit piece along the direction perpendicular to the sliding direction.

10. The feeding device according to claim 4, characterized in that It also includes a control system, which includes a timing module, an I / O module and a relay; the driving device is an electric push rod; The timing module and the I / O module are both connected to the relay for controlling the on / off of the relay, and the relay is connected to the power supply of the electric push rod for controlling the on / off of the power supply; and / or The outer shell has a side plate arranged in parallel with the pushing direction of the thrust platform, and the side plate is made of a transparent material.

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