Information system and program

Abstract

To provide an information system which can track a manufacturing distribution history, can utilize a space in a container efficiently, can eliminate manual work, and can control a manufacturing facility of tea manufacturing products.SOLUTION: An information system comprises: a raw leaf automatic container including, a raw leaf inputting part, a raw leaf carry-out part, a raw leaf transport member, and drive means for the transport member; a reception part for receiving tea manufacturing information; a plan set value generation part for generating a set value of an appliance or a plan of work in a tea manufacturing process; and a transport part for transporting the plan or the set value to a terminal of a person who performs work or to the appliance. In the raw leaf automatic container, positions where the raw leaves input to an upper surface of the transport member are estimated with a prescribed dimension of the transport member which moves according to the drive amount of the drive means, as a unit, and during movement of the transport member by the prescribed dimension, the raw leaves carried out from the raw leaf carry-out part are set as one unit, and the plan set value generation part sets a processing condition of raw leaves for one unit or multiple units of raw leaves, and generates a plan or a set value.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information system and a program, and more particularly to a fresh tea leaf storage device that stores fresh tea leaves (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "fresh leaves") picked in tea fields in a fresh state for a certain period of time in a tea factory or the like, and then supplies the fresh tea leaves to a subsequent process such as a steaming process as needed. [Background technology]

[0002] Traditionally, farmers have determined the timing and amount of fertilization and pesticide application for pest control in the production of agricultural products such as tea based on unstable conditions such as past experience. This has led to problems such as the timing and amount of fertilization and pesticide application, which vary slightly from field to field, not always being optimized, making it difficult to achieve optimal growth for each field. To address this issue, management systems such as those disclosed in Patent Document 1 are known. Patent Document 1 discloses a management system that manages information about the cultivation of agricultural products before processing in a tea cultivation management information database, manages tea processing conditions and the like in a crude tea production management information database, and links these databases to enable tracking of production and distribution history.

[0003] Furthermore, after harvesting, fresh tea leaves are placed in a container called a fresh leaf receiving container, which is equipped with an outside air blower. However, the amount of tea leaves in each harvest group usually varies. When the amount of tea leaves varies and the tea leaves are stored in the container for each harvest group, it is possible that only a portion of the container will be filled with tea leaves, resulting in an ineffective use of the container's space. As a means of solving this problem, for example, Patent Document 2 discloses a technology that installs a pillar frame 1e in the space within the container and uses the pillar frame 1e to subdivide the space. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-141071 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-027911 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] While the management system disclosed in Patent Document 1 makes it possible to track production and distribution histories, the unit of traceable processed product (rough tea) is limited to the unit in which unprocessed agricultural products (green leaves) are received (for example, by tea plantation or by producer), and care must be taken when receiving unprocessed agricultural products to ensure that agricultural products of different receiving units are not mixed together. Generally, it is conceivable to adopt a method of establishing a time difference when receiving different units of agricultural products (green leaves), thereby creating a temporal separation between different units of agricultural products, or a method of placing different units of agricultural products (green leaves) in different locations within a receiving container when storing them in the container, thereby creating a spatial separation between different units of agricultural products. However, the above-mentioned temporal and spatial separations increase the time required to process agricultural products and reduce the capacity of the receiving container, which in turn reduces the throughput of agricultural product processing or the operating rate of agricultural product processing equipment, and are therefore undesirable.

[0006] On the other hand, according to the technology disclosed in Patent Document 2, the space inside the receiving container is divided into smaller sections by pillar frames, making it possible to receive different units of agricultural produce (fresh leaves) without any temporal or spatial differences. However, the structure is complex, the work of removing the pillar frames must be done manually, and there is also a large unevenness in cooling within the space, so this has not been a practical solution.

[0007] An object of the present invention is to provide an automated container for fresh leaves that allows for tracking of production and distribution history, makes effective use of the space inside the container, and does not require manual work.

[0008] Another object of the present invention is to provide an information system for controlling tea production equipment, which is based on the above-mentioned automatic fresh leaf container. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] In order to solve the above problems, in a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information system for controlling tea production equipment, which includes an automatic green leaf container having a green leaf input section for inputting green tea leaves, a green leaf discharge section for discharging the green leaves, a conveying member for conveying the green leaves inputted by the green leaf input section to the green leaf discharge section, and a driving means for driving the conveying member, the information system comprising: a receiving section for receiving information acquired in any step included in the tea production process for processing the green leaves to obtain the tea product; and a program for generating a plan of work in the tea production process or setting values ​​of equipment used in the tea production process based on the received information received by the receiving section. The information system includes a plan setting value generation unit and a transmission unit that transmits the plan or the setting value generated by the plan setting value generation unit to the terminal of the person performing the work or the equipment, and in the automatic fresh leaf container, the scattering position of the fresh leaves placed on the top surface of the conveying member is estimated using a predetermined dimension of the conveying member that moves according to the drive amount of the drive means as a unit, and the fresh leaves conveyed from the fresh leaf conveying unit while the conveying member moves the predetermined dimension are considered to be one unit, and the plan setting value generation unit sets processing conditions for the fresh leaves for the one unit or multiple units of fresh leaves, and generates the plan or the setting value.

[0010] The transport member may be a caterpillar driven by the driving means, and the predetermined dimension of the transport member may be a dimension corresponding to the width of one of the caterpillars.

[0011] The automatic fresh leaf container may further have a pair of side walls arranged along the conveying direction of the fresh leaves and sandwiching the conveying member, and a second dimension in the height direction of the side walls, which is perpendicular to the specified dimension of the conveying member, may be used in estimating the scattering position of the fresh leaves.

[0012] In the above-described information system, the automatic fresh leaf container may further include a display means, and the display means may function to display the range of variation of the fresh leaves.

[0013] In a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program executed by a computer for controlling tea production equipment, the program including an automatic green leaf container having a green leaf input section for inputting green tea leaves, a green leaf discharge section for discharging the green leaves, a conveying member for conveying the green leaves input by the green leaf input section to the green leaf discharge section, and a driving means for driving the conveying member, the program including a receiving function for receiving information acquired in any step included in the tea production process for processing the green leaves to obtain the tea product, a planned setting value generating function for generating a plan of work in the tea production process or setting values ​​of equipment used in the tea production process based on the received information received by the receiving function, and and a transmission function that transmits the plan or the setting value generated by the plan setting value generation function to the terminal of the person performing the work or the equipment, and provides a program that estimates the scattering position of the green leaves placed on the upper surface of the automatic green leaf container using a predetermined dimension of the conveying member that moves according to the drive amount of the driving means as a unit, and the green leaves conveyed out from the green leaf conveying section while the conveying member moves the predetermined dimension are considered to be one unit, and the plan setting value generation function sets processing conditions for the green leaves for one unit or multiple units of green leaves, and generates the plan or the setting value.

[0014] The receiving function may further have a function to receive processing information from the equipment used in the tea production process, including actual processing conditions, which are the actual processing conditions of the equipment, and may further enable the computer to realize a history information generation function that associates the processing information with the unit or units of raw leaves for which the processing conditions are set, and generates history information for the tea product.

[0015] The above summary of the invention does not list all of the necessary features of the present invention, and subcombinations of these features may also constitute inventions. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the entire process of producing tea products, from tea tree cultivation to sales, managed by the information system 100. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of an information system 100. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is an overall perspective view of the automatic fresh leaf container. [Figure 4] 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an automatic fresh leaf container. [Figure 5] 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an automatic fresh leaf container. [Figure 6] This is a display of tea leaves on the conveying surface of the caterpillar. [Figure 7] FIG. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a control panel for an automatic fresh leaf container. [Figure 9] This is a process diagram of the tea production line. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0017] The present invention will be described below through embodiments of the invention, but the following embodiments do not limit the scope of the invention according to the claims. Furthermore, not all of the combinations of features described in the embodiments are necessarily essential to the solution of the invention.

[0018] Figure 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the entire process of producing tea products, from tea tree cultivation to sales, managed by information system 100. In Figure 1, solid arrows indicate the flow of goods, and dashed arrows indicate the flow of information.

[0019] The information system 100 manages tea products 600 obtained by cultivating, harvesting, and processing tea trees. Tea trees are cultivated in a tea field 200. Tea field workers 202 carry worker terminals 204 and are engaged in various tasks in the tea field management process of managing the tea field 200, the tea tree cultivation process of cultivating the tea trees, and the plucking process of harvesting the tea trees.

[0020] The worker terminal 204 has a function to receive work plans, such as a fertilization plan, a pest control plan, and a harvest plan, from the information system 100. Therefore, the tea field worker 202 can perform work by referring to the received plan.

[0021] The tea field workers 202 can also input work information such as a daily work report into the worker terminal 204, and the worker terminal 204 transmits the input work information to the information system 100. The tea field workers 202 input basic information about the tea field 200, such as the producer, the location of the tea plantation, and the variety of tea leaves to be picked, via the worker terminal 204. In this case, the harvest group of fresh tea leaves can be arbitrarily set by harvesting date, harvesting location, etc.

[0022] In the tea field 200, tea field equipment such as a plucking machine 210, a fertilizer applicator 220, a pest control machine 230, and a field server 240 is placed, and tea field workers 202 use these tea field equipment to perform tea field work such as plucking, fertilizing, and pest control. The tea field equipment acquires field information in the tea field management process, acquires tea tree cultivation information in the tea tree cultivation process, acquires harvest information in the plucking process, and transmits the acquired field information, cultivation information, and harvest information to the information system 100.

[0023] The field information may be, for example, soil information of the tea field 200, and the cultivation information may be, for example, image information showing the state of tea plant growth and weather information during the tea plant growth process. The harvest information may be, for example, information on the planned harvest date and time of fresh leaves, weight information, quality information, etc.

[0024] In addition, the tea field equipment transmits the above-mentioned information to the information system 100, receives the setting values ​​for each piece of equipment from the information system 100, and automatically inputs the setting values ​​received from the information system 100, thereby eliminating or simplifying the input work by the tea field workers 202 and enabling the tea field equipment to be operated automatically.

[0025] The picking machine 210 is connected to the riding-type cultivator by wired or wireless communication through a communication network system such as the Internet, and exchanges information with the riding-type cultivator.

[0026] The information from the plucking machine 210 includes information on the operator, plucking date and time, plucking location, and the height of the cutting surface at the time of plucking, and information on the working status, set cutting surface height, etc. is automatically transmitted from the riding tending machine to the information system 100 at regular intervals and stored in the memory unit 108 within the information system 100. The fresh tea leaves picked by the plucking machine 210 are transported by a transport vehicle 300.

[0027] The fertilizer applicator 220 and the pest control machine 230 are configured in the same manner as the plucking machine 210, and information regarding fertilization of the tea field and information regarding pest control of the tea field are communicated to the information system 100, respectively.

[0028] The transport vehicle 300 transports fresh tea leaves harvested in the tea field 200. A transport worker 302 operates the transport vehicle 300 and engages in transport work during the fresh tea leaf transport process. The transport worker 302 carries a worker terminal 304, which receives a transport plan and the like from the information system 100, allowing the transport worker 302 to perform transport work by referring to the received transport plan. The transport worker 302 also inputs work information such as a daily work report into the worker terminal 304, and the worker terminal 304 transmits the input work information to the information system 100.

[0029] The transport vehicle 300 acquires transport information during the transport process and transmits the acquired transport information to the information system 100. Examples of the transport information include weight information, quality information, and estimated arrival date and time information for the fresh leaves involved in the transport. The transport vehicle 300 also transmits the transport information to the information system 100 and receives setting values ​​for the transport vehicle 300, such as input values ​​for a navigation system, from the information system 100. In this case, by receiving and automatically inputting the setting values ​​from the information system 100, the input work by the transport worker 302 can be omitted or simplified.

[0030] The fresh leaf receiving station 400 receives the transported fresh leaves. A receiving worker 402 operates the equipment of the fresh leaf receiving station 400 and is engaged in receiving work in the fresh leaf receiving process. The receiving worker 402 carries a worker terminal 404, which receives the receiving plan and the like from the information system 100. The receiving worker 402 can perform the receiving work by referring to the received receiving plan, and the receiving worker 402 inputs work information such as a daily work report into the worker terminal 404, which then transmits the input work information to the information system 100.

[0031] In the fresh leaf receiving 400, receiving information is acquired during the receiving process, and the acquired receiving information is transmitted to the information system 100. Examples of the receiving information include weight information, quality information, and estimated arrival date and time information of the fresh leaves involved in transportation.

[0032] Furthermore, the fresh leaf receiving station 400 transmits receiving information to the information system 100 and receives setting values ​​for the equipment of the fresh leaf receiving station 400 from the information system 100. In this case, by receiving the setting values ​​from the information system 100 and automatically inputting them, the input work by the receiving worker 402 can be omitted or simplified, and the fresh leaf receiving station 400 can also be automatically controlled without human intervention.

[0033] In the fresh tea leaf receiving 400, basic information about the tea field input by the tea field worker 202, work information from the plucking machine 210, transport work information during the fresh tea leaf transport process, etc. are linked to the fresh tea leaves, and the fresh tea leaves are then input together with the receiving information into the automatic fresh tea leaf container 20, which is the first process in the tea manufacturing process, with the destination container specified. At this time, the input area for the fresh tea leaves for each harvesting group may be identified, and the harvesting groups of fresh tea leaves can be arbitrarily determined by harvesting date, harvesting location, producer, etc.

[0034] The tea production line 500 processes the received fresh leaves. Line workers 504 are engaged in processing the fresh leaves into tea products. The line workers 504 carry worker terminals 502, which receive processing plans and the like from the information system 100. The line workers 504 can perform processing work by referring to the received processing plans, and the line workers 504 input work information such as daily reports of processing work into the worker terminals 502, which then transmit the input work information to the information system 100. The tea production line 500 may receive processing plans and the like from the information system 100 and be automatically controlled without any human intervention. The tea production line 500 may also automatically transmit work information such as daily reports of processing work to the information system 100.

[0035] The fresh leaves processed by the tea production line 500 are shipped as manufactured tea products 600 to retail stores 800 via dealers 700, and are purchased by consumers 900. The tea production line 500 will be described in detail later.

[0036] The dealer 700 transmits distribution and sales information obtained during the distribution and sales process, such as sales, inventory, inventory turnover rate of the tea products 600, and needs information related to the needs of consumers 900 obtained from retailers 800, to the information system 100.

[0037] 2 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the information system 100. The information system 100 is an information system that controls tea production equipment, and is configured, for example, by computer hardware and software such as a server. The information system 100 has a control unit 114, a receiving unit 102, a transmitting unit 104, a planned setting value generating unit 106, a memory unit 108, and a history information generating unit 116.

[0038] The receiving unit 102 receives information acquired in any step included in the tea manufacturing process of processing fresh leaves to obtain the tea product 600.

[0039] The planned setting value generating unit 106 generates a plan for work in the tea production process or setting values ​​for equipment used in the tea production process based on the received information received by the receiving unit 102.

[0040] The transmission unit 104 transmits the plan or the set value generated by the plan set value generation unit 106 to the implementer terminal or device of the corresponding work.

[0041] The storage unit 108 records the reception information received by the receiving unit 102 and the plan or setting value generated by the planned setting value generating unit 106 .

[0042] In the information system 100 of this embodiment, in the automated fresh leaf container 20 described later, a predetermined dimension of a conveying member (one example of which is a caterpillar 2) that moves according to the drive amount (rotations) of a motor, which is an example of a driving means, is used as a parameter for estimating the range of variation in fresh leaves placed on the upper surface of the conveying member. In this case, while the conveying member moves the predetermined dimension, fresh leaves carried out from the fresh leaf carry-out port 5 are considered to be one unit, and the planned setting value generating unit 105 sets fresh leaf processing conditions for that one unit or multiple units of fresh leaves and generates the above-mentioned plan or setting value.

[0043] Furthermore, the receiving unit 102 can receive processing information including actual processing conditions, which are the actual processing conditions of the equipment, from the equipment used in the tea production process, and in this case, the history information generating unit 116 associates the processing information including the actual processing conditions with the fresh leaves (the above-mentioned one unit or multiple units of fresh leaves) for which the processing conditions were set by the planned setting value generating unit 106, and generates history information of the processed tea product 600. The history information can be recorded in the storage unit 108, and can be used as traceability data after the processed tea product 600 is shipped, etc.

[0044] As shown in Figure 9, the tea production line 520 is composed of a receiving container 530, a steamer 532, a leaf steaming machine 534, a leaf beating machine 536, a rough rolling machine 538, a rolling machine 540, a medium rolling machine 542, a fine rolling machine 544, a dryer 546, etc., and is connected to the information system 100 using wired or wireless communication via a communication network system such as the Internet.

[0045] Therefore, the tea production line 520 can receive, via the information system 100, all information on the tea leaf cultivation that took place before the process on the tea production line 520, work information when harvesting with a harvesting machine, and transportation work information during the transportation of fresh tea leaves, all linked to each harvesting group, such as tea plantation or worker.

[0046] Fresh tea leaves are placed into a designated container and then transported to the automatic fresh leaf container 20 (shown in Figure 3), which is the first process in the tea production line 520. The automatic fresh leaf container 20 is used to store fresh tea leaves picked in each tea plantation for a certain period of time while maintaining their freshness, and as shown in Figure 3, is mainly composed of a storage space, caterpillar tracks, detection means, ventilation means, etc.

[0047] The automatic fresh tea leaf container 20 has a storage section made up of side walls 1 and caterpillars 2. The side walls 1 are supported by an upper frame, a lower frame, and pillar frames, and the caterpillars 2 are driven by a motor (not shown) to transport a conveying surface made up of multiple perforated metal plates or the like to an outlet 5, and the tea leaves are stored in a storage space 4 partitioned by the side walls 1 and the caterpillars 2. A blower fan 3 is also provided as ventilation means for blowing air from below onto the stored fresh tea leaves, and cooling air is constantly passed over the fresh tea leaves on the conveying surface of the caterpillars 2.

[0048] A scraping device 6 is disposed at the discharge port 5 of the automatic fresh leaf container 20 to scrape off the fresh tea leaves transported by the caterpillar 2. This scraping device 6 is configured so that a claw formed at the tip rotates to scrape off the fresh tea leaves at the discharge port from the automatic fresh leaf container 20.

[0049] The traveling cart 7 is capable of moving in the front-to-rear direction of the automatic green leaf container 20 together with the traveling conveyor 8 disposed above it by rolling on its wheels on the top of the automatic green leaf container 20. The traveling range of the traveling cart 7 is limited by limit switches (not shown) disposed near the front and rear ends of the automatic green leaf container 20, preventing the traveling cart 7 from moving outside the specified range.

[0050] The traveling conveyor 8 moves on the traveling cart 7 in the width direction of the automatic fresh leaf container 20 by having its wheels roll on guide rails fixed on the traveling cart 7, and deposits the fresh tea leaves transported by the transfer conveyor 9 and the sorting conveyor 10 into the automatic fresh leaf container 20. The traveling conveyor 8 is capable of reciprocating back and forth.

[0051] The transport conveyor 9 is inclined at a predetermined angle and transports the fresh tea leaves stored in a hopper 11 located at the bottom end to the top end, from which they drop onto the sorting conveyor 10. A cooling fan 12 is provided midway along the transport conveyor 9 to blow air onto the fresh tea leaves.

[0052] The sorting conveyor 10 is arranged so that its base end is located below the upper end of the transport conveyor 9, and the running conveyor 8 is located below it, and it is able to swing freely around its base end as an axis. When the running conveyor 8 moves in the width direction of the automatic fresh tea leaf container 20, the leading end of the sorting conveyor follows it, so that fresh tea leaves can always be supplied onto the running conveyor 8.

[0053] The caterpillar 2 is an example of a "conveying member that transports fresh leaves to the fresh leaf discharge section," and the discharge port 5 and scraping device 6 are an example of a "fresh leaf discharge section." The traveling conveyor 8 is an example of a "fresh leaf input section," and the motor (not shown) is an example of a "driving means that drives the conveying member."

[0054] The control panel 13 that controls the automatic fresh leaf container 20 is composed of a receiving unit 13-1, a transmitting unit 13-2, a control unit 13-3, a determining unit 13-4, a memory unit 13-5, a detecting unit 13-6, and a display unit 13-7, as shown in FIG.

[0055] The receiving unit 13-1 can receive all information such as tea leaf cultivation and work information at the time of harvesting by the plucking machine via the information system 100, linked to each harvesting group such as tea plantation or worker.

[0056] The transmitting unit 13-2 transmits the information stored in the storage unit to the information system 100.

[0057] The control unit 13-3 not only identifies the box into which the fresh tea leaves should be poured, but also controls the operation of the traveling cart 7 and the traveling conveyor 8 to pour the fresh tea leaves. That is, in a pouring method such as batch pouring or divided pouring, the movement of the traveling conveyor 8 and the forward or backward movement of the traveling cart 7 are alternately repeated, and the traveling cart 7 is caused to reciprocate a predetermined number of times between the front and rear ends of the box into which the fresh tea leaves should be poured, thereby piling up the fresh tea leaves in the automatic fresh leaf container 20, and fresh tea leaves are poured in until the detection means detects that the box is full.

[0058] In addition, the control unit 13-3 is configured so that the traveling conveyor 8 continues to feed tea leaves from the tea leaf feeding unit 16 onto the caterpillar 2 while a sensor (not shown) that detects the presence or absence of tea leaves, which is provided on the traveling conveyor 8 for each harvesting group (for example, for each field, producer, tea variety, etc.), detects tea leaves.

[0059] The determination unit 13-4 determines whether the fresh tea leaves put into the destination container satisfy the "predetermined conditions" for determining the need to maintain traceability, which will be described later, based on the information from the plucking machine 210 and the work information that are linked to each harvest group and stored. Then, based on the determination result, it determines the order of transfer from the destination container to the transport container and determines the starting position of the tea leaf putting unit 16.

[0060] The memory unit 13-5 stores all of the work information received by the receiving unit regarding tea leaf cultivation and harvesting by the plucking machine, linking it to each harvesting group such as tea plantation, worker, etc. It also stores the amount of tea leaves thrown onto the caterpillar 2 from the tea leaf throwing unit 16 and the position of the tea leaf throwing unit 16 relative to the caterpillar 2 as detected by the detection means.

[0061] The detection unit 13-6 detects whether the automatic fresh leaf container 20 is full of fresh tea leaves, and also includes a detection means 14 that measures the distance between the pillar frame at the end 15 of the storage container and the running conveyor 8 (a in Figure 4), and a detection means 17 that measures the height of the tea leaves.

[0062] The display unit 13-7 is configured to be able to display the state of the tea leaves stored on the conveying surface of the caterpillar 2.

[0063] Furthermore, the detection means 14 provided on the traveling conveyor 8 is composed of, for example, a distance sensor, and measures the distance between the pillar frame at the end 15 of the storage container and the traveling conveyor 8 (Fig. 4a), and stores the measured distance in a memory unit within the control panel. The traveling conveyor 8 is provided with a tea leaf inserting section 16 that inserts tea leaves onto the conveying surface of the caterpillar 2, so the position of the tea leaf inserting section 16 relative to the conveying surface of the caterpillar 2 measured by the detection means 14 is also constantly stored.

[0064] As described above, the positions of the tea leaf insertion section 16 and the conveying surface of the caterpillar 2 are linked, so the position on the conveying surface of the caterpillar 2 inserted from the tea leaf insertion section 16 (b in Figure 4) can also be inferred from the position of the tea leaf insertion section 16.

[0065] While the above description is of an example in which the detection means 14 is provided on the traveling conveyor 8, it is sufficient that the relative position of the detection means 14 with respect to the tea leaf insertion section 16, which is the fresh leaf insertion section, is fixed. Furthermore, while the distance measured by the detection means 14 is the distance between the frame of the end 15 of the storage container and the traveling conveyor 8, it is sufficient that the detection means 14 measures the distance between the detection means 14 and a reference position on the container of the automatic fresh leaf container 20, such as the distance from the end 15, the distance from the side wall 1, the distance from the frame 1e, or any other distance from a fixed reference point relative to the container. By measuring the distance from a fixed reference point on the container using the detection means 14 in this way, the position of the tea leaf insertion section 16 can be determined, and fresh leaves can be inserted into a start position determined based on the tea leaf information and work information stored and linked to each harvest group.

[0066] It is also possible to estimate the position of the tea leaf insert 16, the opening length of the tea leaf insert 16 (c in Figure 4), and the position where the inserted tea leaves will be scattered on the conveying surface of the caterpillar 2 (d in Figure 4) based on the aforementioned tea leaf insertion time. While it is possible to express this as d = opening length of the tea leaf insert 16 × constant based on correlation with an actual machine, it is also possible to use the width of one caterpillar 2, which is part of the drive member that constitutes the storage space, as a parameter to manage the scattered position of the tea leaves. For example, in the case of Figure 4, it is estimated that the scattered position of the inserted tea leaves on the conveying surface of the caterpillar 2 is 8 caterpillars wide, 5 caterpillars wide, and 8 caterpillars wide for tea leaf group A and 8 caterpillars wide for tea leaf group B. If the dimensions of part of the drive member that constitutes the storage space can be used to manage the scattered position of the tea leaves in this way, the scattered position of the tea leaves relative to the angle of the motor, which is the drive means, can be accurately determined, thereby maintaining traceability for each harvesting group.

[0067] Furthermore, if we consider the raw leaves transported from tea leaf group A and tea leaf group B as information data for each unit, this data can be said to function as data that can trace the distribution history of the raw leaves to the next process and beyond.

[0068] In the embodiment, the width of the caterpillar 2 is used as a parameter, but instead of the width of the caterpillar 2, a step motor may be used as the driving means, and the width of the caterpillar corresponding to the constant angle of the motor that moves in constant increments may be used.

[0069] In this way, by estimating the position of the tea leaves stored on the driving member in relation to the rotation angle of the driving means, the rotation angle of the driving means can be detected, and the number of caterpillar movements can be grasped, thereby estimating the position of the tea leaves on the caterpillar's conveying surface, making it possible to accurately transport the tea leaves to the next process.

[0070] The position of the tea leaves, which has been estimated based on the dispersion of the tea leaves on the conveying surface of the caterpillar 2, is stored in the memory of the control panel 13 and is displayed, for example, on the display unit 13-7 as shown in FIG. 6(1).

[0071] However, the method shown in Figure 4 alone requires improvement in terms of efficient use of the container storage space 4, so in the present invention, when the fresh tea leaves for each harvesting group satisfy the "predetermined conditions," the positions at which the added tea leaves are scattered on the conveying surface of the caterpillar 2 are managed by overlapping them, as shown in Figure 5.

[0072] The "predetermined conditions" mentioned above are conditions within a range that allows traceability to be maintained even when fresh tea leaves overlap, and one of the essential conditions is that the tea leaf varieties and farm fields are the same, because different tea leaf varieties have different components, and different farm fields have different soil conditions and weather conditions.

[0073] Furthermore, it is known that even for the same tea leaf variety, the amount of tannins contained in tea leaves can vary by approximately 5%. Therefore, by analyzing the components of the tea leaves at the raw leaf stage, setting standard values ​​for the measured components, and setting a range of approximately ±3% of that standard value as the "specified condition," it is possible to maintain traceability with greater precision than if the condition was based solely on the tea leaf variety.

[0074] Furthermore, because the quality of tea leaves varies depending on the degree of fertilization and pest control applied to the tea leaves even if the variety is the same, the "predetermined conditions" may include information on work performed by fertilizer applicators and pest control machines. For example, if the tea leaves are of the same variety and field, and are so-called pesticide-free tea leaves that have never been subjected to pest control, the quality characteristics of the tea leaves are similar, and they are sold as "tea variety + pesticide-free," so the consumer needs and requests will also be for "tea variety + pesticide-free."

[0075] In this way, the present invention is configured to determine whether the "predetermined conditions" for determining the need to maintain traceability are met based on the work information from the plucking machine 210, the work information from the fertilizer applicator 260 or the pest control machine 280, etc., which are linked to each harvesting group and stored, and to estimate the variation in tea leaves onto the caterpillar 2 fed from the tea leaf feeding section 16 based on the determination result.

[0076] With this configuration, tea leaves that do not meet the "specified conditions" are judged to have a high need for traceability because the properties of the tea leaves vary from harvest to harvest, and the tea leaves are thrown in so that they do not overlap, as shown in Figure 4, thereby improving the accuracy of traceability.

[0077] Furthermore, for tea leaves that meet the "predetermined conditions," the properties of each harvested group are similar, so it is determined that there is little need to maintain traceability. In such cases, tea leaves from each harvested group can be piled up and placed in the automatic fresh leaf container, as shown in Figure 5, to prioritize efficiency within the container.

[0078] Specifically, as shown in Figure 5, the position of the tea leaf inserting section 16 is shifted by f relative to tea leaf group A and tea leaf group B, and the tea leaves are stored in the storage space 4 of the container in an overlapping position with tea leaf group A and tea leaf group B.

[0079] In this case, the positional range of the tea leaves on the conveying surface of the caterpillar 2 is g, and tea leaves A and B will partially overlap in the vertical direction. Even in such a case, the present invention makes it possible to estimate the position where the added tea leaves will be scattered on the conveying surface of the caterpillar 2 based on the position of the tea leaf insert 16, the opening area of ​​the tea leaf insert 16, and the tea leaf insert time. In this case, if the width of the caterpillar 2 is used as a parameter, it can be estimated that tea leaves A (eight caterpillars) and tea leaves B (four tea leaves) are located within a width of 12 caterpillars. Even when tea leaves from each reaping group are mixed together in this way, by estimating the position of the tea leaves stored on the drive member in relation to the rotation angle of the drive member, traceability for each reaping group can be maintained under conditions that satisfy the "predetermined conditions" without using special sensors on the drive member.

[0080] As described above, variations in the conveying surface on the caterpillar 2 are estimated, and if the tea leaf groups for each harvesting group are different and overlap in the vertical direction, the position of the tea leaves is displayed based on the memory stored in the memory section of the control panel, for example, as shown in Figure 6 (2).

[0081] With this configuration, the relative positions of tea leaf group B, which is overlapping tea leaf group A, can be seen on the screen. Even if the control panel 13 is located away from the automatic fresh leaf container 20, the relative positions can be seen easily on the display screen.

[0082] On the other hand, when tea leaf group A and tea leaf group B are transported to the discharge port 5 of the storage container with some overlapping in the vertical direction, they are scraped off from the discharge port 5 by a scraping device 6 for scraping off the raw tea leaves transported by the caterpillar 2, and are then transported to the next process.

[0083] In this case, even if the driving means, that is, the motor, is driven at a constant speed, in the case of Figure 4, there is a caterpillar 2 between tea leaf group A and tea leaf group B where no tea leaves have been inserted, so the traceability of tea leaf group A and tea leaf group B can be maintained.

[0084] FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the conveying surface of the caterpillar 2. This figure shows tea leaf clusters A, which are stored on the driving member 2 and scraped off through the discharge port 5 by the scraping device 6, and tea leaf clusters B, which are also stored on the driving member 2. In this embodiment, eight driving members 2 are arranged around the motor 18, which serves as the driving means, for one rotation. For tea leaf clusters B in the configuration of this embodiment, the tea leaves are scattered across four caterpillar clusters 2, which corresponds to a rotation angle of 180° of the driving means (motor 18). In this case, if tea leaf clusters A and B are separated by only the space of one caterpillar cluster, tea leaf clusters A and B are likely to become mixed if the driving means motor is running at a constant speed. However, if the variation in the tea leaves stored on the drive member 2 is estimated in relation to the rotation angle of the drive means (motor 18), the drive means can be driven only for the width of the caterpillar into which tea leaf group A has been fed, and after a temporary pause, the drive means can be further driven only for the width of the caterpillar into which tea leaf group B has been fed.This will prevent the tea leaf groups from mixing together even if the space between them is small, and will allow traceability for each harvested group to be maintained.

[0085] As another example, as shown in Figure 4, the height of the fresh tea leaves from the conveying surface of the caterpillar 2 (e shown in Figure 4, e1 and e2 shown in Figure 5) can be detected by a tea leaf height detection means 17 consisting of a non-contact sensor or the like provided on the traveling conveyor 8.

[0086] In this case, the shape of the tea leaves displayed as in Figure 6(2) can also be displayed in a form closer to the actual shape as in Figure 6(3), by reflecting the height of the fresh tea leaves from the conveying surface of the caterpillar 2.

[0087] In addition, when the automatic fresh tea leaf container 20 is used for storing tea leaves, the height of the tea leaves can be detected by the detection means 17, and the progress of the withering of the tea leaves can be grasped by measuring the difference in height of the fresh tea leaves before and after storage.

[0088] In addition, a light-projecting means and a light-receiving means may be installed on opposing side walls 1 of the automatic fresh leaf container 20 to detect the height of the fresh tea leaves, or other general-purpose sensors may be used.

[0089] As described above, the fresh tea leaves scraped off from the discharge port 5 of the automatic fresh leaf container 20 are transferred in this order to a steamer 532, a leaf steamer 534, a leaf beater 536, a rough rolling machine 538, a rolling machine 540, a medium rolling machine 542, a fine rolling machine 544, and a dryer 546, as shown in Figure 9, and are completed as crude tea. The working conditions for growing and harvesting the tea leaves described above can also be linked to the tea manufacturing conditions at each process machine until the crude tea is discharged from the final process machine of the tea manufacturing line and stored via the information system 100.

[0090] Although the present invention has been described above using embodiments, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiments. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and improvements can be made to the above embodiments. It is clear from the claims that such modifications and improvements can also be included within the technical scope of the present invention.

[0091] For example, in the above-described embodiment, the caterpillar 2 is given as an example of a "conveying member that transports fresh leaves to the fresh leaf discharge section," the motor is given as an example of a "driving means that drives the conveying member," and the discharge port 5 and scraping device 6 are given as examples of a "fresh leaf discharge section," but the present invention is not limited to these. The other members are also not limited to those in the above-described embodiment, and various modifications or improvements to the configurations are also included within the technical scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0092] 1...side wall, 1e...column frame, 2...caterpillar, 2...driving member, 3...blower fan, 4...storage space, 5...exit, 6...scraping device, 7...traveling cart, 8...traveling conveyor, 9...transport conveyor, 10...sorting conveyor, 11...hopper, 12...cooling fan, 13...control panel, 13-1...receiving unit, 13-2...transmitting unit, 13-3...control unit, 13-4...determination unit, 13-5...memory unit, 13-6...detecting unit, 13-7...display unit, 14...detecting means, 15...end of storage container, 16...tea leaf insertion unit, 17...detecting means, 18...motor, 20...automatic fresh leaf container, 100...information system, 102...receiving unit, 104...transmitting unit, 106...planned setting value generation unit, 108...memory unit, 114...control unit , 200...tea field, 202...tea field worker, 204...worker terminal, 210...picking machine, 220...fertilizer applicator, 230...pesticide machine, 240...field server, 260...fertilizer applicator, 280...pesticide machine, 300...transport vehicle, 302...transport worker, 304...worker terminal, 400...receiving fresh leaves, 402...receiving worker, 404...worker terminal, 500...production Tea line, 502...worker terminal, 504...line worker, 520...tea production line, 530...receiving container, 532...steamer, 534...leaf steaming machine, 536...leaf beating machine, 538...rough rolling machine, 540...rolling machine, 542...intermediate rolling machine, 544...fine rolling machine, 546...dryer, 600...processed tea, 700...dealer, 800...retailer, 900...consumer.

Claims

1. An information system for controlling tea production equipment, comprising an automatic green leaf container having a green leaf input unit for inputting green tea leaves, a green leaf discharge unit for discharging the green leaves, a conveying member for conveying the green leaves input by the green leaf input unit to the green leaf discharge unit, and a driving means for driving the conveying member, a receiving unit for receiving information acquired in any step included in the tea processing step of processing the raw leaves to obtain the tea product; a planned setting value generating unit that generates a plan for work in the tea production process or setting values ​​of equipment used in the tea production process based on the received information received by the receiving unit; a transmission unit that transmits the plan or the setting value generated by the plan setting value generation unit to the work implementer terminal or the device, In the automatic fresh leaf container, the scattering position of the fresh leaves put on the upper surface of the conveying member is estimated using a predetermined dimension of the conveying member which moves in accordance with the driving amount of the driving means as a unit; While the conveying member moves through the predetermined distance, the fresh leaves conveyed from the fresh leaf conveying unit are counted as one unit, The plan setting value generating unit sets processing conditions for the one unit or multiple units of fresh leaves and generates the plan or the setting values. Information systems.

2. the conveying member is a caterpillar driven by the driving means, The predetermined dimension of the transport member is a dimension corresponding to the width of one of the caterpillar tracks. The information system of claim 1 .

3. The automatic fresh leaf container further has a pair of side walls arranged along the conveying direction of the fresh leaves and sandwiching the conveying member, In the estimation of the scattering position of the fresh leaves, a second dimension in a height direction of the side wall perpendicular to the predetermined dimension of the conveying member is used. The information system of claim 1 .

4. The automatic fresh leaf container further comprises a display means; The display means is operable to display the scattered position of the fresh leaves.

4. The information system according to claim 1.

5. The receiving unit further receives processing information including actual processing conditions, which are actual processing conditions of the equipment, from the equipment used in the tea manufacturing process, and a history information generating unit that associates the processing information with the unit or units of raw leaves for which the processing conditions are set, and generates history information of the tea product.

5. The information system according to claim 1.

6. A program that runs on a computer that controls tea production equipment, including an automatic green leaf container having a green leaf input unit that inputs green tea leaves, a green leaf discharge unit that discharges the green leaves, a conveying member that conveys the green leaves input by the green leaf input unit to the green leaf discharge unit, and a driving means that drives the conveying member, A receiving function for receiving information acquired in any step included in the tea manufacturing process for processing the raw leaves to obtain the tea product; a planned setting value generating function that generates a plan for work in the tea production process or setting values ​​for equipment used in the tea production process based on the received information received by the receiving function; a transmission function of transmitting the plan or the setting values ​​generated by the plan setting value generation function to the work implementer terminal or the device, In the automatic fresh leaf container, the scattering position of the fresh leaves put on the upper surface of the conveying member is estimated using a predetermined dimension of the conveying member which moves in accordance with the driving amount of the driving means as a unit; While the conveying member moves through the predetermined distance, the fresh leaves conveyed from the fresh leaf conveying unit are counted as one unit, The plan setting value generation function sets processing conditions for the one unit or multiple units of fresh leaves and generates the plan or the setting values. program.

7. The receiving function further has a function of receiving processing information including actual processing conditions, which are actual processing conditions of the equipment, from the equipment used in the tea manufacturing process, The computer further realizes a history information generation function of associating the processing information with the unit or units of raw leaves for which the processing conditions are set, and generating history information of the processed tea product. The program according to claim 6.

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