Animal drinking water management system

Abstract

To provide a technology that contributes to easily managing the amount of water an animal drinks. [Solution] The controller 220 periodically collects measurement data on the amount of water supplied to the water supply cup 10 from the flow rate sensor 130 of the measurement unit 100 via the second communication section 210. The controller 220 can calculate the amount of water consumed by the horse at a given time from the measurement data of the flow rate sensor 130. When it is detected that the water level in the water supply cup 10 is lower than a given threshold, the flow rate adjustment valve 121 is opened to supply water to the water supply cup 10.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a drinking water management system for animals such as livestock and pets. [Background technology]

[0002] It is very important to manage the amount of water consumed by horses and cattle at ranches, riding clubs, racetracks, livestock facilities, etc., where livestock such as horses and cattle are raised. For example, if a horse's water intake decreases and it becomes dehydrated, it may develop digestive disorders such as constipation colic and intestinal blockage. Chronic dehydration can also put a strain on the kidneys and heart, causing serious health problems.

[0003] In addition, since the amount of milk produced by dairy cows is closely related to the amount of water they drink, if the exact amount of water consumed and the time when each dairy cow drinks can be determined, it will be possible to detect abnormalities at an early stage. Similarly, if the exact amount of water consumed and the time when each dairy cow drinks can be determined not only for livestock such as cows and horses, but also for pets such as dogs, cats, and reptiles, it will be possible to detect abnormalities at an early stage. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Traditionally, livestock such as horses and cows, as well as pets, have often drunk water from drinking containers, making it difficult to grasp in detail how much water they have drunk and manage their water intake.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a technique that contributes to easily managing the amount of water an animal drinks. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an animal drinking water quantity management system, comprising: a flow rate adjusting unit provided in a pipe for water to be supplied to the water supply cup and configured to adjust the amount of water to be supplied to the water supply cup; a remaining amount measuring unit that measures the remaining amount of water in the water supply cup; a supply amount measuring unit that measures the amount of water supplied to the water supply cup; A controller, the flow rate adjusting unit is configured to adjust the amount of water supplied to the water supply cup based on the remaining amount of water measured by the remaining amount measuring unit; The controller: Acquire data on the amount of water supplied measured by the supply amount measuring unit; There is provided an animal drinking water amount management system, characterized in that it is configured to calculate the amount of drinking water of the animal based on the acquired data on the amount of water supplied. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the above configuration, the controller periodically collects data on the amount of water supplied to the water cup from a supply amount measuring unit such as a flow rate sensor, and thereby the controller can calculate the amount of water consumed. This allows the manager to easily manage the amount of water consumed by the animal (livestock or pet). Furthermore, since water is supplied to the water cup based on the amount of water remaining in the water cup, it is possible to prevent the water level in the water cup from dropping too low, causing the animal to be unable to drink. It also saves the manager the effort of supplying water to the water cup. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining a drinking water amount management system 1. As shown in FIG. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the drinking water amount management system 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] The present invention relates to an animal drinking water amount management system 1. The following description will be given with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the drinking water amount management system 1 for managing the drinking water amount of a horse will be taken as an example.

[0010] Generally, a stable for raising horses is provided with a plurality of horse stalls, and the horses are raised individually in each stall. In this embodiment, a water supply pipe WP passes through each horse stall, and water is supplied from the pipe WP to the water supply cup 10. As described later, the pipe WP is provided with a flow rate adjustment valve 121, which can adjust the amount of water supplied to the water supply cup 10.

[0011] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a drinking water volume management system 1 according to the present invention includes a measurement unit 100 arranged in each stable, and an information management unit 200 that manages information sent from each measurement unit 100.

[0012] 1, a measurement unit 100 is provided for each stable, and measures the amount of water consumed by each horse and adjusts the amount of water supplied to a water cup 10 for the horse to drink. The measurement unit 100 includes a first communication unit 110, a flow rate adjustment unit 120, a flow rate sensor 130, and a temperature sensor 140 (see FIG. 2).

[0013] The first communication unit 110 communicates with a second communication unit 210 of the information management unit 200, which will be described later, by wire or wirelessly. The flow rate adjustment unit 120 includes a flow rate adjustment valve 121 (see FIG. 2) attached to the pipe WP. In this embodiment, the flow rate adjustment valve 121 is a float-type flow rate adjustment valve, and a float 122 detects whether the water level in the water supply cup 10 has fallen below a predetermined level. When the float 122 detects that the water level in the water supply cup 10 has dropped, the flow rate adjustment valve 121 supplies water from the pipe WP to the water supply cup 10 until the water level in the water supply cup 10 reaches the predetermined level. In this case, the float 122 corresponds to the remaining amount measuring unit of the present invention.

[0014] The flow rate sensor 130 measures the flow rate of water flowing through the pipe WP when the flow rate adjustment valve 121 supplies water to the water supplying cup 10. The flow rate of water measured by the flow rate sensor 130 corresponds to the amount of water supplied to the water supplying cup 10.

[0015] The temperature sensor 140 is a thermometer for measuring the air temperature inside the stable. A known temperature sensor can be used as the temperature sensor 140. It is also possible to use a temperature and humidity sensor that measures the temperature and humidity inside the stable at the same time.

[0016] The information management unit 200 mainly includes a second communication unit 210, a controller 220, and a memory 230. As described above, the second communication unit 210 communicates with the first communication unit 110 of the measurement unit 100 by wire or wirelessly. The second communication unit 210 also communicates with an external device 500 such as an administrator's PC or a smartphone by wire or wirelessly. The second communication unit 210 is an example of a communication unit of the present invention. The controller 220 is a control device including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and the like, and collects measurement data from each part of the measurement unit 100 via the second communication unit 210. The memory 230 may be a locally provided storage device (e.g., HDD, semiconductor memory) or may be a storage (e.g., database) provided on the cloud. In addition, when the memory 230 is a database provided on the cloud, the controller 220 transmits the collected measurement data to the database provided on the cloud via the second communication unit 210.

[0017] The controller 220 periodically collects measurement data such as the amount of water supplied to the water supply cup 10 and the temperature of the stable from the flow rate sensor 130 and the temperature sensor 140 of the measurement unit 100 via the second communication section 210. For example, the controller 220 can collect measurement data on the amount of water supplied to the water supply cup 10 every 30 minutes or every hour. At this time, the measurement data on the amount of water supplied to the water supply cup 10 is tagged with the stable identification number (horse identification number) and time information. The controller 220 can calculate the amount of water consumed by the horse at a given time from the amount of water supplied to the water supply cup 10.

[0018] In this way, the controller 220 calculates the amount of water consumed by the horse in a predetermined time from the flow rate measured by the flow rate sensor 130, i.e., the amount of water supplied to the water supply cup 10. This makes it easy to manage the amount of water consumed by the horse. Also, when the float 122 detects that the water level in the water supply cup 10 is lower than a predetermined threshold, the flow rate adjustment valve 121 is opened and water is supplied to the water supply cup 10. In this way, the flow rate adjustment unit 120 automatically supplies water to the water supply cup 10 without human intervention. This makes it possible to prevent the water level in the water supply cup from dropping too low and making it impossible for the horse to drink water. Also, it is possible to save the manager the effort of supplying water to the water supply cup 10.

[0019] The controller 220 periodically collects measurement data on the amount of water supplied from the flow rate sensor 130 of the measuring unit 100 to the water supply cup 10, so that the controller 220 can collect data on the change over time in the amount of water consumed by each horse. The controller 220 can then store the collected measurement data in the memory 230. Furthermore, the controller 220 can also transmit the collected measurement data to an external device 500 such as the manager's smartphone. For example, the controller 220 can transmit information on the amount of water consumed by each horse to the manager via email, a message app, or the like. Alternatively, if information on the amount of water consumed by each horse is made public on a specific website, the controller 220 can transmit information on the amount of water consumed by each horse to the manager by updating the information on the website. The frequency with which the controller 220 transmits information on the amount of water consumed by each horse to the manager can be set appropriately. For example, the controller 220 can transmit information on the amount of water consumed by each horse to the manager once an hour. In this case, the manager can grasp the amount of water consumed by each horse in almost real time. Alternatively, the controller 220 can transmit information on the amount of water consumed by each horse to the manager once a day. When there is a significant change in the amount of water consumed by a horse, that is, when the amount of water consumed by a horse increases or decreases significantly beyond a predetermined threshold, the controller 220 can transmit an alert to the manager. This allows the manager to quickly learn of any abnormality in the amount of water consumed by a horse.

[0020] In recent years, due to the effects of global warming, there are occasions when extremely hot days (such as extremely hot days) continue, especially in the summer. In general, horses are weak to heat, so when extremely hot days continue in the summer, it becomes difficult to maintain the health of the horse. When the controller 220 periodically collects measurement data on the amount of water supplied to the water cup 10 from the flow rate sensor 130 of the measurement unit 100, it also collects measurement data on the temperature (and humidity) of the stable from the temperature sensor 140, thereby making it possible to collect correlation data between the temperature of the stable and the amount of water consumed. As a result, for example, when the temperature is higher than a predetermined threshold, the controller 220 can send an alert to the manager even if the amount of water consumed is slightly reduced. This allows the manager to take preventive measures by understanding the amount of water consumed by the horse, especially on days when the temperature is high.

[0021] Consider a case where the controller 220 periodically collects measurement data on the amount of water supplied to the water supply cup 10 from the flow rate sensor 130 of the measurement unit 100, and also collects measurement data on the temperature (and humidity) of the stable from the temperature sensor 140. In this case, the collected data can be analyzed by AI. In particular, when the memory 230 is a database provided on the cloud, analysis by AI can be easily performed. For example, the AI ​​can predict the change in the amount of water intake according to the temperature for each horse, and if the amount of water intake deviates significantly from the predicted value, an alert can be sent to the manager. This enables detailed management of the amount of water intake for each horse.

[0022] The present invention is not limited to the above description, and can be modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, the drinking water volume management system 1 of the present invention is not limited to horses, but can be applied to any livestock or pets such as cows and sheep.

[0023] In the above embodiment, the drinking water amount management system 1 is equipped with a temperature sensor 140, but this is not essential. Even if the drinking water amount management system 1 is equipped with a temperature sensor 140, the temperature sensor 140 does not necessarily have to be equipped in each stable. For example, one or more temperature sensors 140 may be equipped in a stable, and each temperature sensor 140 may measure the temperature (and humidity) of multiple stables.

[0024] The remaining amount measuring unit is not limited to the float 122, and any known sensor can be used as long as it is a sensor that measures the remaining amount of water in the water supply cup 10. For example, a contact sensor that detects the presence or absence of the liquid level by detecting the resistance between electrodes of the liquid can be used. Alternatively, a non-contact sensor such as a radio wave water level gauge or an ultrasonic water level gauge can be used. Alternatively, an image of the water supply cup 10 can be obtained using an image sensor, and the amount of water contained in the water supply cup 10 can be detected by image processing. In such a case, for example, an electric flow control valve can be used as the flow control valve. When the sensor that measures the remaining amount of water in the water supply cup 10 detects that the water level in the water supply cup 10 is lower than a predetermined threshold value as described above, the controller 220 controls a driver (not shown) to output a drive signal that drives an electric flow control valve from the driver. This opens the electric flow control valve, and water is supplied to the water supply cup 10.

[0025] In the above embodiment, the drinking water amount management system 1 includes a measuring unit 100 having a first communication unit 110 and an information management unit 200 having a second communication unit 210. The first communication unit 110 and the second communication unit 210 are configured to be able to communicate with each other by wire or wirelessly. However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, when it is desired to manage the drinking water amount of one horse or one pet, the measuring unit 100 and the information management unit 200 may be integrally provided in a common housing. In this case, the first communication unit 110 and the second communication unit 210 are not necessarily required. However, even when the measuring unit 100 and the information management unit 200 are integrally provided in a common housing, it is preferable to provide the second communication unit 210. In this case, the controller 220 can communicate with an external device 500 such as a manager's PC or smartphone by wire or wirelessly, so that the controller 220 can easily transmit the collected measurement data to the external device 500 such as a manager's smartphone. [Explanation of symbols]

[0026] 1 Drinking water volume management system 10 Water Cup 100 Measurement Units 110 First Communications Department 120 Flow rate adjustment section 130 Water level sensor 140 Temperature Sensor 200 Information Management Unit 210 2nd Communications Department 220 Controller 230 Memory

Claims

1. An animal drinking water quantity management system, comprising: a flow rate adjusting unit provided in a pipe for water to be supplied to the water supply cup and configured to adjust the amount of water to be supplied to the water supply cup; a remaining amount measuring unit that measures the remaining amount of water in the water supply cup; a supply amount measuring unit that measures the amount of water supplied to the water supply cup; A controller, the flow rate adjusting unit is configured to adjust the amount of water supplied to the water supply cup based on the remaining amount of water measured by the remaining amount measuring unit; The controller: Acquire data on the amount of water supplied measured by the supply amount measuring unit; 2. An animal drinking water amount management system, comprising: a controller configured to calculate an amount of drinking water for an animal based on the acquired data on the amount of water supplied.

2. Further, a communication unit configured to be able to communicate with an external device is provided, 2. The animal drinking water amount management system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to transmit information regarding the amount of water consumed by the animal to a manager via the communication unit at predetermined time intervals.

3. It also has a temperature sensor.

3. The animal drinking water amount management system according to claim 1, wherein the controller acquires temperature measurement data from the temperature sensor.

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