Egg collection system and egg collection method

Abstract

Provided is an egg collection system, which transfers eggs, via a control conveyor, from a multi-stage collection conveyor to an egg collection machine such that the eggs are collected by the egg collection machine, wherein: the widths of the control conveyor and a placing section of the egg collection machine are three to four times the width of the collection conveyor; and an inclined wall is provided, which rises from a side position of the collection conveyor, upstream from the boundary between the collection conveyor and the control conveyor, and which is inclined such that the width of an egg conveyance path gradually increases towards the upstream end of the control conveyor.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an egg collection system and an egg collection method for transporting and collecting eggs produced in a poultry facility.

Background Art

[0002] Some poultry facilities that breed a large number of chickens and produce eggs have a cage row layer in which a plurality of cage rows with a large number of cages arranged side by side in the horizontal direction are stacked in multiple stages, and an egg collection machine is installed for each cage row layer. The egg collection machine is a device for transferring eggs from a plurality of recovery conveyors arranged along each cage row to receive eggs and placing the eggs on a transfer conveyor that transports the eggs to a downstream processing site where processes such as washing and packaging are performed.

[0003] The egg collection machine has a plurality of placement parts fixed at regular intervals between a pair of endless chains, and each endless chain is wound around a pair of sprockets spaced apart vertically. In the egg collection machine, as the pair of endless chains circulate, the placement parts are transported in the vertical direction, receive eggs from the recovery conveyor in the process, transport the eggs upward or downward, and then transfer the eggs toward the transfer conveyor.

[0004] The applicant proposes interposing a control conveyor between the above-mentioned collection conveyor and the egg collection machine (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). There are two main reasons for needing a control conveyor. One is to align the orientation of the eggs. When eggs are placed on the placement section of the egg collection machine, they are pushed out from the conveyor they have been transported on and rotate as they move onto the placement section. As shown in Figure 6(a), if we consider the three-dimensional shape of the egg 70 as a rotating body, and the direction of the rotational axis P is called the major axis, and rotation around the major axis is called "lateral rotation" (see Figure 6(b)), and rotation around an axis perpendicular to the major axis is called "vertical rotation" (see Figure 6(c)), then since the orientation of the eggs transported on the collection conveyor varies, if they are placed on the placement section as they are, there will be a mix of eggs that are placed while rotating laterally and eggs that are placed while rotating vertically. Compared to horizontal rotation, vertical rotation of an egg involves a longer distance from the axis of rotation to the outer surface. Therefore, when the egg comes into contact with the mounting surface, it experiences a greater impact, which may cause the egg to break.

[0005] The control conveyor is a conveyor equipped with numerous bars stretched at regular intervals between a pair of endless chains, each bar rotating as it moves. Eggs held between adjacent bars rotate along with the rotation of the bars. During this rotation, eggs that were not initially in a horizontal rotation position change to a horizontal rotation position. This is because horizontal rotation allows the eggs to fit more deeply between adjacent bars and provides greater stability than vertical rotation. Therefore, eggs that were in various orientations, as they are transported along the control conveyor, will have their long axis aligned with the axis of the bars, and will be placed on the holding section while rotating horizontally, thus preventing breakage when they are handed over to the egg collection machine.

[0006] Another reason for needing a control conveyor is that while there are as many collection conveyors as there are layers in the cage row, i.e., the number of rows in the cage row, there is only one egg collector. Therefore, among the multiple placement sections that move with the circulating endless chain in the egg collector, it is necessary to avoid placing eggs from one level's collection conveyor on the same placement section that has already received eggs from another level's collection conveyor. If another egg is placed on a section that already has eggs on it, there is a risk of the eggs colliding with each other or falling due to insufficient space, resulting in broken eggs.

[0007] To avoid such a situation, the means proposed by the applicant can be broadly divided into two categories. One is to make the width and length of the control conveyor (referred to as a "transfer conveyor" in Patent Document 1) considerably larger than that of the recovery conveyor, and to make the placement section of the egg collection machine approximately the same width and length as the control conveyor, and to provide a guide member that changes the direction of travel of the eggs being carried on the control conveyor. The guide member is inclined with respect to the transport direction of the control conveyor, and the inclination angle of the guide member is made different for vertically adjacent control conveyors (control conveyors belonging to different layers). As a result, even if the placement section is the same as the placement section that has already received eggs from a recovery conveyor on a certain level, eggs can be placed at different positions in the width direction from a recovery conveyor on a different level. This prevents eggs from breaking due to interference with each other.

[0008] However, with this method, the width and length of the control conveyor and the mounting section are quite large, and as the number of cage row layers increases, this width and length also needs to be increased. As a result, the entire system for egg collection becomes large and requires a large installation space. In addition, since it is necessary to change the angle of the guide members to change the direction of movement of the eggs on the control conveyor for each of the multiple stages, a complex control system is required.

[0009] Another method, as disclosed in Patent Document 2, involves making the width of the control conveyor and the egg collection machine's placement section slightly longer than the recovery conveyor, and intermittently circulating the control conveyor. By adjusting the timing of placing eggs from the control conveyor to the placement section through intermittent operation, it is possible to place eggs from one recovery conveyor to another placement section without placing any more eggs in a placement section that has already received eggs from a certain recovery conveyor.

[0010] Such methods have the advantage of making the system configuration compact and allowing for the same configuration across multiple control conveyors. This is a significant advantage even for large-scale poultry farms, as the larger the facility, the greater the total number of cage row layers and the number of layers within each cage row layer. However, while the control conveyor in Patent Document 1 can be operated continuously, the control conveyor in Patent Document 2 needs to be operated intermittently. Therefore, there was a problem in that the number of eggs that could be transported per unit time from the egg collector to the transfer conveyor was less than that of the system in Patent Document 1.

[0011] Therefore, in order to make the system configuration compact and avoid complex control, it was necessary to adopt an intermittently circulating control conveyor while increasing the number of eggs that could be collected by the egg collector per unit time. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0012] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2011-19473 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 3881913 [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0013] Therefore, in view of the above circumstances, the present invention aims to provide an egg collection system and an egg collection method that can increase the number of eggs that can be collected per unit time by an egg collection machine, by intermittently circulating control conveyors between each collection conveyor and the egg collection machine when collecting eggs transported by multiple collection conveyors with a single egg collection machine. [Means for solving the problem]

[0014] To solve the above problems, the egg collection system according to the present invention is "Multiple tiers of collection conveyors are arranged at different heights to collect the chicken eggs, An egg collection machine that transports eggs by the multi-stage collection conveyor, places them on a placement section in a part of a vertically circulating track, and transfers them from the placement section in another part of the track, An egg collection system comprising: a control conveyor interposed between each of the aforementioned collection conveyors and the egg collection machine, which transports the eggs received from the collection conveyors toward the egg collection machine and intermittently circulates to adjust the timing of placing the eggs in the aforementioned storage section, The width and length of the control conveyor and the previously described storage section are 3 to 4 times the width and length of the recovery conveyor. The egg transfer path has an inclined wall that is erected from the side of the transfer conveyor upstream of the boundary between the transfer conveyor and the control conveyor, and is angled so that the width and length of the egg transport path expand toward the upstream end of the control conveyor.

[0015] This invention is an improvement on the system described in Patent Document 2. In this configuration, the width of the control conveyor and the loading section is set to 3 to 4 times the width of the collection conveyor, and an inclined wall is provided upstream of the boundary between the control conveyor and the collection conveyor, widening the transport path beyond the width of the collection conveyor. As a result, when the intermittently circulating control conveyor is stopped, the number of eggs that accumulate at the downstream end of the collection conveyor can be increased compared to the conventional method. In addition, the number of eggs transported in a line in the width direction on the control conveyor and loading section can be increased compared to the conventional method. This makes it possible to increase the transport speed by the collection conveyor, and in the process of collecting eggs transported by multiple stages of collection conveyors with a single egg collector, the number of eggs processed per unit time can be increased.

[0016] Here, "width length" refers to the "length in the width direction," and the "width direction" is perpendicular to the transport direction of the recovery conveyor and control conveyor, and parallel to the transport surface.

[0017] The egg collection system according to the present invention, in addition to the above configuration, The conveying surface of the control conveyor may be configured to rise toward the egg collecting machine at an angle of 5 to 25 degrees with the extended surface of the conveying surface of the collection conveyor.

[0018] By tilting the control conveyor upward toward the egg collector, it is possible to prevent eggs near the downstream end of the control conveyor from falling toward the egg collector when the control conveyor is stopped, as will be described in detail later. The inventors investigated how to keep the tilt angle of the control conveyor low while still preventing eggs from falling, and found a tilt angle of 5 to 25 degrees. By setting the tilt angle of the control conveyor within this range, it is possible to easily move the eggs being transported on the rising control conveyor in the width direction.

[0019] Next, the egg collection method according to the present invention is Collecting chicken eggs with a plurality of recovery conveyors arranged at different heights, placing the eggs conveyed by the plurality of recovery conveyors on a placement part in a part of an orbit that circulates vertically in a single egg collector, and when tipping them out from the placement part in another part of the orbit, a control conveyor is provided between each of the recovery conveyors and the egg collector to convey the eggs received from the recovery conveyors toward the egg collector, and the control conveyor is intermittently circulated to adjust the timing of placing the eggs on the placement part. This is an egg collection method, where the width lengths of the control conveyor and the placement part are set to 3 to 4 times the width length of the recovery conveyor, an inclined wall is provided upstream from the boundary between the recovery conveyor and the control conveyor where the eggs are transferred. The inclined wall stands upright from the side position of the recovery conveyor and slopes toward the upstream end of the control conveyor, thereby expanding the width length of the egg conveyance path.

[0020] This is the configuration of the egg collection method performed by the above egg collection system.

Advantages of the Invention

[0021] As described above, according to the present invention, when collecting eggs carried by a plurality of recovery conveyors with a single egg collector, a control conveyor that circulates intermittently is provided between each recovery conveyor and the egg collector, and an egg collection system and an egg collection method that can further increase the number of eggs that can be collected by the egg collector per unit time can be provided.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0022] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a side view of a main part of an egg collection system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the range A in FIG. 1. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the range A with the drive mechanism omitted. [Figure 4] Figure 4(a) is a plan view of the expandable housing, and Figure 4(b) is a side view of the expandable housing. [Figure 5] Figure 5 schematically illustrates the transport of eggs from the collection conveyor through the control conveyor to the egg collection machine. [Figure 6] Figures 6(a) to 6(c) are diagrams illustrating the orientation of the egg. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0023] Hereinafter, a specific embodiment of the present invention, the egg collection system 1 (hereinafter simply referred to as "System 1"), and the egg collection method performed in System 1 will be described with reference to the drawings. System 1 comprises a recovery conveyor 10, a control conveyor 20, an egg collector 30, a transfer conveyor 50, and an expandable housing 60.

[0024] A poultry farm equipped with System 1 is a facility that raises a large number of chickens and produces 70 eggs. This poultry farm has multiple cage row layers (not shown) in which cage rows, each consisting of numerous cages arranged horizontally, are stacked in multiple tiers. If the direction in which the cage row extends is considered the longitudinal direction, an egg collector 30 is installed adjacent to one end of the cage row layer in the longitudinal direction. If the poultry farm has multiple cage row layers, one egg collector 30 is installed for each cage row layer. Here, in each cage row, the side on which the collection conveyor 10 is located is referred to as the "front," and the opposite side is referred to as the "back."

[0025] Since a collection conveyor 10 is provided for each row of cages, the number of conveyors stacked is the same as the number of rows of cages. Each collection conveyor 10 extends from one end of the row of cages to the other end, and then extends further toward the egg collector 30, transporting the eggs 70 laid by the birds in the cages toward the egg collector 30. Here, an example is shown in which the eggs 70 are transported by a belt 12 wrapped between a drive roller 11 and a driven roller (not shown) that are spaced apart horizontally. The collection conveyor 10 circulates continuously.

[0026] The egg collector 30 has multiple mounting sections 40 fixed at regular intervals between a pair of endless chains 35. Each endless chain 35 is wrapped around a pair of sprockets 31 that are spaced apart vertically and circulates vertically. In other words, the egg collector 30 has two pairs of sprockets 31 that are spaced apart vertically.

[0027] Each of the mounting sections 40 is equipped with a first bar 41 and a second bar 42 stretched between a pair of endless chains 35, and the egg 70 is placed on it with a portion of the egg 70 exposed in the space between the first bar 41 and the second bar 42. More specifically, each mounting section 40 is equipped with a pair of sets consisting of a base bar 43 and two long side bars 44 fixed to each end of the base bar 43, forming an isosceles triangle together with the base bar 43. Since each base bar 43 is fixed to the endless chain 35, one set of the pair is fixed to one end of the endless chain 35, and the other set is fixed to the other end of the endless chain 35. The first bar 41 connects one end of each of the pair of base bars 43. The second bar 42 connects the vertices of the isosceles triangle in each set.

[0028] In the egg collector 30, the placement section 40 moves vertically as a pair of endless chains 35 circulate. The egg collector 30 places eggs 70 pushed out from the upstream conveyor (control conveyor 20, described later) onto the placement section 40 in a part of the track through which the endless chains 35 circulate, and then transports them upward or downward. The endless chains 35 of the egg collector 30 circulate continuously.

[0029] A control conveyor 20 is provided for each collection conveyor 10 and is located between the collection conveyor 10 and the egg collector 30. The control conveyor 20 is a conveyor equipped with numerous bars 26 stretched at regular intervals between a pair of endless chains 25. The pair of endless chains 25 are wound around a single drive sprocket 21 and two guide rollers 22a and 22b, thereby forming a circulating track.

[0030] The direction of transport by the control conveyor 20 is the same as the transport direction of the recovery conveyor 10 in a plan view (view of the transport surface from directly above), but the transport surface of the control conveyor 20 is inclined with respect to the extension of the transport surface of the recovery conveyor 10 and rises toward the egg collector 30. This inclination angle is between 5 and 25 degrees. The bars 26 of the control conveyor 20 are rotatable, and due to contact with the contact plates 27 provided inside the circulating track of the bars 26, the bars 26 rotate as they move within the area that constitutes the transport surface of the eggs 70.

[0031] The transfer conveyor 50 transfers eggs 70 from the egg collector 30 to the downstream processing plant and is installed adjacent to the egg collector 30. The endless chain 35 of the egg collector 30 circulates vertically, but by tilting its trajectory in part, the loading section 40 tilts, causing the eggs 70 that were previously loaded onto it to roll out onto the transfer conveyor 50. Here, an example is given in which eggs 70 are placed on the loading section 40 as the endless chain 35 rises in the egg collector 30, and then transferred to the transfer conveyor 50, which is located higher than the uppermost control conveyor 20. If eggs 70 are placed on the loading section 40 as the endless chain 35 descends, the transfer conveyor 50 can be installed at a lower position than the lowermost control conveyor 20. Furthermore, if the loading section is configured to maintain a horizontal position for the portion where eggs are loaded, the transfer conveyor can be installed adjacent to the egg collector 30 on the opposite side from the side adjacent to the recovery conveyor 10.

[0032] With the above configuration, eggs 70 laid by birds raised in cages are transported to the egg collection machine 30 via the collection conveyor 10 and control conveyor 20, where they are transported vertically while placed on the mounting section 40, and then transferred onto the transfer conveyor 50. Along the way, the eggs 70 rotate as they are held between the rotating bars 26 on the control conveyor 20, and as described above, eggs 70 that were not rotating horizontally until then change to a horizontally rotating position. When the eggs 70 are pushed out from the control conveyor 20, they are placed on the mounting section 40 of the egg collection machine 30 while rotating horizontally, so the impact on the eggs 70 can be reduced compared to when they are placed on the mounting section 40 while rotating vertically.

[0033] Furthermore, the control conveyor 20 circulates intermittently. This is to ensure that eggs 70 transported from multiple stages of the collection conveyor 10 are collected by a single egg collector 30, and to adjust the timing so that eggs 70 are not placed on the placement section 40 that already has eggs 70 placed on it from other stages. The control conveyor 20 of a certain stage is stopped until it approaches a placement section 40 that does not have eggs 70 placed on it from other stages. It then starts operating when the placement section 40 reaches the height of the downstream end of the control conveyor 20, pushing the eggs 70 towards the placement section 40.

[0034] The transport of the eggs 70 as described above is basically the same as the conventional system disclosed in Patent Document 2. System 1 of this embodiment differs from the conventional system in the following respects. (1) In conventional systems, the width and length of the control conveyor 20 and the mounting section 40 are 1.5 to 2 times the width and length of the recovery conveyor 10, whereas in system 1 of this embodiment, they are 3 to 4 times the width and length of the recovery conveyor 10. (2) The inclination angle of the control conveyor 20 is 30 degrees or more in conventional systems (see Figure 3 of Patent Document 2), whereas in system 1 of this embodiment it is 5 to 25 degrees. (3) The system 1 of this embodiment is newly equipped with an expandable housing 60.

[0035] The following will explain these characteristics in more detail. In the following, when the rotation axis P (see Figure 6(a)) of the egg 70 is considered as a solid of rotation, the orientation of the egg 70 when it coincides with the transport direction will be referred to as the "vertical orientation," and the orientation of the egg 70 when the rotation axis P is perpendicular to the transport direction will be referred to as the "lateral orientation."

[0036] <Regarding characteristic point (1)> Conventional systems assumed that eggs would travel in a nearly straight line from the collection conveyor to the egg collection machine. In conventional systems, the width of the control conveyor and the loading section was set to 1.5 to 2 times the width of the collection conveyor, taking into account that eggs, which were in a vertical position on the collection conveyor, would be in a horizontal position after the control conveyor. In contrast, this system 1 is intended to allow the number of eggs 70 that can be arranged in the width direction on the control conveyor 20 and the loading section 40 to be 2 to 3 times the maximum number of eggs 70 that can be arranged in the width direction on the collection conveyor 10.

[0037] It should be noted that even in the system described in Patent Document 1, which differs from System 1 in that it uses a control conveyor that rotates continuously, the width of the control conveyor and the loading section were set to be large. In the system of Patent Document 1, eggs transported from each of the multiple stages of the collection conveyor were intended to be placed at different positions in the width direction on the same loading section. Therefore, in the system of Patent Document 1, the width of the control conveyor and the loading section was set according to the number of stages of the collection conveyor. For example, if there are four stages, which is a common number, the width of the control conveyor and the loading section would be 6 to 8 times the width of the collection conveyor. The width of the control conveyor 20 and the loading section 40 in System 1 is considerably shorter than that of the system in Patent Document 1.

[0038] <Features (2)> The reason why the control conveyor was tilted upward toward the egg collector in conventional systems is as follows: The control conveyor circulates intermittently to adjust the timing of placing eggs on the storage area. Therefore, if the control conveyor were not tilted, when the control conveyor stops, eggs near the end of the control conveyor on the egg collector side may fall toward the egg collector due to some vibration. This is because the outer shape of an egg is unstable and prone to rolling. In contrast, when the control conveyor is tilted upward toward the egg collector, a force acts on the eggs due to their own weight, causing them to move away from the end of the control conveyor on the egg collector side, and their movement is restricted because subsequent eggs are densely lined up upstream. Therefore, the risk of eggs falling toward the egg collector when the control conveyor stops can be prevented.

[0039] Thus, the need to tilt the control conveyor 20 upward toward the egg collector 30 is the same in this system 1. However, as will be described in detail later, in this system 1, the eggs 70 are moved in the width direction on the control conveyor 20 so that the number of eggs 70 lined up in the width direction increases. The inventors considered that a smaller tilt angle of the control conveyor 20 would be advantageous for moving the eggs 70 in the width direction in this way. As a result of investigations based on this idea, it was found that if the tilt angle of the control conveyor 20 is between 5 and 25 degrees, the tilt angle can be reduced without causing the eggs 70 to fall when stopped.

[0040] In contrast to conventional control conveyors, where the endless chain is wrapped around one drive sprocket and one guide roller to form a circulating trajectory (see Figure 3 of Patent Document 2), the endless chain 25 of the control conveyor 20 in System 1 is wrapped around one drive sprocket 21 and two guide rollers 22a and 22b, as described above, meaning there is one more guide roller. This allows the control conveyor 20 of System 1, which has a smaller inclination angle than conventional systems, to be changed while still using the same endless chain as in conventional systems.

[0041] <Features (3)> The expanding housing 60 expands the transport path to move the eggs 70 in the width direction and is positioned to straddle the recovery conveyor 10 and the control conveyor 20. The expanding housing 60 has multiple walls that rise from the transport path of the eggs 70, and these walls include side walls 61, inclined walls 62 and 63, and an upstream end wall 64. There is a pair of side walls 61, which are spaced apart on the upstream side of the expanding housing 60 by the width of the recovery conveyor 10. These side walls 61 are aligned along the sides of the recovery conveyor 10. The lower ends of the pair of side walls 61 are connected by a connecting plate 69 only on the upstream side. This connecting plate 69 is positioned below the transport surface of the recovery conveyor 10.

[0042] The inclined walls 62 and 63 are walls that slope downstream from the side of the recovery conveyor 10 so that the width and length of the transport path gradually increase. The upstream end wall 64 is a wall that runs along the upstream end of the control conveyor 20, which extends in the width direction because the control conveyor 20 is wider than the recovery conveyor 10, and is perpendicular to the side wall 61.

[0043] Here, two methods can be considered for making the width of the control conveyor 20 greater than the width of the recovery conveyor 10: either by increasing the width by the same amount on both the front and back sides, or by increasing the width unevenly on one side. In this embodiment, the width of the control conveyor 20 is significantly wider on the back side than on the front side. This is because in large poultry farms, the rows of cages in each level are often placed back-to-back, with two layers of cage rows adjacent to each other. In this case, if the recovery conveyor 10, which is positioned along the front of each row of cages, is considered as a single unit with multiple levels, then two units will be adjacent with a gap of two cage lengths between them. Therefore, when installing the control conveyor 20 in the direction of extension of the recovery conveyor 10, increasing the width on the back side allows for more effective use of space.

[0044] As described above, the width and length of the control conveyor 20 are increased towards the rear side, so the expanding housing 60 of this embodiment has an upstream end wall 64 only on the rear side. The inclined wall 62 on the rear side is inclined to expand from the side of the recovery conveyor 10 toward the upstream end wall 64 upstream of the boundary between the control conveyor 20 and the recovery conveyor 10. Furthermore, to avoid a gap between the inclined wall 62 on the rear side and the conveying surface of the recovery conveyor 10, the expanding housing 60 has a roughly triangular bottom plate 65 that extends from the lower end of the inclined wall 62 to near the side of the recovery conveyor 10. This bottom plate 65 is inclined to descend toward the control conveyor 20. The inclined wall 63 on the front side is inclined toward the front side downstream of the boundary between the control conveyor 20 and the recovery conveyor 10. The inclined wall 62 on the rear side corresponds to the "inclined wall" of the present invention.

[0045] Next, we will describe the transport of eggs 70 in this system 1, which has the characteristic points (1) to (3). The eggs 70 transported by the collection conveyor 10 are in various orientations. Also, the eggs 70 are not densely packed on the belt 12 of the collection conveyor 10, but are sparsely located. When the eggs 70 are transported to the downstream end of the collection conveyor 10, if the intermittently circulating control conveyor 20 is stopped, the eggs 70 cannot transfer to the control conveyor 20 and therefore accumulate here. In conventional systems, the number of eggs that could accumulate here was limited by the width and length of the collection conveyor, which inevitably limited the transport speed of the collection conveyor.

[0046] In contrast, in this system 1, an inclined wall 62 is provided upstream of the boundary between the control conveyor 20 and the collection conveyor 10, thereby widening the conveying surface. As a result, a larger number of eggs can be stored compared to conventional systems, allowing the conveying speed of the collection conveyor 10 to be increased. Since a bottom plate 65 is present between the inclined wall 62 and the collection conveyor 10, even if eggs 70 are pushed out from the collection conveyor 10 towards the inclined wall 62, they are held on the bottom plate 65 without falling.

[0047] When the control conveyor 20 starts circulating, the eggs 70 that were stuck are pushed onto the control conveyor 20 by the subsequent eggs 70 being transported on the recovery conveyor 10 and held between the bars 26. The eggs 70 that were held on the bottom plate 65 of the expanding housing 60 are also easily transferred onto the control conveyor 20 when they come into contact with the eggs 70 being transported on the recovery conveyor 10, because the bottom plate 65 is inclined to descend toward the control conveyor 20. In addition, since the upstream end wall 64 extends continuously with the inclined wall 62, the eggs 70 that are pushed by the subsequent eggs 70 are easily able to slide along the upstream end wall 64, resulting in a large number of eggs 70 being lined up in the width direction. The eggs 70 that were stuck on the front side move along the inclined wall 63.

[0048] The inclination angle of the control conveyor 20 is 5 to 25 degrees. Because the inclination angle is kept small, the eggs 70 can easily move in the width direction even while being transported while rising. However, considering the ease with which the eggs 70 can move in the width direction, it is more desirable for the inclination angle of the control conveyor 20 to be 5 to 15 degrees.

[0049] Since the bars 26 that make up the conveying surface of the control conveyor 20 are rotating, the eggs 70 rotate as they are conveyed, and eggs 70 that were not previously in a sideways position change to a sideways position. Because the width and length of the control conveyor 20 is 3 to 4 times the width and length of the return conveyor 10, it is possible to convey 2 to 3 times the number of eggs 70 arranged in the width direction compared to conventional methods.

[0050] When the control conveyor 20 stops next, the eggs 70 that have reached the downstream end of the control conveyor 20 will remain there, but because the control conveyor 20 is inclined to rise towards the egg collector 30, they will not fall towards the egg collector 30 for the reasons mentioned above.

[0051] When the control conveyor 20 starts circulating again, the eggs 70 that were waiting at its downstream end are pushed out of the control conveyor 20 and placed on the placement section 40 of the egg collector 30. Since the placement section 40 has the same width and length as the control conveyor 20, all of the eggs 70 that were lined up in the width direction on the control conveyor 20 can be placed directly onto the placement section 40.

[0052] As described above, in System 1 of this embodiment, the width of the control conveyor 20 and the loading section 40 is set to 3 to 4 times the width of the recovery conveyor 10, and an inclined wall 62 is provided upstream of the boundary between the control conveyor 20 and the recovery conveyor 10, widening the transport path beyond the width of the recovery conveyor 10. Therefore, when the intermittently circulating control conveyor 20 is stopped, the number of eggs 70 that accumulate at the downstream end of the recovery conveyor 10 can be increased compared to the conventional method. In addition, the number of eggs 70 transported in a line in the width direction on the control conveyor 20 and the loading section 40 can be increased to 2 to 3 times the conventional method. This makes it possible to increase the transport speed by the recovery conveyor 10, and in the process of collecting eggs 70 transported by multiple stages of recovery conveyors 10 with a single egg collector 30, the number of eggs 70 processed per unit time can be increased.

[0053] In fact, conventionally, the number of eggs that could be collected by one egg collector per cage row layer was 12,000 per hour per cage row. However, with this system 1, it was possible to collect 20,000 to 22,000 eggs per hour per cage row, increasing the processing efficiency by 167% to 183%.

[0054] Furthermore, while maintaining the conventional system configuration, we conducted tests by setting the speeds of each conveyor and egg collector with the intention of increasing processing efficiency to 125% to 140%, and processing the number of eggs per hour by the egg collector to 15,000 to 16,500. As a result, as shown in Table 1, the rate of egg breakage when passing through the egg collector was extremely high, ranging from 5.75% to 8.11%, making it impractical. In this test, the rate of egg breakage during the process leading up to the egg collector was also very high, averaging 5.95%, but the rate of egg breakage when passing through the egg collector tended to be even higher. From this, it was concluded that attempting to increase processing efficiency while maintaining the conventional system configuration would place a significant burden on the eggs being transported.

[0055] In contrast, in System 1 of this embodiment, despite significantly increasing processing efficiency to 167% to 183% as described above, the rate of egg breakage before reaching the egg collector is kept very low, averaging 0.63% and the rate of egg breakage when passing through the egg collector is 0.21% to 0.83%, as shown in Table 1. These values ​​are an order of magnitude smaller than those of the conventional system configuration. Furthermore, in the conventional system configuration, the rate of egg breakage when passing through the egg collector tended to increase compared to the rate of egg breakage before reaching the egg collector, but in System 1, both rates of egg breakage are equally low. From this, it can be seen that System 1, which widens the egg transport path in the width direction before reaching the egg collector and transfers the eggs to an egg collector having a wide and long loading section, can increase processing efficiency without putting stress on the eggs.

[0056] [Table 1]

[0057] Although the present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various improvements and design changes are possible without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0058] For example, in the above embodiment, the inclined wall 62 located upstream of the boundary between the control conveyor 20 and the recovery conveyor 10 in the expandable housing 60 is shown to be provided only on the rear side. However, the expandable housing can also have such an inclined wall 62 on the front side.

[0059] Furthermore, if the width and length of the control conveyor 20 are to be increased relative to the recovery conveyor 10 on both the rear and front sides, an expandable housing can be used, which has upstream end walls 64 on both the rear and front sides.

[0060] Furthermore, the above examples illustrate an embodiment in which the present invention is applied when a cage row layer, in which multiple rows of cages are stacked, has multiple collection conveyors arranged along each cage row, resulting in multiple collection conveyors. In addition, the present invention can also be applied to poultry farms employing a free-range system, where multiple collection conveyors are also present.

[0061] Unlike cage-based systems, free-range systems raise birds in a large, undivided open space. While the birds can move freely within the open area, they enter a small enclosure called a "nest" when laying eggs. This is because birds prefer a narrow, dark environment for egg-laying. Similar to cages, multiple nests are arranged horizontally to form a row, and egg collection conveyors run along this row.

[0062] In such free-range systems, nest rows may be stacked in multiple tiers, such as two tiers, on a single floor, and in this case, the collection conveyor will also have multiple tiers. Therefore, when processing eggs collected by these multiple collection conveyors with a single egg collector, the present invention can be applied by placing a control conveyor between each collection conveyor and the egg collector.

[0063] Alternatively, there are poultry farms that have multiple floors, even if each floor has only one nest row. In such facilities, an open space is sometimes created in part, penetrating the ceiling and floor that form the boundary between each floor, and an egg collector is placed there. In this case, the collection conveyors, which are arranged along the nest rows that are one row on each floor, will be stacked in multiple layers throughout the multi-story building. Therefore, when processing eggs collected by these multiple-layer collection conveyors in a single egg collector located in the open space, a control conveyor can be placed between each collection conveyor and the egg collector, and the present invention can be applied.

[0064] These embodiments in a free-range system can be understood by replacing "cage" with "nest" and "cage row" with "nest row" in the description of the above embodiments in a facility with a cage row layer, and the same effects and advantages as above will be achieved.

Claims

1. Multiple collection conveyors, positioned at different heights, are used to collect chicken eggs. An egg collection machine that transports eggs by the multi-stage collection conveyor, places them on a placement section in a part of a vertically circulating track, and transfers them from the placement section in another part of the track, An egg collection system comprising: a control conveyor interposed between each of the aforementioned collection conveyors and the egg collection machine, which transports the eggs received from the collection conveyors toward the egg collection machine and intermittently circulates to adjust the timing of placing the eggs in the aforementioned storage section, The width and length of the control conveyor and the above-described storage section are three to four times the width and length of the recovery conveyor. Upstream from the boundary between the egg transfer conveyor and the control conveyor, the egg transfer path has an inclined wall that is erected from the side of the egg transfer conveyor and is sloped so that the width and length of the egg transport path expand toward the upstream end of the control conveyor. An egg collection system characterized by the following features.

2. The conveying surface of the control conveyor rises toward the egg collecting machine at an angle of 5 to 25 degrees with the extended surface of the conveying surface of the collection conveyor. The egg collection system according to feature 1.

3. Chicken eggs are collected on multiple tiers of collection conveyors, which are arranged at different heights. When eggs transported by the multi-stage collection conveyor are placed on a storage section in a single egg collection machine via a vertically circulating track, and then transferred out of the storage section via another section of the track, An egg collection method comprising interposing a control conveyor between each of the aforementioned collection conveyors and the egg collection machine, transporting the eggs received from the collection conveyors toward the egg collection machine, and intermittently circulating the control conveyor to adjust the timing of placing the eggs in the aforementioned storage area, The width and length of the control conveyor and the storage area described above shall be 3 to 4 times the width and length of the recovery conveyor. By providing an inclined wall upstream of the boundary between the egg transfer conveyor and the control conveyor, which is erected from the side of the transfer conveyor and slopes toward the upstream end of the control conveyor, the width and length of the egg transport path are increased. A method for collecting eggs characterized by the features described above.

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