Feed Loading Control via Spectrophotometric Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing systems for loading animal feed into self-propelled mixing units are prone to dietary imbalances due to exposure of foods to atmospheric elements, leading to variations in nutritional values and chemical components, which can cause stress and environmental issues from excessive protein excretion.
Innovation Solution
A system equipped with a food testing apparatus using spectrophotometry to determine chemical components and a wireless communication module that adjusts the loading of foods in real-time to ensure the mixture meets predetermined nutritional values, integrated with a weighing device to measure and adjust the weight of each component accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If mechanical shovels load foods based on preset weights without real-time nutritional analysis, then the loading operation is simple and fast, but the nutritional values and chemical components of the loaded foods may deviate from the prescribed diet due to exposure to atmospheric elements
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of the food's nutritional values and chemical components using an optoelectronic device before the loading operation. This allows the system to pre-determine the actual nutritional content of the food being loaded, enabling real-time adjustments to be made to the loading process to ensure the final mixture meets the prescribed diet specifications.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates a feedback mechanism where the optoelectronic device continuously analyzes the nutritional values and chemical components of the loaded foods, and this information is fed back to the control unit. The control unit then adjusts the loading parameters in real-time based on this feedback, ensuring that the final mixture accurately matches the prescribed diet despite variations in food composition due to atmospheric exposure.
2Manufacturing precision
If the system performs real-time spectrophotometric analysis of food nutritional values during loading, then the diet composition accuracy is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces complex mechanical weighing and analysis systems with an optoelectronic device that uses spectrophotometry to determine nutritional values and chemical components. This substitution reduces mechanical complexity while maintaining or improving measurement accuracy, as the optoelectronic device can rapidly analyze multiple parameters simultaneously without the need for separate mechanical measurement systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The optoelectronic device serves multiple functions: it analyzes nutritional values, determines chemical components, and provides data for real-time loading adjustments. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate specialized devices, thereby reducing overall system complexity while achieving high diet composition accuracy through a single integrated instrument.
3Quantity of substance
If foods are stored in areas exposed to atmospheric elements for extended periods, then storage space utilization is improved, but the nutritional values and chemical components of the foods deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of the food's nutritional values and chemical components before loading, allowing the control unit to compensate for any degradation that has already occurred during storage. This preliminary assessment enables the system to adjust loading parameters in advance to achieve the correct final composition despite pre-existing variations in food quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes the loading parameters (such as loading weights and durations) based on the actual nutritional values and chemical components detected by the optoelectronic device. This parameter adjustment allows the system to compensate for composition changes in stored foods, ensuring that the final mixture meets the prescribed diet specifications even when foods have been exposed to atmospheric elements during storage.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This system ensures that the food composition within the self-propelled mixing unit accurately matches the preset diet, maintaining animal health and reducing environmental impact by preventing excessive protein excretion, thereby improving the quality and quantity of animal products.
Implementation Method 1
an optoelectronic device for determining the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation reflected and/or absorbed by a foodstuff loaded by the self-propelled unit
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
A system (1) for controlling the loading of at least one food (2) for animal use into one or more self-propelled mixing units (3) by means of a mechanical shovel (4), which is mounted to a motor vehicle (6) for collecting the food (2) and unloading the food into the self-propelled unit (3). The system (1) includes a testing apparatus (7), which is mounted to the shovel (4) to determine a series of chemical-physical information related to the chemical components contained in the food (2) present in the shovel (4) and a weighing apparatus (11), which is installed in the self-propelled unit (3) to measure the weight (PE) of the food (2) contained in the self-propelled unit (3) and is adapted to establish a wireless communication with the testing apparatus (7) to receive the chemical-physical information related to the components contained in said food (2); the weighing apparatus (11) including a processing module (20) which determines, at each loading and according to the received chemical-physical information, the weight (Dp) of a remaining amount of food (2) to be loaded into the self-propelled unit (3) so that each chemical-physical component of the food (2) inside the self-propelled unit (3), once the loading has been completed, fulfils a predetermined condition.