Modular Egg Collector Conveyance for Newly-Hatched Larvae
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing industrial systems face challenges in efficiently hatching, transporting, and quantifying newly-hatched larvae for large-scale insect farming, leading to production losses and variability in larval age and quantity, while requiring reliable and cost-effective technologies.
Innovation Solution
An installation comprising egg collectors, a conveyor system with divergent walls and moving bands, a cyclone separator, and a pneumatic transport system for collecting and concentrating newly-hatched larvae, ensuring precise quantification and continuous supply to insect-raising modules.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a conveyor system is used to transport newly-hatched larvae, then productivity is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates due to variability in larval age and quantity
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the larval collection process into discrete temporal and spatial segments through multiple collectors arranged in sequence. Each collector receives larvae at a specific moment in time, allowing precise control over the age composition of each batch while maintaining continuous high-volume processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary sorting and grouping of larvae into collectors before they are transported to the rearing facility. This preliminary action ensures that larvae of similar age are grouped together, maintaining manufacturing precision while the conveyor system maintains high productivity during transport.
2Reliability
If collectors are arranged in an enclosed space, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The collectors are designed as multi-functional components that serve both as containment structures for larvae and as transport units on the conveyor system. This universal design maintains reliable larval containment while simplifying the overall device structure by eliminating the need for separate containment and transport mechanisms.
3Productivity
If automated collection systems are used, then productivity is improved, but loss of substance increases due to production losses
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the natural behavior of larvae to facilitate automated collection. Larvae spontaneously move from the hatching area toward the collectors on the conveyor, eliminating the need for complex active collection mechanisms and reducing material loss associated with aggressive collection methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The conveyor system operates continuously to transport collectors and larvae without interruption, maintaining constant productivity while minimizing losses that would occur with intermittent operation. The continuous motion ensures consistent larval collection and reduces the time windows where losses could occur.
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
The system enhances hatching efficiency, minimizes production losses, and ensures consistent larval age and quantity, optimizing the insect-raising process with reduced consumable consumption.
Implementation Method 1
a cyclone separator formed by a cylinder and/or a vertical cone wherein an upward air flow is produced
Implementation Method 2
a cyclone separator formed by a cylinder and/or a vertical cone wherein an upward air flow is produced
Implementation Method 3
a pneumatic transport system for conveying the larvae from the conveyor to the cyclone separator
Implementation Method 4
guiding larvae, having been hatched from the deposited eggs, by means of a guiding device placed under the cage, under the influence of gravity toward a conveyor belt
Data Source
AI summary
An installation for producing and collecting newly-hatched larvae comprises cages equipped with at least one collector of insect eggs, a transfer line for transferring the larvae from the collectors to a conveyor, and equipment for concentrating the newly-hatched larvae. It also comprises: a collection of modules grouping together a plurality of egg collectors, the modules being open at their bottom; the modules being mobile between a point of loading and the transfer line; the transfer line being open to receive the modules at the top, and at the bottom having a guide system with divergent walls, which at its top has a width tailored to the cross section of the modules and at its bottom has an opening tailored to the dimensions of a conveyor, the guide system being configured to group together the newly-hatched larvae falling from the collectors onto the upper surface of the conveyor.