Overhead Conveyor Rearing Device for Insect Farming
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional floor conveyors used in insect rearing farms are space-inefficient, require significant resources, and pose contamination risks, with complex handling and cleaning processes that hinder automation and processing efficiency.
Innovation Solution
An overhead conveyor rearing device with a pivotable receiving device that can be aligned vertically or horizontally, allowing for space-saving storage and transport, and easy processing, coupled to an overhead conveyor system for efficient insect handling and processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If floor conveyors are used to transport insects, then insects can be transported between processing stations, but space utilization is reduced and resource consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from floor-level horizontal transport to overhead vertical suspension transport. Rearing containers are hung from an overhead conveyor system and transported at elevated levels, utilizing the vertical dimension rather than consuming floor space. This dimensional shift resolves the contradiction by enabling reliable insect transport while maximizing floor space availability for other farm operations.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of transporting containers on the floor level as in conventional systems, the patent inverts the approach by suspending containers from an overhead structure. The transport system is inverted from ground-based to ceiling-based, allowing containers to be moved overhead while keeping the floor clear for other purposes, thus improving space utilization without compromising transport reliability.
2Reliability
If floor conveyors are used for insect transport, then insects can be moved between stations, but cleaning effort and contamination risk increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the transport function from the floor level and relocates it to an overhead suspension system. By taking the rearing containers off the floor and suspending them from above, the system eliminates direct contact between containers and floor surfaces that could harbor contaminants. This extraction of the transport path from the contaminated floor environment reduces contamination risk while maintaining reliable insect transport between processing stations.
Solution Approach 2:
The overhead conveyor system acts as an intermediary transport medium, separating the insect containers from the floor environment. Instead of containers directly contacting potential contamination sources on the floor, they are suspended and transported through air, with the overhead structure serving as a clean intermediary that prevents direct exposure to floor-based contaminants during transport.
3Ease of operation
If individual rearing containers are handled sequentially on floor conveyors, then insects can be processed, but processing efficiency is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple rearing containers onto a single overhead conveyor carrier, allowing multiple containers to be transported simultaneously rather than individually. This combining of multiple containers into one transport unit enables parallel processing operations at stations, significantly improving processing efficiency while maintaining ease of operation through standardized carrier designs that are simple to load and unload.
Solution Approach 2:
The overhead conveyor system enables continuous transport of multiple rearing containers through the processing facility, eliminating idle time between processing different containers. Containers are moved continuously along the overhead path, allowing processing stations to work continuously without waiting for individual container handling cycles, thus maintaining operational ease while dramatically improving overall processing efficiency.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1C
Figure 2
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AI summary
A suspended conveyor rearing device (10) is disclosed, comprising: a suspended device (12) for coupling to a suspended conveyor (14); and at least one receiving device (16) which is pivotably mounted on the suspended device about a horizontal first pivot axis (18), wherein the receiving device is pivotable about the first pivot axis between a first position in which the receiving device is substantially vertically oriented and a second position different from the first position, and has a plurality of chambers (20) arranged one above the other in the first position for receiving insects.