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WO2006068518A1 - Tete de transplantation de semis - Google Patents

Tete de transplantation de semis Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2006068518A1
WO2006068518A1 PCT/NZ2005/000339 NZ2005000339W WO2006068518A1 WO 2006068518 A1 WO2006068518 A1 WO 2006068518A1 NZ 2005000339 W NZ2005000339 W NZ 2005000339W WO 2006068518 A1 WO2006068518 A1 WO 2006068518A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
plant
plants
receptacles
series
held
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Ceased
Application number
PCT/NZ2005/000339
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English (en)
Inventor
Graeme Leslie Hill
Douglas Edward Hill
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Individual
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Individual
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Filing date
Publication date
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Publication of WO2006068518A1 publication Critical patent/WO2006068518A1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
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Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01C—PLANTING; SOWING; FERTILISING
    • A01C11/00—Transplanting machines
    • A01C11/02—Transplanting machines for seedlings
    • A01C11/025—Transplanting machines using seedling trays; Devices for removing the seedlings from the trays

Definitions

  • This invention relates to machinery for automating the transplanting of plants such as vegetable seedlings from containers into the ground and in particular though not solely to transplanting head devices which receive and separate individual plants and provide them to planting apparatus which plants the individual plants in the ground.
  • BACKGROUND ART US6394010B discloses a "carousel" type seedling transplanting device in which a user manually places individual seedling plants into conical cups formed in a disk rotating in a horizontal plane. As each cup passes over a drop position the cup opens to release the seedling into a tube which channels the seedling into a chamber defined inside of a hollow plowshare that forms a furrow in the soil.
  • the transplanting system disclosed is incorporated in an agricultural machine.
  • US4290373A discloses a similar type of seedling transplanter which is adapted to be towed behind an agricultural machine such as a tractor and again a user manually picks and divides seedlings from a storage tray and provides them to respective cups within a rotating carousel for subsequent dropping and channelling into a furrow formed by a plow.
  • Canted wheels pass either side of the planted seedling and close the furrow around the plant as the apparatus moves forward along the row being planted.
  • tomato plant seedlings may be grown from seeds in plastic trays formed in a regular array of individual cells or pockets ranging from approximately 64 cells per tray to approximately 512 cells per tray.
  • a tray may contain 256 individual seedlings in a 16 x 16 array and the seedlings may be grown to a range of heights (for example, tomato seedlings may be around 20cm to 30cm in height) prior to being planted out.
  • This type of tray may have dimensions of only around 80cm per side and therefore the foliage of each individual seedling has only a very limited space of its own and the job of separating each seedling from its neighbours will be difficult for a manual operator.
  • the invention consists in a holding mechanism for supporting a plant during movement of the plant in an automated planting machine, comprising: a first plant securing means for constraining movement of a first part of a plant, and a second plant securing means for constraining movement of a second part of the plant, wherein the first and second plant securing means are separated by a predetermined distance so that the plant may be securely held at two separated positions along its length.
  • the predetermined distance between the two separated positions along the plant's length is a substantially fixed distance.
  • the first and second plant securing means are both fixedly attached to a support member whereby movement of the support member causes movement of the first and second plant securing means and any plant constrained thereby.
  • the first plant securing means comprises a pair of gripping fingers, at least one of which fingers is movable towards the other finger for constraining a portion of the stem of the plant.
  • movement of the gripping finger or fingers to constrain a portion of the stem of a plant is effected by a pneumatic gripper actuator.
  • actuation means are provided, connected to effect movement of the support member and a controller is provided configured to control operation of the pneumatic gripper actuator and the actuation means such that the gripping fingers are held apart as the support member is moved towards a plant and constrains movement of the second part of the plant with the second plant securing means, and subsequently the controller causes the pneumatic gripper actuator to close the gripping fingers about the plant's stem.
  • the second plant securing means comprise at least one tine for impaling a root ball of the plant.
  • the invention consists in a transplanting head device for an automated planting machine which receives plants in rows and including a plurality of the holding mechanisms according to the first aspect aligned in a row whereby the holding mechanisms are each adapted to grasp and support a single plant from the row.
  • the invention consists in a method of grabbing and supporting plants during movement in an automated planting machine comprising the steps of: constraining movement of a first part of a plant provided to the planting machine using a first plant securing means, constraining movement of a second part of the plant using a second plant securing means, the locations of the first and second parts of the plant at which the plant is constrained separated by a predetermined distance along the plant's length, and moving the plant by moving the first and second plant securing means.
  • the method also includes the step of substantially maintaining the predetermined distance between the two first and second separated positions at which the plant is constrained during movement of the plant.
  • the first plant securing means comprises a pair of gripping fingers, the method further comprising the step of moving at least one of the fingers towards the other finger for constraining a portion of the stem of the plant.
  • the method also comprises the steps of: holding the gripping fingers apart as the first and second plant securing means are moved towards a plant so that the gripping fingers are positioned either side of the plant's stem, constraining movement of the second part of the plant with the second plant securing means, and closing the gripping fingers about the plant's stem.
  • the step of constraining movement of a second part of the plant comprises impaling the root ball of the plant on at least one tine.
  • the invention consists in a transplanting head device for grasping and separating individual plants from a container holding a plurality of plants, comprising: an in-feed mechanism for supplying said container to an input of the device, a plurality of holding means positioned in a series, each holding means adapted to remove an individual plant from the container and hold it, and separating means operable to move between each adjacent pair of removed plants being held by respective holding means to thereby remove any interconnection between adjacent plants.
  • the in-feed mechanism supplies a plurality of containers serially to the input of the device from a container storage means and wherein each container contains an array of individual pockets, each pocket containing a plant wherein a row of pockets are presented at the input of the device substantially parallel to the series of holding means.
  • the in-feed mechanism includes lifting means which lifts all of the plants in a row of pockets of the container at the input to the device to allow the holding means to then remove the lifted plants.
  • the lifting means comprise a plurality of pins, each of which is positioned beneath a respective pocket in the container row at the input to the device and which is operable to be raised and lowered.
  • spacing means are provided which enable the distance between adjacent plants held by each of the plurality of holding means to be increased prior to operation of the separating means.
  • the spacing means comprise an expandable arrangement interconnecting each of the holding means which, when in a closed state, substantially matches the spacing of adjacent holding means to the plant spacing in the container of plants and when in an opened state, separates adjacent plants by greater than the plant spacing in the container.
  • the expandable arrangement is mounted on a support beam and the entire expandable arrangement and interconnected holding means are movable along the support beam between the in-feed mechanism and an unloading position.
  • support beam is pivotally fixed at a distil end and liftable at its proximal end, nearest the in-feed mechanism.
  • the support beam is moveable towards and away from the in-feed mechanism.
  • the separating means comprise blades pivotally mounted to the support beam to be moveable between each pair of holding means when the expandable arrangement is at the unloading position and is in the opened state.
  • each holding means includes pneumatically actuated grippers actuated to open and close around the stem of a plant and at least one prong adapted to impale the root ball of a plant.
  • a plurality of off-load receptacles are provided at a spacing substantially equal to the spacing between plants held by the holding means in the opened state of the expandable arrangement and the held plants are each positioned at a respective off-load receptacle before the holding means release their grip on the plants which are each received by a respective receptacle.
  • the off-load receptacles are provided on an endless conveyor which feeds the plants in turn to the input of a planting system.
  • two separate endless conveyors each with a plurality of off-load receptacles, are provided and each of which is positioned so as to be able to receive a plant held by a holding means.
  • the or each endless conveyor is driven by variable speed drive means.
  • plant sensing means are provided to detect the presence of a plant in an off-load receptacle and to provide a corresponding signal to a controller operating the variable speed drive means.
  • the invention consists in a transplanting machine including a transplanting head according to the fourth aspect and a planting system which receives individual plants from the off-load receptacles and plants them in the ground.
  • the invention consists in a method of automatically separating plants grown in a container holding a plurality of individual plants in an array of pockets, the method comprising the steps of: i) grasping each plant in a first row of the container at an in-feed position, ii) removing each grasped plant from its container pocket so that a plurality of plants from the first row are held in a series, and iii) separating interconnections between all adjacent grasped and held plants.
  • the step of grasping includes, for each plant, grasping both the stem of the plant and also securing its root ball.
  • the step of grasping is carried out, for each plant, with grippers to grasp the stem of the plant and at least one prong on which the root ball of the plant is impaled.
  • the step of grasping includes moving the grippers and prongs towards the plants prior to gripping the stems.
  • an initial step of lifting each plant in the first row is carried out.
  • the grippers and prongs are mounted to a support means pivotally held at its distil end and liftable at its proximal end, nearest the container, and the step of removing includes lifting the proximal end of the support means.
  • the step of separating interconnections includes passing cutting blades between each adjacent pair of grasped plants.
  • the blades are each pivotally mounted to the support means and rotated between each adjacent pair of grasped and held plants to separate interconnections therebetween.
  • the blades are kept in position between adjacent grasped and held plants to maintain absence of interconnections.
  • the grippers and prongs are mounted on a concertina mechanism and the step of increasing spacing comprises opening out the concertina arrangement.
  • a step of increasing the spacing between adjacent held plants is carried out prior to the step of separating interconnections.
  • the step of increasing spacing is carried out whilst all of the grasped and held plants are moved away from the in-feed position.
  • the invention consists in a method of providing singulated plants to the input of a planting device comprising the method of the sixth aspect, and subsequently off-loading all of the grasped and separated plants in respective receptacles, the receptacles provided on an endless conveyor and the method further including moving the receptacles to the input of the planting device in turn and off-loading each of the plants held therein.
  • variable speed drive means are provided to drive the endless conveyor and on occasion the conveyor speed is increased if it is determined that a particular receptacle about to reach the input of the planting machine is empty so that a following receptacle containing a plant is moved to the input of the planting machine at substantially the time that the particular receptacle would have otherwise arrived.
  • the invention consists in a plant delivery system for providing singulated plants to the input of an automated planting machine, comprising: a first endless conveyor on which a first series of receptacles are provided, a second endless conveyor on which a second series of receptacles are provided, each of the first and second receptacles adapted to receive a plant and to transport the received plant in a path which includes the input of the planting machine, and a plurality of plant holding means, each of which is adapted to obtain and hold a plant and provide it to a receptacle.
  • the plurality of plant holding means are configured to supply a first series of obtained plants to the receptacles of the first endless conveyor and then to obtain and hold a second series of plants and to then supply the second series to the receptacles of the second endless conveyor.
  • the receptacles of the first endless conveyor are provided with plants
  • the plants provided to the receptacles of the second endless conveyor are transported to the input of the planting machine.
  • the first and second endless conveyors are each provided with drive means operable to cause movement of the first or second series of receptacles independent of the other series of receptacles.
  • the first and second endless conveyors are each formed in a loop having one substantially straight edge and wherein the straight edges of the two conveyors are positioned substantially parallel to one another.
  • each of the receptacles are tubular.
  • each tubular receptacle is effectively closed by a base so that a plant may be held therein, resting upon the base, until the receptacle is transported to the input of the planting machine where the lower end is opened to allow the plant held therein to be dispensed.
  • the invention consists in a transplanting head device for an automated planting machine including a plant delivery system according to the eighth aspect which transfers plants provided in trays at an in-feed station, a row at a time, to the first or second series of receptacles and then on to the input of a planting machine.
  • the invention consists in a method of delivering singulated plants to the input of an automatic planting machine comprising the steps of: providing plants from a first series of held plants to respective receptacles in a first series of receptacles, transporting the plants from the first series of receptacles in turn in a path including the input of the planting machine to thereby deliver the first series of plants to the planting machine, and providing plants from a second series of held plants to respective receptacles in a second series of receptacles.
  • the step of transporting is carried out whilst the step of providing plants to the second series of receptacles is taking place.
  • the method includes the step of transporting the plants from the second series of receptacles in a path including the input of the planting machine to thereby deliver the second series of plants to the planting machine.
  • each of the first series of receptacles are provided with respective plants from a further series of held plants whilst the second series of receptacles are being transported in turn to the input of the planting machine.
  • the first and second series of receptacles are moved at variable speed.
  • the disclosures and the descriptions herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be in any sense limiting.
  • Figure 1 is a plan elevation of a transplanting head according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention
  • Figure 2A is a front elevational view of the tray magazine arrangement of the transplanting head of Figure 1
  • Figure 2B is a side elevational view of the magazine arrangement of Figure 2 A in the direction of arrow B,
  • Figure 2C is a plan view of the magazine arrangement of Figure 2 A
  • Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the transplanting head shown in Figure 1 with the carriage on which the plant holding fingers are supported shown both in a closed or concertinaed state (left hand side) and an opened state (right hand side),
  • Figure 4A is an end elevational view of the transplanting head shown in Figure 3 in the direction of arrow AB showing a row of plants being grasped
  • Figure 4B is a side elevational view of the transplanting head shown in Figure 3 in the direction of arrow AB showing the row of plants being grasped in Figure 4 A being lifted from their tray
  • Figure 5 is an end elevational view of the beam arrangement of the transplanting head shown in Figure 3 in the direction opposite to arrow AB ( Figure 3) showing the separation blades in both their raised (or actuated) position and lowered (or retracted) position
  • Figures 6A and 6B are front views of the stem grippers of the transplanting head shown in Figure 1 with the grippers closed and opened respectively
  • Figure 7 is an end view of the transplanting head shown in Figure 1 in the same direction as the end view of Figure 5.
  • a seedling transplanting head is shown suitable for retrofitting to existing semi-automatic transplanting machines in which a human operator is required to grasp, separate and provide individual seedlings to a planting machine (for example, the transplanting machines shown in the aforementioned US6394010B and US4290373A).
  • the transplanting head includes a frame 1 supporting an in-feed mechanism 2 for storing and feeding trays of plants such as vegetable seedlings to an in-feed position of the transplanting head (shown in more detail in Figures 2A to 2C), a seedling gripping and separating mechanism mounted on a support beam 3 (much of the detail of the seedling gripping and separating mechanism is not shown in Figure 1 for improved clarity, although some details are shown in Figures 3 and 5) and an out-feed section generally referenced 4.
  • Out-feed section 4 includes one or more (in the embodiment shown two) rotating endless loops of receptacles 5 (all but one receptacle has been omitted from Figure 3 for clarity) in each of which a single grasped and separated seedling is deposited for feeding to an off-loading position at which point the plant held in the receptacle at the off-loading position is provided to known planting machinery for planting in the ground.
  • Each of the individual receptacles 5 may for example comprise 40mm diameter plastic tubes of a length sufficient to substantially totally enclose a seedling, for example, around 30cm or 40cm high, fixed at their perimeter to an endless chain or tube conveyor 6 rotating about a driven wheel or cog 7 and a free wheel 8.
  • conveyor 6 may include both front and rear vertically separated belts or chains to which receptacles 5 are attached.
  • the front and rear chains or belts may be driven in opposite directions with the front (lower in Figure 1) driven in an anti- clockwise direction while the rear chain is driven in a clockwise direction.
  • the chains or belts may be driven in the same direction.
  • the bottom ends of each of the receptacles are effectively closed unless the respective receptacle is above the off-load position which can be provided at any location on the path of the conveyor. This may be provided by allowing each of the receptacles to ride upon a planar surface substantially contacting the lower end of each of the receptacles which has an opening provided at the offload position only.
  • a variable speed drive such as a servo system including a gear motor 9 provides drive power to each conveyor of receptacles. Power from the variable speed drive may optionally be supplied via, for example, a wrap spring clutch/brake unit 52. Alternatively, an electronically controlled motor such as a servo motor could be used to drive each endless conveyor via a suitable gearbox if required.
  • a sensor such as a light sensor, capacitive sensor, camera or infra-red sensor
  • a sensor may be provided to detect at least in the receptacle at or about to arrive at the off-load position whether a seedling is within that receptacle and if no seedling is detected then the speed of the conveyor may be increased or stepped to quickly provide a seedling from a subsequent receptacle to the off-load position.
  • Sensors could be provided to sense the contents of more than one (for example, two) adjacent receptacles. This would enable a controller to quickly step the chain or belt a distance of two receptacle spacings should both sensors determine that their receptacles are empty. This would provide a substantial time saving compared to a single sensor situation where the chain or belt must be stepped twice with an idle or dwell time (sufficient for a plant, had it been present, to drop from the receptacle) in between.
  • the in-feed mechanism 2 vertically stacks a plurality of seedling trays 10.
  • the trays 10 are formed as a regular array of 16 x 16 cells or pockets although any seedling tray could be accommodated by the present invention.
  • Each pocket or cell 11 within the container or tray 10 will contain the root ball of a seedling such as a tomato plant seedling which may for example, have grown to a height of around 20cm (the seedlings are not shown in some of the drawing figures for clarity).
  • a plurality of trays 10 are supported at their lateral edges by flights HA fixed to endless conveyors or chains 12 rotating about upper free wheeling cogs or wheels 13 and lower driven cogs or wheels 14.
  • a first linear actuator or pneumatic cylinder 15 is actuable to lower a full tray 10 of seedlings on to in-feed runners 16.
  • Actuator 15 could be replaced by an electric motor and associated worm drive.
  • the worm drive alternative provides the added benefit that there is no need to lock the motor in position as it will effectively lock itself.
  • Cylinder 15 is connected to one endless chain via a ratchet mechanism which causes the chains to be incremented forward upon each actuation of cylinder 15 while retraction of cylinder 15 has no effect on the positions of the chains.
  • a second linear actuator or pneumatic cylinder 17 is connected at a first end 18 to a roller clutch bearing assembly 19 and is fixed to frame 1 at its other end.
  • Roller clutch 19 includes an outer roller surface adapted to contact the underside of a tray while the clutch mechanism includes a ratchet mechanism such as a drawn cup roller clutch connected to the piston of cylinder 17. Actuation of piston 17 therefore increments the roller by a small angular amount in a clockwise direction of rotation while retraction of cylinder 18 disengages the clutch mechanism to allow cylinder retraction but without any rotation of the roller. In this way, the roller clutch may be incremented to move tray 10 by a distance corresponding to one pocket or row spacing upon each actuation of cylinder 17.
  • roller clutch 19 will feed tray 10 forward by about approximately three rows so that the leading row of pockets in the tray are at the in-feed location (substantially corresponding to the right-hand edge of Figure 2B) of the transplanting head (an optical sensor may be provided to sense correct positioning of the forward edge of the tray). Subsequent movement of that tray will be handled by a mechanism to be described later. However, each time a tray is lowered to the in-feed plane it is positioned serially behind the front tray (being processed) so that its front edge is in contact with the rear edge of the front tray. In this way, the transplanting head is provided with a continuous supply of seedlings for processing.
  • roller clutch bearing assembly 19 and actuator 17 may be by a motor controlled roller (not shown) positioned to receive trays lowered by in-feed mechanism 2.
  • the roller may have a length of the order (or slightly shorter) than the width of a tray 10 and have an outer roughened surface for gripping the underside of a tray. Rotation of the roller (such as by stepping) being sufficient to move the lowered tray along runners towards the in- feed location.
  • a further linear actuator or pneumatic cylinder 20 is connected between the frame and an ejection device 21 comprising a series of 16 pins spaced along a bar.
  • Each of the pins are pointing upwards and spaced and aligned with each of the pockets of tray 10 in the row being processed at the in-feed position. Accordingly, actuation of cylinder 20 will cause each of the ejector pins to be lifted thereby partially lifting the, for example, sixteen seedlings in the row of the container at the in-feed position.
  • a further linear actuator or pneumatic cylinder 22 (once the seedlings from the lifted row have been removed as will soon be described) is actuated to move the ejection device 21 to the right in Figures 4A and 4B by one container row pitch through a pivoting linkage 23. Actuation of cylinder 22 thus draws the next row of seedlings to the in-feed position of the transplanting head.
  • a further linear actuator or pneumatic cylinder 24 actuates a tray clamp 25 to prevent any tray movement during the period of time that the ejection pin mechanism is being raised, although the clamp is released while cylinder 22 is being operated so that the tray may be advanced.
  • Support beam 3 includes an end plate 26 at its proximal end (nearest the in-feed mechanism) and a further end plate 27 at its distil end.
  • the end plate 26 is fixed to the frame 1 firstly by a linear actuator or pneumatic cylinder 28 which is arranged to move the beam towards and away from the in- feed magazine and secondly by a linear actuator or pneumatic cylinder 29 which is arranged to lift and lower the beam.
  • a linear actuator or pneumatic cylinder 30 is arranged in substantially the same fashion as cylinder 28 and operated therewith so that the beam can be moved towards and away from the in-feed mechanism, substantially parallel to the in-feed mechanism.
  • end plate 27 and cylinder 30 allow beam 3 to pivot so that its proximal end may be raised and lowered independent of its distil end.
  • a linear actuator or pneumatic cylinder 31 is positioned between a point on the frame and an extension of end plate 27 so that actuation of cylinder 31 swings the distil end of beam 3 to align it with either of the inner row of receptacles 5 on the first or the second endless conveyor. Cylinder 31 is most clearly seen in Figure 7.
  • a Carriage 32 is mounted to the beam 3 by a series of rollers 33 which run on guides.
  • Carriage 32 includes a concertina arrangement of pivotally connected chain links 34 which connect adjacent concertina finger segments 47 while enabling the effective length of the carriage along the beam 3 to be increased or decreased.
  • a carriage 32 is shown in its concertinaed or closed position and in the right hand side of Figure 3 the same carriage is shown in its opened or expanded state.
  • only a single carriage is provided on beam 3.
  • f ⁇ nger segments 47 Also connecting adjacent f ⁇ nger segments 47 together are upper 49 and lower 51 concertina straps formed, for example, from a flexible plastics material to which fingers 47 are connected at fixed lengths (corresponding to receptacle 5 spacing) along its length.
  • the carriage is moveable along the shaft between the in-feed mechanism and the off-load position adjacent to the off-load receptacles 5.
  • a linear actuator or pneumatic cylinder 35 is mounted on the carriage between its two ends.
  • a linear actuator or pneumatic cylinder 36 is connected between a fixed point on beam 3 near its distil end and a fixed point on carriage 32 at its end nearest the proximal end of beam 3.
  • a linear actuator or pneumatic cylinder 37 is pivotally connected at its upper end to a substantially vertical extension 38 on beam 3.
  • the actuator end of cylinder 37 is connected to a planar blade or plate 39 mounted about a rotational axis 40.
  • Plate 39 has a leading edge 41 shaped so as to enhance its slicing or cutting action when the blade 39 is rotated upwards through activation of cylinder 37 from its lower or retracted position (indicated as 39(A) in Figure 5) and its upper or actuated position (indicated as 39(B)).
  • leading edge 41 need not be curved but may instead be straight.
  • pivotal operation of the slicing blades is not essential and could easily be replaced by a sliding linear movement of the blades between adj acent held plants.
  • FIG 3 there are a total of seventeen parallel plates 39 which are positioned along beam 3 to correspond with the mid-plant positions when carriage 32 has been opened out and moved along beam 3 to its off-loading position.
  • a series of cylindrical spacers 42 are positioned between adjacent blades 39 along shaft 40 and each of the blades are non-rotable with respect to shaft 40 so that operation of cylinder 37, which need only be connected to one of the seventeen blades, will cause a rotating separator knife assembly including shaft 40 and all seventeen blades to rotate to the actuated position or back to the retracted position.
  • the separating mechanism shown in Figures 5 and 7 is omitted from Figures 4A and 4B and some of its features are omitted from Figures 1 and 3.
  • Blade 39 is also provided with a trailing lobe 43 which, when the blade is in its actuated position between adjacent plants, acts to isolate adjacent plants from one another so that foliage is unable to reconnect.
  • the plant foliage is shown in Figures 4 A, 4B, 5 and 7 and identified by reference numeral 45 whereas the root balls of each of the plants are indicated by reference numeral 44.
  • a pair of upper and lower rollers 33 are rotatably mounted to each of the concertina finger sections 47. Straps 49 and 51 set the maximum spacing of finger segments 47 when the carriage is in its open state while the chain formed from segments 34 offers stability or rigidity to the carriage structure, especially in the direction parallel to the axis of the rollers 33.
  • the spacing of grippers 46 corresponds to the pocket spacing of tray 10 whereas the spacing between grippers in the right hand side of Figure 3 matches the spacing between receptacles 5 in the endless chain of the off-load mechanism 4.
  • rollers 33 from adjacent fingers 47 are displaced axially relative to one another so that (as best seen in the left hand side of Figure 3), when the carriage 32 has been concertinaed into its closed state, the rollers 33 from adjacent fingers 47 are able to overlap without touching.
  • Each gripper 46 includes two arms or fingers which are operable to move towards one another (one of the fingers could be fixed and the other movable) to grasp the stem of a seedling but as the grippers are pneumatically actuated they will have a small closing force which will be incapable of damaging the stem of the plant but instead will simply firmly hold the stem.
  • a spike or tine or prong 48 is provided below each pair of grippers and preferably, below each gripper 46 a pair of tines or spikes or prongs 48 aligned horizontally are provided.
  • Tines 48 are adapted to impale the root balls 44 of respective seedlings so that each seedling plant is able to be held firmly by the stem and the root ball.
  • each seedling Holding or constricting the movement of each seedling in at least two positions, separated along its length, provides stability in transit of the seedling. By firmly holding the seedling in this way, it may be moved and processed while having confidence that the seedling is (and will remain in) a known orientation. Preferably, each seedling is held at only or solely two positions along its length.
  • Table 1 shows a sequence of steps (1 to 21) and indicates the operations within the transplanting head which occur at each of those steps.
  • the operations are listed at the top of the table and the number in brackets associated with each operation refers to the linear actuator or hydraulic cylinder referred to in the foregoing description and drawings.
  • a plus (+) indicates actuation of a cylinder in a first direction (for example to extend the cylinder) whereas a minus (-) indicates the opposite action undertaken by that cylinder (for example retraction of the cylinder).
  • the operational steps are undertaken concurrently but this is not possible in some cases.
  • step 1 cylinder 15 (or, as previously mentioned, a motor) is operated to lower a full tray of seedlings on to the in-feed runners and drive roller.
  • step 2 cylinder 15 is retracted, cylinder 17 actuated as required and the drive roller powered to drive the tray up against the rear of a tray at the in-feed position .
  • a motor-driven roller may be used to accomplish step 2.
  • step 3 the ejecting device 21 is actuated to withdraw each of the pins from the previously empted row, the ejecting device and its pins are moved back by one container row pitch in step 4 by actuation of cylinder 22 so that they are located under the next row to be ejected and then in step 5 the ejecting pins are actuated to enter that next row of tray cells from below to partially eject the plants held therein by actuation of cylinder 20.
  • tray clamp 25 is released by retracting cylinder 24 (the tray clamp was previously actuated to prevent tray movement during steps 3, 4 and 5).
  • cylinder 22 is actuated to advance the tray at the in-feed position by one container row pitch and, if a subsequent tray is behind the currently active tray then the roller drive is also activated to maintain contact between the two trays.
  • the tray clamp 25 is again actuated to clamp the tray so that it is now ready for removal of seedlings from the row at the in-feed location.
  • step 9 cylinders 28 and 30 are actuated to advance the beam 3 towards the waiting row of partially ejected plants and as a result of this movement, the sixteen plants in the container row at the in-feed location are impaled upon the sixteen pairs of tines 48.
  • step 10 each of grippers 46 are actuated to close on their respective plant stems to further secure the plants.
  • the transplanting head is now as shown in Figure 4 A.
  • the proximal end of beam 3 is then raised by actuating cylinder 29 thereby lifting all sixteen of the plants from their cells in an arc movement.
  • By lifting only one end of beam 3 sequential foliage separation from the subsequent unprocessed row of plants is effected.
  • the position of the transplanting head at this stage is shown in Figure 4B.
  • steps 3 to 8 inclusive may be repeated to step the tray at the in-feed location forward by one tray pocket spacing.
  • step 12 the plant separation blades 39 are lowered to their retracted positions 39(A) by retracting cylinder 37 and then in step 13 cylinder 36 is retracted while cylinder 35 actuated so that the carriage 32 is expanded and moved to the off-loading position near the distil end of beam 3. Alternatively, carriage 32 could be expanded before or after it has been moved to its off-loading position.
  • the spacing of the plants held by grippers 46 and tines 48 now match the spacing of the off-load receptacles 5.
  • step 14 separating blades 39 are passed upwards between each pair of adjacent plants (and preferably also outside the first and last of the plants) to cut any interconnected root or foliage between neighbouring plants by actuating cylinder 37. As the spacing between adjacent plants has already been increased, only the tips of any interconnected foliage will be removed in this step.
  • step 15 cylinder 31 is actuated to swing beam 3 over the inner side of the rear set of receptacles at the top of Figure 1 so that each of the gripped plants are positioned over a respective receptacle 5.
  • step 16 cylinder 29 is retracted so that the proximal end of beam 3 is lowered thereby causing the root balls 44 of all sixteen grasped and impaled plants to enter the openings of the respective receptacles 5.
  • grippers 46 are retracted so that each of the stems are released.
  • step 18 cylinders 28 and 30 are retracted so that the entire beam assembly is withdrawn away from the row of receptacles thereby causing each of the plants to be stripped from their tines 40 against the top inside edges of receptacles 5 so that each of the plants drops in to a separate receptacle 5.
  • step 19 on demand from the planter mechanism to which the transplanting head of the present invention feeds plants, an endless chain of receptacles 5 are fed forward to deliver plants in series to an off-load shoot (not shown) positioned in the path of each endless conveyor of receptacles. Whilst one endless chain is being emptied in step 20, cylinder 36 is actuated and cylinder 35 retracted so that carriage 32 returns to its concertinaed position shown in the left hand side of Figure 3. Of course, retraction of cylinder 35 and actuation of cylinder 36 does not need to be concurrent but there is, of course, a time saving in carrying out these operations together.
  • step 21 cylinder 31 is retracted so that beam 3 and the gripping and separating assembly is located adjacent the inner row of the front set of receptacles 5 on the endless conveyor in the lower half of Figure 1 in readiness for steps 9 onwards to be repeated to thereby off-load a further sixteen plants into receptacles on the front (lower) endless loop.
  • the process is repeated to continue off-loading sixteen plants at a time to one and then the other endless loop of receptacles. In this way, while one loop of receptacles is dispensing plants to the planting mechanism the other loop of receptacles is being loaded so that continuous operation of the transplanting head is possible.
  • the off-load position or "drop point" may be approximately mid-way between the two driven wheels or cogs 7 as shown in Figure 1 however, the off-load position may be anywhere between the two endless conveyors.
  • that endless conveyor may be quickly driven to move the 16 loaded receptacles away from the loading position. In this way, 16 empty receptacles will be provided for loading.
  • a just-loaded group of receptacles could be driven until the first of its receptacles is at or adjacent the off-load position.
  • the loaded set of receptacles will be stepped (or moved at a constant speed) over the off-load position once the other chain has completed off- loading its set of full receptacles.
  • off-loading of the receptacles from the two chains could be interleaved.
  • a control means such as a microprocessor under control of suitable software which via appropriate transducers actuates and/or retracts each of the cylinders and/or motors as necessary.
  • a programmable logic controller PLC
  • PLC programmable logic controller
  • the transplanting head thus described eliminates the need for a human operator (apart from re-feeding the in-feed magazine on occasion) and quickly and efficiently provides individual plants to a planting machine with minimal damage to plants and with no interconnections between plants.

Landscapes

  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Soil Sciences (AREA)
  • Environmental Sciences (AREA)
  • Transplanting Machines (AREA)

Abstract

La présente invention se rapporte à une tête de transplantation de semis permettant de transférer des semis plantés dans un plateau (10) jusqu'à une machine de plantation automatique. La tête de transplantation saisit une rangée de semis qui est telle que la tige de chaque semis est maintenue par des éléments de préhension (46) alors que sa pelote racinaire est piquée sur une pointe (48). La rangée de semis est retirée du plateau aux fins du retrait des interconnexions de feuillage et de pelote racinaire entre des plantes de rangées adjacentes. L'écartement entre des plans adjacents dans la rangée retirée est ainsi accrue et des lames (39) sont déplacées entre les deux plantes adjacentes de chaque paire pour supprimer les interconnexions entre les semis. Chaque semis séparé est ensuite lâché dans un récipient (5) présent sur un tapis transporteur continu (6) passant par l'entrée de la machine de plantation. Deux ensembles de récipient sont utilisés de sorte que l'on puisse décharger les semis vers la machine de plantation tandis que l'autre reçoit la prochaine rangée de semis.
PCT/NZ2005/000339 2004-12-23 2005-12-21 Tete de transplantation de semis Ceased WO2006068518A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
NZ53751504 2004-12-23
NZ537515 2004-12-23

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2006068518A1 true WO2006068518A1 (fr) 2006-06-29

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Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/NZ2005/000339 Ceased WO2006068518A1 (fr) 2004-12-23 2005-12-21 Tete de transplantation de semis

Country Status (1)

Country Link
WO (1) WO2006068518A1 (fr)

Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN103999616A (zh) * 2014-06-19 2014-08-27 湖南农业大学 苗盘横置式全自动移栽机的送苗机构
JP2017063708A (ja) * 2015-09-30 2017-04-06 株式会社クボタ 移植作業機
CN106688401A (zh) * 2016-11-28 2017-05-24 于宪臣 一种移栽机以及其接苗分苗装置和接苗分苗方法
WO2018157215A1 (fr) * 2017-03-03 2018-09-07 Williames Pty Ltd Améliorations apportées à des repiqueuses sélectives automatiques
CN110050608A (zh) * 2019-05-14 2019-07-26 内江师范学院 一种便于移装的幼苗培养架
US12245538B2 (en) 2021-03-03 2025-03-11 Equipements Vegtech Apparatus for feeding a transplanter and a method for feeding a transplanter
CN119817270A (zh) * 2025-03-19 2025-04-15 山西农业大学 一种党参种苗自动分离移栽装置

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4998945A (en) * 1988-12-14 1991-03-12 National Research Development Corporation Transplanting equipment
JPH1175434A (ja) * 1997-09-01 1999-03-23 Mitsubishi Agricult Mach Co Ltd 苗取出し装置
JP2000139121A (ja) * 1998-11-05 2000-05-23 Mitsubishi Agricult Mach Co Ltd 苗取出し装置

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4998945A (en) * 1988-12-14 1991-03-12 National Research Development Corporation Transplanting equipment
JPH1175434A (ja) * 1997-09-01 1999-03-23 Mitsubishi Agricult Mach Co Ltd 苗取出し装置
JP2000139121A (ja) * 1998-11-05 2000-05-23 Mitsubishi Agricult Mach Co Ltd 苗取出し装置

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PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 2000, no. 08 *

Cited By (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN103999616A (zh) * 2014-06-19 2014-08-27 湖南农业大学 苗盘横置式全自动移栽机的送苗机构
CN103999616B (zh) * 2014-06-19 2015-12-23 湖南农业大学 苗盘横置式全自动移栽机的送苗机构
JP2017063708A (ja) * 2015-09-30 2017-04-06 株式会社クボタ 移植作業機
CN106688401A (zh) * 2016-11-28 2017-05-24 于宪臣 一种移栽机以及其接苗分苗装置和接苗分苗方法
WO2018157215A1 (fr) * 2017-03-03 2018-09-07 Williames Pty Ltd Améliorations apportées à des repiqueuses sélectives automatiques
US11337364B2 (en) 2017-03-03 2022-05-24 Williames Pty Ltd To automatic selective transplanters
CN110050608A (zh) * 2019-05-14 2019-07-26 内江师范学院 一种便于移装的幼苗培养架
CN110050608B (zh) * 2019-05-14 2023-12-12 内江师范学院 一种便于移装的幼苗培养架
US12245538B2 (en) 2021-03-03 2025-03-11 Equipements Vegtech Apparatus for feeding a transplanter and a method for feeding a transplanter
CN119817270A (zh) * 2025-03-19 2025-04-15 山西农业大学 一种党参种苗自动分离移栽装置

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