JPH05276849A - Automatic feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To carry out the feeding corresponding to the state of fishes in a crawl. CONSTITUTION:Cultured Fishes (12b) poking at a unit 11 to be poked are sensed with an approaching fish sensor and a feeding start signal based on the fish approach signal indicating the sensing is generated by a start signal generating part. Residual feeds (14a) are collected with a residual feed collector 13 and the collected residual feeds are sensed with a residual feed sensor. A feeding stop signal based on the residual feed sensing signal indicating the sensing of the residual feeds is generated by a stop signal generating part.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a feeding device for feeding a cage, and more particularly to an automatic feeding device whose feeding operation is controlled according to the state of fish in a cage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Feeding in aquaculture using cages relies on human labor, but in recent years, an automatic feeding device has been installed for the purpose of omitting human labor. This automatic feeding device, which replaces manual labor, can set the feeding amount, feeding speed, and feeding time individually, and when the set time comes, the set amount of food is set at the set speed. Is automatically fed.

[0003]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] When the above-mentioned automatic feeding device is used, its setting is in accordance with the purpose of quickly increasing the weight of fish during cultivation. It is usually set on more eyes than the fish need. As a result, a large amount of uneaten food is deposited on the seabed under the cage, which causes problems such as soiling of the sea, and also results in unnecessary costs for food.

The present invention has been conceived to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide an automatic feeding device capable of feeding according to the condition of fish in a cage.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an automatic feeding apparatus according to the present invention uses a fish cultivated in a cage as a cultivated fish, and is a target of a pecking motion which is a hungry motion of the cultivated fish. An approaching fish detection device that detects the object to be poked, an aquaculture fish approaching the object to be poked using ultrasonic waves, and a detection signal sent by the approaching fish detection device is guided as a fish approaching signal. Based on the fish approach signal, a configuration including a start signal generation unit that generates a feeding start signal for instructing the start of feeding is used. Further, the start signal generation unit is configured to generate a feeding start signal when the fish approach signal is guided more than a preset number of times within a preset time. In addition, when the bait that was fed to the cage is left as the bait left by the fish cultivated in the cage, it is provided in the water below the feeding port that feeds the cage and collects the residual food. And a residual food collecting net for discharging the residual food collected from the residual food outlet,
By using ultrasonic waves, a leftover food detection device that detects leftover food discharged from the leftover food discharge port, and feed stop that indicates stoppage of food feeding based on the leftover food detection signal sent from this leftover food detection device. A stop signal generation unit that generates a signal is provided.

[0006]

When the cultured fish approaches the pecked body when the cultured fish is hungry, this approach is detected by the approaching fish detection device. That is, when the cultured fish becomes hungry, the approaching fish detection device sends a fish approaching signal. Therefore, the start signal generation unit starts feeding by generating a feeding start signal based on the fish approach signal. In addition, the fact that residual food is produced means that the fish in the cage were sufficiently fed, so the residual food is collected by the residual food collecting net and the collected residual food is discharged from the residual food discharge port. And the discharge of this residual food is detected using the residual food detection device, and the stop signal generation unit is caused to generate a feeding stop signal based on the residual food detection signal indicating detection,
Stop feeding.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, a cylindrical ultrasonic transducer 22 is provided in the seawater near the water surface near the lower part of the feeder main body 15, and remains in the middle seawater below the feeder main body 15. A bait collector 13 is provided. Further, the poled body 11 made of a rod-shaped metal such as stainless steel is fixed to the ultrasonic oscillator 22 by a mounting bracket 111 wound around the peripheral wall of the ultrasonic oscillator 22, and the ultrasonic oscillator 22 has a cable 221. Are connected.

The residual bait collector 13 has a pyramid-shaped collecting net 134 whose upper edge is supported by a hexagonal frame body 133 and whose shape is supported by six beam members 135 (opens below the collecting net 134). Part 1341 is formed), and the residual food discharge part 13 provided below the opening part 1341 of the collecting net 134.
6 is a main part, and the frame body 133 is supported by six support members whose ends are fixed to the upper end of a central support rod 132 which is an elongated cylindrical metal pipe provided in the center. Has been done.

The residual food discharging section 136 is supported from above by a supporting member attached to the lower end of the central supporting rod 132, and the upper end thereof is circularly opened. In addition, a left side food outlet 131, which is a vertically long opening, is formed on one side wall of the side wall, and a side wall opposite to the left side food outlet 131 has a cylindrical shape obliquely upward. An ultrasonic transducer is formed inside the protruding portion 138 that is shortly projected.
21 is installed.

[0012] The bottom of the leftover food discharge part 136 has a protrusion 13
The outlet bottom plate 137 is inclined downward as it goes from 8 to the residual food outlet 131, and the cable 211 connected to the ultrasonic transducer 21 extends from the lower end of the center support rod 132 to the inside of the center support rod 132. While being guided, it is pulled out from the opening at the upper end of the center support rod 132,
The cable 2 is supported from above by a cable 211.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing the details of the ultrasonic transducer 21 attached to the residual food discharging section 136.

The ultrasonic transducer 21 is attached so that the ultrasonic wave transmitting direction is parallel to the outlet bottom plate 137,
The directivity of the transmitted ultrasonic wave is a sharp directivity that is transmitted only in the range 212 surrounded by the broken line in the figure. In order to realize this sharp directional characteristic, the frequency of the drive signal given to the ultrasonic transducer 21 is set to 2 MHz.

The relationship between the residual food discharge unit 136 and the ultrasonic oscillator 21 will be described in more detail.
2 around the side wall of the leftover food discharge unit 136 and the bottom plate 137 of the discharge port.
The structure is surrounded by and so that bubbles generated by fish and dust floating in seawater cannot easily enter the directional characteristic range 212.

The directional characteristics of the ultrasonic oscillator 22 are substantially the same as those of the ultrasonic oscillator 21, and the transmission range is the range 222 shown in FIG. The frequency of the drive signal is 2 MHz.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the electrical construction of an embodiment of the present invention.

The ultrasonic transducer 22 and the transmitting / receiving unit 24 are bidirectionally connected via a cable 221, and the transmitting / receiving unit 24
Is output to the start signal generator 35 as a fish approach signal 321. The output of the start signal generation unit 35 is sent to the feeding control unit 34 as a feeding start signal 351.

The ultrasonic transducer 21 and the transmitter / receiver 23 are bidirectionally connected via a cable 211, and the output of the transmitter / receiver 23 is sent to the stop signal generator 33 as a residual food detection signal 311. The feeding stop signal 331 that is introduced and is the output of the stop signal generation unit 33 is guided to the feeding control unit 34. The output 151 of the feeding control unit 34 is sent to the feeder main body 15.

In the above construction, the fish approach signal 321 and the residual bait detection signal 311 are analog signals indicating the detection distance, so that the current output is 4 to 20 mA in order to improve noise resistance. Further, the approaching fish detection device 32 is configured by two blocks of the ultrasonic transducer 22 and the transmission / reception unit 24, and the remaining bait detection device 31 is composed of two blocks of the ultrasonic transducer 21 and the transmission / reception unit 23. It is configured by. Further, the ultrasonic transducers 21 and 22 are given drive signals 20 times or more per second.

The operation of one embodiment of the present invention having the above configuration will be described below.

Since fish such as trouts and snappers have the property of poking objects when they are hungry, when they want food, they will peck the pecked body 11. That is, the cultured fish 12b is located below the ultrasonic transducer 22. Therefore, the approach of the cultured fish 12b to the pecked body 11 is prevented by the ultrasonic transducer 22
It is detected by the approaching fish detection device 32 including the transmitting and receiving unit 24, and the fish approaching signal 321 indicating the distance from the ultrasonic transducer 22 to the cultured fish 12b is sent to the start signal generating unit 35.

The start signal generator 35 to which this signal is guided is
From the distance indicated by the fish approach signal 321, the moving average value is calculated by constantly calculating the average value of the latest five detected distances. Then, when the value of the moving average value is within the range of the distance L1 and the change in the value of the moving average value shows a continuous change, it is determined that the cultured fish 12b is poking the pecking body 11. To do.

Then, the number of times the cultured fish 12b pecks the pecked body 11 during 5 minutes is measured, and when the number exceeds the preset number, it is determined that the cultured fish 12b is hungry. Then, the feeding start signal 351 for instructing the start of feeding is sent to the feeding control unit 34. Therefore, the feeding control unit 34 starts feeding by controlling the feeder main body 15.

By the above operation, feeding is started from the feeder main body 15, and the fed food 14b is eaten by the cultured fish 12a. This condition continues and the cultured fish 12
When the hunger of a is full, the fed bait 14b is the cultured fish.
It will fall into the seawater without being eaten by 12a, and will remain as bait 14a. This leftover bait 14a is a collection net 13
Collected by 4.

Remaining bait 14 collected by collection net 134
a continues to fall along the inclination of the collecting net 134 and is guided to the residual food discharging section 136. Then, the residual food 14a guided to the residual food discharging unit 136 moves while bouncing along the inclination of the discharge bottom plate 137 (the movement route is indicated by a two-dot chain line 139) and discharged from the residual food discharging port 131. ..

The residual food detecting device 31 including the ultrasonic transducer 21 and the transmitting / receiving unit 23 moves along the outlet bottom plate 137 because the range along the upper portion of the outlet bottom plate 137 is the detection range. The leftover food 14a will be detected by the leftover food detection device 31. The residual food detection signal 311 which is this detection output
Is a signal indicating the distance to the remaining food 14a and is given to the stop signal generation unit 33.

The stop signal generator 33 first calculates the moving average value of the distance indicated by the remaining food detection signal 311. When the change in the calculated moving average value is monotonically increasing (meaning that the residual food 14a is moving along the outlet bottom plate 137) and the value is in the range L2, the residual food is It is determined to be 14a.

Then, the number of detections of the residual food 14a during a certain period of time is measured, and when the number of detections exceeds a preset number, it is determined that the cultivated fish 12a is hungry, and the feeding is performed. Stop feeding signal 33 to stop the feeding
1 is sent to the feeding control unit 34. The feeding control unit 34 to which the feeding stop signal 331 is guided controls the feeder main body 15 to stop feeding.

As described above, the method of generating the feeding start signal 351 in this embodiment calculates the moving average value of the detection distances to the cultured fish 12b, and the value of the moving average value is the distance.
It is based on the judgment method that the cultured fish 12b is poking the pecking body 11 only when the value is within the range of L1 and the change of the moving average value shows a continuous change. It is possible to prevent an error in determining the approach of the cultured fish 12b.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but may be configured to use only a block for generating the feeding start signal 351 or a block for generating the feeding stop signal 331. Is possible.

Regarding the calculation of the moving average value, the case where the moving average value is calculated based on the latest five detection distances has been described.
For example, the moving average value may be calculated based on the detection distance of 6 times or the like.

Although the cage has been described in the case of being installed in seawater, it can be similarly applied to the case of fresh water, and its mounting position has been described in the case of the middle stage of seawater. However, it can be installed near the sea floor.

[0034]

The automatic feeding device according to the present invention detects the cultured fish that pecks the pecked body using the approaching fish detection device,
The start signal generation unit is configured to generate a feeding start signal based on a fish approach signal indicating detection, or residual food is collected using a residual food collector, and the detected residual food is detected as residual food. The stop signal generator is configured to generate a feed stop signal based on the residual food detection signal indicating the detection of residual food, so it is possible to determine if the cultured fish is hungry. When the stomach is full, it is determined whether or not the stomach is full, so that it is possible to feed the fish according to the state of the fish in the cage.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing details of an ultrasonic transducer attached to a residual food discharging unit.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Pecked body 12a, 12b Cultured fish 13 Leftover food collector 14a Leftover food 31 Leftover food detection device 32 Approaching fish detection device 33 Stop signal generation unit 35 Start signal generation unit 131 Leftover food discharge signal 311 Leftover food detection signal 321 Fish Approach signal 331 Feeding stop signal 351 Feeding start signal

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. When a fish cultivated in a cage is used as a cultured fish, an object to be pecked which is a pecking operation which is an operation when the cultured fish is hungry, and an object to be aquaculture that approaches the object to be pecked An approaching fish detection device that detects fish using ultrasonic waves, and when the detection signal sent out by this approaching fish detection device is used as a fish approaching signal, based on the guided fish approaching signal, the feeding start instruction is given. An automatic feeding device, comprising: a start signal generation unit that generates a signal. 2. The start signal generation unit generates the feeding start signal when the fish approach signal is guided more than a preset number of times within a preset time. 1. The automatic feeding device according to 1. 3. The bait fed to the cage, wherein when the bait left by the fish cultivated in the cage is to be left as bait, the bait is provided in the water below the feeding port for feeding bait to the cage. The residual bait collection net that collects the residual bait and discharges the collected residual bait from the residual bait outlet, and detects the residual bait discharged from the residual bait outlet by using ultrasonic waves An automatic feeding device comprising: a device; and a stop signal generation unit that generates a feed stop signal for instructing to stop feeding based on a left food detection signal sent from the left food detection device.