JPH04183318A - Fruit harvester - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the operation of a harvesting work vehicle over a long period by connecting a harvesting work vehicle to a harvested fruit transporting vehicle during the harvesting work and driving the harvesting work vehicle by the electric power source of the harvested fruit transporting vehicle having relatively low power consumption. CONSTITUTION:An electric harvesting work vehicle 3 is furnished with a robot hand 2 for harvesting fruits, runs on a prescribed path and harvests the fruits of crops planted along the path. An electrically driven harvested fruit transporting vehicle 6 furnished with a harvested fruit container 5 for holding the harvested fruits is detachably connected to the harvesting work vehicle 3 to successively accept the harvested fruits in the harvested fruit container 5. Electric power can be supplied from the harvested fruit transporting vehicle 6 to the harvesting work vehicle 3 through an electrode rod 11 and an electrode receptor 17 when the harvesting work vehicle 3 is connected to the harvested fruit transporting vehicle 6. The harvesting work vehicle is driven by the power source of the harvested fruit transporting vehicle having relatively low power consumption to enable the operation of the harvesting work vehicle over a long period.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an unmanned fruit harvesting machine used, for example, in greenhouse cultivation.

[Conventional technology] In order to save labor in harvesting in greenhouse cultivation, etc.
An unmanned fruit harvesting machine has been developed that uses a visual device such as a camera to search for fruit that can be harvested, automatically picks the fruit using a robot harvesting hand, and stores the fruit in a predetermined harvest container. -Generally, a fruit harvesting machine is equipped with both a robot hand and a harvest container in one vehicle, but there are restrictions on the size of each vehicle, so the fruit harvesting machine with the above configuration is The capacity of the harvest container cannot be increased very much, so the robot hand and the harvest container are installed in separate vehicles, and the harvest vehicle equipped with the robot hand is followed by the harvest transport vehicle equipped with the harvest container. It is being considered that the following can be achieved. This configuration has the advantage that the harvest container can be made relatively large and that a large amount of fruit can be harvested by replacing only the harvest vehicle.

[Invention tries to solve! ! Jl! ]however,
The fruit harvester used in greenhouses does not emit exhaust gas.
<- Generally, a tree is used as the drive source, and in the case of a fruit harvester of the type in which the harvesting vehicle and the harvest transport vehicle are separated, the harvesting vehicle consumes electricity for both harvesting work and driving. Therefore, there is a problem in that the battery voltage of the harvesting vehicle drops faster than that of the harvest transport vehicle, and the harvesting vehicle may have to be charged in the middle of work.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following configuration.

That is, the fruit harvesting machine according to the present invention includes an electric harvesting vehicle equipped with a robot hand for fruit harvesting, which moves along a predetermined route and picks fruits from crops planted along the route; an electric harvest transport vehicle that is detachably connected to the harvest vehicle and sequentially stores the picked fruit in the harvest container;
The present invention is characterized in that an electricity supply means is provided that can supply electricity from the harvest vehicle to the harvest vehicle when the harvest vehicle and the harvest vehicle are connected.

[Function] Harvesting vehicles perform both harvesting work and driving, so they consume a lot of electricity for motive power, but harvest transport vehicles simply follow the harvesting vehicle and consume relatively little electricity. Therefore, by supplying the harvest vehicle with electric power from the harvest vehicle, the operating time of the harvest vehicle can be extended and work efficiency can be improved.

[Example] An embodiment shown in one drawing will be described below.

This fruit harvesting machine 1 consists of a harvesting work vehicle 3 equipped with a robot hand 2 for harvesting work and a harvested product transport vehicle 6 equipped with a harvested product container 5, and both are configured to be connectable to each other. Both the harvest vehicle 3 and the harvest material transport vehicle 6 are electric vehicles, and each has a built-in battery 8.9.

The connecting portion between the interiors 3 and 6 of both vehicles has a structure shown in FIG. 2. That is, a pair of positive and negative electrodes 11 (+, -) are provided on the front surface of the harvest vehicle 6 . The electrode holder 12 to which this electrode rod 11 is attached is provided at the tip of a cable 14 wound around a reel 13, and by letting out the cable 14 from the reel 13, the electrode holder 12 is pulled out as much as necessary from the harvest transport vehicle body. be able to. Note that after pulling out the cable 14 of the required length from the reel 13, no further cable 14 can be pulled out.
A locking device is provided to prevent it from being pulled out. In addition, an electrode rod i is provided on the back of the harvesting vehicle 3.
electrode receptor 17(+,-) into which t(+,-) is inserted;
is provided.

The electrode receptor 17 consists of a fixed member 20 and a movable member 21, which are held together in a scissor-like manner by a pin 19, and an insertion portion 22 for the electrode rod 11 is formed in the space between the ends of both members 20. A spring 23 that biases the movable member 21 in the closing direction is provided at the base of the movable member 21, and a solenoid 24 that drives the movable member 21 in the opening direction against the force of the spring is provided. Hook portions 11a and 21a are formed at the tip of the electrode rod 7 and the tip of the movable member 21, respectively, to engage with each other. These electrode rods 11 and electrode receptacles 1
Reference numeral 7 denotes a connecting means for detachably connecting the harvest vehicle 3 and the harvest vehicle 6, and also serves as an electricity supply means for supplying electricity from the harvest vehicle 6 to the harvest vehicle 3.

The electrical circuit diagram of the connecting part is as shown in Figure 3. In Figure 0, 26 is a power selection relay, 27 is a power selection switch, 2
8 is a solenoid switch, 30 is a chattering prevention capacitor, and 31 is a voltage detection circuit.

Further, the control device of the harvest vehicle 3 is configured as shown in FIG. 4. That is, the detection signals from the various sensors 33 of the traveling device and the harvesting device and the voltage detection circuit 31 and the input signals of the power supply switching switch 727 are connected to the human power interface 3.
4 to the CPU 35, which processes the signal and outputs an output signal to each motor, actuator 37, and solenoid relay 38 of the traveling device and harvesting device via the output interface 36.

Connect the electrode rod 11 (+, -) to the electrode receptor 17 (+,
-), the hook parts 11a and 21a engage with each other, and the harvest vehicle 3 and the harvest vehicle 6 are connected, and electricity is supplied from the battery 9 of the harvest vehicle 6 to the harvest vehicle 3. Become supplied. At the same time, the power supply changeover switch 27 is switched to the side b in FIG. 3, and the traveling device and robot hand of the harvest vehicle 3 are driven using the battery 9 of the harvest vehicle as a power source.

When the solenoid 24 is energized and the electrode receptor 17 is opened, the electrode rod 11 is removed from the electrode receptor, the front vehicle 3.6 is separated, and electricity is supplied from the battery 9 of the harvest vehicle 6 to the harvest vehicle 3. will be stopped. In addition, the power selector switch 27 is switched to the a side in FIG.
The harvest vehicle 3 is switched to be driven by its own battery 8.

Next, as a specific example of the work for fruit harvesting 17#sl+1, the work situation in the greenhouse shown in FIG. 5 will be described. This house 40 has ridges 41 in which crops are planted at predetermined intervals. ... are provided in parallel, and a passage is formed between them. Turning marks are placed at appropriate locations at both ends of the 8 passages! l142. ...is provided. Harvest work vehicle 3
and the harvest transport vehicle 6 leave the collection/delivery platform 44 in a connected state and move in the order of passage ■→■→... according to the instructions of the signs 42, . During this time, the robot hand 2 of the harvest vehicle 3 sequentially picks the fruits of the crops along the path and puts them into the harvest container 5 of the harvest vehicle 6.

During this harvesting work, the harvest vehicle 3 is also driven by the battery 9 of the harvest product transport vehicle 6. When a predetermined number of crops are loaded onto the harvest vehicle 6, the harvest vehicle 6 is separated from the harvest vehicle 3 and returns to the collection/shipment platform 44.

On the other hand, when the voltage of the battery 9 of the harvest vehicle 6 drops below a predetermined value, the vehicle in front 3.6 separates and the harvest vehicle 6 returns to the predetermined charging home 45 to charge the battery 9. This voltage value is set to a value that allows the harvest vehicle 6 to return to the charging home 45 from any position within the house 40.The charging method is as shown in FIG. , -), a charging rod 48 (+, =) provided at the rear end of the vehicle body is inserted to perform charging.

In this way, by appropriately using the battery 8 of the harvest vehicle 3 and the battery 9 of the harvest material transport vehicle 6, it is possible to maintain a long working time. Moreover, since the vehicles 3 and 6 in front are separated when the voltage of the battery 9 becomes less than a predetermined value, there is no fear that the battery 9 of the harvest vehicle 6 will run out and the harvest vehicle will become stuck in the middle of the passage.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of harvest transport vehicles 6 are used, and while one vehicle is charging, the other vehicles are
For example, while charging at the charging home 45, a signal from the transmitter 51 of the harvest transport vehicle to the transmitter 52 of the charging home is transmitted from the harvesting machine to the transmitter 52 of the charging home. A signal indicating the position is sent (see FIG. 6), and when the signal is further sent from the transmitter 52 to the central control device 53, the central control device 53 sends a command signal to other harvest transport vehicles 6 on standby. The harvest vehicle 6 then starts toward the location where the harvest vehicle 3 is located. When the harvest vehicle 6 encounters the harvest vehicle 3, the vehicles in front connect with each other and start harvesting again.

[Effect of the invention] As explained above, the fruit harvesting machine according to the present invention has the following effects:
It consists of a harvest vehicle that is responsible for harvesting the fruits and a harvest vehicle that is responsible for transporting the harvest.During harvesting, the front vehicles are connected to each other, and the harvest is powered by the harvest vehicle, which consumes relatively little electricity. Since it is designed to drive the work vehicle, it has become possible to operate the harvest work vehicle for a long time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a side view of a fruit harvesting machine which is an example of the present invention;
The figures are a side view and a plan view of the connecting part between the harvesting vehicle and the harvest transport vehicle, Figure 3 is an electric circuit diagram of the connecting part, Figure 4 is a block diagram of the control device of the harvesting vehicle, and Figure 5 is the house. Fig. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the charging state of the harvest transport vehicle, Fig. 7 is a plan view of
The figure is a block diagram showing different control methods. l...fruit harvester, 2...robot hand, 3...
- Harvesting work machine, 5... Harvest container, 6... Harvest transport vehicle, 11... Electrode rod (connecting means, electricity supply means), 17... Electrode receptor (coupling means, electricity supply means) ).

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An electric harvesting vehicle equipped with a robot hand for fruit harvesting, which moves along a predetermined route and picks the fruits of crops planted along the route, and a harvest container that stores the harvested products. The vehicle comprises an electric harvest transport vehicle that is detachably connected to the harvest vehicle and sequentially stores the picked fruit in a harvest container, and when the harvest vehicle and the harvest vehicle are connected, the harvest vehicle is transported. A fruit harvesting machine characterized by being provided with an electricity supply means capable of supplying electricity from the vehicle side to the harvesting vehicle side.