Automation in Plant Factory with Labor-saving Conveyance System

Q3 Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Minoru Tokimasa, Y. Nishiura
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Plant factory basics and facts were reported by Takatsuji (1996). The majority of current cultivation methods in plant factories are floating system where the cultivation panels float on water in a container. The panels are removed from the harvesting side by hand, while the new panels are pushed on by hand from the planting side. At the moment, the work is basically done by workers inside the cultivation room. Therefore, it is necessary to solve hygiene issues such as bacteria prevention, and safety considerations for work on the upper shelves. Also, it is important to solve the problem as to how to reduce labor running costs (Now, 5 workers / 1,000 plants, 5,000 yen / day). Low cost artificial type plant factories with total system control were discussed by Takayanagi (2000). As one way to solve these problem areas such as hygiene, employee safety, and labor cost management, the automatic culture bed transportation system was fabricated and examined. The automation of plant factory operations was discussed by Ogura (2011). The automated cultivation transport system reported in this paper utilizes the transportation technology as a labor saving structure, intended to innovative and revolutionary closed plant factory systems. To achieve labor saving employee reduction and safety for nutrient film technique (NFT) multistage cultivation, the system requires automated culture bed loading from the planting side, automated unloading from the harvesting side, and automated transportation for moving forward to erase the unused spaces. When the system is in use, the only employees work is to set the culture beds on the warehouse entrance plate for planting. Thus, this system was designed to keep employees safe from working in high-places and to reduce the labor cost of transportation from the planting entrance to the harvest room. Also, hygiene management can be improved and maintained because employee entrance into the cultivation room is limited. The adopted conveyor equipment in this system has the latest network and control system that can communicate the cultivation shelves operation conditions in real time. Operation instructions and status confirmations such as continuous automated delivery, and trouble detection can be remotely controlled from a centralized location, because the position of the cultivation shelves can be managed. These methods combined are considered to offer labor savings benefits. From the above items, significant running cost reductions can be achieved, and operating a mass production plant factory becomes feasible.
具有省力输送系统的植物工厂自动化
Takatsuji(1996)报道了植物工厂的基本知识和事实。目前大多数植物工厂的栽培方法是漂浮系统,栽培板漂浮在水面上的容器。这些面板是用手从收获侧拆除的,而新的面板是用手从种植侧推上去的。目前,这项工作基本上是由栽培室内的工人完成的。因此,有必要解决诸如细菌预防等卫生问题,以及在上层货架上工作的安全考虑。另外,如何降低人工运行成本也很重要(目前,5名工人/ 1000个工厂,5000日元/天)。Takayanagi(2000)讨论了具有全系统控制的低成本人工型植物工厂。作为解决卫生、员工安全、人工成本管理等问题的一种方法,研制了培养床自动运输系统。Ogura(2011)讨论了工厂操作的自动化。本文报道的自动化栽培运输系统利用运输技术作为一种节省劳动力的结构,旨在创新和革命性的封闭式植物工厂系统。为了实现营养膜技术(NFT)多级栽培的省力、减员和安全,该系统需要从种植侧自动装载栽培床,从收获侧自动卸载栽培床,并自动运输向前移动以清除未使用的空间。系统使用时,员工唯一的工作就是在仓库入口板上设置栽培床进行种植。因此,该系统的设计是为了保证员工在高处工作的安全,并减少从种植入口到收获室的运输人工成本。此外,由于员工进入培养室受到限制,因此可以改善和保持卫生管理。本系统所采用的输送设备具有最新的网络和控制系统,可以实时沟通种植货架的运行情况。操作指令和状态确认,如连续自动交付和故障检测,可以从一个集中的位置远程控制,因为种植货架的位置可以管理。这些方法结合起来被认为提供了节省劳动力的好处。从上述项目中,可以实现显著的运行成本降低,并且运营大规模生产工厂工厂是可行的。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Environmental Control in Biology
Environmental Control in Biology Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Agronomy and Crop Science
CiteScore
2.00
自引率
0.00%
发文量
25
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