WO1991001632A1

WO1991001632A1 - Conveyor assembly

Info

Publication number: WO1991001632A1
Application number: PCT/GB1990/001220
Authority: WO
Inventors: Peter Moran; Peter John Kettlewell; William Charles Whetlor
Original assignee: British Society For Research In Agricultural Engineering
Priority date: 1989-08-04
Filing date: 1990-08-03
Publication date: 1991-02-21

Abstract

A multi-section conveyor system comprising a plurality of mutually aligned integrally-powered conveyor sections (10). The system is especially suited for use in a hen-house in view of its compact construction and the capability of using the individual conveyor sections to be transported to or from their desired locations by other sections in place within the hen-house.

Description

CONVEYOR ASSEMBLY

The present invention relates to conveyor assemblies and in particular, but not exclusively, to a conveyor assembly for use in populating or depopulating an egg-laying battery.

A typical large egg production enterprise comprises a number of sheds on rearing sites housing, say, 300,000 birds, and a total of, say, 40 sheds on a number of laying sites housing, say, 1 million birds. The birds are housed in cages either on solid floors at ground level or on raised wooden floors in deep pit sheds at about 2.4m above ground level. Sheds may be over 100m long and 16m wide. Laying hens are placed at 16-17 weeks (1.5kg) and removed at 75 weeks (2kg). During bird placement or removal the birds are carried manually for distances of up to 150m and they are passed from handler to handler. Cages often have egg belts and feed troughs along the front which limit cage access for bird placement and removal and which obstruct the passageway between banks of cages. Some cages also have the additional feature of a standrail which also obstructs the passageway. A typical passageway between the banks of cages can be 0.8m wide, but cage furniture and roof support posts can limit the effective width to 0.5m. Overhead obstructions, including lighting, limit headroom to 2.4m. The flooring in raised houses is of timber construction, some are chipboard sheets and some are slatted.

Across one end of each house there is usually a transverse egg conveyor which obstructs the passageway floor. Bridges allow access across this conveyor. Access doors for loading and unloading birds are often provided in each gable end of a shed. These vary in size and location.

Bearing in mind the size of the installation and the need to clear and restock the cages in a single operation within an acceptable ti escale, it will usually be necessary for operatives - 2 - to carry a number of hens in each hand (holding them upside-down by one leg). Given the very limited access available, it will be no surprise to learn that injury to the birds is not infrequent. Thus the present manual systems of populating and depopulating a

05 laying battery are: (1) unkind or worse to the hens, because of the high stress injury-prone method of handling; (2) unpleasant for the operatives because of the need to work over a sustained period in severely cramped conditions; and (3) expensive for the owner of the installation firstly because the work is so

10 labour-intensive and secondly because, as a result of injury, a proportion of the birds will be unsuitable for laying (injury during loading) or for processing as spent hens (injury during emptying of the cages).

Outside the shed, the birds are handled into or out of crates

15 on vehicles and, once again, injury may occur.

The effect on welfare and profitability of manual live bird handling is a matter of concern. Damage to the birds could be reduced if they were not handed from man to man, or carried manually over long distances and with this in mind, it is an

20 object of the present invention to provide a suitable mechanised system for the transportation of birds in such an environment.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a multi- section conveyor assembly comprises a plurality of mutually aligned individual conveyor sections adapted to discharge one on

25 to the other.

Alternatively or additionally, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multi-section conveyor assembly in which the individual conveyor sections are stackable one on or within the other when the system is disassembled.

30 Alternatively or additionally, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multi-section conveyor assembly in which each individual conveyor section is adapted for travel on a preceding section or sections during assembly of the system. Alternatively or additionally, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multi-section conveyor assembly comprising a plurality of individual conveyor sections each fitted with a motor lying within the confines of the conveying belt of that section, e.g. within an end support roller for the belt.

Alternatively or additionally, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multi-section conveyor assembly comprising a plurality of individual conveyor sections each including two wall portions extending along each side of the section. Preferably, these wall portions diverge upwardly to allow stacking of the sections one within the other when the system is disassembled.

Alternatively or additionally, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multi-section conveyor assembly comprising a plurality of individual conveyor sections, a sensor e.g. a pivotted flap, for sensing the presence of objects at a location in the conveyor system and control means responding to a signal from the sensor to stop the conveyor system on or following detection of an object at said location.

Alternatively or additionally, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multi-section conveyor assembly comprising a plurality of individual conveyor sections each of lightweight construction (e.g. typically not more than about 50kg or so) and of length and width dimensions (viewed in plan) not in excess of 4 m (typically 2.4m) and 0.5m respectively.

Conveniently, the conveyor sections are arranged and/or constructed so that the birds experience a drop as they transfer from one section to the next. Thus in a first such embodiment, the conveyor sections are adapted to discharge one on to the other with each section inclining upwardly over its length so that the birds experience a drop (typically of 50mm or so) as they are transferred from the upper end of one conveyor section to the lower end of the next. In a second such embodiment, the conveyor sections have substantially level (e.g. substantially horizontal⁾ top runs which overhang the remainder of the belt sections at what, in operation, will be the discharge ends of the conveyor sections. This latter arrangement not only advantageously allows a smaller gap between the adjacent bird-supporting runs of the assembly than hitherto, but it preserves the advantageous drop effect as the birds move from one belt section to the next. Typically, in this case, drops of about 20mm or so are envisaged. Conveniently, the overhang is achieved by having the belt sections move around top and bottom rollers at the discharge ends of the conveyor sections with the top rollers more advanced than the bottom rollers (in the direction of belt travel).

Conveniently, bird stress may also be reduced by having the conveyor sections fitted with cover members, optionally with viewing ports in the cover members (and/or in side walls of the conveyor sections concerned). If desired, these ports may be closed by windows e.g. of clear plastics material or the like.

When present, the one or more cover members, by preventing escape of the birds, also allow a lower-sided and hence lighter construction than is possible, using the same materials, with a system in which bird escape is prevented by the height of the side walls.

Thus, the use of cover members allows the thickness of the sheet metal components normally used for these walls, to be reduced by about 20% compared with those arrangements using full-height walls. In fact, by punching weight-reduction holes in many of the components used in the present system, the total weight of each conveyor section can be reduced to about 50kg or so (including the cover member) for a 2.4m long section of 0.5m width.

Conveniently, the cross-sectional configuration of the cover members and the side walls of the conveyor sections is such as to encourage the birds to occupy the central regions of the belt. In particular, the particular cover member used at the inlet end of the whole assembly preferably is provided with a funnel or funnel-like section to encourage this centralising effect.

According to another preferred feature, side walls of the conveyor sections overhang the top runs of the conveyor belt sections so that stationary bed plates underneath the bird-supporting runs are nowhere exposed to the birds.

Conveniently, in any of the assemblies above described in accordance with the present invention, means are provided to reverse the direction of conveyor travel.

The invention also includes a conveyor section for use in any one or more of the conveyor assemblies of the present invention.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying somewhat diagrammatic drawings, in which:

Figures 1 and 2 are respectively end and side views of an individual conveyor section for use in a multi-section conveyor apparatus in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 3 is a perspective scrap view of one end of the conveyor section together with its section-locating support, further details of the assembly being shown in the scrap view of Figure 3A as will hereinafter be described;

Figure 3B is a perspective scrap view of a modified design of conveyor section and support with Figures 3C and 3D showing scrap side views for alternative operating regimes;

Figure 4 shows, in end view, a number of conveyor sections stacked one within the other;

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic simplified side view illustrating a drive and control system for the conveyor assembly; Figure 5A shows an alternative design of conveyor layout;

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic simplified side view illustrating a multi-section conveyor assembly set up for the discharge of birds for loading into containers on a trailer;

Figures 7 and 8 are perspective views of the inlet and discharge ends of a multi-section conveyor assembly in accordance with the present invention; Figure 9 is a cross-section on a larger scale of the adjacent ends of two of the conveyor sections used in the assembly at Figures 7 and 8;

Figure 10 is a perspective view of one of the items shown in Figure 9;

Figure 11 is a part-sectioned plan view, also on a larger scale, of the drive system employed for adjacent conveyor sections (the belts and cover members being omitted from this Figure for clarity); Figure 12 is a part-sectional scrap elevation of the adjacent ends of two conveyor sections and the connection between them;

Figure 13 is a side view of the connector used in the arrangement of Figure 12; and

Figure 14 is an end view showing one of the conveyor sections and its support tripod.

Thus referring first to Figures 1 to 4 of the drawings, each conveyor section 10 comprises a bottom trough component 12 to which are secured upwardly diverging side walls 14.

The troughs 12 house end support rollers 16,17 for an associated conveyor belt 19, the uppermost load-carrying run of which is supported by a plate component 21 secured between the section walls 14 and those of the trough 12.

Transverse strengthening ribs 23 are secured between the trough walls as shown in Figure 3 and, from a different viewpoint, in the scrap view of Figure 3A. These give the section additional rigidity.

Reference numeral 25, in Figure 1, indicates an optional lid component for section 10.

The belt-supporting rollers 16,17 (omitted from Figure 3) are mounted on bearings for rotation about stationary axles 27,28 mounted in the walls of the trough component 12.

The leading roller 16 is an integrally-powered roller such as those currently provided by Ooki Ltd. under the tradename Joki Mini, for example. The electric motor 30 mounted within the foremost roller 16 is connected via leads 32 through a bore in axle 27 to a mains supply and control circuit 34 as will be hereinafter described in more detail with reference to Figure 5. The conveyor section 10 further includes wooden runners 36 secured to the underside of the trough to support the section on the belt 19 of the adjacent conveyor section when these are stacked vertically as shown in Figure 4. Centering during stacking, is achieved by co-operation of the runners 36 with longitudinal bracket members 37 secured between walls 14 and the plate component 21.

The runners 36 serve the additional purpose of centering the conveyor section 10 over the variable-height section-locating supports 38 shown in Figure 3 so that the upwardly-directed pegs 40 can be more easily located beneath the apertures 42 in the base of trough 12.

The adjacent pair of pegs 46 are used in exactly the same way to locate the next conveyor section 10 and in this fashion, the individual sections can be held close together so that, in use, the birds may be transferred from one section belt to the next with minimal disturbance.

Figure 3B' shows an alternative embodiment in which the section-locating supports have been redesigned to introduce a measure of articulation by having two centrally-located pegs 40,46 instead of the pairs of spaced pegs shown in Figure 3. An apertured bracket 47 is also included at each end of the conveyor sections to provide stiffening. Although not shown, a quadruply-apertured version of bracket 47 may also be included in the Figure 3 embodiment, if desired. It may also be desirable, when the system is being used for conveying hens, that the different conveyor belts should not be in the same plane. Accordingly, Figure 5A (not to scale) diagra matically illustrates, by way of example, an alternative "multi-plane" arrangement in which each conveyor belt rises by a distance of 5cm over its length. The modified stand (48) of Figure 3B is especially suitable for use in the multi-plane embodiment of Figure 5A in that the two pegs are separately mounted on different base sections so that one peg (40) can be lowered or raised relative to the other peg (46) to slope the conveyors for left-to-right travel (as shown in Figure 5A) or for travel in the opposite direction. Alternatively, stand 48 can be set as shown in Figure 5 so that the two pegs 40,46 are kept at the same height (useful during assembly of the installation). During assembly, bridge frames 50 are preferably also secured to adjacent ends of the conveyor sections 10 to provide stiffening at the tops of the side walls, each frame 50 being provided with a welded angle bracket 52 carrying a vertical peg 53 for location in the apertured top flanges 54 of the side walls 14 (Figure 3B).

Once in place, the frames 50 are interconnected by slider bars 56 which are pivotally secured to the frames 50 by appropriate bolts 57 to allow variation between the "same plane" regime of Figure 3B (and Figure 3C) and the "multi-plane" regime of Figure 5A (and Figure 3D).

Returning now to Figure 5, it will be seen that the individual conveyor section motors 30 are connected in series to a mains supply at 59 via an appropriate control box 60 which can be set for forward, zero or reverse motion of the conveyor, as required. Reference numerals 62,63 respectively indicate the junction box and plug-and-socket connections for the various sections.

Reference numeral 65 indicates diagram atically in Figure 5 a preferred location for removing the hens from the three-stage assembly depicted there by way of illustration only. However, some protection of the birds on the assembly will be needed in the event that they are not being removed from the conveyor at the rate at which they arrive at location 65. Accordingly, the whole system will automatically be shut down on displacement of an end hen-sensing control flap 67 to feed back the appropriate stop signal through cable 69 to the control box 60. Typically, a complete hen-handling installation will include indoor conveyor sections to move birds along the length of the hen house or "shed", intermediate conveyor sections to move birds within the shed across the ends of the passageways (not needed if portholes can be created in the gable end walls of the shed), out-of-house conveyor sections to move birds between a transport vehicle and the shed, and a road trailer to carry the conveyor sections on the open highway.

The longitudinal in-house conveyor to move the birds down the passageways in the hen house will be made up of the lightweight portable conveyor sections 10 which are typically 2.4m long. These will carry birds at a convenient height above floor level. The overall length of the longitudinal conveyor can be varied by the addition or removal of conveyor sections 10 as desired. The longitudinal conveyor is either linked to the out-of-house conveyor directly or via an intermediate conveyor for the shed concerned. These conveyors are. designed to solve the handling problems at the ends of specific sheds. It is envisaged that these will be moved from shed to shed on a given date.

The out-of-house conveyors will move birds between the house conveyors and the transport vehicle. Their positions will be adjustable e.g. by expanding or retracting supports similar to the variable-height supports 38,48 to cope with variable loading/unloading heights. These out-of-house conveyors will also be used to transport the in-house conveyors from ground level up to house floor level.

The road trailer 71 (Figure 6) will transport a set of in-house conveyor sections and the out-of-house conveyors. In addition it can be provided with a safety rail and ladder (72) etc. so as to serve as a safe working platform for setting up and dismantling the system.

Figure 6 diagram atically indicates just a part of one such installation in which spent hens are being loaded on to a series of conveyor sections 10 supplied from the trailer 71. At the other end of the assembly the hens are being off-loaded into crates on a road transport vehicle or trailer 73. For simplicity, the supports 38,48 have been omitted from this diagrammatic representation as already noted. Referring now to Figures 7 to 11, these show an arrangement in which each conveyor 10 comprises a respective belt section 80 enclosed by a cover member 84.

Optionally, the cover members are formed with viewing ports 86, each fitted with a window of transparent plastics material.

Structural rigidity is provided by trough components 88 to which is secured an external casing 90.

Adjacent trough components 88 have locating apertures engaged by pins 92,93 of ground-supported coupling units 95 to hold adjacent sections 10 closely abutting with one another.

The completed assembly is supported on a series of adjustable-height tripods 96 spaced apart along the length of the assembly (at least one tripod 96 for each section 10).

Although only mutually aligned conveyor sections have been illustrated in the drawings, it is envisaged that different groups of such sections may be joined up by other conveyor sections to go round corners or bends. These other sections may, for example, be of any suitable known type, e.g. as currently provided by Transnorm Systems Ltd. under the trade name Transnor System TS 1500. When incorporated into the assembly of the present invention, however, cover members are preferably added to them, e.g. of the general sort illustrated by members 84 in Figures 7 and 8.

It will be noted, that the particular cover member 84 used at the inlet end of the system, is provided with a funnel-like extension 97 which encourages the incoming birds to keep away from the trough side walls and facilitates their placement in the conveyor 10.

The belt-supporting large-diameter driven rollers 98 at the inlet ends of the conveyor sections have their axles mounted- in - li ¬ the side walls of the trough component 12 whilst the smaller diameter idler rollers 100,101 at the discharge ends of the sections have their axles mounted on bracket members 103 (one on either side of the relevant trough component 12). In the illustrated embodiment, the rollers 98 are powered from respective internally-mounted motors 105 connected-up together and fed via junction units 107,108 and stationary support axles 110. Rollers ready-made for this purpose are currently available from Joki Ltd., under the trade name JOKI MINI, for example.

A plug-carrying extension lead 114 from junction unit 108 passes along the length of the conveyor section between the trough side wall and the casing 90 before leaving through side openings in these items for connection with the junction unit 108 of the next conveyor section and this arrangement is repeated throughout the length of the assembly until the final conveyor section is reached. Alternatively, every so often, one of the motors 105 may be fed, or additionally fed, direct from the mains supply, if desired. It should be understood, that the choice of which junction unit 107, 108 to use in each instance, and for what purpose, is at the discretion of the operatives setting up the assembly, an adequate number of side openings being provided in the trough side walls and casings 90 for all possibilities. The assembly is powered from a mains supply lead (not shown). This terminates in an electrical socket which fits into the plug connector 118 for the last of the conveyor sections so as to supply current via the various leads and junction boxes to the motors 105 for these sections. When not in use, the extension lead 114 may be stowed away, out of harm's way, within the interior of the conveyor, a captive cap 116 being provided for the plug connector 118 adjacent the point 120 where the extension lead is served to the conveyor chassis. Returning now to Figures 7 to 11, reference numerals 80 indicate two of the conveyor belt sections. The uppermost load-carrying runs of these sections are supported from below by stationary plate components which are rendered inaccessible to the birds by the overhanging side walls of the cover sections 84.

It will be observed that the top idler roller 100 at the discharge end of section 10 is more advanced than the associated bottom roller 101 so as to provide the belt section 80 with a fairly sharp overhang from which the birds can easily drop onto the more gently-curved inlet region of the following belt section. As already explained in the introductory portion of this specification, this drop, which is typically of 20mm or so, reduces stress in the birds when passing from one conveyor belt section to the next. Reference numeral 124 indicates a tensioning mechanism for the belt section 80 and this comprises a pair of apertured plates 126 secured to opposed sidewalls of the trough component 88 and provided with outwardly-directed lugs 128 which are each apertured to receive a respective tensioning bolt 130. The other ends of bolts 130 are each secured to a respective outwardly-directed lug 132 of a carriage structure 134 arranged to slide along the edges of a slot 136 in the plate 126. The other ends of slots 136 are each closed off by a respective end-part 140. Each of the two plates 126 is apertured to receive the ends of an axle member 142 welded to a roller support assembly 144 for rollers 100, 101. Flats on the plate apertures and the adjacent parts of axle member 142 prevent rotation of the axle member and lock the inclination of assembly 144 (as measured by the line joining the axes of rollers 100, 101) at the angle shown in the drawings (30° to the vertical).

Alternative designs of roller-support assembly (not shown) may have different angles of inclination, although angles to the vertical of between 0° and 60° will usually be preferred. - 13 - The conveyor sections 10 are completed by wooden runners 146 secured to the underside of the trough components 12 to support the conveyor sections on the belt of the adjacent section when these are stacked vertically and during assembly of the system. Turning now to Figures 12 and 13, these show how the adjacent ends of two successive conveyor sections may be joined together using an inverted U-section spring steel member 150. This latter is bolted to trough component 88 secured to the runner 146 for one conveyor section and it clips over a similar component 88 for the next conveyor section to hold the two conveyor sections in an abutting or almost abutting relationship. The arrangement is preferably repeated on the other side of the assembly to give greater rigidity.

Figures 12 and 14 also illustrate how the adjacent ends of the two conveyor sections may be supported above floor or ground level on the support cradle 155 of an adjustable height tripod 157.

It will readily be understood that access to the different parts of the hen house is a problem in view of the lack of space. Accordingly it is a great advantage of the^' illustrated system that each conveyor section can be carried to or from its desired location by the previ.ous sections already in place when the installation is being assembled or dismantled.

Clearly, the conveyor sections should be sufficiently narrow i.e. less than 0.5m to work in those passageways which are obstructed by posts. A convenient length for the sections would be 2.4m, firstly because they are then short enough to manhandle easily and secondly because they can then be cross-stacked on a road-transport trailer without infringing the current maximum width regulations for such vehicles in the United Kingdom.

Since it takes at least a week, and up to six weeks, to clear a typical site the system will not be moved too frequently. Therefore, in many instances it could be advantageous for the equipment to be set up on site by farm staff prior to the arrival of the handling crew. However, it is also intended that the handling crew shall normally be able to set up the equipment on arrival at the farm, move a load of birds, and then dismantle the equipment within the normal overall operational time if desired without additional help. Since the conveyors will be able to transport one another the set up time will be minimised.

Typically, one set of hardware according to one embodiment of present invention might comprise 25/30 lightweight conveyors (each 2.4m long and weighing 50kg, say), 2 medium-weight conveyors (each 2.4m long and weighing 60kg, say), and 1 transport vehicle/working platform (trailer).

To achieve the desired overall handling rate, the conveyor system should preferably be capable of moving up to at least 3,500 birds per hour with a typical belt speed of 0.5m/s (lOOft/min). It is believed that with the conveying assembly of the present invention, the present teams of nine or ten men used for manual handling systems can be replaced by teams of five men (one of whom is the lorry driver) especially if the farm staff are involved in setting up and dismantling equipment. Thus an overall reduction in labour costs can be expected.

Claims

1. A multi-section conveyor assembly for poultry comprising a plurality of mutually aligned individual conveyor sections adapted to discharge one on to the other.

2. A conveyor assembly as claimed in Claim 1 in which the individual conveyor sections are stackable one on or within the other when the system is disassembled.

3. A conveyor assembly as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 in which each individual conveyor section is adapted for travel on a preceding section or sections during assembly of the system.

4. A conveyor assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which the individual conveyor sections are each fitted with a motor lying within the confines of the conveyor section belt.

5. A conveyor assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which the individual conveyor sections each include two wall portions extending along each side of the section.

6. A conveyor assembly as claimed in Claim 5 in which the wall portions diverge upwardly to allow stacking of the sections one within the other when the system is disassembled.

7. A conveyor assembly as claimed in any preceding claim including a sensor for sensing the presence of objects at a location in the conveyor system and control means responding to a signal from the sensor to stop the conveyor system on or following detection of an object at said location.

8. A conveyor assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which the conveyor sections are arranged and/or constructed so that birds on the conveyor sections experience a drop as they transfer from one conveyor section to the next.

9. A conveyor assembly as claimed in Claim 8 in which the conveyor sections are adapted to discharge one on to the other with each section inclining upwardly over its length so that the birds experience a drop as they are transferred from the upper end of one conveyor section to the lower end of the next.

10. A conveyor assembly as claimed in Claim 8 in which the conveyor sections have substantially level top runs which overhang the remainder of the belt sections at what, in operation, will be the discharge end of the conveyor section.

11. An assembly as claimed in Claim 10 in which birds conveyed by the system will experience a drop of about 20 mm or so in moving from one belt section to the next.

12.An assembly as claimed in Claim 11 in which the overhang is achieved by having the belt sections move around top and bottom rollers at the discharge ends of the conveyor sections with the top rollers more advanced than the bottom rollers (in the direction of belt travel).

13.An assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which one or more of the conveyor sections is fitted with a cover member.

14.An assembly as claimed in Claim 13 in which viewing ports are provided in the cover member or members and/or in side walls of the conveyor section or sections.

15. An assembly as claimed in Claim 13 or Claim 14 in which the cross-sectional configuration of the cover members and the side walls of the conveyor sections is such as to encourage birds to occupy the central regions of the belt.

16. A conveyor^' assembly as claimed in Claim 15 in which the inlet end of the assembly is provided with a funnel or funnel-like section.

17. A conveyor assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which side walls of the conveyor sections overhang the bird-supporting top runs of the conveyor belt sections so that stationery bed plates underneath the bird-supporting runs are nowhere exposed to the birds.

18. A conveyor assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which the individual conveyor sections are each of lightweight construction and of length and width dimensions (viewed in plan) not in excess of 4m and 0.5m respectively.

19. A conveyor as claimed in Claim 18 in which the length and width dimensions are 2.4m and 0.5m respectively.

20. A conveyor assembly as claimed in any preceding claim including means for reversing the direction of conveyor travel.

21. A conveyor assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and/or as illustrated in, Figures 1 to 6 of the accompanying drawings.

22. A conveyor assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and/or as illustrated in, Figures 7 to 14 of the accompanying drawings.

23. A conveyor section for use in the conveyor system of any one or more of Claims 1 to 22.