DESCRIPTION:

Technical field of the invention

The invention relates to a conveying system for transporting eggs from several laying locations to a processing location, comprising: - a main transport track extending along the laying locations up to the processing location, for moving eggs from the laying locations to the processing location, and displacing means for taking the eggs from the laying locations and placing the eggs on the main transport track.

At the processing location, for example, the eggs are checked and the eggs that have been found to be good are packed, for example placed in an egg tray. The eggs found to be less good or bad are removed. If bad eggs are regularly found, it is desirable to find out the cause of it. This is labour-intensive because all known parameters and laying locations have to be checked for deviations. Background of the invention

Such a conveying system is generally known. The quality of eggs provides a lot of information about various factors that occur in the production process of an egg, including health / behavior of the animals, quality of the equipment. In today's production process, eggs are packed in a central location and there is no direct link to the location where the egg was actually produced. Damage that an egg incurs in the process from laying to packaging can often not be traced to the cause.

In most cases eggs come out on a central transport track (main transport track) which centralizes the eggs from different production systems from the shed and possibly from several sheds to one position. There is thus a central discharge track (main transport track) on which several system belts (auxiliary transport tracks) place eggs. If a poultry farmer can act more quickly on disruptions in the production process, this will benefit the total return. Summary of the invention

An object of the invention is to provide a conveying system according to the preamble of claim 1, wherein determining the cause of the bad eggs can be simplified. To this end, the conveying system according to the invention is characterized in that it furthermore comprises origin determining means for determining, at the location of the processing location, the laying location from which the eggs, which are arriving at that time at the processing location, originate.

The main transport track can for instance be one or more connected transport belts or transport chains and/or tracks of driven transport rollers located one behind the other at short mutual distances, over which eggs can be moved. By finding the laying location from where bad eggs originate, the cause of these bad eggs can be searched more specifically.

An embodiment of the conveying system according to the invention is characterized in that: the displacing means are designed such that at each laying location they place the eggs on a strip of the main transport track, said strip being selected in the width direction of the main transport track for that laying location at that moment, wherein the selected position of the strip in the width direction of the main transport track is recorded, and the origin determining means determine the location of the strip, in the width direction of the main transport track, in which the eggs arriving at the processing location are located and on the basis of this and the recorded position determine the laying location from where these eggs originate. At each laying location, the eggs can always be placed on the same strip on the main transport track corresponding to that laying location, or a strip can be selected in each case, so that the location of the assigned strip thus can vary.

The strip of the main transport track mentioned here need not be marked on the main transport track if it is, for instance, designed as a transport belt. If the transport track is designed as a wide chain, vertically projecting strips can be present on its links, which strips form a boundary of the strips.

A further embodiment of the conveying system according to the invention is characterized in that the origin determination means also record the speed of the main transport track in time, so that therewith and with the known distance between the laying location and the processing location, the time can be determined at which the eggs are taken from the laying location and placed on the main transport track.

Yet another embodiment of the conveying system according to the invention is characterized in that: the origin determining means register the time at which the eggs, at a specific laying location, are placed on the main transport track, and the origin determining means register the time at which the eggs arrive at the processing location. In this case, the eggs can be placed on the main transport track at an arbitrary location in the width direction of the main transport track.

Preferably, the origin determining means also record the speed of the main transport track in time (or the displaced distance in time), so that the time can be determined at which the eggs, that are placed on the main transport track at a laying location, arrive at the processing location or that the laying location can be determined from where the eggs arriving at a time at the processing location originate.

The displacing means preferably comprise displaceable guides for guiding the eggs from the laying locations to one of the strips on the main transport track at a predetermined distance from a side edge of the transport means. At the laying locations, the guides are preferably pivotally connected at one end to frames present next to the transport means and can be rotated from an inactive position next to the transport means to an active position above the transport means.

A further embodiment of the conveying system according to the invention is characterized in that the conveying system further comprises control means at the processing location and/or elsewhere in or along the main transport path, for checking the eggs.

These control means can, for example, be leak detection means that are present over the entire width of the main transport track or one or more (heat- sensitive) cameras. If a bad egg is detected at the processing location, the origin determination means can be used to find out from which laying location this egg came. This saves a lot of research. Further investigation can then be carried out at this laying location to determine the cause of the bad egg. An embodiment of the conveying system according to the invention is characterized in that the displacing means comprise auxiliary transport tracks for moving the eggs from one or more laying places within the laying locations to the main transport track. The invention also relates to a method for transporting eggs from various laying locations to a processing location, comprising: at the location of the laying locations, placing the eggs on a main transport track, moving the eggs from the laying locations to the processing location by means of the main transport track, - at the location of the processing location, on the basis of the position on the main transport track on which the eggs are placed at a laying location and/or on the basis of the time of arrival and the times on which the eggs are placed at the laying locations on the main transport track, determine from which laying location the eggs that arrive at the processing location originate. An embodiment of the method according to the invention is characterized in that at one of the laying locations when the eggs are placed on the transport track, a position in the width direction of the main transport track where the eggs will be placed on the main transport track is selected, and that upon arrival of eggs at the processing location, the position of the eggs in width direction on the main transport track is determined and on the basis thereof the laying location from which the eggs originate is determined.

A further embodiment of the method according to the invention is characterized in that the speed of the main transport track is determined in time and with this and with the known distance between the laying location and the processing location, the point in time is determined at which the eggs have been taken from the laying location and placed on the main transport track.

Yet another embodiment of the method according to the invention is characterized in that at the laying locations the points in time at which the eggs are placed on the main transport track are recorded and the displacement of the main transport track in time is recorded and on the basis of the time differences between the time of arrival of eggs at the processing location and the points in time when the eggs are placed on the main transport track and on the basis of the recorded displacement of the main transport track in time, the laying location is determined where these eggs are placed on the main transport track. Brief description of the drawings

The invention will be further elucidated below on the basis of drawings in which embodiments of the conveying system according to the invention are shown. Wherein:

Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a first embodiment of the conveying system according to the invention, in which the location of origin is determined on the basis of the position in the transport track;

Figure 2 is a schematic representation of a second embodiment of the conveying system according to the invention, wherein the conveying system is present in one poultry house;

Figure 3 is a schematic representation of a third embodiment of the conveying system according to the invention, in which the location of origin is determined on the basis of the time difference between placing in the transport track and arrival at the processing location.

Detailed description of the drawings

Figure 1 shows schematically a first embodiment of the conveying system according to the invention. The conveying system 1A has a main transport track 9 for moving eggs 3. This main transport track 9 extends along a number of laying locations 5 to a processing location 7 where the eggs 3 can for instance be sorted and packed. Herein the laying locations 5 are formed by poultry houses.

The conveying system 1A furthermore has displacing means 13 for taking the eggs 3 from the laying locations 5 and placing them on the main transport track 9. These displacing means 13 have auxiliary transport tracks 21 located in the stables, which run between laying places 23 where chickens lay eggs. The displacing means 13 furthermore have rotatable guides 17 which can guide the eggs to a selected strip 10 on the main transport track 9. The guides 17 are, for instance, designed as sloping gutters so that the eggs 3 roll from the laying locations 5 onto the main transport track 9 under the influence of gravity.

At the processing location 7, the conveying system 1A is provided with origin determining means 11 for determining the laying location 5 from which the eggs 3 that arrive at the processing location 7 at that moment originate. These origin determining means 11 detect the position of the strip 10 in width direction of the main transport track 9 in which the eggs 3 arriving at the processing location 7 are located. On the basis of this and on the basis of the recorded selected position of the strip 10 at the location of the laying location 5, it is determined where these eggs 3 come from.

The origin determining means 11 also record the speed of the main transport track 9 in time or record the distance over which the main transport track 9 moves in time, so that thereby and with the known distance between the laying location 5 and the processing location 7, the time can be determined on which the eggs 3 are taken from the laying location 5 and placed on the main transport track 9.

Figure 2 shows schematically a second embodiment of the conveying system according to the invention. All parts similar to those of the above-described first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals. This conveying system IB moves eggs 3 in a poultry house from various laying locations 5 to a processing location 7. At the processing location, the eggs are checked and packaging means 25 are present to package the good eggs. The bad eggs are removed by machine (not shown).

The main transport track 9 can be designed as a transport belt or can be formed by a track of rollers being one behind the other, which rollers are driven so that the eggs move over the rollers. Here too, the main transport track 9 extends along the laying locations 5 up to the processing location 7.

Displacement means 11 are present at the location of the laying locations 5 for placing the eggs 3 on the main transport track 9. The moving means 11 here also have displaceable guides 17 for guiding the eggs 3 from the laying locations 5 to a location on the main transport track 9 at a certain distance from a side edge of the transport means. The laying locations 5 are preferably provided with sloping gutters so that the eggs roll under the influence of gravity along the guides on the main transport track. The guides 17 are pivotally connected with one end to frames 19 present next to the main transport track 9 and can be rotated from an inactive position next to the main transport track 9 to an active position above the main transport track 9. Registration means 27 are present at the laying locations, which register the location of the laying location and the start and end times at which eggs are taken from the laying location and placed onto the main transport track. The position of the guides is also registered, from which the position in width direction of the main transport track can be derived where the eggs are placed on the main transport track. Control means 15 are present at the location of the processing location 7, which check the eggs 3 and register the condition and point in time of the checked eggs. The location in the width direction of the transport means 9 where the checked eggs 3 are located is also registered. To this end, the control means 15 are equipped with a camera 29 and further registration means 31.

If a bad egg is detected by the control means at the processing location, it can be determined on the basis of the position in width direction on the belt and the transport speed at which laying location that egg is placed on the transport means and this laying location can be examined for any imperfections. Figure 3 shows schematically a third embodiment of the conveying system according to the invention. All parts similar to those of the above-described first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals. The conveying system 1C again has a main transport track 9 which extends along a number of laying locations 5 to a processing location 7. The laying locations 5 are again formed by poultry houses. The difference with the first embodiment is that it is not the position of the eggs 3 on the main transport track 9 that determines the origin of the eggs arriving at the processing location 7, but the point in time at which the eggs 3 are placed on the main transport track 9 at a laying location 5.

The origin determining means 11 register the point in time at which the eggs 3 are placed on the main transport track 9 at a specific laying location 5 and the point in time at which the eggs 3 arrive at the processing location 7. The origin determining means 11 also record the speed of the main transport track 9 in time or the distance the main transport track 9 moves in time. On the basis of this registered data, it can be determined at what point in time the eggs 3 which are placed at a laying location 5 on the main transport track 9 arrive at the processing location 7 or from which laying location 5 the eggs 3 arriving at a point of time at the processing location 7 originate.

Although the present invention is elucidated above on the basis of the given drawings, it should be noted that this invention is not limited whatsoever to the embodiments shown in the drawings. The invention also extends to all embodiments deviating from the embodiments shown in the drawings within the scope of the invention defined by the appended claims.