SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONVEYING ANIMAL FEED

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority of United States Provisional application no. 60/991,371, filed November 30, 2007, by applicants and entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONVEYING ANIMAL FEED".

FIELD

[0002] The specification relates to animal husbandry, and more specifically discloses a system and method for conveying animal feed from a receiving area selectively to any one of a plurality of discharge areas.

BACKGROUND

[0003] It is known to use metering devices, sometimes called dosers, in automated animal feeding systems to provide a controlled quantity of animal feed to a trough. It is generally recognized that controlling the amount of food which is fed to an animal, and the intervals at which the food is delivered, can help reducing wastage of food and can contribute to control the growth of the animal. Metering devices are often used for feeding sows, for example.

[0004] When they are used, there is usually one metering device per animal stall or trough. Even though there are many advantages to using metering devices, the costs refrain some farmers from using them and reaping their benefits, at least in some animal feeding applications. There thus remained room for improvement.

SUMMARY

[0005] The specification discloses a system and a method which can be used in conveying a given quantity of animal feed to a selected one of a plurality of discharge areas. Hence, a single metering device can be shared between a plurality of animal stalls or troughs, for example.

[0006] In accordance with one aspect, there is provided a conveyance system for conveying animal feed to any selected one of a plurality of discharge areas, the conveyance system comprising an elongated channel having an animal feed receiving area and a plurality of discharge apertures, a conveyor associated with the channel and configured and adapted to convey the animal feed in the channel, along a conveyance path, a closure component positioned along the channel and having closure portions and closure openings, the channel and the closure component as a whole being movable relative to each other during use of the conveyance system in a manner that, at any selected one of the discharge areas, one of the channel discharge apertures can be positioned in alignment with one of the closure openings, to allow discharging the animal feed to the selected discharge area, and any previous one of the discharge apertures in the animal feed conveyance path leading to the selected discharge area can be positioned in alignment with and closed off by a closure portion, to prevent discharging the animal feed prematurely to another discharge area.

[0007] Using and managing individual closure gate mechanisms in a closure system for preventing animal feed from being discharged prematurely through a wrong channel discharge aperture can be relatively costly. The overall costs of a conveyance system can thus be reduced in certain applications by using a closure component which is movable as a whole relative to the channel as compared to using a plurality of individual closure gate mechanisms.

[0008] In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a conveyance system for conveying animal feed to any selected one of a plurality of discharge areas, the conveyance system comprising an elongated channel having an animal feed receiving area and a channel discharge aperture, a conveyor associated with the channel and configured and adapted to convey animal feed from the receiving area to the discharge aperture along a conveyance path, characterized in that the channel is lengthwisely movable for selective alignment of the discharge aperture with a selected one of the discharge areas, to allow discharging the animal feed to the respective discharge area.

[0009] Using a movable channel in a conveyance system can provide a consequent reduction in the complexity of a closure system, or even eliminate the need of a closure system, in some applications.

[0010] In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a conveyance system for conveying animal feed to any selected one of a plurality of discharge areas, the conveyance system comprising an elongated channel having an animal feed receiving area at an intermediate position along its length and a plurality of channel discharge apertures interspaced along its length, on both sides of the receiving area, a conveyor associated with the channel and operable in a selected one of two opposite directions to convey animal feed along a conveyance path, from the receiving area to any selected one of the channel discharge apertures, where the animal feed is discharged to a selected discharge area, and at least one closure component, the at least one closure component being configured and adapted to close off any channel discharge aperture positioned before the selected channel discharge aperture in the conveyance path, to prevent premature discharge of the animal feed.

[0011] Using a channel having discharge apertures on both sides, with a conveyor operable in both directions, can allow reducing the amount of time required to convey the animal feed to a selected discharge area, compared to a channel having the discharge apertures only on one side of the receiving area, for example.

[0012] In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a method for controlling the conveyance of animal feed within a conveyance path from an animal feed receiving area to one of a plurality of discharge areas along said conveyance path, the conveyance path having an elongated channel having channel discharge apertures and a closure component having closure portions and closure openings, the method comprising : providing a selection of one of the discharge areas as a selected discharge area; identifying ones of said discharge areas located along said conveyance path, between said receiving area and said selected discharge area as non-selected discharge areas; determining a desired position of at least one of said

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elongated channel and said closure component, wherein said desired position provides alignment of one of the channel discharge apertures with one of the closure openings at said selected discharge area and close-off of said non-selected discharge areas by said closure portions, thereby allowing said animal feed to be conveyed in said conveyance path from said animal feed receiving area to said selected discharge area; and providing said desired position to at least one movement mechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0013] In the appended figures,

[0014] Fig. 1 is a schematic elevation view showing an example of a conveyance system;

[0015] Fig. 2 is a schematic elevation view showing another example of a conveyance system; and

[0016] Fig. 3 is a schematic elevation view showing an example of a longitudinal displacement mechanism which can be used in the conveyance system of Fig. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0017] hi Fig. 1, an example of a conveyance system 10 is shown. The conveyance system 10 includes an elongated channel 12 to which a conveyor 14 is associated, hi the illustrated embodiment, the channel 12 is a tube 12a, and the conveyor 14 is a screw conveyor 14a, but this can vary in alternate embodiments. The channel 12 includes a receiving area 16, where animal feed can be received from a metering device 18, for example, and two discharge apertures 20, 22, one on each side 24, 26 of the channel 12 relative to the receiving area 16. Animal feed can be supplied to the metering device 18 by an overhead animal feed supply tube 19, for example. The channel 12 is slidingly mounted in two sleeves 28, 30. Each one of the two sleeves 28, 30 has two sleeve apertures 32, 34, 36, 38, each sleeve aperture 32, 34, 36, 38, being associated with a respective one of four discharge areas 40, 42, 44, 46. In this

example, each one of the four discharge areas 40, 42, 44, 46, leads to a respective trough (not shown) located in a respective animal stall.

[0018] The channel 12 can be lengthwisely slid within the sleeves 28, 30 into a desired lengthwise position A or B where one of the discharge apertures 20 can be aligned with the sleeve aperture 32 associated with a selected one of the discharge areas 40. In this example, a discharge aperture 22 on the other side 26 of the receiving area 16 is concurrently aligned with an other discharge area 44. However, the conveyor 14 can be operated in a selected one 48 of two directions 48, 50 to convey animal feed from the receiving area 16 to the discharge aperture 22 which is aligned with the selected discharge area 40, on the right side 24 of the receiving area 16. Alternately, the conveyor 14 can be operated in the opposite direction 50 to convey animal feed through the aligned a discharge aperture 22 and a sleeve aperture 36, and to the discharge area 44.

[0019] If it is desired to convey the animal feed to one of the discharge areas 46 or 42, the channel 12 is moved lengthwisely from the position B to the position A, and the conveyor 14 is operated in the direction 48 or 50 corresponding to a selected one of the discharge areas 42 or 46.

[0020] A more complex embodiment of a conveyance system 110 is shown in Fig. 2. The channel 112 has two discharge apertures 120a, 120b, 122a, 122b on each side 124, 126 of the receiving area 116. The sleeves 128a, 128b, 130a, 130b each span over two adjacent stalls. Both sides 124, 126 are similar, and only the right side 124 will therefore be described. Each sleeve 128a, 128b is associated with a respective channel discharge aperture 120a, 120b, and each sleeve 128a, 128b has two sleeve apertures 132a, 134a, 132b, 134b, or closure openings, and two closure portions 133a, 135a, 133b, 135b. Each discharge aperture 132a, 132b, 134a, 134b is associated with a corresponding discharge area 140a, 140b, 142a, 142b. The channel 122, is movable relative to the sleeves in any one of four positions A, B, C, D (position B is illustrated). In any one of these four positions, only one of the discharge apertures 120a, 120b is aligned with a sleeve aperture 132a, 134a, 132b, 134b, the other one

of the discharge apertures 120a, 120b is aligned with a closure portion 133a, 135a, 133b, 135b. The position of the discharge apertures along the channel and the sleeve apertures in the sleeves is such that in any one of the four positions A, B, C, D of the channel 112, only two channel discharge apertures 120a, 122a are aligned with sleeve apertures 134a, 138a, at a discharge area 142a, 146a, one on each side 124, 126 of the receiving area 116. The conveyor 114 is then operated either toward the right 148 or toward the left 150, depending on which one of the two discharge areas 142a, 146a is selected.

[0021] In Fig. 2, the channel 112 is shown in the second relative position B, this occurs when the third discharge area 142a is the selected discharge area. In this second relative position B, the second discharge aperture 120a on the right side 124 of the channel 112, is positioned in alignment with the first sleeve aperture 134a of the second sleeve 128a on the right side 124 of the channel 112. Concurrently, the first discharge aperture 120b on that same right side 124 is positioned in alignment with and closed off by the second closure portion 133b in the first sleeve 128b. Henceforth, if the conveyor 114 is operated in the right side direction 148, animal feed in the receiving area 116 will be conveyed across the first discharge aperture 120b, which is closed off by a closure portion 133b of the sleeve 128b. The animal feed will be carried along further in the conveyance path, until it reaches the second discharge aperture 120a and will be discharged therethrough, and through the sleeve aperture 134a, to the selected discharge area 142a. Alternately, if the selected discharge area is the fourth discharge area 140a, on the right side 124 of the receiving area, the channel will be positioned in the desired position D. In position D, the second discharge aperture 120a on the right side 124 of the channel 112 is positioned in alignment with the second aperture 132a in the second sleeve 128a, and the first discharge aperture 120b is positioned in alignment and closed off by the second closure portion 133b of the first sleeve 128b, which allows conveyed feed to be discharged at the selected discharge area 140a and prevents feed from being prematurely discharged through the first discharge aperture 120b. The left side 126 functions in a manner similar to the right side 124 with the exception that the conveyor

is operated in the left side direction 150 instead of the right side direction 148, and will therefore not be described in further detail.

[0022] Although not illustrated, embodiments with more than four discharge areas on one or both sides of the receiving area are also possible. This can be achieved, for example, by using sleeves which have more closure portions to accommodate a greater number of positions of the channel. For example, an embodiment having six sleeve apertures and three channel discharge apertures on either side of the receiving area can be designed with sufficient closure portions to accommodate six different channel positions.

[0023] Fig. 3 shows an example of a lengthwise movement mechanism 260 which can be used with either one of the embodiments shown in Fig. 1 and 2. hi this example, the lengthwise movement mechanism 260 includes an endless chain 262 mounted on two idle sprockets 264, 266, and driven by a drive sprocket 218 mounted to a motor (not shown). A rod 270 is connected between the endless chain 262 and the end 272 of the tube 212. The drive sprocket 268 can be connected to a controller 274, which monitors the angular position of the drive sprocket 268 and equates the angular position of the drive sprocket 268 to a lengthwise position of the channel 212. A multiturn potentiometer (not shown) can be used to obtain the absolute angular position of the drive sprocket 268, for instance. Hence, the controller 274 can activate the drive sprocket 268 to a number of rotations to move the channel 212 lengthwisely, via the rod 270, into a desired lengthwise position B in which the appropriate channel discharge aperture 220 is aligned with the appropriate sleeve aperture 234 at a selected discharge area 242.

[0024] In this example, the screw conveyor 214 has a drive mechanism 276 mounted in a box 278 which is attached to the end 272 of the tube 212. The drive mechanism 276 has a conveyor motor 280 which is connected to a shaft 281 of an endless screw 282. The activation of the conveyor motor 280 can also be controlled by the controller 274. The controller 274 can have different interconnected components each associated with a respective function or functions.

[0025] For illustrative purposes, in the particular embodiment shown in Fig. 3, the different chanel positions A, B, C, D have a width of 2.5 inches, the channel discharge aperture 220 has a width of 2 inches, and the sleeve aperture 234 has a width of 2 inches. The lengthwise movement mechanism 260 allows a lengthwise displacement of about 2 inches per second. The tube 212 has a diameter of about 2 inches, and the endless screw 282 has an external diameter of 1.75 inches, with an internal central passage of 0.625 inches to allow the shaft 281 therealong. The pitch of the endless screw is of 2 inches. The end 272 of the tube 212 can be capped (not shown) with only the shaft 281 extending therethrough for connection with the drive mechanism 276. A total length of about 16 feet allowed to span across eight adjacent hog stalls. It will be understood that any suitable alternate arrangement or configuration can also be used.

[0026] The examples of conveyance systems described above and illustrated can be used to convey an amount of food to the selected animal stall. For example, the system can be programmed to provide predetermined amounts of feed at predetermined time intervals to selected discharge areas. Alternately, the conveyance system can be used as part of an interactive animal feeding system, where the selection of the animal stall, and optionally the amount of food conveyed, are determined based upon the reception of an activation signal received from one of the animal stalls. In the example depicted in Fig. 3, for instance, the animal stalls are equipped with activation devices 284, 286 which are activatable by hogs. These activation devices 284, 286 can include an upwardly activatable button 288 mounted on a rod 290 and associated with a proximity sensor 292. A single proximity sensor 292 can be used for two adjacent activation devices 284, 286. The activation devices 284, 286 can be connected to the controller 274, for example, in which case the controller 274 can detect an activation signal from one of the activation devices 284, 286 associated with one of the discharge areas 242, and can optionally determine a quantity of animal feed to be fed to that animal stall. If a non-zero quantity of feed is determined, the controller 274 can command the metering device 118 (see Fig. 2) to provide that quantity of feed to the receiving area 114, and also command the conveyance of the feed to that stall using the system, for

instance. If more than one hog has access to each stall, an additional detection device can be used to recognize which particular hog is requesting food, and the controller 274 can determine a particular amount of feed to be conveyed for that particular hog, for instance.

[0027] The amount of food received in the receiving area can come from a single metering device, or doser, from two or more metering devices associated with different types of feed, or from any other suitable source, for example.

[0028] In a conveyance system for use with many stalls, it can be useful to use a conveyor which maintains the amount of food to be conveyed in a relatively well grouped manner, i.e. that does not have a strong tendency to spread the feed along the channel as the feed is being conveyed. In the case of a screw conveyor, a better grouping of the feed can be achieved by selecting a screw conveyor of recommended dimensions for a particular diameter of tube. Some other conveyors, such as cable and disc conveyors for instance, can have less of a tendancy to spread the feed, but a cable and disc conveyor requires a loop arrangement and can represent a greater complexity to implement than a screw conveyor. The speed at which the animal feed is conveyed along the channel can be another factor to consider in selecting an appropriate type of conveyor. For example, hogs can have a tendency to be impatient, and it can diminish their stress to provide them with requested food rapidly. In certain embodiments, it can be advantageous to use a controller which can calculate an appropriate moment to provide an amount of feed destined to a closer animal stall in the receiving controller, while a previous amount of feed is being conveyed to a farther animal stall, and which can control the channel displacement mechanism to change the channel position as soon as the animal feed has been discharged at the farther animal stall, to align a discharge aperture with the sleeve aperture of the closer animal stall, for example. It can also be advantageous to use an algorithm to help optimize feed delivery speed by prioritizing as a function of distance, for example, when more than one activation signal is received at a time.

[0029] In the illustrated embodiments, the sleeves can be said to form parts of a closure component which is in a fixed position relative to the animal stalls, whereas the channel is

movable. The closure component has the closure portions below the channel, which can close off the discharge apertures, and closure openings below the channel through which animal feed can be discharged to the animal stalls. The channel and the closure component are lengthwisely movable relative to each other and configured in a manner that, at any one of a plurality of discharge areas associated with respective animal stalls, one of the discharge apertures can be aligned with one of the closure openings. The conveyor can then convey the animal feed from the receiving area to the aligned discharge aperture and closure opening, along a conveyance path, and discharge the animal feed to the selected discharge area. In embodiments where there are two or more discharge apertures on at least one side of the receiving area, there can be one or more other discharge apertures before the selected discharge area in the conveyance path. Any such other discharge apertures can be closed off by the closure portions of the closure component to prevent premature discharge, or spillage, of the animal feed in other animal stalls.

[0030] In the illustrated example, the sleeves spanned over two stalls for simplicity, hi alternate embodiments, two adjacent sleeves can be used instead of each illustrated sleeve, for example. Further, in the illustrated examples, the closure openings are provided as apertures in the sleeve. In alternate embodiments, it will be understood that closure openings can be provided as discontinuities between sleeves or thereagain as an area adjacent the end of a shorter sleeve, for example.

[0031] In the illustrated examples, because the sleeves are fixed, the closure openings can be said to coincide at all times with discharge areas associated with respective stalls, hi alternate embodiments, the channel can be in a fixed position and the closure component be movable as a whole, or both the channel and the closure component can be movable, to provide an appropriate relative movement between the channel and the closure component. If the closure component is movable and the channel is in a fixed position, the discharge apertures in the channel will coincide at all times with discharge areas associated with respective stalls, and the closure component can be lengthwisely displaced as a whole to align the closure openings with the discharge apertures at the discharge areas. If both the closure component

and the channel are movable, both the closure component and the channel can be moved to align a discharge aperture with a closure opening at a selected discharge area corresponding with a selected stall.

[0032] Moreover, the relative movement between the channel and the closure component as a whole can be other than a sliding lengthwise movement in other applications. For example, a tube having discharge apertures at varying angular positions can be used as the channel, and rotation of the channel or closure component can be used to align the discharge apertures with appropriately positioned closure portions or closure openings. The movement mechanism for such an alternate channel can be of a channel rotation mechanism instead of a lengthwise displacement mechanism used in the case of a lengthwisely movable channel or closure.

[0033] In alternate embodiments, the channel can have any suitable shape and can have an open or closed cross-sectional shape. For example, a channel having a U shape cross-section can be used instead of a tube.

[0034] In alternate embodiments, any suitable conveyor can be used. The selection of an appropriate conveyor is typically based on the shape and size of the channel. For example, if a tubular channel is used, a screw conveyor or a cable and disc conveyor can be suitable. If a channel having a U shape cross-section is used, a different conveyor can be better adapted. A conveyor that can be operated in two opposite directions can be appropriate for embodiments in which the receiving area is at an intermediate location along the length of the channel, i.e. in cases where the channel has one or more channel discharge apertures on both sides of the receiving area. However, a conveyor that can be operated only in one direction can nevertheless be satisfactory in some applications, such as in cases where the receiving area is at an end of the channel, for example.

[0035] In alternate embodiments, the shape, size, and configuration of the conveyance system can be adapted for different applications. For example, the conveyance system can be adapted for feeding animal feed to different animals.

[0036] Many other variants are also possible.

[0037] As can be seen therefore, the embodiments described above and illustrated are intended to be exemplary only. The scope is indicated by the appended claims.