KAP-Systeem
MungosWorks has developed a total system for handling pots in greenhouses. This has been done in cooperation with Berg Product. The system has been named after the deviser, Kees Kap. It consists of several parts:
- Conveyor belts: Throughout the greenhouse two independant conveyor belts have been placed next to each other. One of them serves the left half of the greenhouse, the other servers the right half.
- Shuttle: The shuttle uses the heating pipes in a greenhouse to ride upon. The shuttle has two big forks that allow it to pick up to 300 pots at once. The shuttle can place the pots directly on open soil.
- Base Wagon: The base wagon rides at the center aisle. It can be placed at the start of a hood of the greenhouse. The shuttle can be moved to another hood using the base wagon. The base wagon can take the pots from the conveyor belts and arrange them in a desired pattern. The shuttle then can pick up these arranged pots and place them on the floor inside a hood. If the shuttle picks up the plants later, the base wagon makes sure the pots are deliverd back to the conveyor belt system.
There are two combinations of shuttle and base wagon present in a greenhouse; one serves the left half, and the other the right half. This way one of the combinations can pick up the plants, transporting them to the other machine, which puts them back in another hood in a different pattern, giving the plants more room while they grow. This is done completely automatically.
The entire system operates completely automatically. Thanks to KAP-system a better usage of the green house has been made possible. When it's time to harvest the plants, it's common that about half of the plants is ready to go on sale. One half of the combinations harvests all the plants in two hoods, sending the rejected plants through to the other combination. This combination puts these plants back and combines them into one hood. This way the green house isn't stuck with two half-filled hoods.
A sprinkler system has been attached to the shuttle. The shuttle knows exactly where it has placed the plants, so it only sprays there where needed.
Click HERE for an article about KAP-system in a trade journal for greenhouses: Vakblad voor de Bloemisterij (number 46, 2008). The article is in Dutch, no translation is available.
Click HERE for an article about KAP-system in a trade journal for greenhouses: Onder Glas (number 4, 2009). The article is in Dutch, no translation is available.
The movie below shows the machine in action, clearly showing all its functions.
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