Animal husbandry – Milkers – With automatic control
Patent
1998-06-02
2000-05-02
Carone, Michael J.
Animal husbandry
Milkers
With automatic control
119670, A01J 5017
Patent
active
060559306
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically moving at least one animal related means in relation to the body of an animal, comprising a sensing means, a control means and an actuation means.
The invention also relates to a method of automatically moving such an animal related means.
2. Background Art
An apparatus and a method of this kind, respectively, is known from EP-A-0 323 875, comprising a sensor in the form of a periscope-like ultrasonic transmitter/receiver, which scans horizontally in order to find the teats of an animal to be milked. This kind of sensor has proven to suffer from the drawback that the sensor sometimes has problems to find short teats or teats being placed sidewardly on the udder.
Other known periscope-like sensors being equipped with a laser transmitter/receiver suffer from the same drawback.
A milking robot utilising the combination of a metal plate connected to the animal's back and a sensor placed above the animal for determination of the location of the udder is known from EP-A-0 188 303. This milking robot has a serious drawback in that the exact location of the teats cannot be determined, since the locating operation relies only on historical data regarding the specific animal. The data are computed to serve as basis for calculation of the location of the teats.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to improve the success-rate of automatically finding at least one teat of an animal in order to accomplish automatic moving of an animal related means in relation to the body of an animal.
This object is obtained by an apparatus as initially defined, which is characterised in that a position indicating means is adapted to be applied to at least one teat of the udder, said sensing means is adapted to sense a position of said position indicating means, said control means is adapted to be responsive to a signal from said sensing means regarding said position, and said actuation means is adapted to move said animal related means in relation to said body in response to a signal from said control means. Application of a position indicating means on at least one teat of the udder, which position indicating means is particularly chosen to suit the sensing means, enables easy location of the teat.
According to one alternative, the position indicating means is adapted to be applied to the teat in such a way that it remains only temporarily on the teat.
According to another alternative, the position indicating means is adapted to be applied to the teat in such a way that it remains permanently on the teat.
When viewing teats with a video camera but without position indicating means, there are sometimes problems to trace the teats, since a bad contrast of the teats in relation to the background often occurs e.g. for the reason that the teats often have a camouflage-like pattern rather than a uniform colour.
A teat may more easily be traced after application of a position indicating means in the form of a suitable liquid onto the teat.
It may alternatively be necessary to enhance the contrast of the teat in relation to the background. In such a case, said position indicating means may be a powder, preferably light coloured, such as milk powder. As an alternative, said position indicating means may be a fluorescent material. The described position indicating means are to be applied at least once to the teat before moving the animal related means in relation to the animal's body.
There are, of course, other possibilities than using a video camera in order to find the teats of an animal. Accordingly, an electric charge sensing means may be used as sensing means while utilizing a position indicating means in the form of an ionized liquid. Also this position indicating means is to be applied at least once to the teat before moving the animal related means in relation to the body of the animal.
According to a further alternative, said position indicating means may be a smell producing substance and said
REFERENCES:
patent: 4223635 (1980-09-01), Akerman
patent: 4726322 (1988-02-01), Torsius
patent: 5020477 (1991-06-01), Dessing et al.
patent: 5069160 (1991-12-01), Street et al.
patent: 5479876 (1996-01-01), Street et al.
patent: 5784994 (1998-07-01), Van Der Lely
patent: 5791284 (1998-08-01), Van Der Lely
patent: 5862776 (1999-01-01), Van Den Berg
patent: 5934220 (1999-08-01), Hall et al.
patent: 5979359 (1999-11-01), Hansson
Ornerfors Benny
Stein Jan
Alfa Laval Agri AB
Bergin James S.
Carone Michael J.
LandOfFree
Apparatus for moving an animal related means and a method theref does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Apparatus for moving an animal related means and a method theref, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Apparatus for moving an animal related means and a method theref will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1585714