Animal husbandry – Milkers – Milking station arrangements; e.g. – parlors
Patent
1996-01-25
1998-07-28
Weiss, John G.
Animal husbandry
Milkers
Milking station arrangements; e.g., parlors
119 1402, A01J 500
Patent
active
057849935
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This Application is a 371 Application of PCT/EP94/02418 filed Jul. 22, 1994.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention concerns a system for controlling and operating a cow-milking carousel that rotates at different speeds. The carousel has an animal-identity confirmation device at the entrance and an animal-monitoring device at the exit. It also has a number of milking stands. Teat cups are applied to the animals at the milking stands and are automatically removed once the animals have been milked.
Similar cow-milking carousels are known from the present applicant's publication 9997-9287-020/0393 entitled Melkanlagen. They are intended to increase the productivity of large herds of dairy cows. Hourly rates of more than 100 animals per operator can generally be attained. This is possible, however, only when the milking capacity of the herd has been highly standardized. When the herd contains even just a few slow-to-milk cows, the carousel must be decelerated to ensure that they too can be milked dry in one rotation of the device. This factor decreases average output per hour.
Although the speeds of known cow-milking carousels are variable, a single speed that experience has demonstrated optimal is generally employed in practice. Since the operators must work inside the carousel for two to seven hours at a time, readiness to manually vary the speed decreases with milking time. The teat cups are applied manually and removed by an automatic device when milk flow lessens. To prevent animals from leaving the carousel before the teat cups have been removed, it can be provided with a brake that stops it when an animal with cups still in place arrives just in front of the exit. The carousel is started manually again once the animal has been milked dry.
Austrian Patent 271 078 describes a cow-milking carousel that rotates at speeds controlled by sensors in the vicinity of the entrance and exit. The carousel is decelerated when animals do not leave these areas within a prescribed time. This feature is intended to protect the animals. The same publication suggests another sensor to monitor the operator and vary the speed when he leaves his post. These approaches, however, do not deal with the problem of adjusting the speed of the carousel to account for the cows that are slowest to milk.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is a cow-milking carousel that will automatically adjust its speed to take the slowest-to-milk cows into account.
This object is attained in accordance with the present invention in that the position of the teat cups is monitored at two checkpoints along the direction of rotation, and operating-and-control devices adjust the speed of the carousel until the teat cups have to the greatest extent possible not yet been removed at the first checkpoint but have been removed to the greatest extent possible at the second checkpoint.
How the carousel's speed can be adjusted will now be described. A time T.sub.1 is determined at the first checkpoint and a time T.sub.2 at the second checkpoint, between which the last two not yet finished milking stands have been passed. Since during the passage from the first to the second checkpoint the teat cups will have been removed at some milking stands, T.sub.1 will be smaller than T.sub.2. The carousel can be accelerated to obtain a specific threshold time T.sub.GR at which the control times will coincide with what are called the milking-point reloading times. During one period T.sub.MK of a carousel with Z.sub.MP milking stands accordingly,
The carousel's animal-milking potential can be fully exploited by the procedure that will now be described. When milking is initiated and the first animal enters the carousel, the machinery is maximally accelerated. Both T.sub.MK and T.sub.GR will be minimal. Once T.sub.GR =T.sub.1 =T.sub.2, the parametrizable increment of the carousel speed will be adjusted until T.sub.GR .ltoreq.T.sub.1 <T.sub.2.
To ensure fluent milking, the distance between the checkpoints can be varied such that the c
REFERENCES:
patent: 1125348 (1915-01-01), Lawrence
patent: 3460515 (1969-08-01), Page et al.
patent: 3835814 (1974-09-01), Jacabs et al.
Osthues Uwe
Wartenhorst Bernhard Schulze
Wohlbruck Ralf
Cho David J.
Weiss John G.
Westfalia Separator Aktiengesellschaft
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