Milking system
AssigneeDeLaval Holding AB
InventorsGunnar Brostedt, Andreas Edmark
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A milking system, including: a vacuum pump, a receiver, a milk line, and a plurality of milking units. Each milking unit is connected to the milk line via a respective milk conduit. Each milking unit is also associated with a respective valve arrangement, arranged in the milk conduit, wherein the valve arrangement includes an adjustable passage for adjustment of the fluid pressure. The system also includes a pressure sensor, arranged to measure fluid pressure in the milk conduit upstream the valve arrangement; and a controller. The controller is configured to obtain a pressure level measurement from the pressure sensor and generate and provide a control signal to the valve arrangement, to adjust the adjustable passage, based on the pressure level measurement.
Claims13
A milking system (100) configured to milk several animals (110, 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d, 110e, 110f) simultaneously, comprising:
- a vacuum pump (210), configured to generate a system vacuum pressure (Ps);
- a receiver (220), connected to the vacuum pump (210);
- a common milk line (130), connected to the receiver (220);
- a plurality of milking points (120, 120a, 120b, 120c, 120d, 120e, 120f), each milking point configured to house one of the animals (110, 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d, 110e, 110f) at the time during a milking session;
- wherein each of the milking points (120, 120a, 120b, 120c, 120d, 120e, 120f) includes:
- a milking unit (140, 140a, 140b), said milking unit comprising at least one teat cup (241, 241a, 241b, 241c), which is/are configured to fit on a respective teat of the animal (110, 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d, 110e, 110f) during the milking session;
- wherein said milking unit (140, 140a, 140b) is connected to the common milk line (130) via a respective milk conduit (260, 260a, 260b, 260c);
- and wherein said milking unit (140, 140a, 140b) is associated with
- a controllable valve arrangement (250, 250a, 250b, 250c), arranged in the milk conduit (260, 260a, 260b, 260c) between the milking unit (140, 140a, 140b) and the common milk line (130), wherein the controllable valve arrangement (250, 250a, 250b, 250c) comprises an adjustable passage (300) wherein fluid pressure of the common milk line (130) is provided to the milk conduit (260, 260a, 260b, 260c) via the adjustable passage (300);
- and wherein an adjustment of the adjustable passage (300) results in an adjustment of the fluid pressure in the milking unit (140, 140a, 140b) and in a section of the milk conduit (260, 260a, 260b, 260c) between the milking unit (140, 140a, 140b) and the controllable valve arrangement (250, 250a, 250b, 250c) upstream of the controllable valve arrangement (250, 250a, 250b, 250c) in a liquid flow path;
- a pressure sensor (270, 270a, 270b, 270c), arranged to measure fluid pressure in the section of the milk conduit (260, 260a, 260b, 260c) between the milking unit (140, 140a, 140b) and the controllable valve arrangement (250, 250a, 250b, 250c);
- a controller (280) communicatively connected to the pressure sensor (270, 270a, 270b, 270c) and to the controllable valve arrangement (250, 250a, 250b, 250c), wherein the controller (280) is configured to, repeatedly during the milking session:
- obtain a pressure level measurement from the pressure sensor (270, 270a, 270b, 270c);
- and
- generate and provide a control signal to the controllable valve arrangement (250, 250a, 250b, 250c), to adjust the adjustable passage (300) in order to maintain the fluid pressure upstream of the controllable valve arrangement (250, 250a, 250b, 2050c) in the liquid path at a plurality of distinct fluid pressure levels during the milking session, based on the obtained pressure level measurement,
- wherein the controller is further configured to compare a most recent obtained respective pressure level measurement with one or several previously obtained said pressure level measurements and calculate a size of the adjustment of the adjustable passage based on the change rate of the difference between the pressure level measurements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.