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US 6,148,766 AGranted
Construction including an implement for automatically milking animals
OwnerCornelis van der Lelyinventor
Life of this patent
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OwnerCornelis van der Lelyinventor
Estimating the term…
A system for automatically milking animals comprising an area where the animals can move about freely. A milking robot automatically connects teat cups to an animal's teats in a milking compartment having a concentrate station. The entire system, including the concentrate station, is computer controlled. Doors in the milking compartment automatically open for the entry and departure of animals. An automatic cleaning member cleans the animal's teats and an automatic cleaning system automatically cleans the entire milk line system or a selected part thereof. The herd is divided by a computer into milk production groups with a computer defined priority criteria for admitting a specific group of animals into the milking compartment prior to another group. Each robot arm is controlled by three parallelogram structures in series, each being separately controlled by a piston and cylinder unit or an electromotor, the lowermost structures being capable of extending teat carriers under the cows udder, the forward structure, when so extended, being at an angle of roughly 45.degree. and the aft structure being at an angle of roughly 60.degree.. Retractable cables connect each teat cup to a teat cup carrier. Each teat cup is connected from its upper aspect by a cable to a spool mounted on the upper side of the milking compartment, each spool being computer controlled by an electromotor to retain the teat cups in upright positions after their disconnection from the teats when being retracted to the teat carriers.
An apparatus for automatically milking animals, the apparatus comprising a confined area in which the animals are allowed to move about freely, a milking compartment which can be entered from said area, a milking robot having at least one robot arm provided with a first and a second parallelogram structure, each said structure located in a first plane extending in the longitudinal direction of the milking compartment and a third parallelogram structure located in a second plane which is at an angle with the first plane.
An apparatus for automatically milking animals, which comprises a milking compartment, a milking robot having at least one robot arm, said robot arm comprising a teat cup carrier which carries a teat cup at its end, said teat cup being connected to said teat cup carrier by a retracting member which retracts said teat cup to said teat cup carrier when said teat cup is disconnected from a teat of an animal being milked in said milking compartment, and upwardly extending transport means which interconnects an upper aspect of said teat cup with an upper aspect of a side of said milking compartment, said transport means serving the function of maintaining said teat cup in a substantially upright disposition when said teat cup is disconnected from a teat and is retracted to said teat cup carrier by said retracting member, said robot arm comprising in series three parallelogram structures, the arrangement of each of said parallelogram structures being controlled by computer control means.
A system for automatically milking animals, which comprises an area in which the animals are permitted to move about freely, a milking compartment, a milking robot at said milking compartment for automatically connecting teat cups to an animal, a concentrate station for feeding an animal in said milking compartment, identification means for identifying an animal at said milking compartment, said identification means associated with a computer program which, on the basis of historical data of an animal at said milking compartment, determines the estimated milk production for such animal and, on the basis of such estimated milk production, determines whether or not such animal will be milked by said robot in said milking compartment, automatically controlled gates on said milking compartment for controlling the entry and exit of animals into and from said milking compartment, an automatic cleaning member for cleaning the teats of an animal in said milking compartment, said milking robot including a robot arm, said teat cups connected to said robot arm by a flexible member when the animal is being milked, said flexible member being retracted in said robot arm when a said teat cup is disconnected from a teat of an animal being milked in said milking compartment, means for determining the quality of milk received by said teat cup and for diverting low quality milk so that it is not mixed with high quality milk from animals milked in said milking compartment, a disinfecting device by means of which the udder of an animal that has been milked can be disinfected automatically after milking, a milk line system for transporting milk from said teat cup to a bulk milk tank and automatic cleaning means for cleaning said milk line system automatically, a time adjusted metering unit for said concentrate station by means of which a predetermined amount of concentrate is fed to an animal while being milked in said milking compartment, said robot arm comprising in series three parallelogram structures, the arrangement of each of said parallelogram structures being controlled by computer control means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.