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US 8,464,655 B2Granted
Cleaning within a milking system
AssigneeDeLaval Holding AB
InventorKrister Sjöblom
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods clean a gripping device (5) of a milking station (1) for milking animals. Methods include initiating (21) a gripper device cleaning procedure, moving (22) the gripper device (5) to a cleaning position, and carrying out (23) the gripper device cleaning procedure. Efficient and automatic cleaning of gripper devices is provided. Milking systems also include apparatuses for cleaning a gripper device.
Claims11
A method for cleaning a teat cup gripper device of a milking station for milking animals, the milking station including a control unit, an automatic moving device, and a cleaning device, the method comprises:
- automatically detecting when a gripping surface of the gripper device is too soiled to grip a teat cup properly by
- i) detecting, with a sensor, performance deterioration of the gripper device as indicated by a degree of soil on the gripping surface, wherein the performance deterioration detected by the sensor relates to the ability of the gripper device to hold a teat cup, and
- ii) based on the detected degree of soil, forming a determination when the gripping surface of the gripper device is too soiled to function properly to grip the teat cup;
- and
- automatically initiating, based on the detected performance deterioration, and the determination that the gripper device is too soiled to function properly to grip the teat cup, with the control unit, a gripper device cleaning procedure including,
- moving, with the automatic moving device, the gripper device to a cleaning position, and
- cleaning, with the cleaning device, the gripper device to remove dirt off the gripping surface of the gripper device;
- transmitting, with the sensor, information of the detected performance deterioration of the gripper device;
- receiving, with the control unit, the information;
- processing, with the control unit, the information to determine if cleaning is necessary, the cleaning procedure being initiated based on the processing,
- wherein the gripper device is an electromagnetic gripper device,
- wherein the sensor is an inductive sensor in the electromagnetic gripper device, the inductive sensor sensing a magnetic field, an inductance, or a change of inductance caused by the gripper device surface being soiled, and
- wherein the transmitted information from the sensor is at least one of magnetic field information, induced electric current information, and a change field or current information, said transmitted information used for forming the determination that the gripper device is too soiled to function properly to grip the teat cup.
10 more elements
A milking system comprising:
- a gripper device configured to grip teat cups;
- a cleaning device configured to clean the gripper device;
- an automatic moving device configured to automatically move the gripper device to the cleaning device;
- a sensor configured to detect performance deterioration of the gripper device;
- and
- a control unit configured to control the cleaning device and the automatic moving device and initiate a cleaning procedure with the cleaning device and the automatic moving device, the initiating based on the detected performance deterioration,
- wherein the sensor and control unit are operatively connected to automatically detect when a gripping surface of the gripper device is too soiled to grip the teat cups properly by
- i) the sensor determining performance deterioration of the gripper device as indicated by a degree of soil on the gripping surface, wherein the performance deterioration detected by the sensor relates to the ability of the gripper device to hold a teat cup, and
- ii) based on the detected degree of soil, forming a determination when the gripping surface of the gripper device is too soiled to function properly to grip the teat cup, and
- wherein, based on the detected performance deterioration and the determination that the gripper device is too soiled to function properly to grip the teat cup, to automatically initiate the gripper device cleaning procedure,
- wherein the gripper device is an electromagnetic gripper device, and
- wherein the sensor is an inductive sensor in the electromagnetic gripper device, the inductive sensor sensing a magnetic field, an inductance, or a change of inductance caused by the gripper device surface being soiled and providing an information thereof to the control unit for forming the determination that the gripper device is too soiled to function properly to grip the teat cup.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.