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US 8,616,155 B2Granted
Milking arrangement for animals
AssigneeDeLaval Holding AB
InventorsKerstin Vollmer, Jan Eriksson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A milking arrangement for animals includes rotary platform (2), a driving mechanism (12) adapted to provide a rotary motion of the platform (2), milking stalls (3) adapted to house the animals (1) to be milked on the platform (2), a blocking system (11, 20, 25) for blocking selected milking stalls (3) on the platform (1) temporarily such that the animals (1) do not have access to the blocked milking stalls (3) during a period of time and the remaining non-blocked milking stalls will be used more frequently.
Claims20
A milking arrangement for animals, comprising:
- a rotary platform (2);
- a driving mechanism (12) adapted to provide a rotary motion of the platform (2);
- milking stalls (3) adapted to house the animals (1) to be milked on the platform (2);
- and
- a blocking system, comprising i) a movable blocking member (20, 25) adapted to temporarily block selected milking stalls (3) such that the animals (1) do not have access to the blocked milking stalls (3) during a period of time, and ii) a control unit (11) that controls motion of the blocking member (20, 25) to temporarily block the selected milking stalls (3),
- wherein the control unit i) estimates a number of animals to enter the platform (2) during a future period of time, and ii) determines, based on the control unit's estimated number of animals to enter the platform (2) during the future period of time, whether the rotary platform (2) will be used to full capacity during the future period of time, wherein,
- when the control unit determines that the rotary platform (2) will not be used to full capacity during the future period of time, i) the control system makes a determination of a number of milking stalls to be blocked during the future period of time so that a remaining number of non-blocked stalls are used substantially continuously during the future period of time, and ii) the control unit controls the motion of the blocking member to temporarily block the determined number of the milking stalls (3) during the future period of time.
4 more elements
A milking arrangement for animals, comprising:
- a rotary platform (2);
- a driving mechanism (12) adapted to provide a rotary motion of the platform (2);
- milking stalls (3) adapted to house the animals (1) to be milked on the platform (2);
- a blocking member (20, 25) adapted to temporarily block selected milking stalls (3) on the platform (1) such that the animals (1) do not have access to the blocked milking stalls (3) during a period of time;
- and
- a control unit (11) connected to control the blocking member to temporarily block the selected milking stalls (3),
- the control unit that i) estimates a number of animals to enter the platform (2) during a future period of time, and ii) determines, based on the control unit's estimated number of animals to enter the platform (2) during the future period of time, whether the rotary platform (2) will be used to a predetermined capacity during the future period of time, wherein,
- when the control unit determines that the rotary platform (2) will not be used to the predetermined capacity during the future period of time, i) the control system makes a determination of a number of milking stalls to be blocked during the future period of time so that a remaining number of non-blocked stalls are used substantially continuously during the future period of time, and ii) the control unit controls the blocking member to temporarily block the determined number of the milking stalls (3) during the future period of time, and
- the predetermined capacity is based on the estimated number of animals to enter the platform (2) during the future period of time being less than a predetermined value.
6 more elements
A milking arrangement for animals, comprising:
- a rotary platform (2);
- a driving mechanism (12) adapted to provide a rotary motion of the platform (2);
- milking stalls (3) adapted to house the animals (1) to be milked on the platform (2);
- a blocking member (20, 25) adapted to temporarily block selected milking stalls (3) on the platform (1) such that the animals (1) do not have access to the blocked milking stalls (3) during a period of time;
- and
- a control unit (11) connected to control the blocking member to temporarily block the selected milking stalls (3),
- wherein the control unit i) estimates a number of animals to enter the platform (2) during a future period of time, and ii) determines, based on the control unit's estimated number of animals to enter the platform (2) during the future period of time, whether the rotary platform (2) will be used to a predetermined capacity during the future period of time, wherein,
- when the control unit determines that the rotary platform (2) will not be used to the predetermined capacity during the future period of time, i) the control system makes a determination of a number of milking stalls to be blocked during the future period of time so that a remaining number of non-blocked stalls are used at an increased capacity during the future period of time, and ii) the control unit controls the blocking member to temporarily block the determined number of the milking stalls (3) during the future period of time.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.