Safety valve for an automated milker unit backflushing and teat dip applicator system
AssigneeGEA Farm Technologies GmbH
InventorsKevin L. Torgerson, Nathan Hedlund, Matthew J. Stuessel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for cleaning a dairy animal milker unit and applying dip to a dairy animal, the system includes a main control, an air supply, a water supply, a backflush fluid supply, a dip supply, a stall control for receiving the air, water, backflush fluid and dip supplies, and a safety valve that is adjacent to a downstream portion of the milker unit to control backflush and dip fluids being fed to the milker unit.
Claims18
A milker unit backflush system for cleaning a dairy animal milker unit, the backflush system comprising:
- a main control;
- a diluent supply in communication with the main control;
- a cleaning fluid supply in communication with the main control;
- a mixer in communication with the diluent supply and the cleaning fluid supply;
- a dip supply in communication with the main control;
- and
- a safety valve in fluid communication with the mixer, the dip supply, and a downstream portion of the milker unit, and the safety valve comprises a backflush piston for movement between a milking position and a backflush position, and a dip valve piston for movement between a milking position and a backflush position.
A method for backflushing a milker unit using a safety valve, the method comprising the steps of:
- treating a diluent;
- mixing the diluent and a cleaning fluid concentrate to form a mixture;
- closing the safety valve to substantially seal off a downstream portion of the milker unit from a dairy pipeline system;
- forcing the mixture into the safety valve and the milker unit;
- and
- opening the safety valve so that the milker unit is in fluid communication with the dairy pipeline system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.