DEVICE FOR CLEANING TEAT CUPS USED FOR MILKING DAIRY ANIMALS

Abstract: Milking apparatus (1), for the milking of dairy animals (23), comprising teat cups (7'-7'''') displaceable under the influence of gravity towards a teat cup storage and/or cleaning means (29), said teat cup storage and/or cleaning means (29) comprises teat cup guidance means (31'-31'''') for guiding said teat cups (7'-7'''') into said teat cup storage and/or cleaning means (29), and said guidance means (31'-31'''') comprises one or more inclined chutes (31'-31'''; 45'), characterised in that said each inclined chute or chutes (31'-31'''') has a substantially U-shaped cross section which has a maximum width which is greater than the maximum width of a teat cup (7'-7'''').

Description: DEVICE FOR CLEANING TEAT CUPS USED FOR MILKING Bf RY ANIMALS Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for cleaning teat cups used for milking dairy animals. Description of Related Art Continuous efforts are being made in order to reduce the costs of producing milk. One way of doing this is by automating the milking of dairy animals thereby reducing the labour costs of producing milk. Semiautomatic dairy machines are known in which a operator manually attaches teat cups to the teats of a dairy animal and in which the subsequent milking is performed automatically by a milking machine. In order to facilitate attachment of the teat cups the operator stands at a lower level than the animal so that the udder is at chest height. This can be achieved by providing a raised platform for the milking stall or by providing a trench or pit for the operator beside the milking stall. The teat cups hang upside-down from a teat cup magazine around the knee-height of the operator who can lift them and fit them onto the teat of the animal without having to bend. Once the milking of a teat is complete the teat cup is automatically released and it falls away from the teat and again is hung upside-down from the teat cup magazine. When such devices are adapted for use with a milking robot it is no longer necessary to provide a raised milking platform or operator pit in order to have the udder at chest height. This is because the operator is replaced by a milking robot which can be mounted at the correct height to access the udder and teats. A problem occurs with such adapted devices when the teat cups are released as instead of hanging upside-down from the teat cup magazine they instead fall on the ground and become dirty. In order to achieve the necessary standards of hygiene in the milk collected by automated systems it is necessary to provide cleaning means for the teat cups in order to prevent udder and teat infections being passed form one animal to another and to prevent contaminants being introduced into the milk as it is being collected from an animal. One way of cleaning teat cups is known form the milking apparatus shown in EP-A 0 213 660. This device provides each teat cup with a milk line and a traction cable. The traction cable, which follows the teat cup to its position under the animal being milked, is used to remove the teat cup from a teat, retract it until it hangs upside-down from a stop and then to lower it onto a vertically projecting sprayer which cleans the inside of the teat cup. A problem with the prior art device is that it requires each teat cup to have a traction line as well as a milk line. This increases the complexity and cost of the milking apparatus and carries the risk that the animal being milked will become entangled with the traction line. Furthermore if a teat cup oscillates as it is being lowered onto a sprayer there is a risk that it will miss the sprayer and not be cleaned or it may fall onto the floor and become even dirtier. Therefore in the prior art device it is necessary to wait until the teat cup has stopped oscillating before lowering it onto the sprayer. This wastes time. Summary The object of the invention is to solve the above stated problems. The present invention solves the above stated problems by means of a device having the features mentioned in the characterising part of claim 1. Further improvements are obtained having the features mentioned in the dependent claims. In a device in accordance with the present invention, each teat cup in a milking apparatus can be retracted by means of its milk line to a waiting position in a teat cup magazine. In the waiting position the teat cups are easily accessible by a robot arm which can grip a teat cup and carry it to its working position on the teat of the diary animal being milked. The milk line is suspended from the frame of the milking apparatus over a movable retraction pulley which is operated by a retraction line which is positioned on the opposite side of the frame of the milking apparatus to the animal being milked and therefore is unable to become entangled in the animal. The teat cups are cleaned by being dropped into a cleaning device such as a storage and cleaning box which is positioned under the teat cup magazine. In order to ensure that the teat cups do not miss the cleaning device, guidance means are provided to guide the teat cups into the cleaning device. In a second embodiment of the invention the guidance means are inclined chutes which have sufficiently large dimensions such that they can be sure of catching the teat cups when they are released from the magazine. In a further embodiment of the invention the chutes are positioned so close to the teat cup magazine so that it is ensured that even oscillating teat cups will be caught by the guide chutes. In another embodiment of the invention the chutes are movable to a position further away from the magazine so that they do not obstruct access to the teat cups when they are supported in the magazine. This facilitates gripping of the teat cups by a robot arm. The invention will be described more closely in the following by means of examples of embodiments and figures. Brief Description of the Drawing Figure 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a cleaning device in a voluntary milking system in accordance with the invention when the teat cups are held in a teat cup magazine. Figure 2 is a perspective view of the embodiment of figure 1 when the teat cups are in a cleaning device. Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the cleaning device shown in figure 2. Figure 4 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a guidance portion in accordance with the invention. Detailed Description of Embodiments Figure 1 shows part of a milking apparatus 1 equipped with a storage and cleaning device 3 in accordance with the invention. Parts of the milking apparatus 1 which are not relevant for the present invention have been omitted from the figures for the sake of clarity of illustration. The milking apparatus has a teat cup magazine 5 for retracting and storing teat cups 7'-7"". The teat cups 7'-7"" are on the ends of milk lines 9 '-9'"' which are supported by retraction pulleys 11 '-11"" suspended on retraction cables 13'- 13"" which are attached to the pistons 15'- 15"" of cylinder and piston pneumatic actuators 17'- 17"" mounted on the frame (omitted for clarity of illustration) of the milking apparatus 1. When the piston 15 of a pneumatic actuator 17 is retracted then the associated retraction cable 13 pulls the pulley 11 upwards and this lifts the associated milk line 9 until the teat cup 7 reaches, and is held against, a retraction stop 19'- 19"" at the base of the teat cup magazine 5. These retraction stops 19'-19"" constrain the teat cups 7'-7"" such that any oscillations can only take place in the plane perpendicular to the transverse axis of the magazine 5. When a teat cup e.g. teat cup 7' is to be attached to a teat 21 on a diary ariimal 23 it is grasped by a gripping means 25 on the end of a robot arm 27 and removed from the teat cup magazine 5. In order to reduce the resistance to motion of the robot arm during fitting of the teat cup 7' the air supply to the cylinder 15' of the actuator 17' for the retraction mechanism of the teat cup 7' is vented to atmosphere so that the milk line 9' can drop freely under the influence of gravity as the teat cup is manoeuvred to the teat 21. After the milking of a teat 21 has been completed the teat cup T can be retracted to the magazine 5 by retracting piston 15' until teat cup T reaches stop 19'. In order to prevent teat cups 7 '-7'" hitting the floor as they fall under the influence of gravity if the power supply to actuator 17-17"" is removed and in order to perform the necessary periodic cleaning of teat cups 7'-7"" a storage and cleaning box 29 is positioned below the teat cup magazine 5. The storage and cleaning box 29 comprises a guidance portion comprising guide chutes 31 '-31 " " and a cleaning and storage portion 33. The guide chutes 31'-31 "" are positioned vertically below the position that the teat cups 7'-7"" take up when retracted into the teat cup magazine 5 and are intended to intercept the teat cups 7 '-7'"' when they are allowed to fall from the teat cup magazine 5 and to guide them into the cleaning and storage portion 33. The guide portion preferably comprises an equal number of chutes 31 '-31 '"' as there are teat cups 7'-7"", each chute 31 '-31 '"' being positioned below a teat cup 31 '-31 '"'. The chutes 31 '-31 '"' preferably have a U- shaped cross-section and are preferably wider than the maximum width of a teat cup 7'-7"" and are positioned so that even if a teat cup 7 oscillates as it falls then it will still land in its chute 31. This can be achieved by preferably positioning the tops of chutes 31 '-31 "" a distance from the base of the magazine 5 which is equal to or less than the length of a teat cup 7 and also by extending them in the plane perpendicular to the transverse axis of the magazine 5. The teat cups 7'-7"" can still be extracted from and retracted into the magazine 5 by inclining them and retraction guide ramps 35 can be placed on the side of the chutes 31 '-31 "" facing towards the robot 27 to facilitate their retraction. The short distance between the base of the magazine 5 and the guide chutes 31 '-31 " " can be chosen so that even if the teat cups 7'-7"" oscillate in the plane perpendicular to the transverse axis of the magazine 5 the amplitude of oscillation will be restricted by the teat cups 7'-7"" coming into contact with the tops of the guide chutes 31'-31 " " . Figure 2 shows the milking apparatus 1 of figure 1 when the teat cups 7'-7"" are positioned in the cleaning and storage portion 33 of storage and cleaning box 29. The pistons 15'-15"" of actuators 17'-17"" are fully extended and retraction pulleys H'-l l"" are in their lowest positions. Milk lines 9 '-9'"' have fallen under the influence of gravity to their lowest positions and teat cups 7'-7"" have been intercepted by guide chutes 31'-31"" and guided to their cleaning and storing positions in cleaning and storing portion 33. Figure 3 shows storage and cleaning box 29 in detail. Cleaning and storage portion 33 comprises a number of retaining walls 37 '-37"'" which form four compartments 39'-39"" each intended to receive a teat cup 7'-7"". Each compartment 39'-39"" is provided with cleaning means such as spray outlets 41 '-41'"' which can emit sprays of cleaning fluid (shown as dotted lines) in order to clean the outside of teat cups 7'-7"". Cleaning and storage portion 33 is provided with an outlet 43 for used cleaning fluid and is preferably tilted slightly in the direction of outlet 43 in order to facilitate the draining away of used cleaning fluid. In order to clean the inside of teat cups 7'-7"" cleamng and storage portion 33 can optionally be provided with sprayers or brushes (not shown) which project substantially horizontally into the open ends of each teat cup 7 '-7'"' when they are in their cleaning and storage positions. These sprayers can be made retractable in order to avoid obstructing the movement of the teat cups 7'-7"". In another embodiment of the invention, not shown, storage and cleaning box 29 is movable from a storage and cleaning position in which it is just below the magazine 5 and therefore can easily and reliably catch teat cups 7'-7"", to an idle position in which it is moved away from the magazine 5, either vertically downwards or to one side, in order to improve the access of the robot arm 27 to the teat cups 7'-7"". The storage and cleamng box 29 can be arranged on the floor beside the milking stall or, in the event that the stall is placed beside an operator pit or trench (for example when the milking robot is retrofitted into an old milking building), it can be suspended above the floor. The latter also facilitates cleaning of the storage and cleaning box 29. It is also conceivable in a device in accordance with the invention to separate the storage and cleaning functions. Thus a further embodiment of the invention (shown schematically in figure 4) comprises a funnel-like guidance portion 45 which guides the teat cups into a storage box 47 which is not provided with cleaning means. Separate cleaning means can be provided elsewhere. The main purpose of the storage box can therefore be to prevent the teat cups and milk lines from coming into contact with the floor. Alternatively guidance means can be provided which guide the teat cups into a position under or between cleaning means such as sprayers or nozzles or the like. The length of the guidance part can be so long that when the teat cups reach the end of the guidance path they are suspended above the floor or a drainage hole. They can then be cleaned there and left to drain, suspended above the floor or drainage hole, until needed again.

Claims: Claims 1. Milking apparatus (1), for the milking of dairy animals (23), comprising teat cups (7'-7"") displaceable under the influence of gravity towards a teat cup storage and/or cleaning means (29), said teat cup storage and/or cleaning means (29) comprises teat cup guidance means (31'-31"") for guiding said teat cups (7'-7"") into said teat cup storage and/or cleaning means (29), and said guidance means (31 '- 31"") comprises one or more inclined chutes (31 '-31'"; 45'), characterised in that said each inclined chute or chutes (31'-31"") has a substantially U-shaped cross- section which has a maximum width which is greater than the maximum width of a teat cup (7'-7""). 2. Milking apparatus in accordance with claim 1, characterised in that said each inclined chute (45) has a substantially funnel-like cross-section which has a maximum width which is greater than the maximum width of a teat cup (7'-7""). 3. Milking apparatus in accordance with any of claims 1 or 2, characterised in that said each chute or chutes (31 '-31'"'; 45) is movable to a position at a vertical distance which is less than the length of a teat cup (7'-7"") below a teat cup magazine (5). 4. Milking apparatus in accordance with any the proceeding claims, characterised in that said each chute (31'-31"") is movable to a position at a vertical distance which is greater than the length of a teat cup (7'-7"") below a teat cup magazine (5) and/or to a horizontal position which is not directly underneath a teat cup magazine (5). 5. Milking apparatus in accordance with any of the previous claims, characterised in that said teat cup storage and/or cleaning means (29) guides said teat cups (7'-7"") in an essentially horizontal orientation. ilking apparatus in accordance with any of claims 1-4, characterised in that said teat cup storage and/or cleaning means (29) stores said teat cups (7'-7"") in an essentially vertical orientation.

Inventors: BIRK UZI, BIRK, UZI
Applicants: ALFA LAVAL AGRI AB, BIRK UZI, BIRK, UZI
Application year: 1999
Main classification: A01J5
IPC codes: A01J5