Patent ID: 6997135

Claim:
A valve assembly in fluid communication between a milking claw and a milk supply, said valve assembly having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis and said valve assembly comprising: a) a valve section having a relief slot, the valve section comprising a housing section having a first milk passage, a second milk passage and a cleaning fluid passage, the valve section further comprising a valve element comprising a first transverse side, a milk channel and a cleaning fluid channel, wherein the longitudinal distance between the relief slot and the milk channel is defined as d ii and the longitudinal distance of the first milk conduit is defined as d cc , where d ii is a greater than d cc ; b) an actuator portion arranged to reciprocate the valve element between a milking position and a cleaning position; c) said valve assembly being arranged so that: i) when the valve assembly is in the milking position, the milk channel of the valve element is in communication between the first milk passage and the second milk passage, the relief slot is positioned between a least-resistant fluid leakage area located between the first milk passage and the cleaning fluid passage and wherein the relief slot is not in direct communication with either the cleaning fluid passage or the milking passage and ii) when the valve assembly is in the cleaning position, the valve element is positioned in a manner such that the cleaning channel provides communication between the cleaning fluid passage, the first milking passage and the relief slot, such that when the valve element is in transition from the milking position to the cleaning position, there is no fluid path between the cleaning fluid passage and the second milk passage.