EP1180928A1

EP1180928A1 - Mechanical device for the automatic attachment of nipple-graspers in an automated milking station

Info

Publication number: EP1180928A1
Application number: EP00935066A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Marco Istituto di Alimentazione Animale Cattaneo
Original assignee: Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche CNR; Universita degli Studi di Milano
Current assignee: Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche CNR; Universita degli Studi di Milano
Priority date: 1999-05-26
Filing date: 2000-05-18
Publication date: 2002-02-27
Also published as: IT1312326B1; ITMI991161A1; WO2000072664A1; AU5068300A

Abstract

A mechanical device for the automatic attachment of nipple-graspers in an automated milking station of the type that comprises known sensing means for locating in the space the position of the nipples and a robot activating the individual nipple-graspers (1-2-3-4). Said device comprises a support (9) integral with the robot and connected, through a flexible hose (8), with the collector (5) communicating in a known manner with said nipple-graspers which are in their turn connected to actuators through flexible hoses (11-11a-11b-11c). Said support (9) is provided with seats or niches (10-10a-10b-10c) within which each nipple-grasper reaches a position known to the robot during the attachment step and, after the attachment, is released from the seat so as to be free to follow the movement of the animal. Said nipple-graspers (1-2-3-4), constituting together with the collector the milking unit, are provided individually with an automatic valve, inserted in the common short milk and vacuum tubes (6-7) and intended for the independent opening of the ducts between the nipple-grasper sheath (1-1a, 2-2a, etc.) and the collector (5) only upon the insertion of the nipple in the sheath of the respective nipple-grasper.

Description

MECHANICAL DEVICE FOR THE AUTOMATIC ATTACHMENT OF

NIPPLE-GRASPERS IN AN AUTOMATED MILKING STATION

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a mechanical device for the positioning and the hooking, in an entirely automatic manner, of the nipple-graspers of milk cows in an automated milking station or the like.

As is known, the so called robot-slaved automated milking has allowed and still allows to improve the environment work conditions, to reduce the personnel assigned to said work, and therefore also the production costs, besides involving optimum health conditions in the milking facility. It is also known that within an automated milking apparatus, the component on which the functionality and reliability of the whole apparatus mainly depend is constituted by the automated attachment device of the nipple-graspers to the nipples of the milk cow.

In has been observed in the practice that most of the automated attachment devices realized until now are constituted by very complex, high- technological-contents structures that, while allowing a correct execution of the attachment operation, cannot always ensure the necessary functional reliability because of the high complexity of the devices employed.

Besides, said known automated devices require of users-farmers a preparation that the same have not, to provide quickly to the repairs of the unavoidable troubles and/or breakdowns that may occur to said devices; besides, another drawback of the present high-technological-contents devices lies in that they are not appreciated by farmers who are accustomed to employ structurally simpler devices.

Therefore, object of this invention is especially that of realizing a milking device automated attachment slave to a robot of a known type, that can provide a radical structural and functional simplification compared to the known devices, involving a remarkable reduction in the overall size, with ensuing limitation of the risk of damaging the same device as a consequence of blows and kicks by the animal.

Another object of the invention is to realize an automated device that, while utilizing a conventional milking unit, is very effective and reliable in the practice and also able, because of its structural simplicity, to allow the direct intervention by the operator, if any breakdowns and/or functional anomalies should occur. These and still other objects, that will be better stressed later on, are achieved by a mechanical device for the positioning and the attachment, in an automated manner, of the nipple-graspers to the nipples of a milk cow in a milking station slave to a robot of a known type, comprising known sensing means, suitably located in the space surrounding the milk cow, for the identification of the position of the individual nipples and the sending of the signals they emit to said robot intended for positioning said nipple-graspers along the vertical of said nipples, which device comprises, according to the present invention: a milking unit constituted of four nipple- graspers, connected through usual short milk and vacuum tubes to an underlying collector, which is kept hanging and in a vertically translatable manner through at least a flexible element, to a supporting element connected to said robot, in order to allow said collector to oscillate freely in all directions; positioning means for each of said nipple- graspers, constituted of arched seats, substantially niches, obtained at the free end of said supporting element connected to the robot, said seats being so arranged as to keep each nipple-grasper in a well defined position, to allow afterwards the sequential attachment to the related nipple by the movement of said supporting element;

- substantially hollow flexible means that connect each nipple-grasper to said supporting element, suitable to allow the return of the nipple-graspers in the inside of the respective seats during the attachment step, through robot-slaved actuating means, an automatic valve of a known type being also provided between said connector and the body of each nipple-grasper, suitable to activate the connection between the vacuum system and the nipple-grasper only upon the insertion of the nipple in the mouth of the usual sheath of said nipple-grasper.

More particularly, said collector is provided in its inside with a device intended for registering the physical-chemical parameters of milk for the purpose of controlling the physiological-health state of the animals.

Besides, said supporting element connected to the robot is substantially constituted of an arm or bar in whose inside channels are provided for the passage and the translation of both the positioning cables of nipple-graspers, and the suspension cable of the collector, through said robot-slaved actuators . Moreover, said actuators are constituted by electric, magnetic or fluid-dynamic devices, and are preferably located at a position far from the attachment unit. Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be stressed by the following detailed description, made with reference to the appended drawings, given only by way of non- limiting indication, and wherein: Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the mechanical device for the positioning and automatic attachment of the nipple-graspers in an automated milking station, realized according to the invention and illustrated in resting position; Figure 2 shows the same device of Figure 1, illustrated in front view and rotated by 90° with respect to the one of Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows a perspective view of the device of Figure 1 in the starting step of stable positioning of a nipple-grasper along the vertical of a nipple, i.e. in a position ready for the attachment; Figure 4 shows, from a downwards view, the same device of Figure 3, while Figure 5 shows a schematic side view of the device shown in Figures 3 and 4, wherein the more significant structural details of the device are stressed. With reference to said figures, the mechanical device for the automatic attachment of the nipple- graspers to the nipples of a milk cow in an automated milking station, realized according to the present invention, substantially utilizes the main components of a conventional milking unit; said mechanical device is so structured as to carry out the functions of support, positioning and automatic attachment of the nipple-graspers to the nipples in a simple and stable manner, independently on the movements which the animal may make.

More particularly, the mechanical device for the positioning and automatic attachment of the nipple- graspers, subject matter of this invention, utilizes an automated milking station provided with sensing means of a known type, suitable to identify the position of the individual nipples, and to send the signals emitted to a programmed robot, so as to position the nipple-graspers along the vertical of the nipples, as well as four connected nipple- graspers of a known type, through the related short milk and vacuum tube, to a collector provided with a discharge tube and a valve for closing the vacuum system.

In an automated milking station of the above described type, the mechanical device subject matter of the invention, as is illustrated in the figures appended hereto, is substantially constituted of four usual nipple-graspers, each of which is constituted of a rigid body 1-2-3-4, provided with a flexible sheath la, 2a, 3a, 4a, and which are connected in the lower part with a collecting body 5 through the short milk and vacuum tubes, indicated by 6 and 7 respectively for each nipple-grasper . Collector 5 is so mounted as to hang, through a flexible cable 8, from a substantially horizontal supporting arm 9 , connected to a suitably programmed robot (as will be clarified later on) , and not shown in the figures; in this way, collector 5 is free to oscillate in all directions and therefore to follow the movement of the cow's mamma, and, if necessary, to adjust to mammas having a particular configuration. At the free end of the supporting arm 9 , four substantially semicircular seats or niches are obtained, indicated by 10-lOa-lOb-lOc; they are so sized that each of them may house at a well-defined and stable position the nipple grasper facing it. Said seats are in practice means for positioning the nipple-grasper during the step of attachment of the nipple-graspers to the related nipple; to this aim, each nipple-grasper is connected in the median position to a flexible cable; said cables indicated as a whole by 11-lla-llb-llc in the various figures - are extended in the inside of channels obtained in the supporting block 9 , and then anchored to actuators (not shown) of electric, magnetic or fluid-dynamics type.

By means of flexible cables 11-lla-llb-llc, through said robot-slaved actuators, each nipple-grasper may be caused to return in the inside of the respective seat during the attachment step and may freely shift to the rest step, as shown in Figure 1, as far as the length of the respective cable allows it. The device also provides, between collector 5 and each nipple-grasper, for the positioning of an automatic valve of a known type, suitable to open the connection between the vacuum system and the nipple-grasper only after the insertion of the nipple in the mouth of the sheath (la, 2a, etc.); said automatic valves operate, in fact, autonomously only following the tight-occlusion of the sheath mouth created by the nipple. Besides, collector 5 presents in its inside a control and registration device of the physical- chemical parameters of milk, in order to check the physiological-health state of cows. The mechanical device of automatic attachment, as is described with reference to the appended figures, allows to realize an attachment procedure that concerns, in sequence, the individual nipple- graspers, according to the following operating steps.

At the start, the milking unit or milking head, constituted of four nipple-graspers 1 to 4 , connected in the lower part to the hanging collector 5 and, in the median part, to the traction cables 11 to lie, is positioned under the mamma, with the four nipple-graspers in resting position, far from the seats of the supporting arm 9 and supported by the respective flexible cables that tie them to the supporting arm; in Figures 1-2 there is represented the relative positions of the nipple-graspers in their rest condition. After the positioning of the milking unit, the first nipple-grasper, for instance, nipple-grasper 1 of Figure 1, is caused to return to the attachment position (i.e. in its seat 10) through the traction of its cable 11, performed by a robot- slaved actuator; Figures 3 and 4 show the attachment position of the first nipple-grasper. There follows then the positioning of the first nipple-grasper along the vertical of the respective nipple carried out by the robot based on the signals emitted by said sensing means, followed by the lifting, in the vertical direction, and upon control by the robot, of the whole milking unit, until the nipple inserts into the mouth of the sheath of the first nipple taker; at the same time as the insertion, there occurs also the opening of said automatic valve (interposed between the nipple and the collector) , allowing in this way the stable attachment between the nipple and the nipple- grasper. Having carried out the attachment of the first nipple-grasper, the cable that restrains it is released, allowing it in this way to shift away from the seat of the supporting arm and to adapt freely to the mamma. Upon release of the first nipple-grasper from the supporting arm, the robot causes the second nipple- grasper to return to the attachment position in its seat through the traction of the respective cable, positioning then the nipple-grasper along the vertical of the second nipple, and lifting the milking unit until the second nipple is inserted in the mouth of the sheath of the second nipple- grasper, with the simultaneous opening of the respective automatic valve, lastly releasing the cable that restrains said nipple-grasper, to allow the latter to shift away from support 9. The attachment of the two remaining nipple-graspers takes place according to the same positioning, attachment and release steps which are those of the two first nipple-graspers. At the end of the attachment, the milking unit remains handing thanks to the action of the vacuum on the mamma and can oscillate freely following the movements of the animal thanks to the flexible cable 8 between the supporting arm 9 and collector 5.

At the end of milking, the vacuum action is interrupted by activating a valve located downstream of collector 5. Lastly, in the inside of collector 5 a device is connected that is suitable to register the physical-chemical parameters of milk for the purposes of the control of the physiological-health state of the animal. The particular structure of the attachment device, subject matter of the invention, together with a substantially known milking unit, allows to reach the aims and advantages expounded in the premise. However, it is obviously possible to introduce changes in the invention as described and illustrated, modifications and variants that are equivalent from the structural and functional point of view, without departing from the protection scope of the invention; so, for instance, the milking unit may be realized without using collector 5, but simply uniting the four nipple- graspers in one only hanging bundle 9, suitable to allow the separate evacuation of milk from each nipple-grasper.

Claims

1. A mechanical device for the positioning and the attachment, in an entirely automatic manner, of the nipple-graspers to the nipples of a milk cow or the like in an automated milking station, of the type comprising sensing means, suitably arranged in the space circumscribing the cow, for the identification of the position of the individual nipples and the sending of the signals they emit to the automation robot intended for the positioning of said nipple-takers along the vertical of said nipples, characterized in that it comprises: a milking unit constituted of four nipple- graspers (1-2-3-4) , connected through usual short milk (6) and vacuum (7) tubes to an underlying collector (5) which is kept hanging, and in a vertically translatable manner through at least a flexible element (8) , to a supporting element (9) connected to said robot, in order to allow said collector (5) to oscillate freely in all directions; positioning means for each of said nipple- graspers, constituted of arched seats (10-10a-10b- 10c), substantially niches, obtained at the free end of said supporting element (9) connected to the robot, said sets being so arranged as to keep each nipple-grasper (1-2-3-4) in a well defined position, to allow afterwards the sequential attachment to the respetive nipple by lifting said supporting element;

- substantially hollow flexible means (11-lla-llb- lie) suitable to allow the return of the nipple- graspers in the inside of the respective seat during the attachment step, through robot-slaved actuating means, an automatic valve of a known type being also provided between said connector (5) and the body of each nipple-grasper, suitable to activate the connection between the vacuum system and the nipple-grasper only upon the insertion of the nipple in the mouth of the sheath (11- lla-llb-llc) of said nipple-grasper.

2. The mechanical device according to claim 1, characterized in that said supporting element (9) , connected to the robot, is constituted of an arm or rod, in whose inside channels are provided for the passage and the translation of both the cables (11- lla-llb-llc) for the positioning of the nipple- graspers (1-2-3-4) and the cable (8) for hanging collector (5) through said actuating means.

3. The mechanical device according to claim 1, characterized in that said actuating means are constituted by devices of electric, magnetic or fluid-dynamic type, and positioned at a position preferably far away from the attachment unit.

4. The mechanical device according to the preceding claims, characterized in that said collector (5) is provided in its inside with a device suitable to register the physical-chemical parameters of milk, suitable to allow the control of the physiological- health state of the animals.

5. The mechanical device according to the preceding claims, characterized in that said nipple-graspers

(1-2-3-4) may be united in one only bundle, without collector, hanging from support (9) , in order to allow the separate evacuation of milk coming from each nipple-grasper.