GB876386A - Improvements in and relating to a method of cleaning and/or disinfecting the milkingunits of milking machines, and an apparatus for carrying out the said method, and a mixing device for such apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

876,386. Cleaning and/or disinfecting milking units. MIKKELSEN, A. K. April 20, 1959 [April 18, 1958], No. 13360/59. Class 138(1). [Also in Group XXVIII] Milking units, consisting of teat cups, central piece and associated milk hoses, are cleaned and/or disinfected by the continuous upward flow of milking machines of suitable liquid through the unit, air being continuously admitted into the liquid before the liquid flows into the milking unit at such a rate and with such a pressure that the ascending air is capable of ensuring the flow of liquid solely by entrainment thereof. A closed collecting tank 1 has connections for the airtight mounting of the teat cups 8 and an outlet 5 which is connected through a hose 6 with an open tank 13, e.g. a milk pail, containing the cleaning liquid 14. The teat cups 8 are connected by short milk hoses 9, with the central piece 10 from which the main milk hose 11 leads, to a mixing device 12 which, in the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1, consists of a U-tube placed in the open tank 13. One branch 12a of the U-tube is open to the atmosphere while the central portion 12c is provided with bores 15 through which the cleaning liquid 14 can flow. The apparatus is connected to the vacuum line of the milking plant by means of the outlet 4 and the valve 3 adjusted so that the pressure within the tank 1 is reduced to a vacuum corresponding to a static negative pressure head slightly smaller than the vertical distance between the surface of the cleaning liquid 14 and the bottom of the tank 1. This is indicated by the surface 16 of the liquid column in the return hose 6. Air is thus sucked in through the inlet 12a and conveys the cleaning liquid flowing in through the bores 15 in a strongly turbulent flow through the milking unit into the tank 1, from which the air escapes through the outlet 4, while the liquid returns through the hose 6 to the tank 13. Instead of the several bores 15, an oblong slot may be used, Fig. 3, and surrounded by a longitudinally displaceable sleeve 17 so as to regulate the ratio of air to liquid in the mixture passing into the main milk hose 11. As shown in Fig. 3, the mouth of the tube 18 which extends downstream of the slot 15 functions as an ejector nozzle which is of particular importance if the inlet end of the tube 18 is connected to a compressed air source, e.g. the pressure side of the vacuum pump belonging to the milking plant. In this case the outlet 4 of the tank 1 is open to the atmosphere or, if a greater difference in air pressure be desired, is connected to a vacuum.