A dairy cow fixed metabolism cabin excrement and urine collecting device

Abstract

The utility model discloses a kind of excrement and urine collecting devices of dairy cow fixed metabolism cabin in the animal breeding technical field, including pit, pit upper opening is equipped with fixing frame, grid is equipped in the upper of fixing frame, flow guide mechanism and excrement and urine shunt mechanism are equipped in pit, flow guide mechanism includes the frame that is fixedly connected with fixing frame, frame is connected with flow guide hopper to pit, excrement and urine shunt mechanism includes shunt plate, balance mechanism is equipped with in the lower surface of shunt plate along shunt plate width direction, balance mechanism both ends are respectively abutted on flow guide hopper inner wall, guide rail is equipped with in balance mechanism both sides, long circular hole is opened in guide rail, adjusting screw for adjusting the moment of shunt plate both sides is equipped in long circular hole, urine collection barrel and excrement collection barrel are equipped in pit bottom.This device can separate excrement and urine in the initial stage of dairy cow excretion, separation efficiency is high, excrement and urine separation device is arranged below dairy cow activity area, avoid to influence dairy cow routine activity, suitable for use in dairy cow fixed metabolism cabin.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to the field of animal husbandry technology, specifically to a fixed metabolic chamber manure and urine collection device for dairy cows. Background Technology

[0002] In research on animal husbandry and environmental protection, accurately measuring nutrient intake, digestion and metabolism, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions such as methane in dairy cows is crucial. In traditional small and medium-sized farms and conventional farming methods, the most common method of manure collection is to mix urine and feces together. This typically involves constructing a deep manure ditch below the dairy cow's defecation area, flushing the manure with a large amount of water after defecation to mix the excrement with the water and send it into the ditch. Another method involves using scrapers to clean the manure channels. The above methods have reduced the intensity of manual labor and improved the sanitary environment of the dairy cow's excretion area to a certain extent. However, they all involve collecting and treating the dairy cow's urine and feces together. The mixture of urine and feces forms a thin paste, creating an ideal environment for anaerobic fermentation, which exacerbates the generation and emission of foul odors, easily leading to poor air quality in the excretion area, affecting the health of dairy cows and the working environment of staff. The mixture of urine and feces with water is also enormous, increasing the cost of subsequent transportation, storage, and treatment, and making solid-liquid separation more difficult. Furthermore, this farming method cannot monitor the dairy cow's nutrient intake, digestion, metabolism, and energy consumption.

[0003] The metabolic chamber, a sealed environment with controllable parameters, allows dairy cows to engage in normal daily activities while researchers can collect and measure their feed, water, feces, urine, and gases in a comprehensive and precise manner. It is a crucial device for studying dairy cow digestion, metabolism, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions such as methane. However, the effective separation and collection of feces and urine has long been a persistent and unresolved technical bottleneck in metabolic experiments. In current technologies, some laboratory dairy cows move freely within the metabolic chamber, their excretory behavior is uncontrollable, and feces and urine are often excreted simultaneously or sequentially, easily mixing upon excretion. Once mixed, nitrogenous substances in the urine (such as urea) contaminate the feces, while microorganisms in the feces decompose urine components, altering the chemical composition of both samples and failing to accurately reflect the animal's digestion, absorption, and metabolic status.

[0004] Traditional fecal-urine separation and collection devices mostly employ physical diversion methods, such as setting up baffles or diversion pipes in front of the collection tank, utilizing the different flow properties of solid feces and liquid urine for separation. This method has poor separation efficiency and low reliability, and is easily affected by factors such as the cow's standing posture, excretion angle, and impact force, resulting in fecal-urine mixing. In some cases, researchers need to frequently enter the metabolic chamber for manual cleaning or separation operations, which interferes with the experimental environment and may also cause stress to the cows, affecting their normal behavior and physiological state, leading to biased experimental data. Utility Model Content

[0005] The purpose of this invention is to overcome the defects in the prior art and provide a fixed metabolic chamber feces and urine collection device for dairy cows, which collects, stores and discharges feces and urine separately from dairy cows, avoids the impact of feces and urine mixing on experimental data, improves the visual appearance of the excretion area, does not affect the normal activities of dairy cows, and reduces the difficulty and cost of subsequent processing.

[0006] The purpose of this utility model is achieved as follows: A fixed metabolic chamber manure and urine collection device for dairy cows includes a pit, a fixed frame at the top of the pit, a grid above the fixed frame, a flow guiding mechanism and a manure and urine diversion mechanism inside the pit, the flow guiding mechanism including a frame fixedly connected to the fixed frame, a flow guiding bucket connected to the frame into the pit, the manure and urine diversion mechanism being disposed inside the flow guiding mechanism and including a diversion plate, a balancing mechanism being provided on the lower surface of the diversion plate along the width direction of the diversion plate, the two ends of the balancing mechanism being respectively connected to the inner wall of the flow guiding bucket, guide rails being provided on both sides of the balancing mechanism, elongated holes being opened on the guide rails, and adjusting screws for adjusting the torque on both sides of the diversion plate being provided in the elongated holes, a urine collection bucket and a manure collection bucket being provided at the bottom of the pit, the upper openings of the urine collection bucket and the manure collection bucket being correspondingly arranged with the lower opening of the flow guiding bucket.

[0007] In operation, this invention involves setting up urine and feces collection buckets at the bottom of the pit, and a feces-urine diversion device inside the pit. The cows stand on the excretion platform, and their excreted urine and feces fall through the grid at the top of the pit into the feces-urine diversion device inside the pit. After diversion, they fall into the urine and feces collection buckets respectively, thereby achieving the separation and collection of the cows' excreted urine and feces. This greatly improves the visual appearance of the excretion area, collects and stores the urine and feces separately from the source, and significantly reduces the difficulty and cost of subsequent separation and processing.

[0008] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of this utility model are as follows: First, this device places urine collection buckets and feces collection buckets in the pit, respectively, on the left and right sides below the diversion plate. According to the design of the fixed metabolic chamber for dairy cows, the urine and feces excreted by the cows fall through the grid. In the initial state, the diversion plate is in a state of left-low and right-high with the balancing mechanism as the interval. The urine that falls through the grid lands on the right diversion plate and flows naturally to the left and is discharged into the urine collection bucket below through the through holes on the diversion plate. The feces excreted by the cows fall through the grid onto the right diversion plate. Since the weight of the feces is greater than that of the urine, the diversion plate deflects to the right, in a state of left-high and right-low. The feces then fall from the right diversion plate into the feces collection bucket below. That is, urine and feces can be collected separately when the cows are excreted, avoiding the mixing of urine and feces.

[0009] Secondly, the dairy cow fixed metabolic chamber manure and urine collection device of this utility model has a simple structure, is easy to maintain, and has low operating costs. It can achieve manure and urine separation from the initial stage of excretion. Compared with the existing technology that uses a large amount of water for mixing, it greatly reduces the difficulty and cost of subsequent transportation and treatment.

[0010] Third, this device has a simple structure and reasonable design, which can separate feces and urine in the early stage of dairy cow excretion. The separation efficiency is high and the loss of volatile substances can be minimized. The feces and urine separation device is set below the dairy cow's activity area to avoid affecting the dairy cow's daily activities.

[0011] Furthermore, the balancing mechanism includes a triangular connecting portion that contacts the lower surface of the diverter plate and a support portion disposed below the connecting portion. The two ends of the support portion are welded and fixed to the front and rear inner walls of the guide bucket. A bent portion adapted to the triangular connecting portion is provided at the junction of the lower surface of the diverter plate and the triangular connecting portion. The bent portion on the lower surface of the diverter plate is adapted to the triangular connecting portion of the balancing mechanism, which improves the stability of the diverter plate during the deflection process and effectively prevents the diverter plate from tipping over. The support portion is welded and fixed to the inner wall of the guide bucket, providing stable support for the diverter plate.

[0012] Furthermore, the upper front and rear sides and the left urination end of the diversion plate are provided with blocking strips. A perforated baffle is provided on the upper surface of the diversion plate at the position corresponding to the balancing mechanism. The baffle is inclined along the width direction of the diversion plate. The left edge of the baffle is connected to the blocking strip at the left urination end of the diversion plate, and the right edge of the baffle is connected to the surface of the diversion plate, forming an inclined state with the left side higher than the right side. Several through holes penetrating the thickness of the diversion plate are opened on the diversion plate below the baffle. The urine excreted by the cow is discharged into the urine collection bucket below through the through holes. The blocking strips are used to prevent feces and urine from sliding and falling back and forth on the diversion plate. By setting the inclined perforated baffle, the holes of the baffle allow urine to pass through and be discharged into the urine collection bucket on the lower left side of the diversion plate. The baffle intercepts the feces and prevents the feces from falling into the urine collection bucket.

[0013] Furthermore, the height of each of the barrier strips is 12 cm, and the diameter of the holes on the baffle is smaller than the diameter of the through holes on the diversion plate. The large diameter of the through holes on the diversion plate helps urine to drain quickly, while the small diameter of the holes on the baffle ensures that urine passes through while retaining feces, preventing feces from falling into the urine collection bucket.

[0014] Furthermore, the grid is positioned above the fixed frame, and the outer frame of the grid is fixedly connected to the fixed frame. Multiple circular mounting holes are provided in the outer frame along the length of the outer frame, and round steel bars are provided in the mounting holes. Several reinforcing ribs are also provided in the outer frame.

[0015] Furthermore, the grid is made entirely of stainless steel, and the distance between two adjacent round steel bars is ≤7cm.

[0016] Furthermore, the fixing frame is welded into an L-shape from flat steel plates and fixedly installed on the surface of the pit opening by anchor bolts.

[0017] Furthermore, the frame of the flow guiding mechanism is L-shaped, with the horizontal section of the frame fixedly connected to the fixing frame and the vertical section of the frame fixedly connected to the inner wall of the pit opening. The flow guiding bucket is a trapezoidal bucket that is wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. Limiting blocks that restrict the deflection angle of the diversion plate are welded on the inner walls of the left and right sides of the flow guiding bucket. After the diversion plate deflects to a certain angle, it stops deflecting due to the limitation of the limiting blocks to avoid tipping over. After the urine and feces have finished falling at this position, they are reset to the initial equilibrium position under the action of the balancing mechanism.

[0018] Furthermore, both the urine collection bucket and the feces collection bucket are made of stainless steel, and a cover plate is provided above the adjacent sides of the urine collection bucket and the feces collection bucket.

[0019] Furthermore, the pit has a rectangular cross-section, and the bottom surface of the pit and the surrounding walls are provided with a hardened layer and a waterproof layer. Attached Figure Description

[0020] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of this utility model.

[0021] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the fecal and urine diversion mechanism in this utility model.

[0022] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the diversion plate and baffle of the fecal and urine diversion mechanism in this utility model.

[0023] Figure 4 This is a top view structural diagram of the present invention.

[0024] In the diagram above, 1 is the pit, 2 is the fixing frame, 3 is the grid, 31 is the outer frame, 32 is the round steel bar, and 33 is the reinforcing rib; 4 is the fecal and urine diversion mechanism, 41 is the support part, 42 is the guide rail, 43 is the adjusting screw, 44 is the oblong hole, 45 is the diversion plate, 46 is the baffle, and 47 is the blocking strip; 5 is the fecal collection bucket, 6 is the urine collection bucket, 7 is the cover plate, 8 is the frame, 9 is the diversion hopper, 10 is the connecting part, 11 is the bending part, and 12 is the limiting block. Detailed Implementation

[0025] like Figures 1-4 The illustrated fixed metabolic chamber manure and urine collection device for dairy cows includes a pit 1, a fixed frame 2 at the top of the pit 1, a grid 3 above the fixed frame 2, a flow guiding mechanism and a manure and urine diversion mechanism 4 inside the pit 1, the flow guiding mechanism including a frame 8 fixedly connected to the fixed frame 2, a flow guiding bucket 9 connected to the frame 8 into the pit 1, the manure and urine diversion mechanism 4 being disposed inside the flow guiding mechanism, including a diversion plate 45, a balancing mechanism on the lower surface of the diversion plate 45 along the width direction of the diversion plate 45, the two ends of the balancing mechanism being respectively connected to the inner wall of the flow guiding bucket 9, guide rails 42 on both sides of the balancing mechanism, elongated holes 44 on the guide rails 42, and adjusting screws 43 for adjusting the torque on both sides of the diversion plate 45 inside the elongated holes 44, a urine collection bucket 6 and a manure collection bucket 5 at the bottom of the pit 1, the upper openings of the urine collection bucket 6 and the manure collection bucket 5 being correspondingly set to the lower openings of the flow guiding bucket 9.

[0026] In this device, a balancing mechanism is used to provide support for the diverter plate 45 and ensure stability during deflection. The balancing mechanism includes a triangular connecting part 10 that connects to the lower surface of the diverter plate 45 and a support part 41 located below the connecting part 10. The two ends of the support part 41 are welded and fixed to the front and rear inner walls of the guide bucket 9. A bent part 11 adapted to the triangular connecting part is provided at the junction of the lower surface of the diverter plate 45 and the triangular connecting part 10. The triangular connecting part 10 serves as a support point for the left and right deflection of the diverter plate 45. The bent part 11 on the lower surface of the diverter plate 45 is adapted to the triangular connecting part 10 of the balancing mechanism, which improves the stability of the diverter plate 45 during deflection and effectively prevents the diverter plate 45 from tipping over. The support part 41 is welded and fixed to the inner wall of the guide bucket 9 to provide stable support for the diverter plate 45.

[0027] The diversion plate 45 is equipped with blocking strips 47 on both the front and rear sides and the left urine discharge end. A perforated baffle 46 is provided on the upper surface of the diversion plate 45 at the position corresponding to the balancing mechanism. The baffle 46 is inclined along the width direction of the diversion plate 45. The left edge of the baffle 46 is connected to the blocking strip 47 at the left urine discharge end of the diversion plate 45, and the right edge of the baffle 46 is connected to the surface of the diversion plate 45, forming an inclined state with the left side higher than the right side. Several through holes penetrating the thickness of the diversion plate 45 are opened on the diversion plate 45 below the baffle 46. The urine excreted by the cow is discharged through the through holes into the urine collection bucket 6 below. The blocking strips 47 are used to prevent feces and urine from sliding and falling back and forth on the diversion plate 45. By setting the inclined perforated baffle 46, the holes of the baffle 46 allow urine to pass through and be discharged into the urine collection bucket 6 below the left side of the diversion plate 45. The baffle 46 intercepts the feces and prevents the feces from falling into the urine collection bucket.

[0028] The height of the blocking strips 47 is 12 cm. The diameter of the holes on the baffle 46 is smaller than the diameter of the through holes on the diverter plate 45. The large diameter of the through holes on the diverter plate 45 helps urine to drain quickly, while the small diameter of the holes on the baffle 46 ensures that urine passes through while retaining feces, preventing feces from falling into the urine collection bucket.

[0029] The grid 3 is set above the fixed frame 2. The outer frame 31 of the grid 3 is fixedly connected to the fixed frame 2. Multiple circular mounting holes are provided in the outer frame 31 along the length of the outer frame 31. Round steel rods 32 are provided in the mounting holes. Several reinforcing ribs 33 are also provided in the outer frame 31. The reinforcing ribs 33 improve the support strength of the grid 3 and ensure the stability and safety of the cow standing.

[0030] The grid 3 is made entirely of stainless steel, and the distance between two adjacent round steel bars 32 is ≤7cm.

[0031] The fixing frame 2 is welded into an L-shape from flat steel plates and fixedly installed on the upper surface of the pit 1 by anchor bolts.

[0032] The frame 8 of the diversion mechanism is L-shaped. The horizontal section of the frame 8 is fixedly connected to the fixed frame 2, and the vertical section of the frame 8 is fixedly connected to the inner wall of the upper opening of the pit 1. The diversion bucket 9 is a trapezoidal bucket that is wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. Limiting blocks 12 that limit the deflection angle of the diversion plate 45 are welded on the inner walls of the left and right sides of the diversion bucket 9. After the diversion plate 45 deflects to a certain angle, it stops deflecting due to the limitation of the limiting blocks 12 to avoid tipping. After the urine and feces fall at this position, it is reset to the initial equilibrium position under the action of the balancing mechanism.

[0033] Both the urine collection bucket 6 and the feces collection bucket 5 are made of stainless steel, and a cover plate 7 is provided on the upper side of the adjacent sides of the urine collection bucket 6 and the feces collection bucket 5.

[0034] Pit 1 has a rectangular cross-section, and the bottom and surrounding walls of pit 1 are covered with a hardened layer and a waterproof layer.

[0035] When this utility model is in operation, the amount of defecation and urination of dairy cows is first recorded through a preliminary experiment. Based on the weight of the feces and urine excreted by the dairy cows, the position of the adjusting screw 43 in the feces and urine diversion mechanism 4 is adjusted in advance so that the diversion plate 45 tilts to the left and maintains balance. This is the initial state balance position, keeping the urine collection bucket 6 and the feces collection bucket 5 clean and free of residue. After the experiment begins, the cow's urine falls through the grid 3 at the top of the pit 1 to the right side of the diversion plate 45. Because urine has a low specific gravity and good fluidity, the initial equilibrium of the diversion plate 45 is not disrupted, and it remains tilted to the left. The urine flows to the left along the diversion plate 45, flows through the through hole on the baffle 46 to the surface of the left diversion plate 45, and falls from the left diversion plate 45 into the urine collection bucket 6 below. The cow's feces fall through the grid 3 at the top of the pit 1 to the right side of the diversion plate 45. Because feces have a high specific gravity and poor fluidity, the feces falling on the diversion plate 45 causes the torque on the right side of the diversion plate 45 to be greater than the torque on the left side. The initial equilibrium of the diversion plate 45 is disrupted, and it tilts to the right. The feces fall from the right side of the diversion plate 45 into the feces collection bucket 5 below.

[0036] This device features a urine collection bucket 6 and a feces collection bucket 5 at the bottom of the pit 1. A urine-feces diversion device 4 is installed inside the pit 1. Cows stand on the excretion platform, and their excreted urine and feces fall through the grid 3 at the top of the pit 1 into the urine-feces diversion device 4. After diversion, the feces fall into the urine collection bucket 6 and the feces collection bucket 5 respectively, thus achieving the separation and collection of cow excrement and urine. This greatly improves the visual appeal of the excretion area, collects and stores feces and urine separately from the source, and significantly reduces the difficulty and cost of subsequent separation and processing. This new fixed metabolic chamber feces-feces collection device for dairy cows has a simple structure, is easy to maintain, and has low operating costs. It achieves feces-feces separation in the early stages of cow excretion. Compared to existing technologies that use large amounts of water for mixing, it greatly reduces the difficulty and cost of subsequent transportation and processing, and minimizes the loss of volatile substances. The feces-feces separation device is located below the cow's activity area, avoiding any impact on the cow's daily activities.

[0037] This utility model is not limited to the above embodiments. Based on the technical solutions disclosed in this utility model, those skilled in the art can make some substitutions and modifications to some of the technical features without creative labor, and these substitutions and modifications are all within the protection scope of this utility model.

Claims

1. A fixed metabolic chamber manure and urine collection device for dairy cows, comprising a pit, a fixed frame at the top of the pit, a grid above the fixed frame, and a flow guiding mechanism and a manure and urine diversion mechanism inside the pit, characterized in that: The flow guiding mechanism includes a frame fixedly connected to the fixed frame. A flow guiding bucket is connected to the frame into the pit. The fecal and urine diversion mechanism is set inside the flow guiding mechanism and includes a diversion plate. A balancing mechanism is provided on the lower surface of the diversion plate along the width direction of the diversion plate. The two ends of the balancing mechanism are respectively connected to the inner wall of the flow guiding bucket. Guide rails are provided on both sides of the balancing mechanism. An elongated hole is opened on the guide rail. An adjusting screw for adjusting the torque on both sides of the diversion plate is provided in the elongated hole. A urine collection bucket and a fecal collection bucket are provided at the bottom of the pit. The upper openings of the urine collection bucket and the fecal collection bucket are correspondingly set with the lower opening of the flow guiding bucket.

2. The dairy cow fixed metabolic chamber manure and urine collection device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The balancing mechanism includes a triangular connecting part that connects to the lower surface of the diverter plate and a support part located below the connecting part. The two ends of the support part are welded and fixed to the front and rear inner walls of the guide bucket. A bending part adapted to the triangular connecting part is provided at the junction of the lower surface of the diverter plate and the triangular connecting part.

3. The dairy cow fixed metabolic chamber manure and urine collection device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The diversion plate is equipped with blocking strips on the front and rear sides and the left urination end. A perforated baffle is provided on the upper surface of the diversion plate at the position corresponding to the balancing mechanism. The baffle is inclined along the width direction of the diversion plate. The left edge of the baffle is connected to the blocking strip at the left urination end of the diversion plate, and the right edge of the baffle is connected to the surface of the diversion plate, forming an inclined state with the left side higher than the right side. Several through holes penetrating the thickness of the diversion plate are opened on the diversion plate below the baffle, through which the urine excreted by the cow is discharged into the urine collection bucket below.

4. The dairy cow fixed metabolic chamber manure and urine collection device according to claim 3, characterized in that: The height of each barrier is 12cm, and the diameter of the hole on the baffle is smaller than the diameter of the through hole on the diverter plate.

5. A dairy cow fixed metabolic chamber manure and urine collection device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The grid is set above the fixed frame. The outer frame of the grid is fixedly connected to the fixed frame. Multiple circular mounting holes are provided in the outer frame along the length of the outer frame. Round steel bars are provided in the mounting holes. Several reinforcing ribs are also provided in the outer frame.

6. A dairy cow fixed metabolic chamber manure and urine collection device according to claim 5, characterized in that: The grid is made entirely of stainless steel, and the distance between two adjacent round steel bars is ≤7cm.

7. A dairy cow fixed metabolic chamber manure and urine collection device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The fixing frame is welded into an L-shape from flat steel plates and fixedly installed on the surface of the pit opening with anchor bolts.

8. A dairy cow fixed metabolic chamber manure and urine collection device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The flow guiding mechanism has an L-shaped frame. The horizontal section of the frame is fixedly connected to the fixed frame, and the vertical section of the frame is fixedly connected to the inner wall of the pit opening. The flow guiding bucket is a trapezoidal bucket that is wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. Limiting blocks that restrict the deflection angle of the flow diversion plate are welded on the inner walls of the left and right sides of the flow guiding bucket.

9. A dairy cow fixed metabolic chamber manure and urine collection device according to claim 1, characterized in that: Both the urine collection bucket and the feces collection bucket are made of stainless steel, and a cover plate is provided on the upper side of the adjacent sides of the urine collection bucket and the feces collection bucket.

10. A dairy cow fixed metabolic chamber manure and urine collection device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The pit has a rectangular cross-section, and the bottom and surrounding walls of the pit are provided with a hardened layer and a waterproof layer.

Images