Manure collection device, stable cleaning device and method

Abstract

A manure collection device comprising: a manure pickup device for picking up manure from a floor of an animal containment facility; and a reservoir for collecting manure picked up by the manure pickup device in said reservoir, said manure pickup device comprising a housing having a receiving opening located near the floor for receiving manure therethrough into said housing; a delivery opening located near the reservoir for delivering the picked-up manure therethrough to said reservoir; and an at least partially cylindrical and an inner wall extending at least between the receiving opening and the delivery opening, the manure pickup device comprising a rotating movable body having a central axis and at least one arm extending radially relative to the central axis between the central axis and the inner wall, the manure pickup device being configured such that while the rotating movable body moves in a rotational manner, the manure is picked up by the arm near the receiving opening and delivered to the reservoir through the housing in cooperation with the inner wall.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a manure collecting device. In particular, the present invention relates to a manure collecting device comprising a manure pick-up device for picking up manure from the floor of an animal containment facility and a reservoir for collecting the manure picked up by the manure pick-up device in said reservoir. The present invention also relates to an animal containment cleaning device comprising an advancement device for advancing the animal containment cleaning device in a direction of travel through the animal containment facility. Finally, the present invention relates to a method for cleaning the floor of an animal containment facility. [Background technology]

[0002] Animal housing cleaning devices are known per se. For example, an animal housing cleaning vehicle for removing manure from the floors of livestock housing is known from Dutch Patent Application No. 2019959 in the name of Lely Patent BV. This housing cleaning vehicle comprises, inter alia, a manure raking device for moving the manure on the floors, a manure suction device for sucking up the manure collected by the manure raking device, and a manure storage container connected to the manure suction device for collecting and temporarily storing the sucked up manure. A disadvantage of this housing cleaning vehicle is that not all manure compositions, i.e., compositions consisting of solid or liquid manure or mixtures thereof, can be sucked up by the manure suction device. As a result, manure remains on the housing floor. This causes soiling of the feet of livestock present in the housing, and the unsucked manure emits ammonia, which has a negative impact on both the health of the animals and the environment. A further drawback is that manure vacuums require a lot of energy to generate the vacuum required to function, and energy is generally in short supply, especially in wireless mobile enclosure cleaning devices. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Dutch Patent Application Publication No. 2019959 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an energy efficient animal containment cleaning apparatus that improves the health of livestock present in animal containment facilities.

[0005] According to its first aspect, the invention provides for this purpose a manure collection device of the type mentioned in the introduction, having the following particular features: The manure pickup device comprises a housing. The housing has a receiving opening arranged near the floor for receiving manure into the housing through it, a delivery opening arranged near the reservoir for delivering the picked-up manure through it to the reservoir, and an at least partially cylindrical inner wall extending at least between the receiving opening and the delivery opening. The manure pickup device comprises a rotatable body having a central axis and at least one arm extending radially relative to the central axis between the central axis and the inner wall. The manure pickup device is configured so that, during rotational movement of the rotatable body, manure is picked up by the arm near the receiving opening and delivered through the housing to the reservoir in cooperation with the inner wall. Because the manure pickup device is formed by a mechanical system of a rotating, mobile body and a correspondingly shaped housing, the manure collector can capture manure of various compositions, i.e., highly liquid manure, highly solid manure, and mixtures thereof, and collect them in a reservoir. Therefore, the manure collector functions very effectively by mechanical pickup, so that no manure is left on the floor of the animal containment facility. This significantly reduces ammonia emissions due to manure present on the floor. It also ensures that the feet of animals in the animal containment facility remain dry, which has a positive effect on their health. Furthermore, the mechanical manure pickup device is very energy-efficient, in contrast to known manure pickup devices. This makes the manure pickup device particularly suitable for use in mobile and wireless animal containment facility cleaning devices, for example, equipped with a battery. In this way, the present invention provides an energy-efficient animal containment facility cleaning device that improves the health of livestock present in the containment facility. The manure collecting device preferably further comprises a drive device configured to drive the rotatable body so that the rotatable body rotates about its central axis.

[0006] In a preferred embodiment, the manure collector is configured to advance through the animal containment facility in a direction of travel, and to pick up manure using the manure pickup device as the manure collector advances through the animal containment facility, the receiving opening being located at the front of the manure collector when viewed in the direction of travel. In this way, it is achieved that the forward movement of the manure collector contributes to picking up the manure, as the forward movement of the manure collector moves the manure through the receiving opening and into the housing.

[0007] The central axis preferably extends horizontally, perpendicular to the direction of movement. The delivery opening is more preferably located near the upper side of the reservoir. In this way, the manure is transported upwards from the receiving opening close to the floor by the arms of the rotating mobile body and delivered to the reservoir at the upper side of the reservoir. A particular advantage of this is that the reservoir can be filled from the top so that the picked-up manure cannot flow back from the reservoir into the housing, and at least substantially the entire capacity of the reservoir is available.

[0008] In a preferred embodiment, the manure collection device further comprises a scooping member near the delivery opening. The scooping member is configured to scoop away at least a portion of the amount of manure picked up by the arm and delivered to the delivery opening on the side of the arm facing the delivery opening, and to guide this portion through the delivery opening towards the reservoir. The arm and scooping member are preferably configured so that the scooping member scoops the entire amount of manure from the arm. By using such a scooping member, it is achieved that the manure picked up by the arm of the rotatable body and carried upward is efficiently delivered through the delivery opening above the reservoir arranged adjacent to the housing to the adjacent reservoir. A particular advantage of this is that the use of the scooping member increases the portion of manure picked up by the arm and delivered to the reservoir, compared to an embodiment that does not use a scooping member.

[0009] In a preferred embodiment, the scooping member is driven by the drive unit via a transmission unit so as to pivot between a position where the scooping member is within the rotational motion range of the arm and a position where the scooping member is outside the rotational motion range of the arm and close to the delivery opening, and the scooping member scoops up a portion of the amount of manure transported by the arm and delivers it to the delivery opening without contact between the scooping member and the arm. By using the transmission unit, the manure present on the arm driven by the drive unit is transported through the delivery opening to the reservoir by moving toward the delivery opening of the scooping member driven by the same drive unit the moment the arm is positioned near the delivery opening. Thus, the scooping member scoops up the amount of manure present on the arm from the arm while the arm continues to rotate continuously around its central axis. In other words, the scooping member does not come into contact with the arm of the rotating movable body. That is, there is no contact with the manure present on the arms before, during or after scooping.

[0010] In a preferred embodiment, at least the outer ends of the arms are elastically deformable.

[0011] In a further preferred embodiment, the outer ends of the arms are formed by plate members made from plastic.

[0012] In a preferred embodiment, the arms have a length greater than the distance between the central axis and the inner wall and / or the distance between the central axis and the floor, so that the outer ends of the arms are dragged on the floor and / or along the inner wall while the rotating body moves in a rotational manner. A particular advantage of this is that the arms come into contact with the inner wall and are thus connected very closely to it. As a result, no manure is spilled between the arms and the inner wall while the picked-up manure is transported upward. This therefore makes it possible to pick up highly liquid manure and transport it to the reservoir in an efficient manner.

[0013] In a preferred embodiment, the scooping member comprises a stationary member extending into the rotational movement range of the arm. In combination with an arm that is elastically deformable at its outer end, such a movement as a scooping movement towards the reservoir can be achieved by simply rubbing the arm of the rotatable body along the scooping member. In other words, movement of the arm of the rotatable body relative to the scooping member, which is statically arranged in the rotational movement range of the arm, causes a deflection of the direction of movement of the picked-up manure towards the delivery opening and the reservoir.

[0014] In a preferred embodiment, the at least one arm comprises three arms arranged at equal angles to one another, so that the manure pick-up device can pick up manure seamlessly, i.e., without skipping parts of the storage facility floor, while performing a single cleaning pass through the storage facility.

[0015] In a preferred embodiment, the manure collector further comprises a guide member at the transition between the receiving opening and the inner wall, the guide member extending tangentially to the inner wall towards the floor, the guide member being configured to guide manure present on the floor through the receiving opening and into the housing as the manure collector moves forward. Such a guide member ensures that substantially all of the manure present on the floor enters the housing through the receiving opening and can thereby be picked up by the arms of the rotatable body.

[0016] According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an animal containment cleaning apparatus of the type described in the introduction, which has the special feature of being seen in the direction of movement of a manure collection device according to any one of the above-mentioned preferred embodiments, which is positioned substantially in front of the animal containment cleaning apparatus. A particular advantage of such an animal containment cleaning apparatus is that it can pick up various compositions, i.e., highly liquid manure, highly solid manure, and mixtures thereof, and collect it in a reservoir. Due to the mechanical pickup, the manure collection device functions very effectively, and no manure is left on the containment floor. This significantly reduces ammonia emissions due to manure present on the floor. This also ensures that the feet of animals in the animal containment remain dry, which has a positive effect on their health. Furthermore, the mechanical manure pickup device is very energy-efficient, in contrast to known manure pickup devices, making it particularly suitable for use in mobile and wireless containment cleaning apparatuses, for example, equipped with batteries. In this manner, the present invention provides an energy efficient animal containment cleaning apparatus that improves the health of livestock present in the containment facility.

[0017] In a preferred embodiment, the advancement device comprises an unmanned vehicle, preferably an autonomous mobile vehicle.

[0018] According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for cleaning floors of an animal containment facility, which has special features that can be formed from a manure collection device according to any one of the preferred embodiments described above or an animal containment facility cleaning device according to any one of the preferred embodiments described above.

[0019] The present invention will be further explained with reference to the following drawings, which show preferred embodiments of the manure collection device, animal containment cleaning device and method according to the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present invention in any way. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0020] [Figure 1]FIG. 1 shows a side view of a preferred embodiment of an animal containment cleaning apparatus according to the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 shows a series of side views of the manure pick-up device of a preferred embodiment of a manure collection device according to the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 shows a series of side views of the manure pick-up device of a preferred embodiment of a manure collection device according to the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 shows a series of side views of the manure pick-up device of a preferred embodiment of a manure collection device according to the present invention. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 shows a series of side views of the manure pick-up device of a preferred embodiment of a manure collection device according to the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 shows a series of side views of the manure pick-up device of a preferred embodiment of a manure collection device according to the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 shows a series of side views of the manure pick-up device of a preferred embodiment of a manure collection device according to the present invention. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 shows a series of side views of the manure pick-up device of a preferred embodiment of a manure collection device according to the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0021] A preferred embodiment of an animal containment cleaning device 100 according to the present invention is shown in a side view in FIG. 1 . The containment cleaning device 100 is formed by an unmanned vehicle, which comprises a propulsion device 102 provided with a number of wheels 101 and a manure collection device 103. The manure collection device 103 comprises a mechanical manure pickup device 104, also known as a mechanical pick-up, and a storage section 105 serving as a reservoir for picked-up manure 106. The unmanned vehicle 100 is configured to move forward in a direction of travel 107 on its wheels 101, for example, on a floor 108 of a livestock containment facility. The manure pickup device 104 is located at the front of the unmanned vehicle 100 as viewed in the direction of travel 107. The manure pickup device 104 comprises a housing 109 having an inner wall 110 formed at least partially cylindrically, and a rotatable mobile body 111 arranged within the housing 109. The rotating movable body 111 rotates around a central rotation axis 112. The rotating movable body 111 is provided with three rotor arms 113 extending between the central rotation axis 112 and an inner wall 110 of the housing 109. The inner wall 110 is formed in a cylindrical shape, which corresponds to the circular path that outer ends 114 of the rotor arms follow in their rotational movement around the central rotation axis 112. A receiving opening 115 is provided on the underside of the manure pickup device 104, through which manure 106 present on the floor 108 of the accommodation facility is received into the housing 109. The rotating movable body 111 is driven by a drive unit (not shown here).

[0022] While the rotating mobile body 111 moves in a rotational manner, manure 106 introduced into the housing 109 through the receiving opening 115 is picked up by one of the rotor arms 113 of the mobile body 111 and transferred upwards along the part-cylindrical inner wall 110 in the direction of the storage 105. As soon as the manure 106 picked up by the rotor arm 113 is located near the delivery opening 116, through which the manure 106 can be delivered to the storage 105, i.e., the reservoir. The pivoting arm 118 is pivotable about a pivot axis 117. The pivoting arm 118 acts as a scooping member, which ensures that the manure 106 present on the rotor arm 113 is scooped from the rotor arm 113 and transferred towards the delivery opening 116 and the reservoir 105 behind it. A wall 119 is provided to guide the scooped manure 106 towards the reservoir 105. The wall 119 is shaped to correspond to the circular path that the outer end 120 of the pivoting arm 118 follows in its pivoting motion to transfer the manure 106 scooped from the rotor arm 113 from the rotor arm 113 to the reservoir 105. The pivoting arm 118 and the wall 119 together ensure that the manure 106 enters the reservoir 105. As can be seen in FIG. 1 , the delivery opening 116 is located near the top surface of the reservoir 105. In this way, the manure 106 is transferred upward by the rotor arm 113 of the rotating body 111 from the receiving opening 115 close to the floor 108 and delivered to the reservoir 105 at the top surface of the reservoir 105. This allows the reservoir 105 to be filled from its top side so that the picked up manure 106 cannot flow back out of the reservoir 105 into the housing 109. The full capacity of the reservoir 105 is still available.

[0023] The pivoting arm 118, i.e. the pivotable scooping member, is driven by a drive device, which in turn drives the rotary mobile body 111 via a transmission device 122 (see FIG. 9 ). By using the transmission device 122, the manure 106 present on the arm 113, which is driven by the drive device, is conveyed through the delivery opening 116 to the reservoir 105 by the movement of the scooping member 118, which is also driven by the same drive device, towards the delivery opening 116, the moment the arm 113 is located near the delivery opening 116. For this purpose, the transmission device 122 comprises a pulley or gear 123 (or equivalent). The pulley or gear 123 is arranged on the central rotation axis 112, and a belt, chain or toothed belt 127 (or equivalent) is arranged on the pulley or gear 123 to drive a smaller pulley or gear 124 (or equivalent). The pulley or gear 124 is provided with a crank 125 to which a drive rod 128 is connected, which rotates the pivot shaft 117 via a crank 126. This causes the pivoting movement of the pivoting arm 118, which functions as a scooping member, so that the manure 106 present on the rotor arms 113 is scooped from the rotor arms 113 and transported towards the delivery opening 116 and the reservoir 105 behind it. The scooping member 118 now pivots between the following positions relative to the central rotation axis 112: one in which its outer end 120 is inside the quantity of manure 106 picked up by the rotor arms 113, and one in which its outer end 120 is at least below the delivery opening 116 (see also Figures 5 and 8 in particular). Due to the transmission device 122, the scooping member 118 can scoop the amount of manure 106 present on the arm 113 from the arm 113 while the arm 113 continues to rotate uninterruptedly about its central rotation axis 112. In other words, the scooping member 118 does not come into contact with the arm 113 of the rotating movable body 111, i.e., not before, during or after the scooping of the manure 106 present on the arm 113.

[0024] Located at the transition between the receiving opening 115 and the inner wall 110 is a guide element 121. The guide element 121 extends tangentially to the inner wall 110 towards 108. The guide element 121 is configured to guide manure 106 present on the floor 108 through the receiving opening 115 and into the housing 109 as the containment cleaning apparatus 100 moves forward. The guide element 121 ensures that substantially all of the manure 106 present on the floor 108 enters the housing 109 through the receiving opening 115 and can therefore be picked up by the arm 113 of the rotatable body 111.

[0025] Figures 2 to 8 show a series of side views of the manure pickup device 104 of the manure collection device 103 of the animal containment cleaning device 100 of Figure 1. Each of Figures 2 to 8 shows a stage in the process of picking up manure 106 by the manure pickup device 104, from the moment the manure 106 is received into the housing 109 through the receiving opening 115 to the moment the manure 106 is delivered to the reservoir 105 through the delivery opening 116. Figure 2 shows the manure pickup device 104. The underside of the manure pickup device 104 is located near the storage bed 108 at a stage just before the manure 106 present on the storage bed 108 comes into contact with the guide element 121. Figure 3 shows the manure pickup device 104. Here, the forward movement of the accommodation facility cleaning device 100 causes the manure 106 to enter the housing 109 through the receiving opening 115 using the guide element 121, and the manure 106 is picked up by the rotational movement of the rotor arms 113 of the rotatable body 111 located closest to the receiving opening 115 and carried further into the housing 109. In Figure 4, the picked up manure 106 is carried upward along the cylindrically shaped inner wall 110, where the pivotable scooping members 118 are located outside the rotational movement area of ​​the rotor arms 113. In Figure 5, the picked up manure is carried further upward, and the scooping members 118 are located in the rotational movement area of ​​the rotor arms 113 and then scoop the upwardly carried manure from the rotor arms 113. Figure 6 shows a stage in which the picked up manure 106 has already been partially, but not yet completely, scooped from the rotor arms 113. The scooping members 118 are still located in the range of rotational motion of the rotor arms 113. In Figure 7, the picked up manure 106 has been completely scooped from the rotor arms 113, so that the scooping members 118 are no longer located in the range of rotational motion of the rotor arms 113. The scooping members 118 then transport the manure scooped from the rotor arms 113 towards the delivery opening 116 via the wall 119, which acts as a guide wall, for transporting the manure through the delivery opening 116 to the storage section 105, i.e., reservoir (see Figure 8).Meanwhile, as shown in Figures 7 and 8, the next rotor arm 113 picks up the manure 106 from the receiving bed 108 and transports the manure 106 to the reservoir 105 in the manner described above.

[0026] The invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiments, but extends to other embodiments that fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. 1. A manure collection device, comprising: a manure pickup device for picking up manure from the floor of the animal containment facility; a reservoir for collecting the manure picked up by the manure pickup device; The manure pickup device comprises a housing; The housing includes: a receiving opening disposed near the floor for receiving manure therethrough into the housing; a delivery opening arranged near the reservoir for the purpose of delivering the picked-up manure therethrough to the reservoir; an at least partially cylindrical inner wall extending at least between the receiving opening and the delivery opening; The manure pickup device includes a rotatable body having a central axis and at least one arm extending radially from the central axis to the inner wall, The manure pickup device is configured such that, while the rotating movable body moves in a rotational manner, the manure is picked up by the arm near the receiving opening and delivered to the reservoir through the housing in cooperation with the inner wall; The manure collection device is a drive device configured to drive the rotationally movable body so that the rotationally movable body rotates around its central axis; a scooping member near the delivery opening, the scooping member configured to scoop at least a portion of the quantity of manure picked up by the arm and delivered to the delivery opening on a side of the arm facing the delivery opening away from the arm and to guide this portion through the delivery opening towards the reservoir; The manure collecting device is characterized in that the scooping member is driven by the drive unit via a transmission unit so as to pivot between a position where the scooping member is within the rotational motion range of the arm and a position where the scooping member is outside the rotational motion range of the arm and close to the delivery opening, and the scooping member scoops the portion of the amount of manure transported by the arm from the arm and delivers it to the delivery opening without the scooping member and the arm coming into contact with each other.

2. The manure collection device of claim 1, wherein the manure collection device is configured to advance through the animal containment facility in a direction of travel and to pick up manure using the manure pickup device as the manure collection device advances through the animal containment facility, and the receiving opening is located on the front side of the manure collection device when viewed from the direction of travel.

3. 3. The manure collection device of claim 2, wherein the central axis extends horizontally, perpendicular to the direction of movement.

4. 4. The manure collection device of claim 3, wherein the delivery opening is located near an upper surface of the reservoir.

5. 5. The manure collecting device according to claim 1, wherein at least the outer ends of the arms are elastically deformable.

6. 6. A manure collection device according to claim 5, wherein the outer ends of the arms are formed by plate members made from plastic.

7. A manure collection device as described in claim 5 or 6, wherein the arm has a length longer than the distance between the central axis and the inner wall and / or the distance between the central axis and the floor, thereby causing the outer end of the arm to be dragged on the floor and / or along the inner wall while the rotating movable body moves in a rotational manner.

8. 8. A manure collection device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the at least one arm comprises three arms arranged at equal angles to one another.

9. A manure collection device as described in any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising a guide member at the transition between the receiving opening and the inner wall, the guide member extending tangentially to the inner wall toward the floor, and the guide member configured to guide manure present on the floor through the receiving opening and into the housing as the manure collection device moves forward.

10. an advancing device for advancing the animal containment cleaning device in a direction of travel through the animal containment; An animal containment facility cleaning apparatus, comprising: a manure collection device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, which is positioned substantially in front of the animal containment facility cleaning apparatus when viewed in the direction of movement.

11. 11. The animal containment facility cleaning apparatus of claim 10, wherein the advancement device comprises an autonomous mobile vehicle.

12. 1. A method for cleaning floors in an animal containment facility, comprising: A method comprising using a manure collecting device according to any one of claims 1 to 9 or an animal containment facility cleaning device according to claim 10 or 11.

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