System and method for cleaning a barn floor

Abstract

System (100) for cleaning a barn floor (2), comprising a manure removal device configured to remove manure from the barn floor (2) and a liquid dispensing device (3) configured to dispense liquid manure on the barn floor (2). The liquid dispensing device (3) comprises a container (5) for holding the liquid manure therein and a plurality of liquid dispensing members (41) fluidically connected with an interior of the container (5), and each configured to dispense the liquid manure to be held in the container (5) on the barn floor (2). Further, liquid dispensing device (3) comprises a valve device (30) between the interior of the container (5) and the plurality of liquid dispensing members (41) which is configured to successively fluidically disconnect a different part of the plurality of liquid dispensing members (41) from the interior of the container (5) so that successively a different remaining part of the plurality of liquid dispensing members (41) is allowed to be in fluid communication with the interior of the container (5).

Description

[0001] System and method for cleaning a barn floor

[0002] The present invention relates to the system for cleaning a bam floor. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method for cleaning a bam floor.

[0003] Automatic bam cleaners with water sprayers are specialized systems configured to maintain cleanliness in livestock bams by automatically removing manure and other waste, and spraying water on bam floors to ensure thorough cleaning. These systems are particularly valuable in dairy bams and other livestock facilities where hygiene is crucial for animal health and productivity. Spraying water on the bam floor while scraping has a couple different positive effects. The bam floor ends up being cleaner after removing manure. In addition, a water-sprayed floor is less slippery after being cleaned than conventionally cleaned floors, i.e. without being sprayed with water, as the water prevents a thin film of manure from forming on the floor. On top of that, nitrogen emissions are lower on water- sprayed floors. On the other hand, for these systems to be effective, they consume a large amount of water.

[0004] It is an object of the invention to provide a bam floor cleaning solution that at least partially alleviates the above-mentioned problem.

[0005] To this end, the invention provides according to a first aspect thereof a system for cleaning a bam floor, comprising a manure removal device configured to remove manure from the bam floor and a liquid dispensing device configured to dispense liquid manure on the bam floor. The liquid dispensing device comprises a container for holding the liquid manure therein and a plurality of liquid dispensing members fluidically connected with an interior of the container, and each configured to dispense the liquid manure to be held in the container on the bam floor. Further, the liquid dispensing device comprises a valve device between the interior of the container and the plurality of liquid dispensing members which is configured to successively fluidically disconnect a different part of the plurality of liquid dispensing members from the interior of the container so that successively a different remaining part of the plurality of liquid dispensing members is allowed to be in fluid communication with the interior of the container.

[0006] The liquid dispensing device being configured to dispense liquid manure on the bam floor enables using liquid manure to clean the bam floor instead of water, which in turn allows reducing water consumption in the cleaning process. In fact, no water is needed for cleaning. Preferably, the liquid manure is low-ammonium liquid manure from a nitrogen cracking system. This low- ammonium liquid manure mixes with fresh manure on the floor. As a result, the fresh manure present on the floor is diluted with the low-ammonium liquid manure, so that the concentration of ammonium in the manure present on the floor is reduced. As a result, ammonia emissions and thus nitrogen emissions from the manure on the floor are reduced.

[0007] The valve device being configured to successively fluidically disconnect a different part of the plurality of liquid dispensing members from the interior of the container so that successively a different remaining part of the plurality of liquid dispensing members is allowed to be in fluid communication with the interior of the container, allows the cross-sectional area of any conduit that connects each of the liquid dispensing members to the valve device to be large enough to transport the liquid manure without clogging occurring, while at the same time preventing a flow rate that is so high that the container would run empty too quickly and / or a pressure that is so low that the liquid manure is not dispensed powerful enough from the liquid dispensing members. The valve device thereby allows the liquid manure to be held in the container to be evenly supplied with a sufficiently high fluid pressure and at a controlled flow rate.

[0008] The valve device may be directly connected to the container and / or the liquid dispensing members. Alternatively, the liquid dispensing members may be fluidically connected with the interior of the container via conduits, preferably tubes, connected to the valve device.

[0009] In a preferred embodiment of the system, the valve device is configured to allow a different one or two or more liquid dispensing members, preferably only one liquid dispensing member, at a time to be in fluid communication with the interior of the container.

[0010] In a preferred embodiment, the valve device comprises a chamber having a liquid inlet port fluidically connected to the interior of the container and a plurality of liquid outlet ports, each being fluidically connected to a different one of the liquid dispensing members of the plurality of liquid dispensing members, and a one-piece valve member configured to successively close off a different part of the plurality of liquid outlet ports to fluidically disconnect said different part of the plurality of liquid dispensing members from the interior of the container and to successively release a different remaining part of the plurality of liquid outlet ports to allow said different remaining part of the plurality of liquid dispensing members to be in fluid communication with the interior of the container.

[0011] Preferably, the liquid inlet port and / or the liquid outlet ports are fluidically connected with the interior of the container and / or the liquid dispensing members, respectively, via conduits, preferably tubes.

[0012] In a preferred embodiment, the valve member is a rotatable disk having at least one opening therein. The at least one opening is arranged such that the opening can be successively aligned with each of the liquid outlet ports upon rotation of the disk.

[0013] In a preferred embodiment, the rotatable disk is substantially circular, the liquid outlet ports are arranged along a substantially circular line, and the at least one opening is arranged near a peripheral edge of the rotatable disk. In a preferred embodiment, the size and shape of the at least one opening correspond substantially to the size and shape of an enveloping line around two or more neighboring liquid outlet ports constituting said remaining part of the plurality of liquid outlet ports.

[0014] In a preferred embodiment, the size and shape of the at least one opening correspond substantially to the size and shape of one liquid outlet port, so that the rotatable disk successively releases only one port at a time upon rotation of the disk to allow only one liquid dispensing member at a time to be in fluid communication with the interior of the container.

[0015] In a preferred embodiment, the liquid dispensing device further comprises an air pump configured to pump air into the container to pressurize the interior of the container. The pressure generated by the air pumped into pushes the liquid manure through the valve device without needing a pump for directly pumping the liquid manure. This is of great advantage, as the liquid manure, also referred to as slurry, is an abrasive liquid, containing sand like particles and small lumps. These particles and lumps easily destroy conventional liquid pumps, which cause the system to malfunction, sometimes already within a few hours. The air pump eliminates the need to use a conventional liquid pump, which greatly benefits the operation and durability of the liquid dispensing device.

[0016] In a preferred embodiment, the liquid dispensing members of the plurality of liquid dispensing members are provided on the manure removal device, preferably on top of the manure removal device.

[0017] In a preferred embodiment, the liquid dispensing members of the plurality of liquid dispensing members are arranged to dispense the liquid manure on the bam floor behind the manure removal device, as seen in a direction of movement of the manure removal device across the bam floor. This way, the floor will stay wet after scraping, so that newly excreted manure disposed on the floor by the livestock is diluted by the liquid manure already present on the floor. The mixture of liquid manure and fresh manure is disposed of by the removal device on the next pass.

[0018] In a preferred embodiment, the liquid dispensing members of the plurality of liquid dispensing members are arranged to dispense the liquid manure on the bam floor in front of the manure removal device, as seen in a direction of movement of the manure removal device across the bam floor. This way, the manure that is being removed by the removal device is diluted by the liquid manure.

[0019] Preferably, the liquid dispensing members are provided on the manure removal device such that the liquid manure to be dispensed is evenly distributed across the bam floor area to be cleaned by the manure removal device.

[0020] In a preferred embodiment, the liquid dispensing members of the plurality of liquid dispensing members comprise nozzles, preferably spraying nozzles.

[0021] In a preferred embodiment, the manure removal device comprises a floor scraper for scraping manure from the bam floor. Preferably, the floor scraper is configured to be pulled along the bam floor by a chain, cable or rope or the like. According to a second aspect, the invention provides a method for cleaning a bam floor, comprising the steps of spraying liquid manure on a part of the bam floor soiled with manure and removing the manure from the part of the bam floor after the spraying step. Using liquid manure to clean the bam floor instead of water allows reducing water consumption in the cleaning process. In fact, no water is needed for cleaning. Preferably, the step of spraying liquid manure is preceded by a step providing low-ammonium liquid manure from a nitrogen cracking system and the step of spraying liquid manure comprises spraying said low-ammonium liquid manure on said part of the bam floor soiled with manure. This low-ammonium liquid manure mixes with fresh manure on the floor. As a result, the fresh manure present on the floor is diluted with the low-ammonium liquid manure, so that the concentration of ammonium in the manure present on the floor is reduced. As a result, ammonia emissions, i.e., nitrogen emissions from the manure on the floor are reduced.

[0022] In a preferred embodiment of the method, the method further comprises carrying out the steps of spraying and removing using the system according to any one of the above-described embodiments.

[0023] The present invention is further illustrated by the following figures, which show a preferred embodiment of the bam cleaning system according to the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way, wherein: figure 1 shows a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the bam cleaning system according to the present invention; figure 2 shows a diagrammatic view of a preferred embodiment of the bam cleaning system according to the present invention; figure 3 shows a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a component of the system shown in figure 1; figure 4 shows an exploded view of the component shown in figure 3; and figure 5 shows a cross-section in perspective view of the component shown in figure 3;

[0024] The bam cleaning system 100, as shown in figure 1, is configured for spraying low- ammonium liquid manure onto the floor 2 of a bam, such as a dairy bam or any other type of livestock facility. A flow diagram of the bam cleaning system 100 is shown in figure 2 and schematically shows the process that is performed by the bam cleaning system 100. The low- ammonium liquid manure is formed in a nitrogen cracker, not shown, that is connected to a filling station 1 inside a docking station 60. The bam cleaning system 100 further comprises a manure spraying assembly 3 that is configured to spray the liquid manure on the floor 2. Inside the manure spraying assembly 3 is a tank 5 for the liquid manure to be sprayed on the bam floor 2. To fill the tank 5 with liquid manure, the tank 5 is connected to liquid manure filling port 62 of filling station 1. In this context, the low-ammonium liquid manure is also referred to as manure water or slurry. Two ball valves 57, 58 are placed on either side of the connection between the filling station 1 and the manure spraying assembly 3. During the filling of tank 5 both ball valves 57, 58 are in their open position. The manure spraying assembly 3 comprises an internal battery to power components of the manure spraying assembly 3 including a slurry mill 30 and air pump 10. The battery is charged at the docking station 60 by an electric charging point 61 that comprises two metal prongs 63 facing each other on the docking station 60 and charging strips, not shown, on the manure spraying assembly 3. The prongs 63 and charging strips connect to each other to transfer electrical power to the manure spraying assembly 3. During the filling of the tank 5, a solenoid valve 52 is in an open state to release overpressure from the tank 5. The solenoid valve 52 also lets out air that is displaced by the incoming flow of liquid manure. The disposed air passes through a first silencer 50 and is released into the open, ambient, air. Filling the tank 5 with liquid manure is controlled by two floating switches 53, 54. The first floating switch 53 detects when the tank 5 is full and thus when the spraying assembly 3 is ready for use. Subsequently, the tank 5 is sealed fluid-tight, i.e. air-tight, by closing the solenoid valve 52 and the second ball valve 58. To close off the filling station 1, first ball valve 57 is also closed at this moment. Ambient air is drawn in by the air pump 10 through an air inlet 12. The air pump 10 is connected to the tank 5 by an air duct 11 containing a one-way valve 55. The one-way valve 55 prevents liquid manure from entering the pump 10 and thereby protects the pump 10 from contamination and wear due to abrasion. Pressure builds up in the tank 5 until it reaches the pressure set with a control dial (not shown) on a pressure relief valve 56. Above the set pressure, any excess air will be let through by the pressure relief valve 56. The excess air passes through a second silencer 51 and is released into the open air.

[0025] A predetermined amount of time is given for the tank 5 to pressurise. When the predetermined time is reached, the spraying assembly 3 disconnects from the filling station 1. The spraying assembly 3 moves away from the docking station 60, either by being pulled or on its own.

[0026] Simultaneously, by opening a third ball valve 59 the pressurised liquid manure is transported from the tank 5 to the slurry mill 30, visualised in figure 3, via the feed tube 43. In the slurry mill 30 the liquid manure is divided among eight outlet tubes 33 that are connected to their respective spray tubes 42. On each outer end of spray tubes 42 a spray nozzle 41 is attached. In alternative embodiments (not shown), the number of tubes and nozzles may be less or more than 8, for example 4, 6, 10 or 12. It is noted that spray nozzles 41 may be tapered towards their outlet ends to increase the pressure with which the liquid manure is dispensed from the nozzles 41. However, in some embodiments, it is beneficial to use spray nozzles 41 that do not taper towards their outlet ends to avoid clogging of the nozzles 41 by the liquid manure. The spray nozzles 41 are mounted on two scraping arms 20, shown in figure 1, which are pulled along the bam floor 2. The spray nozzles 41 are equally spaced apart along the scraping arms 20. The sprayed liquid manure dilutes solid manure that sticks to the floor 2 of the bam. Furthermore, the scraping arms 20 contain scraping elements 21 that scrape the bam floor 2 to remove any manure that sticks to the floor 2. The scraping arms 20 further contain hinged side flaps 22 that allow the scraping arms 20 to scrape the entire floor 2 between two vertical floor elements 40, without getting stuck therebetween. The hinged side flaps 22 give the spraying system 3 some flexibility in the width of floor 2 to be scraped and sprayed. In the bam floor 2, slits are present to dispose the diluted manure present on the bam floor 2 through the slits into a manure pit. Alternatively, the bam floor 2 may be closed instead of containing slits. In this case, the manure will be pushed in front of the scraping arms 20 and fall into the manure pit at the end of the bam. The collected manure can be used again to spray the floor 2. In this way, the floor 2 is cleaned and the manure in the manure pit is diluted. Collectively, this reduces the nitrogen emission of the bam as a whole. Additionally, a wet, sprayed, bam floor 2 is less slippery because the sprayed manure prevents a thin film of manure from forming on top of the bam floor 2. A less slippery bam floor 2 is beneficial for the livestock that is using the bam.

[0027] The second floating switch 54 detects when the tank 5 is almost empty and needs to be refilled. When the second floating switch 54 turns off the air pump 10 is in turn also shut off. Subsequently, the spraying assembly 3 returns to the filling station 1 to be refilled and recharged.

[0028] The slurry mill 30 is operated by an electric motor 39 that rotates circular disk 36 that is arranged inside the slurry mill housing 31 as can be seen in the sectional view of figure 5. Through the rotation axle 38 the rotation of the electric motor 39 is transferred to the disk 36. The slurry mill housing 31 is closed off with a top lid 32 that also accommodates the electric motor 39. The top lid 32 is connected to the slurry mill housing 31 with four connection bolts 35 extending upwards from the top surface of the slurry mill housing 31. Four nuts 34 clamp the top lid 32 onto the slurry mill housing 31. Liquid manure coming from the tank 5 enters the slurry mill 30 through the feed tube 43 that is connected to the side of the slurry mill housing 31. In the exploded view of figure 4, the rotating disk 36 of the slurry mill 30 can be clearly seen. The disk 36 consists of a circular flat element with a singular through hole 37 near its outer edge. The through hole 37 is designed such that only one outlet tube 33 is fluidically connected to the inside of the slurry mill 30 when the through hole 37 reaches its location. The remaining outlet tubes 33 are covered offby the disk 36. The rotating disk 36 successively fluidically connects each of outlet tube 33 one-by-one to the inside of the slurry mill. Due to the pressurisation of the tank 5 by the air pump 10, the liquid manure is blown into the slurry mill 30 when ball valve 59 is opened. The slurry mill 30 is air-tight, and the pressurised liquid manure can only exit through the outlet tubes 33. By utilising the slurry mill 30, the amount of liquid manure that is sprayed per spray nozzle 41 is limited, while keeping the pressure of the liquid manure high enough to satisfactorily clean the floor 2. Spraying the liquid manure in this manner avoids clogging of the spray tubes 42 and spray nozzles 41, while avoiding unnecessary amounts of manure being sprayed on the floor 2. It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate rather than limit the present invention and that those skilled in the art will be able to design alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

Claims1. System for cleaning a bam floor, comprising: a manure removal device configured to remove manure from the bam floor; and a liquid dispensing device configured to dispense liquid manure on the bam floor, comprising: a container for holding the liquid manure therein; a plurality of liquid dispensing members fluidically connected with an interior of the container, and each configured to dispense the liquid manure to be held in the container on the bam floor; and a valve device between the interior of the container and the plurality of liquid dispensing members which is configured to successively fluidically disconnect a different part of the plurality of liquid dispensing members from the interior of the container so that successively a different remaining part of the plurality of liquid dispensing members is allowed to be in fluid communication with the interior of the container.

2. System according to claim 1, wherein the valve device is configured to allow a different one or two or more liquid dispensing members, preferably only one liquid dispensing member, at a time to be in fluid communication with the interior of the container.

3. System according to claim 1 or 2, the valve device comprising: a chamber having a liquid inlet port fluidically connected to the interior of the container and a plurality of liquid outlet ports, each being fluidically connected to a different one of the liquid dispensing members of the plurality of liquid dispensing members; and a one-piece valve member configured to successively close off a different part of the plurality of liquid outlet ports to fluidically disconnect said different part of the plurality of liquid dispensing members from the interior of the container and to successively release a different remaining part of the plurality of liquid outlet ports to allow said different remaining part of the plurality of liquid dispensing members to be in fluid communication with the interior of the container.

4. System according to claim 3, wherein the valve member is a rotatable disk having at least one opening therein, the at least one opening being arranged such that the opening can be successively aligned with each of the liquid outlet ports upon rotation of the disk.

5. System according to claim 4, wherein the rotatable disk is substantially circular, the liquid outlet ports are arranged along a substantially circular line, and the at least one opening is arranged near a peripheral edge of the rotatable disk.

6. System according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the size and shape of the at least one opening correspond substantially to the size and shape of an enveloping line around neighboring two or more liquid outlet ports constituting said remaining part of the plurality of liquid outlet ports.

7. System according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the size and shape of the at least one opening correspond substantially to the size and shape of one liquid outlet port, so that the rotatable disk successively releases only one port at a time upon rotation of the disk to allow only one liquid dispensing member at a time to be in fluid communication with the interior of the container.

8. System according to any one of the preceding claims, the liquid dispensing device further comprising an air pump configured to pump air into the container to pressurize the interior of the container.

9. System according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the liquid dispensing members of the plurality of liquid dispensing members are provided on the manure removal device, preferably on top of the manure removal device.

10. System according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the liquid dispensing members of the plurality of liquid dispensing members are arranged to dispense the liquid manure on the bam floor behind the manure removal device, as seen in a direction of movement of the manure removal device across the bam floor.

11. System according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the liquid dispensing members of the plurality of liquid dispensing members are arranged to dispense the liquid manure on the bam floor in front of the manure removal device, as seen in a direction of movement of the manure removal device across the bam floor.

12. System according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the liquid dispensing members of the plurality of liquid dispensing members comprise nozzles, preferably spraying nozzles.

13. System according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the manure removal device comprises a floor scraper for scraping manure from the bam floor.

14. Method for cleaning a bam floor, comprising the steps of: spraying liquid manure on a part of the bam floor soiled with manure; and removing the manure from the part of the bam floor after the spraying step.

15. Method according to claim 14, further comprising carrying out the steps of spraying and removing using the system according to any one of claims 1-13.

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