Centralized Milk Analysis Unit for Multi-Station Milking Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing milking systems with multiple robots, each equipped with its own analysis equipment, lead to inefficiencies due to unbalanced usage and increased costs, as well as unnecessary testing of healthy animals, which can negatively impact operation and reliability.
Innovation Solution
A milking system with a common milk line and a centralized milk constituent analyzing unit that analyzes milk from multiple stations, allowing for targeted testing based on animal health and lactation cycles, reducing the number of analyzing units and optimizing testing frequency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If each milking robot is equipped with its own cell counter, then cell count data can be provided immediately, but the cost of each milking robot increases and the usage of sampling and analyzing devices becomes unbalanced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the analyzing function from individual robots into a centralized analyzing unit that serves multiple milking robots. Instead of each robot having its own cell counter, one centralized unit analyzes milk samples from multiple sources, reducing overall system cost and equipment complexity while maintaining data availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The centralized analyzing unit serves multiple functions by analyzing milk samples from different milking robots and different animals. This multi-functional unit replaces multiple specialized devices, improving resource utilization and balancing the usage load across the system.
2Reliability
If milk from every animal is tested at every milking occasion, then comprehensive health monitoring is achieved, but unnecessary testing of healthy animals increases operational burden
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary testing or risk assessment before full analysis. By using initial indicators or previous test results to identify animals that need testing, the system avoids unnecessary comprehensive testing of healthy animals while maintaining reliable health monitoring for at-risk animals.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of testing all animals comprehensively, the system applies partial testing only to animals that show risk indicators or require monitoring. This selective approach maintains health monitoring reliability for animals that need it while reducing operational burden by excluding healthy animals from unnecessary testing.
Data Source
AI summary
A milking system includes a milk storage tank, a common milk line connected to the tank, at least two milking stations connected to the milk line, a milk constituent analyzing unit connected to the milk line and analyzing the milk provided from each of the stations through the milk line, with respect to a specific milk constituent, and a computer operatively connected to the analyzing unit. The computer stores milk quality information of the extracted milk and animal identity data of each of the specifically identified animals. Each station automatically identifies a specific animal, extracts milk from the animal, and transfers the milk through the common milk line to the milk storage tank. The stations, the computer, and the analyzing unit are operatively connected to allow a result of the milk analysis to be associated with the animal(s) identity specifically identified at each station from which the milk was extracted.