Elastic Teat Cup Liner Vent for Blockage Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing teat cup liners face issues with air inlet vents getting blocked during milking, requiring manual cleaning and complex procedures to maintain functionality, which can disrupt the milking process.
Innovation Solution
A teat cup liner with an air inlet vent made of elastic material that projects from the outer contour, allowing for easy accessibility and cleaning without additional aids, featuring a dome-shaped design and positioning to prevent blockage and facilitate mechanical deformation for dirt removal during flushing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the air inlet vent has a small orifice diameter (0.6 to 1.0 mm), then the vacuum relief function is achieved, but the vent orifice gets blocked during milking by contact with udder or skin folds
Solution Approach 1:
The vent is designed as a cantilevered element that can dynamically change its position and shape. During milking, the elastic vent deflects to maintain openness despite contact forces. During cleaning, the vent can be manually deformed to facilitate dirt removal. This dynamic behavior resolves the contradiction between maintaining small orifice for vacuum relief and preventing blockage.
Solution Approach 2:
The vent utilizes elastic material properties to change its physical state between operational modes. The material's elasticity allows the vent to maintain its small orifice diameter for proper vacuum relief while being deformable during cleaning to prevent blockage accumulation. The parameter change in material deformation state resolves the contradiction.
2Ease of operation
If the vent orifice is cleaned manually by spray-washing or brushing, then the vent can be cleaned, but it requires a lot of experience and is complicated to carry out during milking operation
Solution Approach 1:
The elastic vent design enables self-cleaning capability through its deformable nature. The vent can be easily deformed by finger pressure to detach dirt and incrustations without requiring specialized tools or extensive manual intervention. This self-service characteristic resolves the contradiction between ease of cleaning and time loss.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of actively brushing or spraying the vent to remove dirt, the solution inverts the approach by using gentle finger pressure to deform the elastic vent, causing dirt to detach naturally. This inverted cleaning method is simpler and requires less experience, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and time loss.
3Ease of manufacture
If a flushing cap with peripheral sealing lip is used to clean the teat cup liner, then the interior headspace can be cleaned, but the vent may still get blocked during milking operation requiring manual cleaning
Solution Approach 1:
The elastic vent provides dynamic protection against blockage during milking operations. Its ability to deflect and maintain openness under contact forces ensures continuous functionality even when subjected to udder or skin fold contact. This dynamic response maintains reliability while allowing the flushing cap system to remain integrated.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The elastic vent design ensures easy cleaning and prevents blockage, maintaining proper milking function by allowing dirt detachment with minimal effort and ensuring the vent remains open during milking operations.
Implementation Method 1
a vent (18) made of elastic material which projects from the outer contour of the teat cup liner (1)... the elastic material is chosen so that at least the cantilevering area of the vent can be manually deformed elastically during cleaning so that the dirt/incrustations can be easily detached
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a teat cup liner and a vent suitable for said teat cup liner. The vent consists of a highly elastic material which can be elastically deformed, thereby allowing dirt to be removed.