Manure Collection Floor with Segmented Ducts and Scrapers
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current manure evacuation systems in animal enclosures fail to effectively separate urine and feces, leading to ammonia production, slippery floors, and health issues for animals, while requiring significant structural work for installation.
Innovation Solution
A system with a floor covering featuring ducts that open at the upper surface for urine flow, conveying means using an elastomeric drive member with longitudinal reinforcement, and scraping mechanisms for feces, allowing continuous urine evacuation and reducing floor humidity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-generated harmful factors
If mechanical evacuation systems with scrapers are used, then droppings are evacuated from the floor, but separation of urine and faeces is not optimal leading to ammonia production
Solution Approach 1:
The floor is segmented into distinct zones: a grating area for urine collection and a solid floor area for faeces accumulation. This physical segmentation allows urine and faeces to be collected separately through different mechanisms, with urine draining through the grating and faeces being scraped from the solid floor, thereby optimizing separation efficiency and reducing ammonia production from mixed waste.
Solution Approach 2:
A scraper mechanism acts as an intermediary device that selectively removes faeces from the solid floor area while allowing urine to pass through the grating area. This intermediary mechanism enables differential evacuation of the two types of waste, improving separation efficiency and reducing the ammonia production that results from mixing urine and faeces in conventional single-mechanism systems.
2Productivity
If water flush systems are used to evacuate droppings, then evacuation is achieved, but significant wetting of floors occurs leading to adhesion and hygiene problems
Solution Approach 1:
The floor is divided into a grating area where urine drains through to the evacuation system and a solid floor area where faeces accumulate for scraper collection. This segmentation allows urine to be evacuated without wetting the solid floor area, preventing the adhesion and hygiene problems that occur with water flush systems while maintaining effective evacuation of liquid waste.
Solution Approach 2:
The liquid urine component is extracted and evacuated through the grating area separately from the solid floor surface. This extraction prevents urine from wetting the solid floor area where animals walk, eliminating the hygiene problems and adhesion issues caused by floor wetting in water flush systems while maintaining effective liquid waste evacuation.
3Productivity
If grating systems are used for manure evacuation, then urine evacuation is achieved, but separation of urine and faeces is not optimal still constituting a significant source of ammonia
Solution Approach 1:
The floor is segmented into a grating area for urine collection and a solid floor area for faeces accumulation. This segmentation works in conjunction with the scraper mechanism to achieve optimal separation: urine drains through the grating while faeces remain on the solid floor for scraper removal. The segregated collection prevents mixing of urine and faeces, thereby reducing ammonia production from combined waste.
4Productivity
If mechanical evacuation systems are installed, then droppings are removed, but major structural work is required which is difficult to envisage in an existing breeding enclosure
Solution Approach 1:
The scraper mechanism is designed as a dynamic, movable component that can be operated by tractor or automatic means, allowing the evacuation system to be adaptable rather than requiring fixed, major structural modifications. This dynamic approach enables installation in existing enclosures without extensive structural work, as the scraper can be introduced as a movable element that works with the existing floor structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The scraper mechanism serves multiple functions: it evacuates faeces from the solid floor area, works in conjunction with the grating area for urine collection, and can be operated by different means (tractor or automatic). This multi-functionality reduces the need for specialized, complex structural modifications, making the system easier to install in existing enclosures while maintaining effective manure evacuation capability.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~5
AI summary
The invention relates to a system for collecting excrements on the floor of an enclosed structure for raising animals, for example cattle, said collecting system comprising (i) a floor cover (1) that includes ducts (12), (ii) collection means for collecting the excrements flowing inside said ducts (12), and (iii) conveyor means (3) for conveying the excrements within the ducts (12) towards the collection means (2). The conveyor means (3) include at least one elongate driving mechanism (31) made of at least one elastomer material; said at least one elongate driving mechanism (31) has two opposite surfaces (3111, 3112), at least one of which is advantageously provided with one-piece studs (312) that are distributed along the length of the surface so as to form the conveying surfaces (3121); and the at least one elongate driving mechanism (31) has longitudinal reinforcement means (313) for limiting the longitudinal extensibility of the elongate driving mechanism (31).