Dairymaster

Edmond Patrick Harty

John Gerard Daly

Liam Eoghan Mullane

Christopher Kinsella

Joseph Walsh

Daniel Riordan

Alan Hanley

Niall O Mahony

Shane Joseph Burns

A device () for determining the mass flow rate of milk turbulently flowing with air in a pipe () in pulsed milk slugs comprises sampling a signal from a microphone () of the device () indicative of sonic signals produced by the milk flow. The sampled signals are read by a microprocessor () which applies a Fast Fourier Transform to the sampled signal to produce the frequency domain of the sampled signal. The microprocessor () is configured to compute the average energy value of the sampled signal in the frequency bandwidth of 6 kHz to 15 kHz during consecutive monitoring periods. The average energy values are inserted into a calibration equation, which may be a power law equation, a polynomial equation, a logarithmic equation or any other such suitable equation in order to convert the average energy value to a mass flow rate of the milk flowing through the pipeduring that predefined monitoring period. The total mass flow of milk flowing through the pipeline () during a period from Tto Tis determined by integrating the determined mass flow rate of the milk from the time Tto the time T. Disengagement of a milking cluster from the teats of an animal as a result of kick-off during milking is also determined when the monitored signal from the microphone () transitions from the signal indicative of milk flowing in pulsed slugs to a continuous relatively high energy noise signal indicative of air being continuously drawn through the pipeline.

Method and a device for determining the mass flow rate and the presence or absence of a liquid flowing in a pipe

An electronic monitoring device for attaching to an animal includes an NFC module facilitating wireless communication between a smart phone and the monitoring device, an accelerometer for monitoring acceleration of the head of the animal, and a microprocessor which determines various states of the animal from signals received from the accelerometer. The smart phone is programmed by a software application which allows an identifying code of the monitoring device to be read from the memory chip and cross-referenced in the smart phone with the identity of an animal, which can be inputted into the smart phone. Data relating to the states(s) of the animal can be read from the microprocessor through the NFC module into the smart phone. Additionally, data relating to the animal stored in a cloud server corresponding to the state or states of the animal is downloaded from the cloud server by the smart phone.

Method for communicating with an electronic device and an electronic device locatable on or in an animal

A device () attached to the neck () of an animal () comprises an accelerometer () which produces first and second signals indicative of movement of the animal () and the raised and lowered states of the head of the animal. A microprocessor () in the device () processes the first and second signals to detect ruminating, resting, feeding and three activity states of the animal during respective second predefined time periods of approximately 15 minutes duration. Data indicative of the states of the animal is stored by the microprocessor () in the device () and periodically transmitted to a cloud computer server which further processes the data to determine various health states and other issues of the animal.

Method, a device and a system for detecting a state of an animal

A device () attached to the neck () of an animal () comprises an accelerometer () which produces first and second signals indicative of the raised and lowered state of the head () of the animal () and movement of the animal (). A microprocessor () in the device () processes the first and second signals to determine if the animal is ruminating, resting, feeding or in a highly active state during respective second predefined time periods of approximately 15 minutes duration. Data indicative of the ruminating, resting, feeding and the highly active state of the animal is stored by the microprocessor () in the device () and is periodically wirelessly communicated to a base station computer which further processes the data to determine various health states of the animal.

Method, a device and a system for determining a state of an animal

The mass flow rate of milk flowing in a pipe in pulsed milk slugs is determined by sampling a signal from a microphone indicative of sonic signals produced by the milk flow. A microprocessor applies a Fast Fourier Transform to the sampled signal to produce the frequency domain of the sampled signal. The microprocessor computes the average energy value of the sampled signal in a relevant frequency band during consecutive monitoring periods. The average energy values are inserted into a calibration equation to convert the average energy value to a mass flow rate. The total mass flow of milk flowing through the pipeline during a period T-Tis determined by integrating the determined mass flow rate of milk from T-T. Disengagement of a milking cluster from the animal teats during milking is determined when the monitored microphone signal transitions to a continuous relatively high energy noise signal indicative of air.

An electronic monitoring device () for attaching to an animal () for determining a plurality of states of an animal (). The monitoring device () comprises an NFC module () which facilitates wireless communication between a smart phone () and the monitoring device (). The monitoring device () comprises an accelerometer () for monitoring acceleration of the head () of the animal (). A microprocessor () determines various states of the animal from signals received from the accelerometer (). The smart phone () is programmed by a software application which allows an identifying code of the monitoring device () to be read from the memory chip () and cross-referenced in the smart phone () with the identity of an animal, which can be inputted into the smart phone (). Data relating to the state or states of the animal can be read from the microprocessor () through the NFC module () wirelessly into the smart phone (). Additionally, data relating to the animal stored in a cloud computer server corresponding to the state or states of the animal is downloaded from the cloud computer server by the smart phone ().

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Ballyheigue, Ireland

Edmond Patrick Harty