Delaval Holding Ab

Mats Nilsson

Jan Eriksson

Thomas Axelsson

Lars Wase

Nils Erik Holmertz

Krister Sjöblom

Mattias Oscarsson

Uzi Birk

Jan-Erik Andersson

Bohao Liao

Gert Danneker

Anders Hallström

Henrik Persson

Martin Paley

Jonas Hallman

Helmut OBERMÜLLER

Jonas HÄLLMAN

Christer Sjöblom

A method for performing teat related operations in a rotary milking system during an operation condition when a capacity required for performing the operations with respect to the teats of the milking animals is higher than a robot's capacity, includes estimating a required capacity for performing the operations; planning a semi-automated teat related operation procedure based on the robot's capacity and the estimated required capacity, according to which procedure a first fraction of the operations with respect to the teats of the milking animals should be performed automatically by the robot in a first zone, and a second fraction of the operations with respect to the teats of the milking animals should be performed manually in a second zone adjacent to the first zone; and performing the operations with respect to the teats of the milking animals according to the planned semi-automated teat related operation procedure.

Method and arrangement for performing teat related operations in a rotary milking system and rotary milking system

A camera cleaning system and method for a milking system which includes a rotating platform, plural milking stalls thereon, a robot for performing an animal related operation with respect to the animals in the milking stalls passing by the robot, and a camera in response to signals from which the robot moves, the camera cleaning system includes usage identifying arrangement to identify a future usage demand of the camera; a processing device to analyze the future usage demand of the camera to find at least one time slot when the camera is not to be used and which also occurs during certain conditions; and a cleaning arrangement arranged to clean the lens arrangement of the camera during the determined time slot.

Camera cleaning system and method and rotary milking system

An apparatus and method for cleaning milking stalls on a platform of a rotary parlour. The rotary parlour includes a robotic manipulation device configured to perform a primary task; a holding device configured to hold the end portion of the hose member in a predetermined parking position, and a control unit. When it is time to clean a milking stall on the platform, the control unit activates the robotic manipulation device such that, instead of performing a primary task, the robotic manipulation device performs an additional task in which the robotic manipulation device grips the end portion of a hose member and moves the end portion from a parking position to a number of cleaning positions from which liquid jets are sprayed from the outlet opening of the end portion against predetermined surfaces to be cleaned in the milking stall.

Apparatus and a method for cleaning milking stalls on a rotary platform of a rotary parlour

An apparatus for milking an animal and provides a milking parlor includes first and second robotic manipulation devices and a plurality of milking stalls provided on a platform moveable relative to the robotic manipulation devices. The robotic manipulation devices are positioned so that each of the robotic manipulation devices is able to simultaneously service two neighboring milking stalls on the platform.

Milking parlour and method for operating the same

An arrangement in a rotary milking system includes a rotating platform, an entry thereto and an exit therefrom. A selection gate arrangement at the exit of the rotating platform selectively guides animals, which have been milked in the rotary milking system and leave the rotating platform through the exit, back to the entry of the rotating platform or to a waiting area. A control device is provided for (i) determining whether an animal, which has been milked and leaves the rotating platform through the exit, has at least one udder compartment that was incompletely milked the last time the animal was milked, and (ii) controlling the selection gate arrangement to guide the animal back to the entry of the rotating platform or to the waiting area provided that the animal has at least one udder compartment that was incompletely milked the last time the animal was milked.

Arrangement and method in a milking system, the milking system itself, and a computer program product for controlling the method

An animal treating arrangement includes a carrying device beside a milking platform rotating with a velocity and having animal places housing animals. The carrying device includes a fundament, a first bearing device () provided on the fundament, an arm () connected to the first bearing device permitting the arm to rotate in relation to the fundament around a first axis, a support platform () connected to the arm (). A drive arrangement moves the support platform and includes a first drive member () rotating the arm around the first axis. A sensor () communicates with a control unit () and senses an instantaneous value of the velocity. The control unit controls the first drive member to move the support platform to follow the milking platform from a start position to an end position during a part of the rotation of the milking platform.

Animal treating arrangement

A griper device mountable on a robot arm of a milking robot provided for automatically attach teat cups to the teats of a milking animal, the gripper device comprises an electromagnet from gripping teat cups made of a magnetic material, the electromagnet including a coil feedable with a current a core of a magnetic material arranged at least partly within the coil; and a support structure for holding the electromagnet. The core comprises two end and portions in a single face of the electromagnet wherein the two end portions constitute different poles of the electromagnet and are shaped to be engagable with each of the teat cups in a close fit.

Gripper device, robot arm, and milking robot

An arrangement for fetching a teat cup from a teat cup magazine in which each teat cup has a respective fixed position includes a reference entity in a fixed spatial relationship to the teat cup magazine and each teat cup stored therein; a remote detecting element that registers wireless energy reflected by the reference entity, and based thereon determines a respective position for the teat cup relative to a robotic arm. The robotic arm carries a gripper element configured to hold the teat cup during removal thereof from the teat cup magazine. The reference entity is configured to allow the remote detecting element to receive wireless energy reflected against the reference entity while moving the robotic arm towards the least one teat cup for removing the at least teat cup from the teat cup magazine.

Positioning of teat cups

A gripper device mountable on a robot arm () of a milking robot () provided for automatically attach teat cups () to the teats of a milking animal, the gripper device comprises an electromagnet () from gripping teat cups made of a magnetic material, the electromagnet including a coil () feedable with a current a core () of a magnetic material arranged at least partly within the coil; and a support structure () for holding the electromagnet. The core comprises two end and portions (-) in a single face of the electromagnet, wherein the two end portions constitute different poles of the electromagnet, and are shaped to be engagable with each of the teat cups in a close fit.

A method and an apparatus for examining at least a first animal, milked in a milking machine, comprising an identification device for identifying said animal, a storing device for storing said identification in a data base, a locating device for finding the position of the teats of said animal, a cleaning device for cleaning the teats of the animal, an applying device for applying teat cups to the teats of said animal, and a capturing device for capturing at least one image of at least a part of said animal. The image captured in relation to identification of the animal is stored in the data base, and the captured image is presented for a user through a viewing device coupled to the data base.

Method and an apparatus for examination of milking animals

The present invention relates to a method for positioning an animal related member, e.g. teat cups, of a milking animal, more specifically to a method to initialize an automatic positioning device to utilize a sequence of movements associated with the animal. The sequence of positioning movements is associated with a class to which the animal belongs among a plurality number of classes corresponding to the identity of the animal. The animal is beforehand assigned to a class based on its individual position of each teat. The different sequence of movements, for different shapes of udders on the animal, may speed up the process for positioning the teat cups and thereby increase the through-put of animals in the system. The present invention also relates to a control device.

Method and device for positioning teat cups on a milking animal

A method for recognizing and determining the position of at least one teat of a milking animal, including the steps: moving a scanning head including a light source to a region containing the teat or teats, capturing at least one image formed by said light, evaluating the image or images so as to determine if each image describes said teat or teats. The scanning head ( ) is moved to a fixed initial position (A) in the room which is under the animal and clearly in front of an udder and thereby the teats of all known relevant animals, thereafter the scanning head is moved in determined steps (A-J) under the animal: upwards towards the animal, downwards, backwards towards the udder, upwards, downwards etc., while carrying out the scanning procedure. The invention also concerns an apparatus carrying out the process and a milking robot including such an apparatus.

Method and apparatus for recognizing and determining a position and robot including such an apparatus

A method and device ( ) for controlling the movement of a movable part such as a robot arm ( ) in a milking robot ( ). A control ( ) controls the movement of the arm ( ) from an actual position (Pxa, Pya, Pza) to a desired position (Pxd, Pyd, Pzd) A detector ( ) detects the actual position of the robot arm ( ) and transmits signals corresponding to the actual position to the control ( ). The predicted position (Pxp, Pyp, PyP), that the robot arm ( ) will pass through as it moves from the actual position to the desired position our model (S). The control ( ) makes a comparison (S) of the actual positions of the arm ( ) against to the predicted positions, and the movement of the robot arm ( ) is modified if its actual position at any time differs by more than a predetermined amount from the predicted position at the same time.

Method and device for controlling the movement of a movable part

An apparatus for performing animal related operations includes a robot arm movable in response to a controller, the robot arm being provided with a gripper for gripping an animal related device. A sensor is adapted to establish a location of the animal related device.

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Tumba, Sweden

Mats Nilsson