Milk acidity operational monitoring in the milk pipeline of milking robot

Abstract

The acidity characterizes the suitability of milk for primary processing and is one of the main parameters controlled during reception at the dairy. Therefore, it is important to separate milk with low acidity in time during milking by the robot. However, technical means for recognizing and separating milk with non-standard acidity in the milk pipeline in robotic milking systems and monitoring the acidity of milk during robotic milking are not provided.

As a result of experimental studies, a linear correlation between the acidity of milk according to the traditional Turner method and pH was established. The parameters of the main and additional tanks, for high-grade milk and defective acidity were calculated. The linear parameters of the insertion of a measuring pH electrode and a tee with an electromagnetic valve for automatic discharge of non-standard milk into the main milk pipeline of the robot are determined. Based on experimental research and calculations, a project of a technical system for robotic cow milking technology was created. The standard technology is supplemented by automatic measurement of the pH of milk in the flow, which is implemented using a high-speed field transistor (pH-FT) electrode. An automatic system for monitoring the pH of milk in the stream has been developed, which includes a pH-FT electrode, a measuring tool, a tee with an electromagnetic valve, a radio module, and an additional container for collecting non-standard milk.

Monitoring the pH of milk in the stream during robotic milking allows you to quickly solve two tasks at once: improving the accuracy of evaluating the quality of raw materials and correcting cow feeding rations in order to normalize the acidity of milk required for acceptance by the dairy. This eliminates the time-consuming operation of laboratory determination of acidity, if this indicator is already measured during the milking process by the robot. Thus, this improvement in the technology of robotic milking will allow you to more accurately assess the quality of raw milk using milking robots included in the system of precision livestock machines.