• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.201-207
• /
• 2007

The teat cup liner compounds with improved physical property were developed using tri-polymer blend of natural rubber(NR), ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber(EPDM) and butyl rubber, and the changes of the physical properties of compounds were measured under various conditions such as standard, thermal, alkaline detergent and acid solutions aging conditions. The hardness of the new teat cup liner compound 1 was 50 and that of the compound 2 was 51 under standard condition. The tensile strength and elongation of the new compound 1 were $154kgf/cm^2$ and 675% under the standard condition, respectively. Also, those of the new compound 2 were 180 kgf/cm and 634% under the same condition. Their hardness were increased about $2{\sim}6%$ and the tensile strength and elongation were decreased about 10% under the $25^{\circ}C$ water and detergent solutions. Even though the new teat cup liner compounds exhibited so much decreased tensile properties under the $105^{\circ}C$ thermal aged condition, they sustained more stable aged physical properties including tensile strength and elongation than those of imported teat cup liner materials. Consequently, the new teat cup liner compounds would give prolonged lift cycle if they are used as a teat cup liner product.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.105-112
• /
• 2000

The objective of this study was to determine the teat locations and to develop a teat cup handling system operated by a robot. The results of this study were summarized as follows: 1. The teat cup attaching and detaching operation system developed in this study consists of a control computer, a five-dimensional robot(PERFORMER-MK2), a DC servo gripper, a robot controller, two CCD-cameras (WV-vp410), an image grabber board(DT3153), a model cow, and a teat cup unit. 2. The coordinates of teat locations were measured by a stereo image processing unit. The error ranges of teats coordinates measured were (x, y, z) = (0.83, 1.95, 0.81) mm. When those were transferred into the Robot Coordinate System(RCS) coordinate, the total error ranges measured were x = 0.9 mm, y = 2.0 mm, z = 0.9 mm. 3. The rates of success of teat cup attaching and detaching operation by a robot system were 91.5% on average; the operation time needed were 27.8 sec. Total working hours for the teat cup handling including image processing were 86.1 sec.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.30 no.3 s.110
• /
• pp.179-184
• /
• 2005

The purpose of this study was the development of teat-cup attachment module for robot milking system. The teat-cups attachment module was controlled on the two dimensional space independently, Each teat cup of an end effector was independently controlled via two axis control based on the position information data obtained from the image processing system. This system was developed install of all 4 teat cups at the same time after adjusting positions of each teat sequentially. The individual motion system was operated using two servo motors for the high speed of teat position adjustment. The errors fur the individual motion system of teat cups were maximum 1.0mm, minimum 0.0mm, and average 0.6mm. The operating time for adjusting the teat cups position required about 1.0 second. It is envisaged that teat cups attachment module can be applicate to milking robot being developed in consideration of the experiment results for the teat cups operation accuracy and the actuation speed of servo motors.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.159-164
• /
• 2002

The distance between teats of each head on twenty heads of holstein was measured in Nation Livestock Research Institute of Rural Development Administration to find design variables on the teat-cup attachment system of the auto-milking system before milking. The distance between teats was tested by the steps for milk producing in the morning and evening. The results from this study is summarized as follow. 1 The maximum and minimum length between front teats were 297mm and 112mm respectively, the maximum and minimum length between rear teats were 231mm and 36mm and the maximum and minimum length between left front and left rear were 220 and 84mm. And the maximum length of right front and right rear were 205mm and 90mm. A relative position of the each teats was asymmetric. 2. The size of teats, the length between front teats, and the length between rear teats by lactating period were very much changed for its milking. 3. The design variables on the teat-cup attachment system was found by the length between each teats tested. Since the position of teat-cup is changed by milking environment for a cow to milk, the design variables should be considered to be asymmetric area between four teat of COW.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.163-168
• /
• 2001

A manipulator for test-cup attachment modules, which was a part of a robot milking system, was developed to reduce cost and labor for cow milking processing. A Cartesian coordinate manipulator was designed for the milking process, because it was quite flexible and can be constructed more economically than any other configuration. The manipulator was made use of DC motors, screws for power transmission, a RS422 interface system for the transmission of coordinate values and a one-chip microprocessor, 89C52. Performance tests of the manipulator were conducted to measure experimentally the precision of all axes. Some of the results are as follows. 1. The Cartesian coordinate manipulator was designed and built. Dimension of the three perpendicular axes (X, Y, and Z) and one arm’s axis(W) to pick up and transfer the modules were 700㎜$\times$450㎜$\times$550㎜$\times$650㎜. The arm’s axis moved the teat-cup attachment module, which attached four teat-cup to four teats, detached four teat-cup from four teats, was designed and manufactured by using CAD, CAM and CNC. 3. After 10 replications of exercising the manipulator, mean precision values(positioning error) of X, Y, Z axes wee 0.48㎜, 0.20㎜, 0.19㎜, respectively. Therefore, we conclude the axes to have a precision better than 0.5㎜, had no problem to operate correctly the milking manipulator.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.113-119
• /
• 2000

A Robotic milking cluster system with the manipulator for an automatic milking system was designed and built for farmer to work easily and comfortably during milking processing. The cluster system was composed of screws, cams and links for power transmission, DC motors, the Quick Basic one-chip microprocessor, the vision system for image processing, and tea-cups. Software, written in Visual C+ and Quick Basic, combined the function of image capture, image processing, milking cluster control, and control into one control. The unit was made to transfer from four fixed points to four teats with four teat-cups. Performance tests of the cluster unit, the fully integrated system, were conducted to attach and detach the teat-cup on the teat of a artificial cow. The transfer programming provided for a teat-cup milking loop during the system starts and comes back the original fixed point at the manipulator of it for milking. It transferred the teat-cup with a success rate of more than 70%. The average time it took ot perform the milking loop was about 20 seconds.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.29-36
• /
• 2009

The authors of this study have developed a robot milking system composed of a multi-articular manipulator, a teat-cup attachment system, and an image processing system. In order to verify the efficacy of this system, we have conducted a performance analysis and measurement experiment of milk yield, using dairy cattle. It was concluded that teat recognition using the image processing system, teat-cup attachment, and detachment system did not binder milking. The milking yield of the robot milking system was analyzed based on a lactation curve. As a result, it was determined that the use of a robot milking system had no significant effects on milking yields. The robot milking system described in this study is designed specifically with a focus on teat-cup attachment and detachment performance, as well as the effect of these factors on milking yield. In the future, in-depth studies regarding the washing of the teats prior to milking, teat massage, pre-treatment and post-treatment processes after milking, and disinfection processes shall be conducted, in order to render this system feasible for use in an actual milking parlor.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.100-107
• /
• 2005

This study was carried out to investigate the physical and chemical properties of teat cup liners. The hardness of the liners was $50\~67$, and their fatigue to failure 38-1,185 cycles. The elongation and tensile strength of these liners were about $134 kgf/cm^2\;and\;473\%$, respectively. The infrared spectrum and the gas chromatogram revealed that the liner A was consisted of NR, SBR, and BR, with a composition ratio of 60:20:20 (part per hundred rubber). The raw rubber materials used for liners B to G, on the other hand, were NBR only. However, the liner H was made of silicon rubber. The thermogravimetric analysis showed that the liners tested in this study contained raw rubber material, carbon black, organic compounds and metallic compounds.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
• /
• v.51 no.9
• /
• pp.238-247
• /
• 2014

The milking robot system is very important to detect correctly the teats position in the moving condition of cow. Also, the robot manipulator must control tracking the teat cup to the detected teat position. The presented milking robot is designed using the one point laser sensor for teat position detection. The teats of cow are detected by the laser scanning unit and the manipulator has the function of 3 axes moving control unit. The presented teat detection method and the electrical driving manipulator have the advantages of a simple, low cost and very quiet. The designed manipulator is realized by the totally electrical motor and servo poison control algorithm with velocity PID compensation. The presented robot is realized using the teat detection unit, 4 teat cups, 3 axes robot arm, 6 servo motors and automatic milking control line. The designed robot is experimented in the cow farm and is satisfied with the designed performance specification for milking robot manipulator.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
• /
• v.41 no.2
• /
• pp.125-131
• /
• 2018

This study investigated the effects of the alkaline detergent and acid rinse used for cleaning milking machines on the rubber composition of the newly-developed teat cup liners. The samples prepared for use in the clean-in-place process were analyzed by ultraviolet spectrophotometer, ion chromatography and liquid chromatography. In the absorption spectrum of the first sample solution, the form of absorbance or absorption peak was largely different, compared to the absorption spectrum of alkaline detergent alone, but in the absorption spectra of the second and third sample solutions, the absorbance decreased, which was similar to the absorption spectrum in the pure acid detergent. In the ion chromatogram, two main peaks only, which might be shown by the pure alkaline detergent alone, were measured. In the liquid chromatograms, however, new peaks were observed in addition to the two main peaks caused by the pure alkaline detergent alone, which suggested that various molecular materials were created or eluted from the liner by the reaction with the alkaline detergent, but when washed with the acid detergent, any ion species were not produced. Therefore, we propose that an acid rinse should be applied, after cleaning the milking machine with the alkaline detergent.