The effect of di̇fferent climate conditions on the performance of milking

In this study, the effects of different climatic conditions (temperature) on important parts of the milking machine such as vacuum pump, pulsator and regulator were evaluated. A prototype milking machine was used for the study. In this prototype milking system, the vacuum pump was kept constant and one each of pneumatic and electronic pulsators belonging to five different companies, one each of regulators belonging to five different companies were evaluated between -20 ⁰C and 40 ⁰C within the framework of ISO tests every 5 ⁰C and the effect of climate conditions on these parts was observed. The study consists of four phases. The experiments were conducted at every 5 ⁰C temperature between 40 ⁰C and -20 ⁰C. In the first stage, the pump capacity of the vacuum pump used in the system was measured at 50 kPa. In the measurements, there was a difference of 114 L/min between the highest measured flow rate and the lowest measured flow rate. It was observed that the heating and cooling of the environment caused the flow rate change. In the second stage, 5 servo type regulators from different companies were used. In the loss and leakage measurements of the temperature-dependent regulator, it was observed that the regulators of 4 companies were generally not within the permissible limits at -15 ⁰C and -20 ⁰C and only one regulator of one company was within the permissible limits at -15 ⁰C and -20 ⁰C. In the third stage, the air consumption flow losses of the milking head belonging to 5 different companies were examined and it was observed that there was no significant change in the milking head air inlet. In the fourth stage, air flow rate consumption, pulse rate, pulse cycle, balance value between two chambers of 5 electronic and 5 mechanical pulsators belonging to different companies were examined. In electronic pulsators, almost all of them provide similar air consumption. Mechanical pulsators consume more air than electronic pulsators. Looking at the pulse measurements, it is seen that all electronic pulsators are not affected by temperatures. In mechanical pulsators, it is seen that temperatures above 0 ⁰C are not affected at temperatures above 40 ⁰C and there are deviations in pulse counts at temperatures below 0 ⁰C. The pulse rate and the deviation between the two chambers were not affected by temperature in both electronic and mechanical pulsators and remained within the permissible limits. In this study, it was revealed that climate conditions are effective on important parts of milking machines. Climatic conditions should be taken into consideration in machine design and selection of suitable machines for enterprises. Keywords: Climatic conditions, performance, pulsator, regulator, temperature, vacuum pump