Manure-removal device

Abstract

A manure-removal vehicle and an assembly thereof having a manure-discharging location. The vehicle comprises a pump and a tank having an air discharge. The vehicle collects manure by means of a scraper and this is subsequently suctioned up via a manure extraction opening in the tank. The pump works at low power and in particular at low pressure, due to the fact that a constant stream of manure is collected in front of the opening, in particular if a sealing plate is provided.

Claims

1. A self-propelled manure-removal vehicle for removing manure from a floor, comprising: at least two wheels, at least one motor and a control device, for displacing the vehicle in a desired direction of travel by driving at least one of the wheels, a tank for storing manure comprising an interior defined by a bottom wall having a lowest level, a side wall and an upper part, having an air discharge near the upper part, a vacuum pump which is connected to the control device and configured to apply a negative pressure to the tank via the air discharge, and a manure-collecting device having a floor-scraping part which, viewed in the direction opposite to the desired direction of travel, narrows to a closed end, defining a collecting area, wherein the tank comprises a manure supply/discharge opening which is arranged through the bottom wall of the tank and is at least partly surrounded by the floor-scraping part fluidly connecting the collecting area with the interior of the tank, wherein the manure supply/discharge opening is without a closure capable of separating the collecting area from the interior of the tank, and the manure supply/discharge opening is configured to supply manure from the floor into the tank and to discharge said manure from the tank, wherein the control device is configured to control the vacuum pump so as to apply negative pressure to the tank when the vehicle is displaced over the floor for supplying manure from the floor via the manure supply/discharge opening into the tank, and wherein the control device is configured to (i) switch off the vacuum pump or (ii) control the vacuum pump so as to keep applying negative pressure to the tank when the vehicle is situated with the supply/discharge opening in the bottom wall of the tank above an opening in the floor at a manure-discharging location to cause manure from the tank to be discharged through said opening in the floor on account of the force of gravity.

2. The vehicle according to claim 1, comprising a sealing device which, viewed in the desired direction of travel, is situated in front of the manure supply/discharge opening, is surrounded by the floor-scraping part and is situated at a higher level than a bottom side of the floor-scraping part.

3. The vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the sealing device comprises a plate which connects two points on the floor-scraping part and, together with the floor-scraping part, horizontally encloses a manure buffer chamber.

4. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the total height of the vehicle during operation is at most 65 cm.

5. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum pump configured to generate a maximum vacuum pressure of 0.1 bar during operation.

6. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum pump is a membrane pump and is connected, on a supply side, to the air discharge and, on a discharge side, to a pump discharge, wherein the vacuum pump discharge is configured to expel at the front side of the vehicle, viewed in the desired direction of travel.

7. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the floor-scraping part, at the end surrounding the manure supply opening, comprises a section which is horizontally narrowed with respect to the rest of the floor-scraping part.

8. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein an opening of the air discharge is situated in a top part of the tank.

9. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle rests on two wheels, on one side, and rests on a front support device, on the other side, and the tank is shaped volume-symmetrically with respect to the wheels.

10. The vehicle according to claim 1, comprising a tank level sensor, configured to emit a full signal to the control device if a predetermined filling level of the tank has been reached.

11. The vehicle according to claim 1, comprising a battery and a connector for connecting the battery to an external battery-charging device for the purpose of charging the battery, wherein the control device is configured to switch off the vacuum pump during charging.

12. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the manure supply/discharge opening is situated completely at the lowest level of the bottom of the tank.

13. The vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the vacuum pump discharge is configured to expel at the front side of the vehicle, viewed in the desired direction of travel above and in front of the floor-scraping part.

14. The vehicle according to claim 7, comprising side walls, which are parallel to one another.

15. The vehicle according to claim 8, wherein the opening of the air discharge is situated in the centre at the top of the tank.

16. The vehicle according to claim 8, wherein the opening of the air discharge is open towards the top of the tank.

17. The vehicle according to claim 8, further comprising a closable lid above the air discharge which is open towards the top of the tank.

18. The vehicle according to claim 9, wherein the front support device comprises a castor wheel or the floor scraping part.

19. A system comprising the self-propelled manure-removal vehicle according to claim 1 and a floor with a manure-discharging location, comprising an opening in the floor and a manure storage chamber situated underneath said opening.

20. A method for operating a self-propelled manure-removal vehicle, comprising the following steps: providing a self-propelled manure-removal vehicle according to claim 1 at least once carrying out the following steps: collecting manure at a floor-scraping part by moving the vehicle; suctioning up at least part of the collected manure in a tank of the vehicle by means of a vacuum pump; emptying the tank of the vehicle; and charging a battery of the vehicle, wherein charging of the battery is carried out when the tank of the vehicle is at least partly filled with manure.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The features and advantages of the invention will be appreciated upon reference to the following drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows in diagrammatic cross section a vehicle according to the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 diagrammatically shows a bottom view of the vehicle from FIG. 1; and

(4) FIG. 3 shows an assembly of a vehicle according to the invention and a manure pit.

DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

(5) The following is a description of certain embodiments of the invention, given by way of example only and with reference to the drawings.

(6) FIG. 1 shows a diagrammatic cross section of a vehicle according to the invention in which the vehicle is denoted overall by reference numeral 1. It comprises a tank 2 with a manure storage chamber 3 containing an air discharge 4 with an air intake opening 5 and an air discharge opening 6. Reference numeral 7 denotes a pump with an intake pipe 8 and an outlet pipe 9. The pump 7 and the control device 10 are situated in a control chamber 11. Reference numeral 12 denotes an outlet chamber.

(7) A floor scraper 13 delimits the rear side of a manure suctioning storage chamber 14 which is connected to a manure inlet opening 15 to the tank 2. At the front side, the chamber is delimited by a sealing plate 16 with an opening 17. An optional front slide 18 is situated right at the front.

(8) In addition, a level sensor 19, a battery 20, a wheel 21 and a lid 22 are illustrated.

(9) The vehicle 1 comprises a tank 2, the volume or storage chamber 3 of which is symmetrical with respect to the wheel 21. This means that when the chamber 3 is being filled, the load on the front side, that is to say the ground pressure on the floor scraper 13, does not change.

(10) The air discharge 4 has an air intake opening 5 which is situated in the chamber 3, i.e. at the top in the centre. Thus, the chamber 3 can be filled to the maximum level. In order to prevent that too much manure is suctioned in and ends up in the pump, via the air extraction, indicated by the arrows B, a level sensor 19 is provided which can optionally switch off the pump when an excessive level is reached. Should manure, dirt etc. nevertheless end up in the air discharge 4 and in the pump 7, these can be cleaned in a simple manner by opening the lid 22 and flushing the assembly, e.g. with water and/or a cleaning agent. It should be noted that the lid is shown as being mounted on the surface, but it may also be mounted so as to be flush with the top side of the tank 2. The latter ensures the greatest available height for storage of manure at a certain total height of the vehicle. The latter is preferably 60 cm, so that it can pass under standard railings as used in dairy farming. Of course, any other height is also possible.

(11) The air discharge 4 and the intake pipe 8 of the pump 7 are in principle connected to one another. The pump 7 and the control unit 10 for controlling the pump, and other matters, such as the motor and wheels, are situated in the control chamber 11 which is substantially clean. The pump 7 is preferably, but not necessarily, a so-called dirty water pump, such as are used, for example, on ships and the like. These are particularly good at coping with (extremely) dirty water and the like and therefore also with manure, should this accidentally end up in the pump. In practice, the pump requires very low electric power. Thus, the reduced pressure to be generated in chamber 3 does not have to be higher than is associated with an equally high water column, i.e. 0.06 bar at a tank height of 60 cm. In addition, the air discharge speed does not have to be great, i.e. in principle only as high as the manure supply. Of course, this depends on the driving speed of the vehicle 1 and the thickness of the layer of manure to be swept up, but, in practice, a flow rate of several tens of litres per minute already proves to be sufficient to keep an animal shed for dairy cattle sufficiently clean. Due to this low power requirement, the system is eminently suitable for use with an autonomous vehicle with its own power supply.

(12) Viewed in the direction of travel, which is indicated by an arrow A, the manure inlet opening 15 is situated at the end of the manure suctioning storage chamber 14 which is delimited by and adjoins the floor scraper 13 and the sealing part 16. The latter comprises an opening 17. The sealing 16 is situated slightly higher with respect to the bottom than the floor scraper 13, e.g. by one or at most a few centimetres. Thus, the manure to be swept and suctioned up can pass under the sealing 16 to the manure suctioning storage chamber 14, so that, in principle, a supply of manure is always present there. After all, it is important to constantly cover the manure inlet opening 15 with manure, so that the pump 7 does not suction in air, but rather manure. It is noted here that the viscosity of the manure is important for the discharge and buffer behaviour thereof. As a result of the viscous nature of the manure, particularly compared to, for example, water, manure which accumulates at a small through-passage, e.g. at the sealing part 16, will not flow out without restriction, but only up to a certain slanting cone. The more viscous the manure, the greater the slant and the narrower the cone. If desired, the height of the sealing can be modified. Should there be insufficient manure, an additional amount of manure can be suctioned up from the manure buffer forming in front of the sealing 16. Should there not be sufficient manure there either, an amount of air will nevertheless be suctioned in, but this will cause the manure present in the chamber 3 to slightly settle/flow out. This results in a higher vacuum in the chamber 3, while the manure which has flowed out is, in addition, situated in front of the manure inlet opening 15. These two factors ensure that at most a small amount of manure flows out, which is then still situated in the manure suctioning storage chamber 14. It will be suctioned up again once there is a sufficient new supply of manure. However, it is also important that a buffer can form in front of the sealing 16, from which manure can flow to the manure supply suction chamber, or manure buffer chamber, and that said sealing is preferably flexible. Manure and relatively small chunks can then be readily supplied to the manure buffer chamber, so that there is a more constant supply, as a result of which the manure supply opening 15 can be large without a great risk of leakage air or without a large amount of power being required to suction the manure through said large opening. It will be clear that a large opening 15 offers great advantages with regard to encrustation of and thus blocking by manure, and obviously also when the manure flows out again. Thus, a system is provided which works virtually like a non-return valve, but can still suction the manure without a valve. The absence of valves is a very significant advantage as manure has the disruptive tendency to cause severe encrustations.

(13) In addition, it should be noted that the outlet pipe 9 expels air into the outlet chamber 12. Should there be any dirt or the like in the air or even manure, this will end up in front of the sealing plate 16 and thus be removed again.

(14) At the front of the vehicle, there is a front slide 18 which can prevent foreign bodies, such as stones and the like, from ending up underneath the vehicle. To this end, the front slide 18 has a clearance above the floor which corresponds to that of the more curved sealing plate 16, or slightly lower, with respect to the floor. In addition, sealing plate 16 is in this case preferably flexible, so that relatively large bodies which have ended up in front thereof, for example, grass clumps and the like, can still be reliably transported away via the manure inlet opening 15 by bending the plate 16, while relatively large chunks which cannot pass underneath the more curved sealing plate 16 are efficiently blocked by the front slide 18.

(15) Just like its counterpart (not shown), the wheel 21 shown in the drawing is electrically powered by a battery 20 and controlled by control unit 10. In principle, the floor scraper 13 can serve as a third supporting point, or optionally also a castor wheel (optional castor wheel 21a is shown in phantom), or the like. The latter offers advantages with regard to control of the vehicle.

(16) FIG. 2 diagrammatically shows a bottom view of the vehicle from FIG. 1. Similar parts are denoted by the same reference numerals.

(17) Furthermore, FIG. 2 shows two wheels 21, each with a motor 23, and holes 24 in the cover 25. The floor scraper 13 is furthermore shown with a suddenly elongate part 13-1 and a rear part 13-2.

(18) It can clearly be seen in the figure that the floor scraper 13 can collect manure over a relatively wide path. The latter is concentrated as a result of the narrowing shape. Furthermore, the suddenly parallel part 13-1 ensures that any elongate elements in the manure supply, such as stalks of straw or the like, are slightly stretched, so that they can also be suctioned up into the manure inlet opening 15 and do not cause the formation of bridges. In addition, any manure which may flow out, when there is not sufficient supply or the like, will be limited to this narrow part, behind the sealing 16.

(19) The cover 25 which, inter alia, serves to prevent animals from accessing the extraction part and the like, is provided with holes 24 in the part which protrudes beyond the control chamber (not shown separately here). These are intended to allow any animal manure which may land thereon to pass through.

(20) Furthermore, reference numeral 26 diagrammatically shows a charging strip unit for connecting to a charging station for charging the battery 20.

(21) FIG. 3 diagrammatically shows an assembly of a vehicle 1 according to the invention and a manure pit 28.

(22) At least the manure suctioning storage chamber 14 of the vehicle 1 has been driven as far as the dumping opening 29 in the floor 30 of, for example, an animal shed. The manure 27 in the tank 2 of the vehicle 1 will then run via the manure inlet opening 15 into the manure pit 28 in the direction of arrow C. At the same time, air will run into the tank 2 via the opening 15. Certainly if the pump remains switched on and there is therefore a higher vacuum, on average, and therefore also a greater pressure difference with the surroundings, the movement of manure and air will be relatively strong, as a result of which the tank can be emptied more reliably and, in particular, the dumping opening 29 can stay open more reliably or, if the latter has been blocked as a result of the formation of bridges of encrusted dried manure, a more efficient reopening can be effected.

(23) It should furthermore be noted here, that the manure 27 will remain in the tank even if the pump is switched off or fails over a closed floor, due to the sealing plate 16 and the viscosity of the manure. Without a sealing, a slight amount of manure could flow out, depending on the viscosity and the size of the opening 17.

(24) Further modifications in addition to those described above may be made to the structures and techniques described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, although specific embodiments have been described, these are examples only and are not limiting upon the scope of the invention.