The Know How about Milk Collection System
Posted by Johannapope on August 27th, 2017
Today, all the large scale of milking is done by Milking Machines. Once these are put onto the cow’s udder, the milk is never touched by the human. This milk flows through the milking machine to a composite system of stainless steel pipes.First, the milk flows through the plastic tubing and past a sensor that measures the flow rate. All the milk is collected into a stainless steel pipe, the line for milk that runs across the bottom. The milk follows by gravity through the milking parlor and behind a wall. The milk line runs from the right of this photo into the round pump. The pump here pumps the milk to an overhead tank, and later collected into this bulk tank. From here, it is guided to the cooling system.
By using a complicated network of stainless steel tubes, a refrigerant, and cold water the milk is cooled from 100 degrees Fahrenheit to 35 degrees Fahrenheit in just 15 seconds! The cold water cools down the milk to 70 degrees Fahrenheit; now the refrigerant cools the milk down to the rest of the way to 35 degrees.The milk never actually touches the water, the tubes holding the milk and the tubes containing the refrigerant and water pass each other, and the heat is transferred out through the metal of the tubes. The water used here for cooling the milk is recycled and later used to water the cows.After the milk comes out of this cooling system, again the temperature is recorded. This gauge shows the current temperature of the milk (i.e., 33 degrees Fahrenheit). Now when the milk has been refrigerated, flows through this flexible tube, and outside the milking parlor.
Now, it is stored in a 6000-gallon insulated tanker. Because the tanker is not refrigerated, the milk collection system will gradually become warm up over time, but it goes up only by 1 degree a day. And these tankers are used every day and deliver milk to the processing plant. The primary motive here is to load the milk around 36 degrees Fahrenheit, and this will reach the plant at 37 degrees Fahrenheit, which is still quite cold!This milk is never touched, nor seen by anyone, once the cows are hooked up to the milk machines! The milk is not seen until it reaches the processing plant. There, samples are taken from each batch of milk for testing before the tankers are unloaded, and milk processing starts.
