Heat rising as deadline looms
Dairy farmers will need more time to upgrade milk cooling systems to align them with proposed new regulations.
A brainwave led him to experiment and build some prototypes, then he contacted Steve Corkill of Corkill Systems Ltd with his idea; together they have developed a product to assist many farmers with their cooling problems.
The simplest ideas are often the best, and so it is with the CSL Chillboost, which has the potential to save many dairy farmers dollars and headaches as they strive to meet the new dairy cooling rules.
The Chillboost device is aimed at keeping milk below the 10 degree C threshold when adding fresh milk to the vat, says Corkill Systems.
Typically milk already held in the vat will be between 4 and 6 degrees C at the start of milking, with 4 degrees C being the cut-off point and 6 degrees C being the cut-in point for the chiller system.
“The device is essentially a timer encased in a waterproof module. It connects a shunt to the existing vat thermostat at preset intervals; the timer is set to activate the chiller system about 30 minutes before the start of milking, and it ‘tricks’ the chiller thermostat into thinking the milk is warmer than it really is.
“This causes the chiller to cool the contents of the vat down to the normal cut-off point (usually 4 degrees C or just below) prior to milking, and it goes on to repeat this cycle every 30 minutes.
The result is that as milk is added it keeps the ‘blend’ temperature lower than under normal operation where it would wait until the set cut-in temperature (usually 6 degrees C) is reached before starting.”
In practice this means that the chiller will never wait to see the normal cut-in temperature during milking times and will hold the milk about the normal cut-off temperature.
The chiller kicking in earlier has the overall effect of reducing the incoming new milk blend temperature by about 2 degrees C; for a large number of dairy farmers this will allow them to stay under the 10 degrees C blend temperature limit imposed by the new rules.
The unit can be retro-fitted by any electrician to existing chiller systems.
The main advantage is that it uses the milk already in the vat as a cold storage bank to help lower the blend temperature as new milk enters the vat, it is easily adjustable to cater for different systems or milking regimes, and it lends itself well to two-day collection cycles.
The unit maximises the performance of the existing chiller system. All farms will have to adhere to new milk cooling regulations from June 1 next year.
Article sourced from www.corkillsystems.co.nz
