Up until the early 2010s, nearly every milking robot would have had its own separate and dedicated vacuum and cleaning system. Today, the norm is for at least two if not four boxes to share one central utility cabinet. This approach can help not just to reduce the initial outlay but also to reduce the running costs. So, just how much water and electricity can be saved by when the two boxes have just the one central utility cabinet?
In profi 7/23, we published our exclusive test on Gea’s DairyRobot R9500 Monobox robot with one milking box. Prompted by the results, Gea decided to get the DLG to independently test the larger R9500 Multibox comprising two boxes. This second test run allows us to compare the water and energy consumption of both configurations.
You'll have guessed correctly that there is a saving, but even we were surprised by just how much of a saving there was. For instance, there was a very noticeable effect on the main cleaning. When testing the single-box system, the DLG measured a total water use of 86 litres for each clean. With the same test for the two-box system, the result was not 172 litres (2 x 86 litres) as anticipated, but just 121 litres, despite cleaning a second box and a 10m longer milk pipe. With each main cleaning sequence, this equates to a handy 30% water saving alone.
Example two. When milking a slow-milker, the Gea vacuum pump uses 59Wh per milking in a single-robot system. If the two boxes are installed and are
