MEASUREMENT OF TEATCUP LINER WALL MOVEMENT

A technique for monitoring the movement of the teatcup liner during milking, using video recordings, has been investigated. The liner was videoed through a transparent shell and the recordings were subsequently processed frame by frame by an image analyser. The width of the liner and its variation with pressure difference across the liner walls were calculated at several locations along the liner length, and analysis of these results allowed the pressures at which the liner buckled and the walls touched to be determined and some estimate of the degree and duration of liner collapse to be made.