Milk reception in liquid milk & cream production

Dairies have special “Reception” departments to receive and handle the milk brought in from the farms. The first action is to determine the quantity of the delivered milk. This is recorded and entered into the control system that the dairy uses to weigh or measure the intake and compare it with the output - a necessary task to monitor and control the efficiency of the milk and cream production and to control the yield.

The delivered quantity of the milk can be measured by volume or by weight. Sometimes electromagnetic meters are used to measure the volume of the milk intake: alternatively the tankers/trucks are weighed, or Coriolis mass flowmeters are used to measure the mass (weight) delivered. Various other factors can affect which route is chosen: the main disadvantage with volumetric measurement is that this is affected by the temperature, and can be inaccurate because of the effect of any entrained gas in the raw milk. Vehicle weighing systems (load cells) have inaccuracies caused by the effect of water or snow carried on the vehicle, which is measured as well. With OPTIMASS Coriolis flowmeters the amount of delivered raw milk can be measured precisely. This offers the possibility for a accurate calculation of the production plant efficiency. Furthermore, EGM™ technology by KROHNE (Entrained Gas Management) was developed for OPTIMASS mass flowmeter to overcome problems caused by air or gas entrainments in raw milk for example. Powerful control algorithms allow the flowmeter to maintain operation over a wide range of gas fractions and complex flow conditions.