Preliminary vol. delivered for flushing milk feed conduit - controlled by advancing boundary between flushing milk and propelling gas

摘要

Milk, e.g. from multiple suppliers, is fed into a tank via a conduit wherein the flow is propelled by gas. Before reaching a sampling point, a first portion of the advancing milk is used for flushing the conduit, and delivered untested in to a by-pass diverted from the conduit. To ensure the vol. used for flushing is well defined and not subject to extraneous factors, the start of vol. measurement is initiated by a signal from an external indicator responsive to the passage in the conduit of the boundary surface between advancing gas and the following milk flow. ADVANTAGE - Ensures a final fully representative sample for testing.