Viscosity and other properties are determined at desired temperatures in drilling mud and other fluids by using a versatile cavitation device which, operating in the cavitation mode, mixes and heats the fluid to a specified temperature, and, operating in the shear mode, acts as a spindle for application of Couette principles to determine viscosity as a function of shear stress and shear rate. The invention obviates the practice of adjusting rheology of a drilling fluid by passing it through the drill bit. Drilling fluid may be managed by a “straight-through” method to the well, or by placing the cavitation device in a loop which isolates an aliquot of known volume and circulating the fluid through the loop including the cavitation device. A controller may be programmed to manage the viscosity and other properties at various temperatures by controlling the power input and angular rotation of the “spindle” (which has cavities on its cylindrical surface), and feeding viscosity-adjusting agents and other additives to the fluid. Data may be collected from the loop and used in the “straight-through” mode until it is determined that conditions require a new set of data, or the loop may be used continuously. The system may be used with a supplemental viscometer, density meter, and other instruments.

A mixing bag for use in bioprocessing in which a fluid is received and agitated using an internal fluid-agitating element driven by an external motive device is disclosed. The bag may include an integral sparger and sensor receiver. Related methods are also disclosed.

A lid (2) for closing a container (4) of liquid, the lid being provided with a spindle passageway (20) enabling an elongate body (30) of a stirrer member (3) for stirring the liquid to pass through the lid (2), which elongate body is designed to be mounted to rotate in the spindle passageway (20), the spindle passageway including a portion (23) for receiving the elongate body (30) and designed to allow the elongate body (30) of the stirrer member (3) to pass through it, and a portion (21) for receiving a seal (1), which portion has an inside diameter greater than the inside diameter of the portion (23) for receiving the elongate body (30) and receives an annular seal (1) designed to allow the elongate body of the stirrer member to pass through it. The inside peripheral face of the annular seal (1) is provided with a helical lip (120).

A blending apparatus includes a blending jar and a lid. The blending jar has an internal surface defining an internal volume, and a mixing blade positioned within the internal volume. The lid is releasably mounted to the blending jar and includes at least one scraper extending into the internal volume. The at least one scraper is adjacent to the internal surface of the blending jar and is arranged and configured to disrupt rotational flow of food particles within the internal volume and/or scrape food particles from an inner surface of the blending jar.

A clotting serum production device including a main chamber, an inlet housing, and an outlet port. The main chamber is defined by a first end wall, a second end wall opposite to the first end wall, and a side wall extending between the first end wall and the second end wall. The inlet housing extends from the first end wall. The inlet housing includes a first inlet port, a second inlet port, and a first conduit extending between the first inlet port and a second conduit. The second conduit extends between the second inlet port and the main chamber. The inlet housing is configured to provide one-way fluid flow from the first inlet port to the second inlet port and to provide one-way fluid flow from the second inlet port to the main chamber. An outlet port is in fluid communication with the main chamber and provides fluid communication with an exterior of the clotting serum production device.

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for: 1) the gentle, controlled mixing of solid and liquid botanical components during fermentation; and 2) the regulation of parameters in cap material and juice during primary fermentation to optimize attributes such as expressive organoleptic characteristics including bouquet, texture and flavor, while simultaneously and selectively monitoring and mitigating the deleterious effects of reduced sulfur compounds, harmful bacteria, multicellular fungi, and/or biogenic amines during the artisan creation of ultra-premium fine wines and other alcoholic libations according to a customized schedule.

The invention relates to a stirred tank reactor for gas-liquid mass transfer in a slurry. The reactor includes a reactor tank (1) having a first volume (V.sub.1), a drive shaft (2) that extends vertically in the reactor tank, a motor (3) for rotating the drive shaft (2), a main impeller (4) which is a downward pumping axial flow impeller attached to the drive shaft (2) to create a main flow pattern in the reactor tank, and a gas inlet (5) arranged to supply gas into the reactor tank (1) to be dispersed to the liquid. The reactor includes a mechanical gas sparging apparatus (6) comprising a dispersion chamber (7) having a second volume (V.sub.2) which is substantially smaller than the first volume (V.sub.1) of the reactor tank (1), the dispersion chamber being arranged coaxial with the drive shaft (2), and the gas inlet (5) being arranged to feed gas into the dispersion chamber (7), and mixing means (8, 9, 10, 11, 12) arranged within the dispersion chamber (7) for mixing the gas into liquid by dispersing the gas to fine bubbles before the bubbles enter the main flow pattern. The mixing power per unit volume inside the dispersion chamber (7) is significantly larger than the mixing power elsewhere in the reactor.

A blending appliance includes a housing with a jar receiving area defined between an upper housing and a support base. A blender jar includes a base portion and a receptacle portion, and is configured to be laterally received within the jar receiving area of the housing. A magnetic coupling system includes an upper magnetic coupler disposed in the base portion of the blender jar and a lower magnetic coupler disposed in the support base of the housing. The upper and lower magnetic couplers are magnetically coupled to one another for driving a blade assembly disposed in the receptacle portion of the blender jar. A brake mechanism is disposed on the upper magnetic coupler and is configured to stop rotation of the upper magnetic coupler when the blender jar is removed from the jar receiving area.

The present disclosure relates to improved magnetic mixing assemblies and mixing system. The magnetic mixing assemblies can provide improved mixing action, ease of use, and low friction. The mixing assemblies can be adapted for use with a wide variety of containers including narrower neck containers and flexible containers.

A method and system are provided for preparing micro-ingredient feed additives for use in designated feed rations. A micro-ingredient system of the invention includes a plurality of bins that store designated micro-ingredients therein. A master controller of the delivery system provides signals to control system components based on programmed commands corresponding to micro-ingredient batches to be prepared. Slide gate mechanisms are used to prevent loss of micro-ingredients delivered to a receiving receptacle of the system. During delivery of the micro-ingredients to the receptacle and during processing, the micro-ingredients can become airborne and subsequently lost. The slide gate mechanisms also provide controlled access to the receiving receptacle to prevent system errors such as contamination of ingredients in the receptacle, or improper batching of a prescribed micro-ingredient mixture to be delivered to a designated feed ration.