An agricultural metering system includes a driven shaft having a first engagement feature configured to selectively engage a second engagement feature of a drive shaft mounted within a meter box of the agricultural metering system to non-rotatably couple the driven shaft to the drive shaft. The agricultural metering system includes a meter roller non-rotatably coupled to the driven shaft. The meter roller is configured to be selectively disposed within the meter box, and the first engagement feature is configured to engage the second engagement feature while the meter roller is disposed within the meter box to facilitate rotation of the meter roller in response to rotation of the drive shaft.

A metering device for metered dispensing of granular material from a hopper bottom storage bin. The device features a metering housing having a housing inlet for receiving said granular material from a hopper outlet of the storage bin, and a housing outlet from which the granular material is dispensable from the housing. A metering mechanism driven by an onboard motor is operable within the housing to dispense the granular material through the housing outlet in a metered fashion. A mounting arrangement is attachable to the storage bin in a position suspending the metering housing below the hopper outlet. The housing is movable into and out of a working position aligned under the hopper outlet, and can also be adjusted in tilt angle to achieve a properly leveled alignment in the working position.

A developer supply container includes a rotating container for conveying a developer and an intermittent regulator for intermittently supplying gas into the rotating container and regulating an internal pressure of the rotating container. A fixed amount of gas is intermittently supplied by the intermittent regulator to the gas mixing space and is discharged from the powder discharging port after the fixed amount of gas is mixed with the developer. Since the intermittent regulator can periodically supply the fixed amount of gas to the gas mixing space, the fixed amount of gas ensures a stable gas pressure inside the developer supply container. The developer supply container can continuously and stably replenish the developer into the image forming device under any storage or operating environment. The air pressure of the developer supply container is maintained at a stable level and a high precision replenishment amount of the developer is achieved.

A fine grain powder metering unit for fine-grained powders combines the volumetric metering mode with the weighing mode, using for pre-metering 95-99% of the required quantity a volumetric drawer which is then emptied into the tray of a precision scale where a low-flow feeder feeds the powder for metering the final 1-5%, so as to combine the advantages of both metering modes and quickly achieve a metering with high accuracy and repeatability, automatically and with a simple and reliable structure.

A method and system may track liquid consumption by a user from a liquid container using a flexible, network-connected, smart band. The smart band may detect orientations of the liquid container and identify sips taken by a user based on a pattern in the detected orientations. The smart band may also estimate a liquid consumption metric based on characteristics of the identified sips such as the duration of the sip. The identified sip as well as sip characteristics and the liquid consumption metric may be displayed on the smart band, and also may be transmitted to a server for storage and for display on another network-enabled device.

A method and system may track liquid consumption by a user from a liquid container using a flexible, network-connected, smart band. The smart band may detect orientations of the liquid container and identify sips taken by a user based on a pattern in the detected orientations. The smart band may also estimate a liquid consumption metric based on characteristics of the identified sips such as the duration of the sip. The identified sip as well as sip characteristics and the liquid consumption metric may be displayed on the smart band, and also may be transmitted to a server for storage and for display on another network-enabled device.

A method and system may track liquid consumption by a user from a liquid container using a flexible, network-connected, smart band. The smart band may detect orientations of the liquid container and identify sips taken by a user based on a pattern in the detected orientations. The smart band may also estimate a liquid consumption metric based on characteristics of the identified sips such as the duration of the sip. The identified sip as well as sip characteristics and the liquid consumption metric may be displayed on the smart band, and also may be transmitted to a server for storage and for display on another network-enabled device.

A method and system may track liquid consumption by a user from a liquid container using a flexible, network-connected, smart band. The smart band may detect orientations of the liquid container and identify sips taken by a user based on a pattern in the detected orientations. The smart band may also estimate a liquid consumption metric based on characteristics of the identified sips such as the duration of the sip. The identified sip as well as sip characteristics and the liquid consumption metric may be displayed on the smart band, and also may be transmitted to a server for storage and for display on another network-enabled device.

A minimal-amount powder metering device (1) for pharmaceutical or chemical applications, for metering powder volumes of less than 1 cm.sup.3, comprising a metering chamber (3) which is delimited by a surrounding wall (9) and which can be connected to a vacuum source (28) for suctioning powder in order to fill the metering chamber (3) with powder to be metered, filter means for retaining powder in the metering chamber (3) during a suctioning process being associated with the metering chamber (3), including the filter means are formed by the surrounding wall (9) and including at least one suction opening (12, 13) which serves to retain the powder in the metering chamber (3) and through which a vacuum can be applied to the metering chamber (3) is formed in the surrounding wall (9).

A method for controlling a device for metering granular material and a metering device for metering granular material comprises a feed for the granular material from a container into a metering chamber. A metering piston can be actuated by a control device such that a gap between the feed and the metering chamber is opened by a predefined first distance and a second distance which is greater than the first distance. At least one sensor is arranged in a delivery line leading away from the metering chamber and is connected to the control device so that the metering piston can be actuated for a predefined duration such that the gap between the feed for the granular material and the metering chamber can be opened by the second distance if a blockage of the granular material is detected by the at least one sensor, so that the blockage is dispersed.