A feeding unit for feeding a food product for a machine for making filled pasta includes at least one feed duct having an outlet and an inlet; a sleeve fitted coaxially over the duct and rotatable relative thereto about an axis of rotation R in order to regulate the cross section of the inlet; an actuator including a stem inserted in the sleeve and movable between a first, retracted operating position and a second, extracted operating position to allow the food product to enter the feed duct and to push at least one single portion of food product out of the duct through the outlet; a second sleeve, fitted between the first sleeve and the stem, the stem sliding inside the second sleeve and the first sleeve rotating on the second sleeve.

The invention relates to a device for filling a product, comprisingat least one metering device (18) for metering a specific amount of the product that is to be filled in the packaging material tube, a sensor device (20) for detecting characteristic properties, in particular a mass and/or density and/or volume of the product, wherein the sensor device (20) is arranged such that it determines the characteristic properties of the product located in the metering device (18).

The present invention relates to a portion control system for food products dispensed from frozen beverage equipment and soft-serve ice cream equipment. The system, injects a food product into a mixing cylinder and chills the food product to a predetermined frozen malleable consistency. When a portion-controlled dispense amount volume indicating volume of the food product to dispense is received a dispense time is determined based on a dispense amount volume and current values of dispense condition variables. If the auger motor is initially off a surge dispense amount volume is first determined and dispensed, the auger motor started, and the remainder dispense time and dispense amount volume are determined and dispensed. If the auger motor is initially on a dispense time is determined. Dispense time is determined by interpolating between dispense table records that comprise dispense times, dispense amount volumes, and dispense condition variables.

A doser mechanism includes a cylindrical shell, an auger conveyor, and a check valve. The cylindrical shell includes a hollow cylinder and an end plate. The hollow cylinder at least partially defines an internal enclosure extending between first and second ends of the hollow cylinder, a first opening at the first end, and a second opening through a thickness of the hollow cylinder. The end plate covers the second end. The auger conveyor includes an auger at least partially extending through the internal enclosure through the first end. The check valve has a valve member configured to selectively cover the second opening. The check valve may cause the valve member to move between a rest position and an open position to cover or expose the second opening in response to a magnitude of a force applied to the valve member from the internal enclosure through the second opening.

A flow control system for controlling flow of materials such as seeds or fertilizer as the materials are fed into a manifold and meter unit of an air seeder. The flow control system generally includes a flow controller which is connected between a volume of materials, such as a tank, and a manifold of an air seeder. The flow controller is adapted to control flow of the materials into the manifold to be metered by a meter unit. The flow controller includes a plurality of movable gates; with each gate being adapted to selectively open or close a corresponding opening in the flow controller. The gates may be manually adjusted, such as by a handle, or may be automatically adjusted, such as by actuators. By selectively opening or closing various gates, the volume and speed of flow of materials into the manifold may be easily and efficiently adjusted.

A doser mechanism includes a cylindrical shell, an auger conveyor, and a check valve. The cylindrical shell includes a hollow cylinder and an end plate. The hollow cylinder at least partially defines an internal enclosure extending between first and second ends of the hollow cylinder, a first opening at the first end, and a second opening through a thickness of the hollow cylinder. The end plate covers the second end. The auger conveyor includes an auger at least partially extending through the internal enclosure through the first end. The check valve has a valve member configured to selectively cover the second opening. The check valve may cause the valve member move between a rest position and an open position to cover or expose the second opening in response to a magnitude of a force applied to the valve member from the internal enclosure through the second opening.

A dosing device for feeding infusion products including a dosing drum rotating about an axis and positioned between a continuous strip of filter material, movable along a feed direction, and a primary hopper for containing a primary infusion product; the dosing drum has a plurality of radial chambers for receiving a first dose of primary infusion product from the primary hopper and for releasing the first dose of primary infusion product above the strip of filter material; the device also includes an independent dosing unit of a secondary product including controlled release elements configured for depositing a second dose of secondary product to define a mixed dose of primary product and secondary product.

There is provided a device for dispensing one or more drugs in pellet form, including a cartridge including a chamber for containing a plurality of drugs in pellet form, a screw pump configured to receive pellets from the chamber and, upon rotation of the screw pump, transport the pellets from the chamber to be dispensed from the device via the screw pump, and a rotating member extending through the cartridge and configured to rotate the screw pump so as to dispense pellets therefrom.

A material dispensing pump includes a drip prevention system and method so as to avoid undesired dripping of the dispensed fluid. In one example, the fluid path is sealed. Positive pressure is applied to the fluid during a dispensing operation to present the fluid to the auger-style pump at a desired rate. Between dispensing operations, or when dispensing is completed, the fluid is placed in suspension, for example by applying a negative pressure, thereby preventing the fluid from being inadvertently released at the dispense tip. In addition, following a dispensing operation, the pump dispensing controller can be programmed to reverse the rotation of the feed screw, in order to draw the material in a reverse direction and to further suspend the fluid.

In one embodiment, the present disclosure includes an automated food production kiosk. Embodiments of a kiosk may comprise a robotic system having a reach. A plurality of food ingredient dispensers may be configured around the robotic system. Each dispenser may have a physical interface within a reach of the robotic system to receive an item. One or more physical processing units have a physical interface within the reach of the robotic system to receive the item. The kiosk may prepare food items under control of a local server, a cloud server, or both, for example.