A system of detecting loading and unloading of mobile containers such as grain carts utilizes two low pass filters to determine whether the contents of the container are changing by subtracting one filter signal from the other, and using the sign of the difference. Weighing performance is improved by utilizing accelerometers to compensate for measurement dynamics and non-level orientation. Failure and degradation of weight sensors is detected by testing sensor half bridges. Loading and unloading weights can be tied to specific vehicles by utilizing RF beacons.

A device (10) for weighing individual containers (14) arranged in a nest (12), wherein the containers (14) are formed with a bottom region (16) and a lid region (18) and the device (10) includes at least one weighing device (20) with at least one load cell (19) and with at least one weighing receptacle (22), and an arrangement unit (28). The weighing receptacle (22) and the arrangement unit (28) are arranged movable relative to each other in order to be able to move a container (14) arranged in the nest (12), which is arranged in the arrangement unit (28), completely out of the nest (12). The disclosure also relates to a set comprising such a device (10) and to a method for weighing individual containers (14) arranged in a nest (12).

A metering unit for flowable solids including an outlet nozzle of flexibly elastic material having at one end an inlet opening for fixing on the outlet of a storage container and at its other end a slot-shaped outlet opening formed between two opposite sealing lips and elastically preloaded in the closed position and can be transferred against elastic preloading to an open position as a result of compressive forces. The slot-shaped outlet opening is elastically preloaded into its closed position by a separate clamp made from a flexibly elastic material, which can be applied releasably to the outer circumference of the sealing lips, wherein the legs of the clamp rest on the outside of the sealing lips in the mounted state and are elastically preloaded in the direction in which they are close together and can be moved elastically away from one another as a result of the compressive forces.

A method for processing pharmaceutical powders, which comprises providing a feeder module including a plurality of feeder units each with a storage hopper, a weighing cell, a conveyer, and a discharge end, connecting the storage hopper to a refilling system with a refilling valve, connecting the refilling valve to a level or weight indicator disposed above the refilling valve, connecting the discharge end to a common receiving container, refilling the storage hopper with a powder intermittently 40 to 80 times per hour, storing data during refilling, transporting powder from the storage hopper with the respective conveyer, and discharging powder from each feeder unit into the common receiving container. During each refilling of the storage hopper, the refilling valve dispenses powder into the storage hopper and, during the step of transporting the powder from the storage hopper, the conveyer is operated according to the data collected during previous refills.

A product dispenser, preferably for frozen food product, having a storage hopper, a rotatable drum having paddles on a periphery thereof located at a bottom of the storage hopper, and a drive motor connected to the rotatable drum. Rotation of the drum causes the product to be delivered to a weighing/dispensing assembly having a load cell and one or more dump doors on which product to be dispensed accumulates. A controller is configured to actuate the drive motor to rotate the rotatable drum in a first rotational direction at a start of a dispensing cycle, and to then actuate the drive motor to rotate the rotatable drum in a second rotational direction, opposite to the first rotational direction in a next dispensing cycle. Within a dispensing cycle, the controller can also monitor a drive motor current draw, and reverse the drive motor if a current limit is exceeded.

The object of the present invention is to provide a novel conveying device with which it is possible to easily adjust a conveying amount of articles in a trough using a restricting plate, and a combination weighing apparatus having the conveying device.

A conveying device to convey articles in a trough has a restricting plate to restrict a flow of the articles in the trough and the angle at which the restricting plate faces the articles is variable. With this configuration, there is no need to prepare a plurality of restricting plates that have different shapes and materials or to exchange such a plurality of restricting plates in the same manner as in a conventional device because the conveying amount in the trough can be adjusted merely by varying the angle at which the restricting plate faces the articles.

The hopper body has a third sidewall and a fourth sidewall that face each other in a second direction intersecting with the first direction and that connect between the first sidewall and the second sidewall, and a first corner portion adjacent to the distal end portion of the trough in the third sidewall and a second corner portion adjacent to the distal end portion of the trough in the fourth sidewall are bent in direction away from the distal end portion of the trough and also a first edge portion adjacent to the distal end portion of the trough in the first corner portion and a second edge portion adjacent to the distal end portion of the trough in the second corner portion are bent in direction closer to the distal end portion of the trough.

By swinging a collating chute supplied with items, the items are held in a plurality of holding cells formed in a holding array. After all of the holding cells are filled with the items, a diving funnel array is moved downward to a position so as to contact the upper surface of a container. Then, discharge gates of the holding array are opened to discharge the items from the holding cells into a plurality of pockets formed in the container.

A material handling machine dispenses uniformly metered charges of smoking material from a bulk supply, by means of a metered material feeder that has a first hopper with an opening disposed over a first horizontal chute. The first chute is mounted on slanted springs and has a dispensing end above a second chute also mounted upon slanted springs. The second chute discharges onto a tippable weighing tray above a set of nested hoppers in which one is fixed and the other is vertically movable. A weight sensor may be attached to the tippable tray or the fixed hopper, or both. The move-able hopper may comprise a forming belt indenter to form a trough in a cigarette rolling apparatus. The first hopper may include an agitator that has at least one vertical rod for stirring the bulk material. The dispensing end of the first chute may also include a rotating rake.

A system of detecting loading and unloading of mobile containers such as grain carts utilizes two low pass filters to determine whether the contents of the container are changing by subtracting one filter signal from the other, and using the sign of the difference. Weighing performance is improved by utilizing accelerometers to compensate for measurement dynamics and non-level orientation. Failure and degradation of weight sensors is detected by testing sensor half bridges. Loading and unloading weights can be tied to specific vehicles by utilizing RF beacons.