The present disclosure relates to a food preparation appliance comprising a food preparation pot and a rotatable tool for chopping and/or blending a food in the food preparation pot wherein the tool is detachably connected to a shaft, which is at least partially outside the food preparation pot in order to be coupled to a drive for rotation. Further, a locking mechanism is provided for connecting the tool to the shaft in a locked manner. The locking mechanism is arranged in such a way that, during operation, the tool can be driven by the shaft in both rotation directions for chopping and/or blending a food.

A device for mixing and dispensing a flowable material or mixture of materials, the device comprising a cup having a bottom with a protrusion having an opening; a plunger having a dispensing port and air vent holes; a plug; a nozzle; and, a lid. The plug can be associated with and plug the cup protrusion opening when the cup is being filled or mixed, or the plug can be associated with the plunger port to seal off the air vent holes when material is dispensed from the device. Also disclosed is a method of mixing and dispensing a flowable material.

A device for mixing and dispensing a flowable material or mixture of materials, the device comprising a cup having a bottom with a protrusion having an opening; a plunger having a dispensing port and air vent holes; a plug; a nozzle; and, a lid. The plug can be associated with and plug the cup protrusion opening when the cup is being filled or mixed, or the plug can be associated with the plunger port to seal off the air vent holes when material is dispensed from the device. Also disclosed is a method of mixing and dispensing a flowable material.

Techniques or processes for efficiently producing concrete using dynamic feedback are disclosed. A concrete plant can use a control system to manage concrete production based on the dynamic feedback. The dynamic feedback can control mixing of concrete ingredients so as to yield uniform particle distribution for the concrete ingredients. The dynamic feedback can also avoid overflow situations as well as yield improved loading of the resulting concrete into a concrete transport vehicle (e.g., concrete truck).

A method of developing a predictive model may include identifying mixing protocol parameters for the predictive model, identifying an evaluation criterion for the predictive model, selecting test values for the mixing protocol parameters, identifying a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation required to be performed in order to generate the evaluation criteria, conducting the CFD simulation for each combination of test values, thereby generating evaluation criteria corresponding to each combination of test values, generating a domain of potential predictive models relating the mixing protocol parameters to the evaluation criterion, identifying a pool of candidate predictive models from the domain of potential predictive models, and ranking the pool of candidate predictive models.

A stirring apparatus includes a shredder that shreds a sheet; a case that accommodates a sheet piece shredded by the shredder and has a bottom surface and an inner surface; and a rotator that is disposed at the bottom surface of the case and includes a blade which stirs the sheet piece by rotation, in which L1<L3<L2, when between an outer end of the blade and the inner surface in a radial direction of the rotator, a shortest distance in the radial direction is defined as L1, a longest distance in the radial direction is defined as L2, and an average major axis length of the sheet piece is defined as L3.

A device for producing fluid foam includes a container where the fluid can be accommodated, and includes a foaming tool rotatable in the inner volume of the container. The texture and the porosity of the fluid foam obtained are provided by shear energy coming from Couette Flow effect and depend on the dimension of the foaming tool with respect to the inner volume of the container, on the location of the foaming tool from the bottom of the container and on the rotation speed of the foaming tool.

A device for producing fluid foam includes a container where the fluid can be accommodated, and includes a foaming tool rotatable in the inner volume of the container. The texture and the porosity of the fluid foam obtained are provided by shear energy coming from Couette Flow effect and depend on the dimension of the foaming tool with respect to the inner volume of the container, on the location of the foaming tool from the bottom of the container and on the rotation speed of the foaming tool.

A system for receiving a single-use vessel containing a mixing device has a support structure adapted to receive the single-use vessel and a drive-unit adapted to power, to control, or to power and control a mixing of contents of the single-use vessel when the single-use vessel is arranged in the support structure. The support structure and the drive-unit are provided as separate components that may be arranged both in an operating position, where the drive-unit is connectable to the mixing device of the single-use bag in the support structure, and in a separated position, where the drive-unit is separated from the support structure. The drive-unit comprises a tag reader that, in the operating position, is arranged to read a vessel tag of the single-use vessel arranged in the support structure.

A mixed beverage product includes a container defining an interior chamber, an agitator mechanism coupled to the container, and a beverage contained in the inner chamber in the container. The beverage may be a coffee beverage, or the beverage may be carbonated water and a base beverage, such as fruit juice, veggie juice, or coffee. The agitator is configured to aerate the coffee beverage to form a foam layer on the coffee beverage, or to mix the carbonated water with the base beverage to form a foam layer on the beverage.