An apparatus for enrobing a product portion can include a polymer spray head arranged to direct a plurality of polymeric fibers in an upward direction and levitate product portions in a polymer enrobing zone above the polymer spray head. Polymeric fibers produced by the polymer spray head can wrap around the product portions levitated in the polymer enrobing zone to create an enrobed product. Side guide structure(s) and/or air knife(s) can be provided adjacent to the polymer enrobing zone to inhibit levitated product portions from falling out of the polymer enrobing zone and/or to guide levitated product portions along a desired path. Exemplary enrobed products include smokeless tobacco products.

A particulate material blasting apparatus includes a particulate material dosing device, a particulate material storage tank having a base, top and sidewalls adapted to feed particulate material to the dosing device, and a delivery conduit to deliver particular material into a pressurized gas line. The dosing device includes a rotor with a series of scooping pockets mounted along a circumference of the rotor configured to rotate to scoop-up particular material from a particulate material receiving side of the dosing device and deliver it up and around to a delivery side of the dosing device where it falls into the delivery conduit.

A mixing device may define a mixing chamber including a vortex mixing portion, a primary gas path along which a first gas stream moves to the vortex mixing portion, and a secondary gas path along which a second gas stream moves to the vortex mixing portion. The mixing device may have a mixer body, an outer gas guide positioned in the mixer body to guide the second gas stream to the vortex mixing portion, and an inner gas guide at least partially positioned in the mixer body to guide the first gas stream to the vortex mixing portion. A portion of the inner gas guide may be positioned in the outer gas guide to form an annular gap between the gas guides to define the secondary gas path about the primary gas path to create a vortex of the first and second gas streams in the vortex mixing portion.

A feedstock cartridge for a cold spray system including at least one powder; and a binder that interconnects at least two particles of the at least one powder.

A powder feeding apparatus drops powder from a tank storing the powder to an oblique portion, and accumulates the powder on a plate disposed below the oblique portion. The plate is provided with a flat surface portion and a groove portion which is inverted from the flat surface portion to a lower part. The scraper moves powder which has accumulated to a higher level than a constant height on the flat portion and the groove portion, to an outer-side of the flat portion and smoothes the powder on the flat portion and the groove portion to a constant height. An ejector takes in powder which has accumulated on the groove portion of the plate by a suction opening, disposed at a front side of the scraper, in a relative moving direction of the plate, and discharges the powder from the discharge opening.

A powder feeder for a cold spray system includes a rotatable drum body, a housing surrounding the drum body, and a support structure. The support structure couples to the housing and supports the housing such that the drum body rotates about a rotation axis to provide in-situ blending of powder disposed within an interior of the drum body.

An apparatus for deagglomerating and aerosolizing particulate matter such as powders, the apparatus including a rotatable turntable having a plurality of circumferentially spaced wells adapted to contain a powder. A pair of conduits are fluidly connected to the turntable wells so that powder from the wells is inducted and drawn to two nozzles so that the powder is entrained in the gas flow exiting each nozzle. Furthermore, the nozzle outlets are aligned and spaced apart from each other, but positioned to direct their particle entrained gas flow in the opposite and facing direction to one another so that the flow from each nozzle impinges upon the flow from the other nozzle to further air mill and deagglomerate the individual powder particles.

A powder supply apparatus, comprising a powder receiving device which receives powder, a hopper for storing powder that has an outlet at the bottom thereof, a screw feeder which is provided at the outlet of the hopper, has an extrusion port, and pushes the powder received from the outlet of the hopper toward the extrusion port by a screw. The powder supply apparatus also has a diaphragm pump having a suction port and a discharge port, and discharges air sucked from the suction port to the discharge port by an operation of a diaphragm. An atmospheric passage communicates the suction port of the diaphragm pump with the atmosphere. A communicating passage communicates the discharge port of the diaphragm pump with the powder receiving device. The extrusion port of the screw feeder is positioned within the atmospheric passage so as to supply the powder to the atmospheric passage.

The present invention provides a method for quantitatively and stably supplying fine powder and a system for implementing the method. In this invention, in a state in which at least part of the ultrasonic vibration gushing portion is in contact with the fine powder surface of the surface layer of the fine powder stored in the fine powder storage container, the powder inlet of the feed nozzle takes in the fine powder rising from the fine powder surface onto the ultrasonic vibration gushing portion through the passage region of the ultrasonic vibration gushing portion, together with the carrier gas, by ultrasonically vibrating at least part of the ultrasonic vibration gutting portion.

A powdery-material feeding device includes a hopper configured to reserve a powdery material, a transfer member configured to deliver and to discharge the powdery material fed from the hopper, a motor configured to drive the transfer member, a measuring instrument configured to measure a discharge amount of a powdery material delivered to be discharged by the transfer member, and a controller configured to control, while control according to the discharge amount of the powdery material measured by the measuring instrument is not conducted, a current applied to a coil of the motor to have a substantially constant amount, to control the discharge amount of the powdery material delivered to be discharged by the transfer member to have a required amount.