A weighing system for weighing particulate material such as powders, granules and the like, and particularly particulate foodstuffs. The system includes: a weighing device (9); a vibrator unit (11); a transfer receptacle (7) having an opening; a robotic arm (5) arranged to move the transfer receptacle (7); and a control system (13) arranged to control the robotic arm (5) and the vibrator unit (11); wherein the transfer receptacle (7) is arranged to receive a quantity of the particulate material through the opening; the control system (13) is arranged to actuate the robotic arm (5) to move the transfer receptacle adjacent the weighing device (9), and to actuate the vibrator unit (11) to vibrate the transfer receptacle (7) thereby causing particulate material located in the transfer receptacle (7) to dispense from the transfer receptacle onto the weighing device (9).

A mixer for synthetic quartz includes a mixing barrel (1), a power transmission system (2), a mixing system (3), and multiple material receiving receptacles (4). The power transmission system is provided above the mixing tank. The mixing system is provided inside the mixing tank. The power transmission system is used to drive the mixing system to move. An opening is arranged at each of two ends of the material receiving receptacle. The multiple material receiving receptacles (4) are arranged at a top portion of the mixing tank, and end portions of two adjacent material receiving receptacles are spaced apart from each other without contact there between. A resin experiences low flow resistance in the material receiving receptacle, and thus can fall smoothly without accumulating in the material receiving receptacle. Moreover, the material receiving receptacle can be cleaned easily.

A weighing system for weighing particulate material such as powders, granules and the like, and particularly particulate foodstuffs. The system includes: a weighing device (9); a vibrator unit (11); a transfer receptacle (7) having an opening; a robotic arm (5) arranged to move the transfer receptacle (7); and a control system (13) arranged to control the robotic arm (5) and the vibrator unit (11); wherein the transfer receptacle (7) is arranged to receive a quantity of the particulate material through the opening; the control system (13) is arranged to actuate the robotic arm (5) to move the transfer receptacle adjacent the weighing device (9), and to actuate the vibrator unit (11) to vibrate the transfer receptacle (7) thereby causing particulate material located in the transfer receptacle (7) to dispense from the transfer receptacle onto the weighing device (9).

According to one aspect, a method of producing a product having mixed constituents comprises the step of providing a mixing apparatus including a main housing having an inlet and an outlet opposite the inlet wherein the outlet is disposed at a lower portion of the main housing, a mixing drum disposed in the main housing wherein the mixing drum includes an opening that is movable between a first position aligned with the inlet and a second position aligned with the outlet, and an agitator disposed inside the mixing drum. The method further includes the step of providing first and second materials, positioning the mixing drum at the first position, and introducing the first and second materials into the mixing drum through the aligned opening and inlet. Still further, the method includes the steps of operating the agitator to mix the first and second materials to produce a human-edible product, moving the mixing drum to the second position, and removing the human-edible product from the mixing drum through the aligned opening and outlet. A mixing apparatus is also disclosed.

The present invention relates to apparatus for manufacturing at least one liquid, by dissolving or suspending powders in solvents. The apparatus may be arranged for inclusion in a pellet coating system to supply the liquid to a downstream apparatus such as a Post Pellet Liquid Application (PPLA, 44). The apparatus includes: a mixing system, comprising a mixing pump (27), a mixing vessel (33) and piping for mixing substances located in the mixing vessel (33) by liquid recirculation; solvent supply means, comprising a supply tank (37) arranged to supply solvent to the mixing vessel (33); a feeding system, comprising a Hopper (32) for storing a first particulate material, a ramp arranged above a weighing tray (34) and a hopper vibrator (3.1) for feeding a first particulate material to the weighing tray (34); a weighing system located above the mixing vessel (33), the weighing system comprising the weighing tray (34), a weighing tray loadcell (5) for weighting a first particulate material and a weighing tray vibrator (4) for feeding a first particulate material to the mixing vessel (33); a blending vessel (40) to which a liquid comprising the first particulate material is transferred from the mixing vessel (33) and to which additional solvent may be added to reach a desired concentration of the first particulate material in the liquid; optionally a day tank (39) to which a liquid comprising the first particulate material is transferred from the blending vessel (40.1) for storage; and a control system, wherein a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) (25) is arranged to receive signals from the weighing system and to control operation of at least part of the feed system according to the signals received from the weighing system to deliver a target mass of first and at least a second particulate material to the mixing vessel (33). The apparatus for manufacturing at least one liquid according to the invention may be connected to system for coating pellets, such as feed pellets. The system for coating pellets may include: the apparatus for manufacturing at least one liquid; a pellet source; a pellet coating device; means for feeding at least one liquid from the manufacturing apparatus to the pellet coating device; wherein the pellet coating device is arranged to apply the or each liquid to at least some of the pellets received from the pellet source. The present invention includes a method for manufacturing a liquid, by dissolving or suspending powders in solvents.

A particulate material supplying apparatus includes a hopper that stores a particulate material, a discharge gutter that dispenses the particulate material, a feeder that transports the particulate material to a weighing scale, the weighing scale that weighs the particulate material, a supply shutter that feeds the particulate material to a machine in the next process step at a predetermined timing, and a controller that controls the operations of these devices. The discharge gutter includes an inclined gutter portion having an opening in an upper surface thereof and a substantially U-shaped cross section. The controller controls the discharge gutter so that the particulate material in the hopper is dispensed to the feeder by causing the discharge gutter to perform a swinging motion in which a forward rotation and a backward rotation each to a predetermined angle are repeated while the opening in the inclined gutter portion faces upward.

A microingredient feed additive dispensing apparatus and method for adding microingredients to animal feed are described. The apparatus includes a frame, a microingredient receptacle with a front portion and a rear portion, a receptacle mount that mounts the receptacle to the frame, a plurality of microingredient bins oriented above the receptacle, one or more empty-receptacle-detecting sensors arranged along the front portion of the receptacle, and a driver coupled to the receptacle to feed the microingredients toward and over an exit boundary of the receptacle. Microingredients are concurrently dispensed from bins into the receptacle. The amount of the microingredients dispensed from each microingredient bin is calculated and controlled. One or more empty-collection-feeder sensors determine whether and when the collection feeder is empty, without weighing the whole collection bin. The apparatus and method provide a more efficient and accurate way to add microingredients to animal feed.