A metering system for an agricultural vehicle includes meter rollers, each including protrusions driving flow of flowable particulate material in response to rotation of the meter roller. The metering system also includes a drive shaft driven in rotation and includes transmission assemblies that each correspond to a respective meter roller. Each transmission assembly includes a respective moveable gear actuatable to engage each of a plurality of gears to establish a respective gear ratio corresponding to one of a plurality of different speeds of the respective meter roller relative to the drive shaft.

In some embodiments, an apparatus and a system, as well as a method and article, may operate to identify one or more multiphase fluid flow regimes as an output of fuzzy logic processing, with inputs to the fuzzy logic processing comprising a set of physical parameter values as attributes at a location in a fluid flow that are determined by at least one of measurement or simulation, and to operate a controlled device based on the output. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.

A powdery-material feeding device includes a controller configured to selectively conduct constantly keeping-control of constantly keeping rotational speed of a motor, current or voltage applied to the motor without any change as a manipulated variable for a predetermined period, or feedback-control of repetitively obtaining a difference between a discharge flow rate of the powdery material and a target value thereof at predetermined cycles and adjusting by increasing or decreasing the manipulated variable at each of the predetermined cycles in order to reduce the difference, the controller conducts the constantly keeping-control immediately after a motor starts, shifts to the feedback-control when the difference between the discharge flow rate of the powdery material and the target value thereof has an absolute value less than a threshold after the period for the constantly keeping-control elapses, and conducts constantly keeping-control without shifting to the feedback-control when the absolute value of the difference between the discharge flow rate of the powdery material and the target value thereof is more than the threshold after the period for the constantly keeping-control elapses, and the manipulated variable during the repeated constantly keeping-control is changed in accordance with the difference between the discharge flow rate of the powdery material and the target value thereof after elapse of the period for latest constantly keeping-control.

An air cart for use in an agricultural air seeding system includes a first storage compartment for holding a first granular product type. The air cart also includes a second storage compartment for holding a second granular product type different from the first granular product type. The air cart further includes a common conduit configured to receive the first granular product type from the first storage compartment and the second granular product type from the second storage compartment to enable simultaneous flow of the first granular product type and the second granular product type. The air cart even further includes a multi-product particle flow rate sensing system configured to monitor respective flow rates for both the first granular product type and the second granular product type during simultaneous flow of the first granular product type and the second granular product type through the common conduit.

The present invention concerns a solids discharge module (1) for discharging solids out of devices (100) carrying mixed fluid, in particular comminuting devices for solids contents in a mixed fluid, comprising a solids inlet (3), coupling means (31) for connecting the solids inlet (3) to a device (100) carrying a mixed fluid, a solids outlet (5), a closing member (9) which is arranged at the solids outlet (5) and is reciprocable between a release position and a blocking position, and a conveyor chamber (7) extending from the solids inlet (3) to the solids outlet (5). According to the invention it is proposed that a filling state detector (13) is provided which is adapted to detect and display a solids accumulation in the conveyor chamber (7).

An agricultural product delivery applicator for delivering particulate product to a field. The applicator includes a supply compartment to hold the product, a pneumatic conveying system, a metering system, and a controller. The pneumatic conveying system includes first delivery line operably connected to an airflow source and to the supply compartment, and a second delivery line operably connected to the airflow source and to the supply compartment. The metering system includes a first metering device associated with the first delivery line and a second metering device associate with the second delivery line. The controller controls the air flow source, the first metering device to meter product to result in a first mixed flow of airflow and product for the first delivery line, and the second metering device to meter product with the airflow to result in a second mixed flow of airflow and product for the second delivery line.

A method includes optically interacting a flow of bulk material or powder in a pneumatic conveyor with an integrated computational element (“ICE”) configured to modify an electromagnetic radiation according to a characteristic of the flow of bulk material or powder. The method includes detecting the modified electromagnetic radiation with a detector, producing an output signal corresponding to the characteristic of the flow, and receiving and processing the output signal with a signal processor to yield a value for the characteristic of the flow. Also, the method includes modifying at least one of a flow rate or an air pressure in the pneumatic conveyor in response to the value of the characteristic of the flow. The bulk material or powder includes a dry cement or a dry cement component.

Systems and methods for control of the delivery of contaminates are provided. A conveyor moves contaminate particles from a hopper into an airflow. The contents of a hopper at multiple time points within a sliding window of time are weighted with a scale. A processor applies linear regression to a data set comprising the time points as an independent variable and the weight measurements as a dependent variable, resulting in a determination of a line fitting the data set. A processor determines a current mass flow rate of the contaminate particles from the slope of the line. The processor determines an estimated change in the conveyor motor speed needed to achieve the target mass flow rate, the estimated change determined from a predetermined mapping of flow rates to motor speeds, the estimated change based on the current mass flow rate, the target mass flow rate, and a predetermined fraction.

A valve with permanent magnet(s) and electro-magnet coils magnetically coupled to the permanent magnet(s). The valve is positioned below an inlet for receiving media. The amount of media flow may be regulated by controlling the current to the coils for partial or full flow. With no power applied to the electro-magnet coils, the media flow is inhibited. Application of a current to the electro-magnet coils will block the flux in the pole pieces rendering the working gap free of magnetic flux and thus allowing media to freely flow. As it is used, the media may become magnetized, altering the flow properties and causing magnetized media to bridge across the working gap. A magnetic sensor detects the amount of flux in the working gap to provide a signal to a control system. The signal allows closed loop control of the coils as media becomes magnetized, allowing consistent flow properties during use.

The method according to the invention provides a way to continue gravimetric weighing of bulk material during refilling of a gravimetric metered dispensing unit, and to determine the mass of the refilled bulk material using a refilling container during the filling operation material and so determine the actual mass flow discharged during refilling in real time or on average in order to adjust it to a target mass flow.