Self-cleaning spray chamber for livestock and poultry feed pellet processing system
First Claim
1. A method for coating feed pellets with a liquid additive comprising:
- directing a flow of feed pellets onto a canted side wall of a spray chamber, the canted side wall opposing at least one spray nozzle configured for directing a spray stream of at least one liquid additive toward the side wall, the canted side wall configured for receiving the flow of pellets such that the pellet flow frictionally travels along the wall towards a discharge end; and
spraying a stream of liquid additive at the flow of pellets while traveling along the canted wall side from the at least one spray nozzle.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Using a self-cleaning spray chamber for feed pellets including a dry mass flow meter operatively coupled to a hopper for feed pellet flow and a spray chamber. The spray chamber is configured so that the pellet flow leaving the dry mass flow meter strikes the side wall of the spray chamber that opposes the nozzles located within the spray chamber, thereby causing the pellets to frictionally clean the chamber side wall. This cleaning action substantially reduces the need for manually cleaning the spray chamber as the flow of pellets through the spray chamber removes the liquid additive and assists in the coating of the pellets within the spray chamber. The flow meter provides a wide, relatively thin ribbon of pellets to the wall of the spray chamber that opposes the nozzles. This provides a more even distribution of pellets for coating and better protects the sidewall from overspray coating.
5 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method for coating feed pellets with a liquid additive comprising:
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directing a flow of feed pellets onto a canted side wall of a spray chamber, the canted side wall opposing at least one spray nozzle configured for directing a spray stream of at least one liquid additive toward the side wall, the canted side wall configured for receiving the flow of pellets such that the pellet flow frictionally travels along the wall towards a discharge end; and
spraying a stream of liquid additive at the flow of pellets while traveling along the canted wall side from the at least one spray nozzle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for coating feed pellets with a liquid additive comprising:
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supplying a flow of feed pellets through a flow control gate configured for regulating the pellet flow based on an input signal;
receiving the flow of pellets with a dry mass flow meter configured for generating an output signal representing the rate of flow of the pellets;
directing a flow of feed pellets onto a canted side wall of a spray chamber, the side wall opposing at least one spray nozzle configured for directing a spray stream of at least one liquid additive toward the side wall, the side wall configured for receiving the flow of pellets such that the pellet flow frictionally travels along the side wall towards a discharge end;
spraying a stream of liquid additive at the flow of pellets from the at least one spray nozzle; and
using the output signal from the dry mass flow meter for regulating the flow of the pellets and for regulating the amount of liquid additive sprayed from the at least one spray nozzle. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for coating feed pellets with a liquid additive comprising:
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supplying a flow of feed pellets through a flow control gate configured for regulating the flow of pellets;
receiving the flow of pellets with a dry mass flow meter;
directing the flow of feed pellets from the flow meter onto a canted side wall of a spray chamber, the side wall opposing at least one spray nozzle configured for directing a spray stream of at least one liquid additive toward the side wall, the side wall configured for receiving the flow of pellets such that the flow of pellets frictionally travels along the wall towards a discharge end; and
spraying a stream of liquid additive at the flow of pellets from the at least one spray nozzle. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification