Method for the gravimetric control of a metering device for a bulk material during the refilling of its storage container, and metering device for carrying out the method
AssigneeK-Tron Technologies, Inc.
InventorsUrs Helfenstein, Stefan Ludescher
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Abstract
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.
Claims20
A method for determining a mass flow of a metered dispensing unit for bulk materials, including a storage hopper and a refilling station with a refilling container connected thereto, wherein the metered dispensing unit is equipped with at least one gravimetric load cell for gravimetric metered discharge via an output conveyor, and the refilling container periodically replenishes the storage hopper with bulk material from a lower fill level to a filled state, and is furnished with a sensor for a parameter of a discharged refill quantity, and wherein the output conveyor is actuated by a volumetric control model during refilling, and wherein the output conveyor is actuated by a continuous graphimetric closed loop control when there is no refilling, wherein a weight of the bulk material added to the storage hopper during refilling thereof is determined from data from the sensor for the refill quantity output from the refilling station and an increase in the weight of the bulk material in the storage hopper during refilling of the storage hopper is determined, and an actual bulk material flow discharged during refilling is calculated from a difference between these weights.
A gravimetric metered dispensing unit for bulk material, with a storage hopper for the bulk material to be dispensed in metered quantities and a refilling station connected therewith which is designed to replenish a refill quantity of the bulk material in the storage hopper, and is equipped with a sensor for a parameter for the refill quantity, with at least one gravimetric load cell which is connected in operative manner to the storage hopper and an output conveyor for the bulk material for continuously closed loop controlled gravimetric metered dispensing of the bulk material, and with a controller for the output conveyor which is designed to actuate said conveyor according to continuous closed loop controlled gravimetric dispensing during a non-refilling phase and which is designed to actuate said conveyor according to a volumetric control model during a refilling phase, wherein the controller is further designed to determine during the refilling a weight of the bulk material discharged from the refilling station from signals of the sensor on the refill quantity, and to further determine a value for the weight of the bulk material currently present in the storage hopper from a weight signal of the at least one gravimetric load cell, and from these to determine an actual bulk material flow discharged from the metered dispensing unit during the refilling operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.