Apparatus for delivering a fluid and methods relating thereto

Abstract

Apparatus for delivering a fluid, especially for delivering colourants or the like to a premixer stage of plastics forming equipment, for example an injection moulder of extruder is described. The apparatus includes a fluid supply means (4, 200) connected to a reservoir (8, 208) which is arranged to concertina between minimum and maximum volume conditions. The reservoir (208) is connected via pipeline (24) and peristaltic pump (26) to a delivery means which is arranged to deliver the fluid to a desired location. When the fluid supply means (200) is empty, the level of fluid in the reservoir (208) will fall below the level of a capacitance sensor (32) which will sense the presence of air and cause a signal to be output to alert an operator to change fluid supply means (4). The fluid supply means may be changed before the reservoir is empty of fluid and, accordingly, the process may be operated continuously, even during the replacement of a reservoir (4).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.