Systems and methods for dispensing materials
AssigneeBend Research, Inc.
InventorsDavid Dixon Newbold, Douglas Lee Millard
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An exemplary system for dispensing liquid and solid materials can comprise a tank; one or more liquid feeders configured to dispense one or more liquids into the tank; a powder hopper comprising a powder inlet, a powder outlet, and a valve configured to open and close the powder outlet, the powder outlet being coupled to the tank; one or more powder feeders coupled to the powder inlet of the powder hopper; a first scale configured to measure the mass of powder dispensed into the powder hopper; a second scale configured to measure the mass of the liquids dispensed into the tank; and a control system configured to control the dispensing of liquids and powders based at least in part on the mass measurements from the first and second scales.
Claims20
A system comprising:
- a tank;
- one or more liquid feeders coupled to the tank and configured to dispense one or more liquids into the tank;
- a powder hopper comprising a powder inlet, a powder outlet, and a valve configured to open and close the powder outlet, the powder outlet being coupled to the tank for dispensing powder from the powder hopper into the tank;
- one or more powder feeders coupled to the powder inlet of the powder hopper and configured to dispense one or more powders into the powder hopper;
- a first measuring device configured to measure the amount of powder dispensed into the powder hopper;
- a second measuring device coupled to the tank and configured to measure the amount of the liquids dispensed into the tank;
- and
- a control system configured to control the dispensing of liquids from the liquid feeders into the tank based at least in part on the measurements from the second measuring device, to control the dispensing of the powders from the powder feeders based at least in part on the measurements from the first measuring device, and to control actuation of the valve.
A powder hopper, comprising:
- a structure comprising a rigid upper portion having an upper inlet for receiving powder, the structure further comprising a flexible lower portion extending below the rigid upper portion, the flexible lower portion having a lower outlet, the structure defining an internal passageway extending vertically through the structure from the upper inlet to the lower outlet;
- and
- a pinch valve coupled to the structure, the pinch valve comprising first and second clamping portions positioned on opposite sides of the flexible lower portion of the structure and at least one actuator operable to move the clamping portions between an open position and a closed position;
- wherein in the closed position the clamping portions are pressed tightly against opposite sides of the flexible lower portion such that the flexible lower portion is collapsed and the internal passageway is blocked within the flexible lower portion, such that powder entering the internal passageway through the upper inlet is contained within the structure above the blocked portion of the internal passageway;
- and
- wherein in the open position the clamping portions are spaced sufficiently apart to allow the flexible lower portion to be in a generally cylindrical configuration with the internal passageway open within the flexible lower portion, such that powder contained within the structure falls though the flexible lower portion and out through the lower outlet.
A method for dispensing materials, the method comprising:
- dispensing a predetermined volume of at least one liquid into a tank from at least one bulk liquid source;
- closing an outlet valve of a powder hopper by pinching a flexible portion of the powder hopper such that powder is prevented from flowing through the flexible portion;
- dispensing at least one powder into the powder hopper from at least one bulk powder source;
- weighing the powder hopper and the powder dispensed into the powder hopper to determine the mass of the powder;
- opening the outlet valve by releasing compression pressure on the flexible portion of the powder hopper to allow the powder in the powder hopper to fall into the tank to form a mixture with the at least one liquid;
- and
- determining that at least one property of the mixture in the tank is within a predetermined range.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.