# US 2024/0407302 A1 · Bin vent apparatus and methods > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2024/0407302 A1 - Document ID: US20240407302A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 18/288,593 - Filed: 2023-06-02 - Published: 2024-12-12 - Earliest claimed: 2022-06-06 - Assignees: Grain Processing Corporation - Applicants: Grain Processing Corporation - Inventors: Derek S. Biggs - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20240407302A1 ## CPC - A01F 25/22: Ventilating arrangements - B65G 3/04: in bunkers, hoppers, or like containers - B65G 69/18: Preventing escape of dust - F26B 9/063: {for drying granular material in bulk, e.g. grain bins or silos with false floor (shallow layer rotary sweep drying bins F26B9/10; perforated wall silos with drying air channels in the stack F26B9/103)} - F26B 25/002: {for bulk goods} - B01D 46/71: with pressurised gas, e.g. pulsed air - B01D 2279/35: for venting arrangements - A01F: PROCESSING OF HARVESTED PRODUCE; HAY OR STRAW PRESSES; DEVICES FOR STORING AGRICULTURAL OR HORTICULTURAL PRODUCE (devices for topping or skinning onions or flower bulbs A23N15/08) - B65G: TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS (packaging B65B; handling thin or filamentary materials, e.g. paper sheets or thread, B65H; cranes B66C; portable mobile or lifting or hauling appliances, e.g. hoists, B66D; devices for lifting or lowering goods for loading or unloading purposes, e.g. fork-lift trucks, B66F9/00; emptying bottles, jars, casks, barrels or similar containers, not otherwise provided for, B67C9/00; delivering or transferring liquids B67D; filling or discharging vessels for liquefied, solidified or compressed gases F17C; pipe-line systems for fluids F17D) - F26B: DRYING SOLID MATERIALS OR OBJECTS BY REMOVING LIQUID THEREFROM (drying devices for combines A01D41/133; racks for drying fruit or vegetables A01F25/12; drying foodstuffs A23; drying hair A45D20/00; body-drying implements A47K10/00; drying household articles A47L; drying gases or vapours B01D; chemical or physical processes for dewatering or like separating liquids from solids B01D43/00; centrifugal apparatus B04; drying ceramics C04B33/30; drying yarns or fabrics in association with some other form of treatment D06C; drying frames for laundry without heating or positive air circulation, domestic laundry-or spin-driers, wringing or hot pressing laundry D06F; furnaces, kilns, ovens F27) - B01D: SEPARATION (separating solids from solids by wet methods B03B, B03D; by pneumatic jigs or tables B03B; by other dry methods B07; magnetic or electrostatic separation of solid materials from solid materials or fluids, separation by high-voltage electric fields B03C; centrifuges, vortex apparatus B04; presses per se for squeezing-out liquid from liquid-containing material B30B9/02; treatment of water C02F, e.g. softening by ion-exchange C02F1/42; {arrangements of air intake cleaners in gas turbine plants F02C7/05} ; arrangements or mounting of filters in air-conditioning, air-humidification or ventilation F24F13/28) ## Abstract A bin vent apparatus is described herein for use on a storage bin for agricultural products. The storage bin can have a sidewall and a roof defining an interior. The bin vent apparatus includes a plurality of discrete, roof-mounted vent filters. Each of the vents has an inlet for receiving air from an interior of the bin, an outlet for venting air from the vent, a fluid flow path between the inlet and the outlet, and one or more filters disposed in the fluid flow path between the inlet and the outlet to filter the air received from the interior of the bin. A fan is disposed in the flow path and downstream of the one or more filters, the fan being operable to cause air to flow into the inlet, through the filter, and out of the outlet. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A storage bin for agricultural products comprising an interior bounded by a cylindrical sidewall and a roof; and plurality of discrete, roof-mounted vent filters, each of the vent filters including an inlet for receiving air from an interior of a bin, an outlet for venting air from the vent, a fluid flow path between the inlet and the outlet, and one or more filters disposed in the fluid flow path between the inlet and the outlet to filter the air received from the interior of the bin, and a fan disposed in the flow path and downstream of the one or more filters, the fan being selectively operable to cause air to flow into the inlet, through the filter, and out of the outlet; wherein each of the vent filters includes one or more pressurized air nozzles directed toward the filter on a downstream side thereof and in fluid communication with a source of pressurized air for cleaning the filter using pressurized air. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The storage bin of claim 1, wherein the plurality of discrete, roof-mounted vent filters includes four or more vent filters. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The storage bin of claim 2, wherein the plurality of discrete, roof-mounted vent filters includes sixteen or fewer vent filters. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The storage bin of claim 1, wherein the plurality of discrete, roof-mounted vent filters includes four or more vent filters, wherein the roof is a generally frustoconical, and wherein the inlet of each of the vents is connected to an associated opening in the roof. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The storage bin of claim 4, wherein the roof includes an infeed opening through which agricultural products can be fed into the bin. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The storage bin of claim 5, further comprising a rotary distributor disposed within the interior for dispersing agricultural products fed into the bin view the infeed opening. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The storage bin of claim 1, wherein a baghouse dust collector is not used. ### Claim 8 (canceled) ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) A method of aspirating the grain bin of claim 1, the method comprising, with respect to one or more of the plurality of discrete, roof-mounted vent filters, operating the fan to cause air to flow into the inlet from the interior of the bin, through the filter and out of the outlet. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, the aspiration being performed during filling of the bin with a grain. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the grain bin includes a plurality of passive vents, and the method further comprises creating an inflow of air into the interior of the grain bin via the one or more passive vents during operation of the fan of the one or more of the plurality of discrete, roof-mounted vent filters. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, further comprising directing pressurized air from the source of pressurized air toward the filter on a downstream side thereof using the one or more pressurized air nozzles. ### Claim at position 13 -15. (canceled) ### Claim 16 A storage bin for agricultural products comprising an interior bounded by a cylindrical sidewall and a roof; and plurality of discrete, roof-mounted vent filters, each of the vent filters including, within a housing, an inlet for receiving air from an interior of a bin, an outlet for venting air from the vent, a fluid flow path between the inlet and the outlet, and plural discrete filters disposed in the fluid flow path between the inlet and the outlet to filter the air received from the interior of the bin, and a fan disposed in the flow path and downstream of the filters, the fan being selectively operable to cause air to flow into the inlet, through the filters, and out of the outlet. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The storage bin of claim 16, wherein each of the vent filters includes one or more pressurized air nozzles directed toward the filter on a downstream side thereof and in fluid communication with a source of pressurized air for cleaning the filter using pressurized air. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The storage bin of claim 17, further comprising a rotary distributor disposed within the interior for dispersing agricultural products fed into the bin view the infeed opening. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The storage bin of claim 17, including a plurality of passive vents. ### Claim 20 (depends on 16) The storage bin of claim 16, wherein the plurality of discrete, roof-mounted vent filters includes four or more vent filters, wherein the roof is a generally frustoconical, and wherein the inlet of each of the vents is connected to an associated opening in the roof. ### Claim 21 (depends on 1) The storage bin of claim 1, including a pressure sensor an actuator responsive to said pressure sensor for actuating said one or more pressurized air nozzles when a pressure differential across said vent filter reaches a predetermined level. ### Claim 22 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, including actuating the pressurized air upon sensing that a pressure differential across said vent filter has reached a predetermined level.