Metering hoppers and related methods
AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorsMark Donahue, Eric Morgan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates to improved metering hoppers for dispensing solid materials, particularly in the context of metered dispensation of solid pellets to feed reactors, in addition to associated methods, systems, and apparatuses. The disclosure relates, in various embodiments, to shielded metering hoppers configured to control the flow of solid material to a feed slot. In some cases, the disclosure relates to pressurized metering hoppers suitable for dispensing solid fuel into gas-generating reactors. Accordingly, the disclosure also relates to pressurized metering hoppers for solid materials, according to some embodiments.
Claims21
A metering hopper comprising:
- a hopper configured to store solid pellets;
- an outlet disposed in a bottom portion of the metering hopper with respect to local gravity during operation;
- a feed slot configured to gravity-feed the solid reactant pellets to the outlet;
- a feed slot cover including a receiver slot configured to move between a closed configuration where the receiver slot is out of alignment with the feed slot and an open configuration where the receiver slot is aligned with the feed slot;
- and
- a shield configured to block the solid pellets from falling directly into the feed slot.
A method of dispensing solid pellets from a metering hopper, the method comprising:
- moving a receiver slot from a closed configuration out of alignment with a feed slot to an open configuration aligned with the feed slot to feed a portion of the solid pellets into the feed slot;
- flowing the portion of the solid pellets from the feed slot through an outlet of the metering hopper;
- and
- shielding the feed slot from the solid pellets falling directly into the feed slot.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.