WO2002089565A1 - Dosing system - Google Patents

Abstract

A dosing facility and a method for dosing additives for dry or fluid materials, which are carried in pipeline facilities are described, whereby it is avoided that the added substances, e.g. aromatic substances, medicine, feed additive, vitamins, proteins, oil, fungicide, micro organisms, pre-heated fat, etc. are de-mixed during the transport in the pipeline facility. Thereby is achieved a facility and a method, where one or more dosing stations are arranged directly communicating with a transport pipeline and that the additive is in fluid form and is supplied directly upon the material in the pipeline at the passing of a dosing station in the pipeline.

Description

Dosing System

The present invention concerns a dosing facility for dosing one or more additives to a material conveyed in pipes, both in dry and fluid form, e.g. animal feed, pellets, pow- der, different kinds of grain or other materials suited for pipe conveying. The invention furthermore concerns a method for dosing an additive for a pipe conveyed material.

In the present invention, by pipe conveyed material is meant either a dry material which is suited for being carried as described below, or a material in wet conditions, i.e. fluid.

In the case of fluid materials, which inter alia may be feed mixtures for so-called wet feed facilities, the material is pumped forward in the pipeline system to the individual feed outlets.

The feed is commonly dosed in dry form and placed in a mixing container by means of a computer controlled dosing facility which is coupled to weigh cells mounted under the mixing container. When correct amounts of different ingredients, e.g. different kinds of grain, ready-made feed mixtures, green fodder and the like are dosed, added water, and the contents are mixed to a largely homogenous mass which is then pumped to the individual feed outlets. At each feed outlet there is fitted a valve in connection with the branching to individual feed outlets. The valve communicates with the computer. By activating the valve, a part of the feed mixture is branched off for the actual feed outlet. When the computer has detected that the desired amount of feed has been supplied to the feed outlet, the valve is closed again.

For some applications, it has also been suitable to add the additives to e.g. the drinking water of the animals. In some cases it is to be safeguarded in the dosing device that the pump pressure on the additive is higher than on the liquid in the pipe system.

When dry matter is conveyed in pipeline systems, this often occurs by a screw, a wire or a chain inside the pipe continuously drawing the dry material to the discharge sta- tions. Alternatively, the dry material may be blown around in the pipe system by means of compressed air in order to be delivered at predetermined stations.

For some applications, including feeding systems in particular, it is of interest to mix certain additives into the feed mixture. Here, the case may be aromatic substances, medicine, vitamins, proteins, oil, micro organisms, pre-heated fat or other additives. Typically, the basic feed mix in dry condition is delivered to the facility in a large transport container which immediately may be connected to the pipeline system. It is prior art to add other substances to the dry feed mixture after the dry material has initi- ated transport in the pipe system. Typically, this occurs by adding the desired substances in dry state to the dry material mix. When dry material with additive is carried in the pipeline system, a certain extent of de-mixing will occur, and this means that the additive, which is typically of lesser particle size than the feed, will end at the bottom

« of the pipeline, while the feed will be drawn further on to the feed stations by the chain or wire. Hereby arises a very uneven distribution of additives to the individual feed outlets as the additive will not be evenly distributed in the amount of feed.

It is thus the purpose of the present invention to indicate a dosing facility and a method for dosing additives for dry or fluid materials, which are carried in pipeline facilities, whereby it is avoided that the added substances, e.g. aromatic substances, medicine, food additives, vitamins, proteins, oil, fungicide, micro organisms, preheated fat etc. are de-mixed during the transport in the pipeline facility. The general purpose is thus to aim at the expected amount of additive for the amount of material is delivered with the right amount on the site of application, e.g. an automatic dry feeder.

According to the present invention, this is achieved with a facility of the kind mentioned in the introduction, which is peculiar in that one or more dosing stations are arranged in direct communication with a with a conveyor pipeline and that the additive is in fluid form and is supplied directly on the material when this passes a dosing sta- tion in the pipeline. The method for dosing one or more additives for a pipe conveyed material according to the invention is peculiar in that the method comprises dosing additives in fluid form.

In the present description, dry material is not to be limited only to be understood as feed, but any kind of material, which is suited for this kind of pipe transport as described above, namely by means of screws, chain, wire drawing or pneumatic conveying. It may e.g. be animal feed in pellet form, powder or granulated form, but also chewing gum, coffee, corn, cornflakes or other material in dry, pellet, powder or granulate form are included in the invention. It is a characteristic of the type of material that may be carried in pipe systems that they have a relatively low moisture content, i.e. their consistency is so that they maintain their powder, pellet or granulate form during the transport and do not clot. Furthermore, the grain size and the grain size distribution of the dry material determine how suited the material is for being car- ried in pipe systems.

The group of additives which are used in connection with the present invention, in principle all are substances which may be added in fluid form, but substances from the groups of vitamins, medicine, feed additive, aromatic substances, proteins, oil, pre- heated fat, micro organisms, hormones, etc. are particularly included in the invention.

In the present invention, by "pipeline systems" is meant systems which are made up of open or closed pipes. In some forms of feed devices there are used open pipes, i.e. the animals may eat directly from the pipe. Particularly within the poultry industry this type of feeding facility is used. In other feeding facilities there are used closed pipes where the feed is delivered in the automatic feeding device, where the animals have access to the feed. In the present invention, "transport pipeline" is therefore to be understood as any kind of open or closed cross-section in which there may be carried feed to be advanced by either screw, wire, pump or compressed air.

The additive-dosing station is typically arranged at the beginning of the pipeline, i.e. before possible feeding stations. The fluid additive may be added to the material in every suited way, but a way particularly preferred is to let the additive run down through the dosing station and drip directly down upon the material as it passes by in the pipeline. In this embodiment, the additive dosing is started automatically when the advancing of material is activated, i.e. the amount of the additive depends directly on the amount of material being conveyed in the pipeline.

In a second embodiment of the invention, the additive is applied to the material by the additive being sprayed upon the material as it passes by in the pipeline. In this embodiment, there is arranged a spray nozzle in the dosing facility in immediate vicinity of the pipeline. The spray nozzle is connected with a pipeline to a pump which again has connection to a reservoir. When the pipe transporting facility is started, the pump is activated, and pressure is formed in the additive whereby there is induced so high pressure in the spray nozzle in the additive that a mist is formed before the spray nozzle. When the material passes the mist, each individual particle in the dry material, or alternatively evenly distributed in the wet material, becomes sprayed with some of the additive. By this form of supplying additive is achieved that it becomes possible for each individual dry material grain to be impregnated or sprayed with the additive. This method is also particularly suited for e.g. treating corn with fungicide. As mentioned above, where the additive was added in drop form or in direct liquid form, the dry material will absorb a part of the fluid additive. Hereby it is achieved that by further transport through the pipe system there arises a separation between additive and dry material. Thereby is ensured that all the dry material becomes distributed in the pipeline system with the same or largely the same amount of additive per unit of dry material.

In an embodiment of the invention, the dosing facility for dosing additive thus becomes activated simultaneously with the transport system for dry material in the pipes being activated. In this type of pipe transport facility, the amount of dry material being carried through each single pipe is largely constant. The dosing facility for dosing the fluid additive is also held constant after adjusting, as the dry material will be supplied a constant amount of additive.

In a further embodiment according to the invention, the controlling of the amount of dry material being sent out in the pipe system is made the controlling parameter for the amount of additive to be dosed in the dosing facility. This system is particularly advantageous in some types of automatic feed systems for animals. In these systems, typically a batch of feed material is sent off succeeded by an interspace, after which an additional batch is sent off. This is the case for both dry material and for fluid materi- als used, e.g. in wet feed facilities. The different batches may be guided around in the pipe system so that they arrive at different animals. Hereby, several different animals or number of animals may be fed with the same system. By coupling the control of the dosing facility together with the controlling of the dry material, in this case the feed material, one may thus precisely dose the amount of additive for the batch of feed now running through the pipeline system. As all animals are not to have the same amount of vitamins, proteins, or what may be of desired additive, in this way the amount of additives for the individual animal can be varied with a unified control of the system. In a further development of this system, a plurality of different dosing facilities for dosing different additives may be arranged on the same pipeline. Hereby is achieved that different additives may be added to different animals where it all becomes controlled centrally by a central control unit.

As mentioned above, a pipe system may comprise a number of dosing facilities for dosing different materials. This may also be advantageous in a situation where at dif- ferent times of the day there is to be added different substances to the feed mix. By having several dosing stations arranged on the same pipeline, it is thus just a question of activating the desired dosing facilities in order to add the type or types of additives required for precisely the material being carried in the pipeline.

A dosing facility according to the invention typically comprises a reservoir in which the desired additive is provided in fluid condition. From the reservoir, there is a connection to a dosing device which is arranged in direct connection with the pipeline system in such a way that the additive may come into contact with the dry material being carried in the pipeline system. In some embodiments of the invention, it may be advantageous to arrange a pump between reservoir and dosing facility. This is e.g. the case where the pipeline facility is arranged under the ceiling, and where it is desired that the container with the additive is to be found under the pipeline system itself. In these situations, the pump provides for material being pumped from the reservoir with additive up to the material itself found within the pipeline system. Also, in situations where it is desired to spray the additive directly upon the material, it is desirable that there is a certain pump pressure for achieving formation of a mist in the dosing device itself mounted on the pipeline system.

In an embodiment of the invention where it is desired to add fat or thick oil to the feed, there is arranged possibility of heating these substances in the dosing device. In the associated reservoirs, there is also to be arranged a form of heating which ensures that the additive is stored in fluid state. As the hot additive is dosed upon the material, it will cool and solidify on each feed particle, or alternatively form small drops evenly distributed in the wet material being carried in the pipeline. Hereby is ensured an even distribution of the additive on the amount of feed.

The above described method for adding additives to material and the facility for add- ing additives also has the advantage, besides avoiding de-mixing of the additives and material during the transport thereof, that very small amounts of additive may be supplied to the material with great certainty of uniform distribution of additive in the amount of material. This is particularly important with feed where it is intended that all animals, which are to eat of the same feed batch, can receive the same amount of additive, e.g. medicine, with their feed mixture.

The dry material has a very low moisture content as described above. Experiments have shown that fluid additive may be added up to a moisture percentage in the dry material above 30% without the dry material thereby clotting or becoming impossible to transport in line systems of the above type.

The invention will subsequently be explained more closely with reference to the accompanying schematic drawing, where:

Fig. 1 shows a first embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 2 shows a second embodiment of the invention in which a pump forms a part,

Fig. 3 shows a third embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 4 shows a fourth embodiment of the invention, Fig. 5 shows a dosing device suited for freely flowing additive, Fig. 6 shows a dosing device in the form of a spray nozzle.

Identical or corresponding elements are designated with the same references in the different Figures.

The description of certain elements being trivial in this connection, such a sensors, connecting wires, cables, control units, suspension fittings etc, are omitted for the sake of clarity.

In Fig. 1 is illustrated a facility according to the invention. It comprises a reservoir 1 connected with a pipeline 2 to a dosing device 3, which is directly communicating with a pipeline 4 in which is located a screw, chain or a wire 5 for advancing the material 6. The pipeline may e.g. be in the shape of a close tube, but the invention also comprises open pipe systems. The dry material may be in powder, pellet or granulate form, or any other form suited for pipe transport in pipe facilities of this kind. The material which is to be carried in the pipeline system may also be in fluid form, e.g. as utilised in wet feed facilities.

In the following, an example of an embodiment of the invention will be explained, where e.g. there is used a feed facility. However, the invention is not limited to a feed facility.

The feed 6 in the form of a dry matter mixture, alternatively a fluid feed mixture, are in a known way conveyed in the pipeline 4. For advancing the amount of material there may possibly be used a screw conveyor, pumps, wire device, or a chain device, arranged within the pipeline, which screw, pump, chain or wire draws the material along the pipeline by its movement. Alternatively, some kinds of dry material are advanced in the pipeline system by means of compressed air.

In this example, which is not to be regarded as limiting the scope of application of the invention, there is outlined a chain drawing a dry material, e.g. a feed mixture, in the pipeline system 4. As the wire 5 becomes activated and thereby the transport of the feed 6 is initiated through the pipeline 4, there is also opened for the valve 7, whereby it becomes possible for the additive 8 to flow from the reservoir 1 through the pipe connection 2 down into the dosing device 3, after which the additive may drip down onto the passing dry material, e.g. animal feed 6.

The additive is in fluid form and may e.g. be vitamins, aromatic substances, proteins, oil, pre-heated fat, micro organisms, medicine, feed additive, hormones and the like. The only requirement to the additive is that it occurs in fluid form. When the feed facility is started, the valve 7 is opened and the additive flows through the pipe connec- tion 2 down to the dosing device 3, and e.g. drips down on the passing dry material. The dry material absorbs the fluid additive, and thereby it is ensured that the additive is absorbed in the dry material itself, e.g. the feed mixture. In facilities where additives, such as vitamins, medicine or feed additives, are added in dry form, this has a tendency to be de-mixed as the chain/dry matter is advanced in the pipeline 4. By add- ing it in fluid form being absorbed in the feed material, this de-mixing is avoided. The feed material with additive then continues in the pipeline 4 to a feed station 9, where feed mixture is distributed to the sties.

In Fig. 2 is shown a corresponding facility comprising a reservoir 1, a pipeline 2, a dosing device 3, and pipeline 4. Besides, there is inserted a pump 10 in the pipeline 2.

The pump has the purpose of creating pressure in the additive liquid so that it may either be pumped up in a level where the dosing device is situated and therefore it may drip freely down upon the dry material carried in the pipeline, or the pressure becomes sufficiently high that the spray nozzle in the dosing device may form a mist of additive which is sprayed on the dry material amount passing in the pipeline.

In Fig. 3, the facility of Fig. 2 is further elaborated with a central control unit controlling the pump pressure so that the dosing of additive through the dosing device, and i.e. the amount of additive on dry material, is controlled in relation to how much dry material is carried in the pipeline and in relation to how much additive to be supplied to the dry material. In Fig. 4 is shown a corresponding system with the difference that the dosing device is here activated by a control unit which is again controlled by pulses for how much and how fast the dry material is carried in the pipeline 4. In facilities, where there is arranged several dosing devices on the same pipeline, a central control unit may be ar- ranged for controlling the supply of the different types of additive for the same dry material amount in the same pipeline.

In Fig. 5 there is shown a detailed drawing of a dosing device in direct communication with a pipeline 4. The arrangement is designed so that it is aimed at forming drops of the additive, the drops dripping directly down upon the passing dry material amount in the pipeline 4.

In the same way, there is shown a detail in Fig. 6 where the dosing device is mounted in direct communication with the pipeline 4. The dosing device is so designed with the intention that by the design of the nozzle and the pressure from a possible pump there is formed a spray mist in front of the nozzle, whereby there is sprayed down upon the dry material passing under the nozzle in the pipeline 4.

In the above described example there is used a dry mix, e.g. a feed mixture. Where the system is to be used for transporting a fluid mixture, e.g. a wet feed mixture, the dosing devices are to be modified in such a way that the liquid pressure in the additive is higher than the liquid pressure in the pipeline. Otherwise, dosing and conveying of material occurs quite analogous with dry material conveying.

In the previous examples, the dosing facility is described in connection with mounting the facility in the pipeline itself. The invention, however, may just as well be utilised by mounting in connection with the hopper. A hopper is usually arranged as a transition between a silo or another container and the pipeline. By dosing in the hopper, corresponding advantages as described above are achieved.

Claims

1. A dosing facility for dosing one or more additives to a material conveyed in pipes, both in dry and fluid form, e.g. animal feed, pellets, powder, different kinds of grain or other materials suited for pipe conveying, characterised in that one or more dosing stations are arranged in direct communication with a conveyor pipeline and that the additive is in fluid form and is supplied directly on the material when this passes a dosing station in the pipeline.

2. A dosing facility according to claim 1, characterised in that the additive may be selected from the group of aromatic substances, vitamins, medicines, feed additive, proteins, oil, fat and micro organisms.

3. A dosing facility according to claim 1, characterised in that the dosing station is adapted to, with predetermined intervals, to send a drop of additive against the material in the pipeline.

4. A dosing facility according to claim 1, characterised in that the dosing station has a spray nozzle whereby the additive may be sprayed on the material in the pipeline.

5. A dosing facility according to any preceding claim, characterised in that the dosing facility is arranged in connection with a conveying facility where the material is carried in the pipeline by means of a screw conveyor, conveyor wire, conveyor chain, pump or is conveyed pneumatically.

6. A dosing facility according to any preceding claim, characterised in that several dosing stations may be arranged on the same pipeline and that different dosing stations may add different additives to the material in the pipeline.

7. A dosing facility according to claim 1, characterised in that the dosing station includes a reservoir for additive, a pump and in some embodiments a heat source in the reservoir as well as in the dosing means, a connection from the reservoir to a dosing means and a control arrangement for controlling dosing of additive to dry matter.

8. A dosing facility according to any preceding claim, characterised in that the dosing facility is controlled centrally and that control signals are sent to the dosing facility in the form of pulses to the pump.

9. A dosing facility according to any preceding claim, characterised in that the dosing facility is controlled centrally, and that control signals are transmitted to the dosing facility in the form of pulses directly to a regulator arranged for controlling the outlet of the dosing device.

10. A dosing facility according to any preceding claim, characterised in that the dosing facility is controlled centrally and that control signals are generated as a function of the amount of material in the pipeline.

11. A method for dosing one or more additives to a pipe conveyed material in dry or fluid form, e.g. animal feed, pellets, powder, granulated material or other materials suited for pipe transport, characterised in that dosing of the additive occurs in fluid form.

12. A method according to claim 11, characterised in that the additive is dripped, poured or sprayed directly on the material in the pipeline.

13. A method according to claim 11 or 12, characterised in that the material is an animal feed and that the additive is selected in one or more of the groups of substances vitamins, medicine, aromatic substances, proteins, oils, fat, micro organisms or other feed additive.