WO1995008500A1

WO1995008500A1 - Feeder

Info

Publication number: WO1995008500A1
Application number: PCT/GB1994/002062
Authority: WO
Inventors: Maurice Leslie Hessey; Ronald William Greenwood
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1993-09-24
Filing date: 1994-09-22
Publication date: 1995-03-30
Anticipated expiration: 1996-03-24
Also published as: GB9319718D0; AU7662394A

Abstract

The invention concerns ingredient feed systems. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a weighing hopper (1) is provided with a combined suction/blower unit (8), which is arranged to suck in a desired amount of an ingredient through an inlet (5), during an inlet cycle, and then to blow the ingredient out of an outlet (2) during a discharge cycle. The feed system is controlled so as to enable a number of different ingredients to be input through inlet (5), in desired amounts and the hopper (1) may be provided with mixing means for mixing the ingredients prior to discharge. In one particular embodiment of the invention, an air blast system (23) is provided to aid discharge of the ingredients through outlet (2) during the discharge cycle and to blow any ingredients, trapped by filters (20), off those filters and towards the outlet (2).

Description

FEEDER

The invention relates to feed systems and particularly, although not exclusively, to ingredient feed systems.

One type of conventional ingredient feed system incorporates weighing or holding hoppers for the storage or weighing of ingredients, wherein ingredients are blown into the hopper through an inlet pipe, usually in the side of the hopper, whilst a suction unit positioned at the top of the hopper sucks the ingredients in.

Such a conventional^' system has a number of disadvantages. Firstly it is difficult to achieve accurate metering of the ingredients. Secondly, due to the positioning of the suction unit, ingredients tend to get sucked into it and may cause malfunctioning of the suction unit itself, and/or inaccuracies in ingredient metering/weighing and there is a danger of contamination of the ingredients by the air from the blower. A further disadvantage with conventional designs of hopper, particularly as far as holding hoppers are concerned, is that certain ingredients, for instance soya, can tend to clog the hopper outlet as the ingredients stick together.

According to a first aspect of the invention, a feed system is provided comprising a container having an inlet, an outlet, and a combined suction/blower unit wherein, during an inlet cycle an ingredient is sucked into the container from the inlet and, during a discharge cycle, the ingredient is blown out of the container through the outlet. Preferably, during the inlet cycle the outlet is closed and, preferably, during the discharge cycle the inlet is closed.

Preferably, the combined suction/blower unit is attached to the container at a point above the inlet.

Preferably, a filtration system is provided to prevent ingredients sucked into the container during the inlet cycle from being sucked into the combined suction/blower unit.

Preferably, the filtration system comprises one or more filters positioned within the container.

Preferably, the filters comprise a plurality of cylindrical filtering elements.

Preferably, the filtering elements are attached to a partitioning plate positioned within the container, above the inlet.

Preferably, the filter elements have a closed end and an open end, the open end being attached to the partitioning plate.

Preferably, suction/blower unit, container, partitioning plate and filters, and inlet are so arranged as to enable the suction/blower unit to suck ingredients into the container through the inlet, an air flow path being provided between inlet, filter, the open end of each filter, partitioning plate and suction/blower unit.

Preferably, the partitioning plate is provided with one or more baffling elements to prevent there being a direct path between inlet and filter elements, so as to encourage ingredients to move towards a bottom part of the container and to discourage them from being sucked towards the suction/blower unit.

Preferably, the partitioning plate is positioned between a body portion of the container and a lid portion of the container.

Preferably, the lid portion of the container is clamped to the body portion of a container by means of quick release fittings.

Preferably, the partitioning plate, baffling element(s) and filters are coated with a non-stick finish.

Positioning the filters as described above not only ensures that ingredients are not sucked into the combined suction/blower unit but also preferably ensures that during the discharge cycle, ingredients which have been caught in the filter are blown off and propelled towards the outlet.

Preferably, an air blast system is additionally provided to aid blow down of ingredients during the discharge cycle.

The air blast system preferably comprises an air receiver and one or more air jets.

Preferably, the air blast system is located such that the air jets blow down through the partition plate to clean ingredients from the filter elements. The air blast system may operate at the same time as the suction/blower unit is blowing during the discharge cycle. Alternatively/additionally, the air blast system may be in operation subsequent to operation of the blower unit.

Providing such an air blast system gives an additional advantage over simply reversing the suction/blower unit as it creates a shock wave affect.

A baffle or partition may be provided within the container to aid separation of ingredients held by the container.

Preferably, the baffle or partition comprises a plate-like member which may be positioned within the container in a substantially vertical position.

Preferably, the baffle or partition is attached to a side wall of the container.

The container may be a weighing hopper, dump hopper or mixer hopper.

Preferably, the inlet cycle comprises the following steps:

a vent valve of the container is opened;

the combined suction/blower unit starts to suck;

the inlet is opened;

the vent valve is closed; when a first set point is reached denoting that a certain amount of ingredient has been received within the container, the suction of ingredients is reduced;

when a second set point is reached, denoting that a desired amount of ingredient is now present in the container, the vent valve is opened allowing clean air to be drawn into the container and picking up a small amount of ingredients from the still open inlet;

when the weigher reaches auto in-flight, in-flight closes;

after full weight is reached within the container, and if no more ingredients are required, then the vent valve closes, or if more ingredients are required then vent valve remains open and inlet cycle starts again with the next ingredient required.

According to a second aspect of the invention, an ingredient feed system is provided comprising:

a container;

an inlet manifold connected to the container and having a plurality of ingredient inlets and an air inlet; and

a suction/blower unit.

Preferably, the ingredient feed system is substantially identical to the feed system of the first aspect of the invention, but is provided in addition with the inlet manifold which is connected to the container inlet. Preferably, each of the ingredient inlets and the air inlet are provided with a cut-off valve for selectively cutting off or permitting flow of the ingredient/air through the valve.

Preferably, the system includes ingredient metering means for monitoring flow of ingredients into the container.

Preferably, the ingredient metering means comprises a weighing means associated with the container.

Preferably, the air inlet is provided with an air filter so that air drawn from the atmosphere is cleaned prior to being admitted into the inlet manifold.

Preferably, the inlet manifold is connected to the container inlet by means of a flexible connection.

Preferably, during an inlet cycle the ingredient cut¬ off valves are initially closed and the air cut-off valve is initially open whilst the suction/blower unit operates to suck air through the air inlet into the container inlet and through the container to the suction/blower unit.

Preferably, during a next phase in the inlet cycle a selected cut-off valve for one of the ingredient inlets is opened so as to permit flow of a selected ingredient into the container and the air cut-off valve is then closed so as to allow high-speed loading of the selected ingredient into the container.

Preferably, once a first predetermined quantity of the selected ingredient has been loaded into the container the air cut-off valve is opened so as to reduce the flow of the ingredient into the container and thereby perform low-speed loading.

Preferably, once the ingredients metering means has detected that a second predetermined quantity of the selected ingredient has been loaded into the container, the ingredient inlet valve which is open is then closed, and a next selected ingredient may thereafter be loaded into the container, by opening a next selected ingredient cut-off valve.

Loading and flow monitoring of ingredients continues preferably as described above, until all of the desired ingredients have been loaded into the container.

Once the desired ingredients are present within the container, the last selected ingredient cut-off valve may be shut, and the air cut-off valve closed shortly thereafter.

It should be noted that in between loading of each of the ingredients, the air cut-off valve is preferably always open, the reason for this is to provide a through flow of air in the inlet manifold so as to ensure that the correct quantities of each of the selected ingredients is actually loaded into the container, and that negligible ingredient residue is left within the inlet manifold.

Preferably, during a discharge cycle a container outlet valve is opened and ingredients are blown out of the container through the outlet valve. According to a third aspect of the invention, a method of feeding ingredients into a container is provided, the method comprising the steps of:

sucking a desired ingredient into the container during an inlet cycle; and

blowing the ingredient out of the container during a discharge cycle.

Preferably, the inlet cycle comprises:

closing a outlet valve prior to commencing sucking; and

opening an inlet valve; and

operating a suction unit associated with the container to suck the desired ingredient into the container.

Preferably, the inlet cycle comprises an additional step of opening a vent valve prior to commencing suction and prior to opening the inlet, and, after the inlet is opened and suction commenced, the vent valve is closed.

Preferably, when a first set point is reached during the inlet cycle, denoting that a certain amount of ingredient has been received within the container, the suction of ingredients is reduced.

Preferably, when a second set point is reached during the inlet cycle, denoting that a desired amount of ingredient is now present in the container, the vent valve is opened to allow clean air to be drawn into the container and pick up a small amount of ingredients from the still open inlet.

Preferably, when an auto in-flight is reached, the in-flight closes.

Preferably, once a full weight condition has been reached within the container, and if no more ingredients are required, then the vent valve is closed, or if more ingredients are required then the vent vale remains open and the inlet cycle starts again with the next ingredient required.

Preferably, during the discharge cycle, the inlet valve is closed, the outlet valve is opened and ingredients are blown through the outlet of the container.

Preferably, an air blast system is provided to aid blow down of the ingredients.

Preferably, the air blast system comprises an air receiver, connected to a number of air jets.

Preferably, the air blast system is located above a partitioning plate which is positioned within the container between an ingredient storage area of the container and a suction/blower unit.

Preferably, attached to the partitioning plate are filters to prevent the ingredients being sucked into the suction unit.

Preferably, the filters are cylindrical in shape and have an open end and a closed end, the open end being connected to the partitioning plate which has corresponding apertures formed therein.

Preferably, the air blast system is arranged to create a shock wave effect.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, a container for an ingredient feed system is provided, the container being provided with an air fluidisation system, whereby when it is desired to discharge an ingredient from the container, ingredient flow from an ingredient outlet is monitored and, if flow falls below a minimum level, air is supplied to the fluidisation system to increase said flow.

Preferably, said fluidisation system is activated for a given time period and, if insufficient increase in flow is achieved during that time period, then an ingredient vibration means is activated to vibrate said ingredients.

The features described in accordance with the first, second, third and fourth aspects may be combined in any desired manner.

By way of example, specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

Figures 1 and 2 are schematic views showing a front cross-section and a plan of a first embodiment of hopper;

Figure 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of hopper;

Figure 4 shows a hopper having a multiple inlet facility; and Figure 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a further embodiment of hopper.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, a holding bin or hopper 1 is shown. The hopper has an outlet 2 and an open top 3 into which material may be deposited. Positioned within the hopper is a baffle plate 4.

With conventional hoppers, which do not feature the baffle plate 4, opening of the outlet valve 2 will cause material held within the hopper to swirl around the hopper 1 during discharge.

It has been found with certain ingredients, notably soya, that such swirling causes a high degree of compaction which can tend to block the outlet 2. By providing a baffle plate 4 swirling is avoided, or reduced, so that compaction does not occur to the extent described and the outlet remains unblocked.

Referring now to Figure 3, another hopper 1 which may be a dump hopper, mixer hopper or weighing hopper is shown having an outlet 2 and, instead of having material loaded from the top, an inlet pipe 5 is provided.

Positioned within the hopper 1 is a filter screen 6 and connected to the top of the hopper by means of a pipe 7 is a combined blower/suction unit 8.

Depending on the type of ingredients being held within the hopper of Figure 3, the baffle 4 of Figures l and 2, may be provided.

In order to allow ingredients to enter into the hopper 1 of Figure 3, the combined blower/suction unit 8 is turned on so as to suck air from the hopper 1 through the pipe 7. Such suction causes ingredient flow through the inlet pipe 5 into the hopper l. Ingredients which might otherwise be pulled into the combined blower/suction unit 8 are stopped from doing so by the filter screen 6.

Once a desired amount of material has been sucked into the hopper 1 the combined blower/suction unit 8 is turned off and the inlet valve closed.

Typically, the hopper shown in Figure 3 will be a weighing hopper with an "auto in-flight" mechanism and shut off of the combined blower/suction unit 8 may be achieved automatically once a desired amount of material is detected as being within the hopper 1.

During a discharge cycle of the hopper 1 of Figure 3, the inlet pipe is closed, by means of a valve 9 and the outlet valve 2 is opened. In order to expel material from the hopper 1 quickly, the combined blower/suction unit is turned on and this time, instead of sucking the unit 8 blows air through the pipe 7 into the hopper 1.

Not only does the air blown from the unit 8 help to speed up the operation of discharging ingredients, but it also cleans the filter screen 6 so that ingredients stuck on the filter screen 6 are effectively "washed off". Doing this ensures that materials are not left behind in the hopper and makes sure that the correct metered amount is delivered through the outlet 2.

Referring now to Figure 4, a multiple ingredient feed system is shown. The system comprises a weighing hopper

1 , which is substantially the same as the hopper shown in Figure 3, its inlet pipe 5 is connected to an inlet manifold 10 having various different ingredient inlets 11 to 15 along with an air inlet 16 filter 17 and valve 18.

As with the hopper of Figure 3, material is sucked into the weighing hopper 1 by a suction unit which, during a discharge phase, is reversed to as to act as a blower unit.

The system of Figure 4 operates in the following manner. At the start of a weighing hopper loading operation, or "call", the air vent valve 18 is opened and each of the ingredient inlets 11 to 15 are closed. At the same time, the pipe 5, which is the inlet of the weighing hopper, is closed. The combined suction/blower unit is then turned on in suction mode. Once the combined unit is up to speed, the first required inlet 11 is opened and the air inlet 18 closed. The weighing hopper is tared and the first ingredient is then sucked by the combined blower/suction unit through inlet 11 and inlet manifold 10 and flexible connection 19 into the weighing hopper 1 through inlet pipe 5. During feeding of this first ingredient, which may be sifted into the weighing hopper 1, the weighing hopper monitors the amount of material being fed in. Once the weighing hopper 1 registers that a first set point is reached, change over from fast to slow feed rates is initiated so as to reduce the amount of ingredient being drawn through inlet 11 into the hopper and slow sifting is carried out. Upon the second set point of that ingredient being reached, the vent valve 18 is opened allowing clean air from the air inlet 16 to flow so as to clear any excess ingredient from the manifold 10 into the hopper 1. The weighing hopper then reaches auto in-flight, and the in-flight valve closes, the vent valve 18 remaining open until all residue has been taken into the weighing hopper 1. Full weight is then reached and. if no more ingredients are required the vent valve 18 is closed. Alternatively, if more ingredients are required then the vent may remain open and monitoring of weight for the next ingredient can then be commenced and the next ingredient inlet 12 is opened. Loading of the weighing hopper 1 continues until all ingredients have been entered in their required quantities.

The filter 17 attached to the air inlet 16 ensures that contamination of the ingredients does not occur.

Similarly, the filter screen 6 of the hopper 1 shown in Figure 3 as well as ensuring that no ingredients are sucked in to the combined unit 8, ensures that air blown into the hopper 1 is not contaminated.

By providing a combined blower/sucker unit 8, great accuracy of ingredient feeding is achievable.

Furthermore, by providing fast and slow feed rates by closing or opening valve 18, even finer control of ingredient flow can be achieved.

Figure 5 shows an alternative embodiment of weigh hopper, dump hopper or mixer hopper.

The apparatus of Figure 5 comprises, hopper 1 with inlet 5, combined suction/blower unit 8, outlet 2, three filter elements 20, mounted on a partitioning plate 21, a round baffle 22 and an air blast system shown generally at 23.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 5, an improved filtration system is provided which increases air flow through the system and has been found to speed up the system in general. The filters 20 are cylindrical and may be of any given length and diameter, but in a typical arrangement are 125mm in diameter and 450mm long. The filters 20 are blanked off at one end and the other end is connected to the partitioning plate 21 so that air may be sucked or blown through holes in the partitioning plate 21 and ingredients sucked into or blown from the hopper 1, as desired. The filter elements 20 are fitted around cages which attach to the partitioning plate.

The baffle 22 is provided spaced from, but surrounding, a peripheral area of the filters within the container so as to prevent ingredients from being pulled directly onto the filters 20 during filling.

The partitioning plate is trapped by the hopper body comprising lower body portion 24 and hopper lid 25. The arrangement is, in a preferred embodiment, clamped together with quick release fittings (not shown) .

The system operates in generally the same manner as already described, except for the fact that the air blast system 23 which comprises an air receiver 26, valve 27 connecting pipe work 28 and air jets 29, is provided to aid blow down of ingredients during the discharge cycle.

The air blast system 23 works by providing a low volume high pressure air reservoir within air receiver 26 and then quickly discharging the air from the air receiver 26 through valve 27, pipe work 28 and air jets 29 to create a shock wave effect during the discharge cycle. This has been found very effective in cleaning the filters and improving operation of the system. As an alternative to providing partitions in ingredient holding bins, such as the partitions shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2 , a combination of air fluidisation and vibration may be utilised to keep ingredients flowing from the holding bins via sifters (not shown) positioned at the outlet of the holding bins, to a manifold arrangement such as manifold 10 of Figure 4, and thereafter to weighing hopper. This is advantageously done by monitoring ingredient flow into the weighing hopper and looking for a change in condition. On such a change which may indicate a degradation in flow of ingredients, air may be brought into fluidising boxes of the holding bins for a certain amount of time so as to aid ingredient fluid flow and, if no appreciable increase in flow is detected during this time, the vibrator may be brought on for a number of seconds.

The reader's attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.

All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) , and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification

(including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) , may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment(s) . The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.

Claims

1. A feed system comprising a container having an inlet, an outlet, and a combined suction/blower unit wherein, during an inlet cycle an ingredient is sucked into the container from the inlet and, during a discharge cycle, the ingredient is blown out of the container through the outlet.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein during the inlet cycle the outlet is closed and, preferably, during the discharge cycle the inlet is closed.

3. A system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the combined suction/blower unit is attached to the container at a point above the inlet.

4. A system according to claims 1, 2 or 3, wherein a filtration system is provided to prevent ingredients sucked into the container during the inlet cycle from being sucked into the combined suction/blower unit.

5. A system according to claim 4, wherein the filtration system comprises one or more filters positioned within the container.

6. A system according to claim 5, wherein the filters comprise a plurality of cylindrical filtering elements.

7. A system according to claim 6, wherein the filtering elements are attached to a partitioning plate positioned within the container, above the inlet.

8. A system according to claim 7, wherein the filtering elements have a closed end and an open end, the open end being attached to the partitioning plate.

9. A system according to claim 8, wherein suction/blower unit, container, partitioning plate and filters, and inlet are so arranged as to enable the suction/blower unit to suck ingredients into the container through the inlet, an air flow path being provided between inlet, filter, the open end of each filter, partitioning plate and suction/blower unit.

10. A system according to claim 9, wherein the partitioning plate is provided with one or more baffling elements to prevent there being a direct path between inlet and filter elements, so as to encourage ingredients to move towards a bottom part of the container and to discourage them from being sucked towards the suction/blower unit.

11. A system according to any of claims 7 to 10, wherein the partitioning plate is positioned between a body portion of the container and a lid portion of the container.

12. A system according to claim 11, wherein the lid portion of the container is clamped to the body portion of a container by means of quick release fittings.

13. A system according to any of claims 10, 11 or 12, wherein the partitioning plate, baffling element(s) and filters are coated with a non-stick finish.

14. A system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein an air blast system is additionally provided to aid blow down of ingredients during the discharge cycle.

15. A system according to claim 14, wherein the air blast system comprises an air receiver and one or more air jets.

16. A system according to claim 15, wherein the air blast system is located such that the air jets blow down through the partition plate to clean ingredients from the filter elements.

17. A system according to claim 14, 15, or 16, wherein the air blast system operates at the same time as the suction/blower unit is blowing during the discharge cycle.

A system according to any of claims 14 to 17, wherein the air blast system operates subsequent to operation of the blower unit.

19. A system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein a baffle or partition may be provided within the container to aid separation of ingredients held by the container.

20. A system according to claim 19, wherein the baffle or partition comprises a plate-like member positioned within the container in a substantially vertical position.

21. A system according to claim 20, wherein the baffle or partition is attached to a side wall of the container.

22. A system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the container is a weighing hopper, dump hopper or mixer hopper.

23. A system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the inlet cycle comprises the following steps:

a vent valve of the container is opened; the combined suction/blower unit starts to suck;

the inlet is opened;

the vent valve is closed;

when a first set point is reached denoting that a certain amount of ingredient has been received within the container, the suction of ingredients is reduced;

when the weigher reaches auto in-flight, in-flight closes;

24. An ingredient feed system comprising:

a container;

a suction/blower unit.

25. A system according to claim 24, wherein each of the ingredient inlets and the air inlet are provided with a cut-off valve for selectively cutting off or permitting flow of the ingredient/air through the valve.

26. A system according to claim 24 or 25, wherein the system includes ingredient metering means for monitoring flow of ingredients into the container.

27. A system according to claim 26, wherein the ingredient metering means comprises a weighing means associated with the container.

28. A system according any of claims 24 to 27, wherein the air inlet is provided with an air filter so that air drawn from the atmosphere is cleaned prior to being admitted into the inlet manifold.

29. A system according to any of claims 24 to 28, wherein the inlet manifold is connected to the container inlet by means of a flexible connection.

30. A system according to any of claims 24 to 29, wherein during an inlet cycle the ingredient cut-off valves are initially closed and the air cut-off valve is initially open whilst the suction/blower unit operates to suck air through the air inlet into the container inlet and through the container to the suction/blower unit.

31. A system according to claim 30, wherein during a next phase in the inlet cycle a selected cut-off valve for one of the ingredient inlets is opened so as to permit flow of a selected ingredient into the container and the air cut¬ off valve is then closed so as to allow high-speed loading of the selected ingredient into the container.

32. A system according to claim 31, wherein once a first predetermined quantity of the selected ingredient has been loaded into the container the air cut-off valve is opened so as to reduce the flow of the ingredient into the container and thereby perform low-speed loading.

33. A system according to claim 32, wherein once the ingredients metering means has detected that a second predetermined quantity of the selected ingredient has been loaded into the container, the ingredient inlet valve which is open is then closed, and a next selected ingredient may thereafter be loaded into the container, by opening a next selected ingredient cut-off valve.

34. A system according to claim 33, wherein once the desired ingredients are present within the container, the last selected ingredient cut-off valve may be shut, and the air cut-off valve closed shortly thereafter.

35. A system according to claim 34, wherein in between loading of each of the ingredients, the air cut-off valve is preferably open, to provide a through flow of air in the inlet manifold so as to ensure that the correct quantities of each of the selected ingredients is loaded into the container, and minimise residue within the inlet manifold.

36. A system according to any of claims 24 to 35, wherein during a discharge cycle a container outlet valve is opened and ingredients are blown out of the container through the outlet valve.

37. A method of feeding ingredients into a container, the method comprising the steps of: sucking a desired ingredient into the container during an inlet cycle; and

blowing the ingredient out of the container during a discharge cycle.

38. A method according to claim 37, wherein the inlet cycle comprises:

closing a outlet valve prior to commencing sucking; and

opening an inlet valve; and

39. A method according to claim 38, wherein the inlet cycle comprises an additional step of opening a vent valve prior to commencing suction and prior to opening the inlet, and, after the inlet is opened and suction commenced, the vent valve is closed.

40. A method according to claim 39, wherein when a first set point is reached during the inlet cycle, denoting that a certain amount of ingredient has been received within the container, the suction of ingredients is reduced.

41. A method according to claim 40, wherein when a second set point is reached during the inlet cycle, denoting that a desired amount of ingredient is now present in the container, the vent valve is opened to allow clean air to be drawn into the container and pick up a small amount of ingredients from the still open inlet.

42. A method according to claim 41, wherein when an auto in-flight is reached, the in-flight closes.

43. A method according to cl;aim 42, wherein once a full weight condition has been reached within the container, and if no more ingredients are required, then the vent valve is closed, or if more ingredients are required then the vent vale remains open and the inlet cyple starts again with the next ingredient required.

44. A method according to any of claims 37 to 43, wherein during the discharge cycle, the inlet valve is closed, the outlet valve is opened and ingredients are blown through the outlet of the container.

45. A method according to claim 44, wherein an air blast system is provided to aid blow down of the ingredients.

46. A method according to claim 45, wherein the air blast system comprises an air receiver, connected to a number of air jets.

47. A method according to claim 46, wherein the air blast system is located above a partitioning plate which is positioned within the container between an ingredient storage area of the container and a suction/blower unit.

48. A method according to claim 47, wherein attached to the partitioning plate are filters to prevent the ingredients being sucked into the suction unit.

49. A method according to claim 48, wherein the filters are cylindrical in shape and have an open end and a closed end, the open end being connected to the partitioning plate which has corresponding apertures formed therein.

50. A method according to any of claims 45 to 49, wherein the air blast system is arranged to create a shock wave affect.

51. A container for an ingredient feed system, the container being provided with an air fluidisation system, whereby when it is desired to discharge an ingredient from the container, ingredient flow from an ingredient outlet is monitored and, if flow falls below a minimum level, air is supplied to the fluidisation system to increase said flow.

52. A container according to claim 51, wherein said fluidisation system is activated for a given time period and, if insufficient increase in flow is achieved during that time period, then an ingredient vibration means is activated to vibrate said ingredient.

53. A container according to claim 51 or 52, comprising in addition, any of the features of the system of claims

1 to 22, or of the system of claims 23 to 36 or of the method of claims 37 to 50, or any feature from the description.

54. A system substantially as herein described with reference to Figure 3.

55. A system substantially as herein described with reference to Figure 4.

56. A system substantially as herein described with reference to Figure 5.

57. A method of feeding ingredients into a container substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.