IE81172B1 - A coarse animal feed production process - Google Patents

Description

A Coarse Animal Feed Production Process'* This invention relates to production of a coarse animal feed.

With the production of coarse animal feeds quality is 5 extremely important particularly as, unlike pelletised feeds, the composition of the feed is readily apparent to a livestock holder. Liquid binders such as molasses are commonly used in the production of animal feeds and can cause difficulties due to their nature. The viscous and tacky nature of molasses, for example, causes fouling of machinery and pipework resulting in unreliability and interruption of the production process and necessitating regular downtime for repairs. Molasses when added to dry ingredient materials has a tendency to cause clumping which leads to uneven mixing of the molasses with the dry ingredient materials .

The present invention is directed towards overcoming these problems.

According to the invention there is provided a coarse animal feed production process comprising the steps :delivering predesired quantities of selected bulk ingredient materials in turn from bulk ingredient storage bins to a mixer, sensing the weight of material in the mixer and controlling delivery of each bulk ingredient material to the mixer in response to the sensed weight of material in the mixer; weighing preselected additives into a tote bin, transporting the tote bin to the mixer and discharging the additives from the tote bin into the mixer; - 2 mixing the bulk ingredient materials and additives in the mixer to form an homogenous dry feed mix; delivering the dry feed mix from the mixer to a holding bin; discharging the dry feed mix from the holding bin into a liquids adder, injecting a liquid binder into the liquids adder at an inlet of the liquids adder and mixing the liquid binder with the dry feed mix within the liquids adder to produce a coarse animal feed, the liquids adder comprising a tubular housing within which is rotatably mounted a screw auger for delivering the feed mix between the inlet and an outlet of the liquids adder, a set of mixing blades being provided on the auger at the inlet for rapidly mixing the liquid binder with the dry feed mix adjacent the inlet; and discharging coarse animal feed from the liquids adder and delivering the coarse animal feed to a storage bin.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the process includes the step of sensing the flow of dry feed mix between the holding bin and the liquids adder and controlling delivery of the liquid binder to the liquids adder in response to the sensed flow of dry feed mix.

In a particularly preferred embodiment the liquids adder has two outlets, namely a first outlet on the housing intermediate the ends of the auger and a second outlet at an end of the auger remote from the inlet, the first outlet or second outlet being selected according to the nature of the feed mix being delivered through the liquids adder.

In a further embodiment the additives tote bin comprises a support frame, a container mounted on the support frame having an inlet at a top of the container and an outlet at a bottom of the container, with side walls which taper upwardly and outwardly from the outlet, a gate valve mounted at the outlet to close the outlet, the gate valve being slidably movable between a closed position and an open position, and a pair of spaced-apart elongate horizontal sockets on the frame for reception of lifting forks of a fork lift truck for transporting the tote bin.

The invention will be more clearly understood by the following description of an embodiment thereof, given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of a coarse animal feed production process according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a tote bin used in the process; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a liquids adder used in the process.

Referring to the drawings, a process and apparatus for producing a coarse animal feed according to the invention would be described.

Selected bulk ingredient materials are delivered from bulk storage bins 10 in turn to a mixer 12. Feed augers 14 are provided for delivery of bulk ingredients between an outlet 15 of each storage bin 10 and the mixer 12. Load cells associated with the mixer 12 sense the weight of material in the mixer 12. Operation of the augers 14 is controlled in response to the sensed weight of material within the mixer 12 for controlling the delivery of a desired quantity of bulk ingredient material from each selected bulk bin 10 to the mixer 12.

Additives which are to be used in the animal feed are weighed and delivered into a tote bin 16. The tote bin 16 comprises a support frame 17 with a container 18 mounted on the support frame. An inlet 19 is provided at a top of the container 18. An outlet 20 is formed at a bottom of the container 18. Side walls 21 of the container 18 taper upwardly and outwardly from the outlet 20 to direct material within the bin 16 to the outlet 20. A gate valve 22 is mounted at the outlet 20 to close the outlet 20 and is slidably movable between a closed position and an open position. A pair of spaced-apart elongate horizontal sockets 24 are provided on the frame 17 for reception of lifting forks of a fork lift truck for transporting the tote bin 16. When all the additives have been collected in the tote bin 16 the tote bin is transported to the mixer 12 and the additives are discharged into the mixer 12.

The mixer 12 is a ribbon mixer within which the bulk ingredient materials and additives are mixed to form an homogenous dry feed mix. The mixing time is typically about 1 minute. When the mixing has been completed the dry feed mix is delivered from the mixer 12 into a holding bin 28.

Downstream of the holding bin 28 the dry feed mix is discharged into a liquids adder 30. The liquids adder 30 comprises a tubular housing 31 within which is rotatably mounted a screw auger 32 driven by a motor 33 at one end of the housing 31. A feed inlet 35 is provided at one end of the housing 31. A pair of spaced-apart feed outlets are provided, namely a first outlet 36 on the housing 31 intermediate the ends of the auger 32 and a second outlet 37 at an end of the auger 32 remote from the inlet 35. A set of mixing blades 38 is provided on the auger 32 adjacent the inlet 35.

A liquid binder, in this case molasses, is stored in a molasses storage tank 40. When required molasses is pumped into a molasses holding tank 41 having a heater for controlling the viscosity of the molasses. A pump 44 is operable to deliver molasses from the holding tank 41 through a delivery pipe 42 to a molasses inlet 45 on the housing 31 adjacent the inlet 35. The speed of the pump 44 is variable to control delivery of molasses to the liquids adder 30. It will be noted that the molasses inlet 45 is directly above the mixing blades 38 on the auger 32 for rapid mixing of the molasses with the dry feed mix as it enters through the inlet 35.

The flow of dry feed mix from the holding bin 28 to the liquids adder 30 is monitored by a flow sensor 48 for controlling delivery of the molasses to the liquids adder in response to the sensed dry feed mix flow. The sensor 48 may conveniently be provided by a granuflow bulk flow detector manufactured by Endress and Hauser GmbH & Co. This provides for reliable and accurate continuous monitoring of the flow of dry feed mix for regulating the injection of molasses into the liquids adder 30. The heater of the holding tank 41, pump 44 and sensor 48 are all connected to a controller 49. If no dry feed mix is detected the pump 44 is stopped immediately to prevent delivery of molasses to the liquids adder 30 to minimise fouling. It will be noted that the delivery pipe 42 has a U-bend 43 adjacent the inlet 45 to prevent delivery of molasses in the pipe 42 into the liquids adder 30 when the pump 44 is stopped.

As the dry feed mix is delivered through the inlet 35 molasses is injected through the molasses inlet 45 and rapidly mixed by means of the mixing blades 38 with the dry feed mix to form an homogenous coarse animal feed. The animal feed is further mixed as it is delivered between the inlet 35 and the outlet 36, 37 of the liquids adder 30. The appropriate outlet 36, 37 is selected depending on the type of coarse feed being produced. Where possible, the intermediate outlet 36 is used so that less power is required.

The coarse animal feed discharged from the liquids adder 30 is delivered to a storage bin for take off and delivery on demand.

The invention provides an improved process for the production of a high quality coarse animal feed. It will be appreciated that unlike pelletised feed, the quality of coarse animal feed is readily discernable by the end user who can readily see the composition of the feed. Improved mixing of ingredient materials is achieved by the controlled molasses addition and rapid mixing of the molasses and dry ingredient materials at an inlet of the liquids adder, and the tendency for the molasses to cause clumping of the dry ingredient materials has been minimised. Fouling of machinery by molasses is minimised by controlling molasses injection in response to the sensed flow of material into the liquids adder and cutting off molasses supply to the liquids adder immediately when flow of ingredient material to the liquids adder is stopped or interrupted. Optimum power consumption is achieved for the liquids adder over a wide range of products by selection of the appropriate discharge outlet for each product.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment hereinbefore described which may be varied in both construction and detail.

Claims (6)

1. A coarse animal feed production process comprising the steps :delivering predesired quantities of selected bulk ingredient materials in turn from bulk ingredient storage bins to a mixer, sensing the weight of material in the mixer and controlling delivery of each bulk ingredient material to the mixer in response to the sensed weight of material in the mixer; weighing preselected additives into a tote bin, transporting the tote bin to the mixer and discharging the additives from the tote bin into the mixer; mixing the bulk ingredient materials and additives in the mixer to form an homogenous dry feed mix; delivering the dry feed mix from the mixer to a holding bin; discharging the dry feed mix from the holding bin into a liquids adder, injecting a liquid binder into the liquids adder at an inlet of the liquids adder and mixing the liquid binder with the dry feed mix within the liquids adder to produce a coarse animal feed, the liquids adder comprising a tubular housing within which is rotatably mounted a screw auger for delivering the feed mix between the inlet and an outlet of the liquids adder, a set of mixing blades being provided on the auger at the inlet for rapidly mixing the liquid binder with the dry feed mix adjacent the inlet; and discharging coarse animal feed from the liquids adder and delivering the coarse animal feed to a storage bin.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1 which includes the step of sensing the flow of dry feed mix between the holding bin and the liquids adder and controlling delivery of the liquid binder to the liquids adder in response to the sensed dry feed mix flow.

3. A process as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the liquids adder has two outlets, namely a first outlet on the housing intermediate the ends of the auger and a second outlet at an end of the auger remote from the inlet, the first outlet or second outlet being selected according to the nature of the feed mix being delivered through the liquids adder.

4. A process as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the additives tote bin comprises a support frame, a container mounted on the support frame having an inlet at a top of the container and an outlet at a bottom of the container, with side walls which taper upwardly and outwardly from the outlet, a gate valve mounted at the outlet to close the outlet, the gate valve being slidably movable between a closed position and an open position, and a pair of spaced-apart elongate horizontal sockets on the frame for reception of lifting forks of a fork lift truck for transporting the tote bin.

5. A process for producing a coarse animal feed substantially as hereinbefore described with 5 reference to the accompanying drawings.

6. . Coarse animal feed whenever produced according to the process as claimed in any preceding claim.