IES59852B2 - Animal foodstuff production - Google Patents

Description

The invention is directed towards providing a production system which is capable of producing a very wide range of animal feedstuffs in a high-quality and efficient manner.

According to the invention, there is provided a production system for animal feedstuffs, the system comprising : a set of input bins for reception of delivered raw materials; a conveyor system for conveying the raw materials from the input bin to a set of material bins; a weighing platform mounted beneath the raw material bins; a weighing controller connected to a conveyor system to control delivery of raw materials directly to a pre-set raw material bin associated with each particular raw material, the weighing controller being connected to outlet valves of the raw material bins and to load sensors of the weighing platform, the weighing controller comprising means for sequentially opening each valve for r appropriate raw material delivery onto the weighing platform in succession, each valve k being open until the load sensors detect a pre-set incremental weight on the weighing a meal molasses mixer at the outlet of the buffer bin and being connected to a conveying system to final production devices; a pellet cuber line connected for reception 5 of feedstuff from the buffer bin and comprising; a conditioner having means for agitating the feedstuff and injecting steam to bring the feedstuff to a temperature in the range of 40 10 to 50°C; an expander for reception of the output of the conditioner, the expander having means for cooking the feed by steam injection and by friction to bring the feedstuff to a 15 temperature in the range of 110°C to 120°C for a time period in the range of 20 to 30 seconds; a pellet mill connected after the expander for production of feedstuff pellets; a fan-driven cooler for cooling the pellets; a switch valve connected at the output of the cooler to allow delivery of pellets to a crumb machine; ♦ a sieve for the pellets, the outlet of the sieve having a re-cycling line for fines and Ϊ a direct output line; an enzyme-addition station in the direct output line, the enzyme-addition station Ideally, the controller comprises means for receiving interactive user inputs at a control panel for processing of the feedstuffs beyond the buffer bin.

In another embodiment, there is a live bin mounted between the weighing platform and the feeder for the grinder, the live bin having means for preliminary mixing of the raw materials, and preferably there is a pair of live bins mounted in parallel, and preferably there is a pair of grinders mounted in parallel.

Ideally, there is a magnetic metal detector mounted at the inlet of the grinder.

In one embodiment, the primary sieve comprises a brushing arrangement in which brushes are mounted centrally on a rotating shaft in the housing.

In another embodiment, the cuber line has an initial loading bin for reception of feedstuff from the buffer bin.

In a further embodiment, there is an auger feeder mounted between the loading bin and the conditioner.

Ideally, steam is injected into the conditioner of the cuber line at a pressure in the range of 3.5 to 4.5 bar.

In a still further embodiment, the conditioner of the cuber line comprises means for input of molasses to the feedstuff. ..

Ideally, the system comprises means for injecting steam at v a pressure in the range of 6.5 to 7.5 bar into the expander of the cuber line. elevator 2 conveys raw materials from the bin 1 upwardly into a conveyor system 3 for delivery of the raw material to a particular one of a set of raw material bins 5. Each raw material bins 5 is pre-set for storage of a particular 5 raw material and this is not changed without re-setting of parameters in the various controllers of the system.

There is an outlet valve 6 for each bin 5 and mounted directly beneath the valves 6 there is a weighing platform 7. A weigh controller, not shown, is connected to the 10 outlet valves 6 of the raw material bins 5 and to load sensors of the weigh platform 7. The weigh controller is constructed to sequentially open each valve 6 for delivery of each appropriate raw material for a particular batch in succession onto the weigh platform 7. Each valve is 15 opened until the weighing platform load or weight sensor detects a pre-set incremental weight on the platform 7.

Thus, the total batch unit weight builds up by sequential dumping of each additional raw material onto the platform 7 and there is no need to weigh each portion separately in 20 a separate device. This is very important for efficiency.

Another important aspect is the fact that individual batch units are weighed to initiate production of a single batch unit of animal feedstuff. An automated controller which primarily controls the parts of the system shown in Fig. 1 directs processing of a single batch unit with further batch units following immediately behind. Thus, a total batch run of, say 30 tonnes is produced in fifteen separate batch units, each of 2 tonnes. Each batch unit may be handled efficiently and more importantly, quality 30 may be more readily controlled by processing in this manner.

A conveyor 8 and an elevator 9 convey the weighed batch unit raw materials to a pair of live bins 11 having inlet valves 10. The live bins 11 are constructed to carry out 35 some grinder preparation work by breaking down and The output of the primary sieve 16 is delivered to a holding bin 17, which in turn is constructed to deliver the material into a mixer 18. The mixer 18 has a blender and an inlet for oil-based raw materials such as tallow. It has been found that oil-based raw materials such as tallow may be effectively admixed at this stage, after the grinding. Indeed, some such raw materials could prevent effective operation of a grinder by in effect clogging the mesh or screen of the grinder.

The system then comprises a buffer bin 19 to take the output of the mixer 18. The buffer bin 19 has a capacity for a single batch unit of 2 tonnes of animal feedstuffs.

The automated controller mentioned above operates to control the processing of a single batch unit from the raw material bins 5 to the buffer bin 19. This process is almost totally automatic with only minor portions being either interactive or manual, such as the addition of additives via the hoppers 14. This automatic, sequencing operation of the controller helps to provide efficiency as batch units may trail each other by only a single device. Thus, there may be one batch unit in the buffer bin 90, another in the mixer 18, another in the holding bin 17, another in the sieve 16 and so on. Thus, quite a large batch run of up to 30 tonnes of feedstuff may be processed quite efficiently, while at the same time achieving the advantages of individual control of small amounts of 2 tonnes. An important aspect of this system is the buffer bin 19 which is effectively the dividing line between a highly automated part of the system and the remainder of diarrhoea, higher feed consumption and better feed utilisation. For broiler feedstuffs, operation of the expander 39 may increase the percentage of metabolisation by 2-5%, depending on the raw materials. The expander 39 5 comprises a thick-walled mixing tube housing a worm shaft.

There is an adjustable cone at the outlet to form an annular gap. Steam is injected into the expander at a pressure of 7 bar, this alone being capable of bringing the feedstuff to a temperature of 90°C. However, there is 10 additionally a very large amount of friction in the expander and this friction together with the high pressures is sufficient to bring the feedstuff to a temperature of approximately 116°C and generally in the range of 120-130°C. These high temperatures are achieved 15 for approximately 20 to 25 seconds, this being the length of time the feedstuff takes to pass through the expander to the annular gap. The pressure applied by the expander cone ranges between 2 and 6 bar, depending for example on the level of tallow and fat generally in the feedstuff. 20 At the outlet, beyond the annular gap, the pressure of the feedstuff drops spontaneously, and the feedstuff expands and there is some flash evaporation. The flash evaporation leads to some drying. The next station is a pellet mill 40. The pellet mill is of conventional 25 construction and produces 3 mm pellets which are delivered into a cooler 41. The cooler 41 comprises a cooling bin and a fan 43 which draws air upwardly through the batch of pellets to cool them. The cooled pellets may then be fed to a crumb machine 44 which comprises a pair of adjacent 30 rollers for crumbling the pellets so that the feedstuff is free-flowing. The crumb and/or pellets may then be fed through a sieve 45 which outputs fines on an output duct 46 for re-circulation through the cuber line. A direct output line of the sieve 45 leads to an enzyme addition 35 station 47 which is described in more detail in Fig. 4. is at a pressure of 3 to 4 bar to heat the feedstuff to 65 - 85°C. There is generally a small additional increase in feedstuff temperature in the pellet mill 53 caused by friction of the plates and this may increase the r temperature by 7 - 10°C. Molasses are generally added at the conditioner 52 and depending on the nature of feedstuff being produced they may be added at the rate of 80 to 150 kg per 2 tonne batch unit.

The conveyor 33 leads to a third cuber line namely cuber 3, in which parts similar to those described with reference to the line cuber 2 are identified by the same reference numerals. Indeed, the line cuber 3 is quite similar to cuber 2 and is simply used to provide for additional production capacity by way of parallel production. In practice, different types of feedstuff are directed through one or other of the cuber lines, depending on the nature of the feedstuff and the potential problems which could be caused by particularly sensitive batches following batches which may affect them.

As shown in Fig. 3, the conveyors 32 and 31 lead to a packing station 60 and to a bulk handling station 70. The packing station 60 comprises a pair of packing bins 62 and 63 mounted in parallel and these are mounted to deliver feedstuff to a bagging plant 64. The bulk handling station 70 comprises a set of bins 71, each for storage of a pre-set type of animal feed and is mounted for delivery of the feedstuff directly a lorry driven in underneath.

Control of the production system from the buffer bin 19 r onwards is carried out in a semi-automatic manner. Human intervention is required for making decisions in many v instances such as the manner in which the feedstuff is routed to the various cuber lines and packing stations.

The system has been constructed to allow for maximtun

Claims (1)

1. A production system for animal feedstuffs, the y system comprising : a set of input bins for reception of 5 delivered raw materials; a conveyor system for conveying the raw materials from the input bin to a set of material bins; a weighing platform mounted beneath the raw 10 material bins; a weighing controller connected to a conveyor system to control delivery of raw materials directly to a pre-set raw material bin associated with each particular raw material, 15 the weighing controller being connected to outlet valves of the raw material bins and to load sensors of the weighing platform, the weighing controller comprising means for sequentially opening each valve for 20 appropriate raw material delivery onto the weighing platform in succession, each valve being open until the load sensors detect a pre-set incremental weight on the weighing platform, the total weight being that of a 25 single batch unit; a conveying system for conveying feedstuff «' from the weighing platform to a feeder for delivery of feedstuff into a grinder; a conditioner having means for agitating the feedstuff and injecting steam to bring the feedstuff to a temperature in the range of 40 to 50°C; an expander for reception of the output of the conditioner, the expander having means for cooking the feed by steam injection and by friction to bring the feedstuff to a temperature in the range of 110°C to 120°C for a time period in the range of 20 to 30 seconds; a pellet mill connected after the expander for production of feedstuff pellets; a fan-driven cooler for cooling the pellets; a switch valve connected at the output of the cooler to allow delivery of pellets to a crumb machine; a sieve for the pellets, the outlet of the sieve having a re-cycling line for fines and a direct output line; an enzyme-addition station in the direct output line, the enzyme-addition station having a reservoir hopper mounted over a mixer conveyor for delivery of a consistent feed quantity, the station further comprising a nozzle for spraying at a consistent rate enzymes into the feedstuff while it is being conveyed,