Patent · US Expired

Method for cleaning and sorting bulk material

US5733592A · kind A · utility

83Cited by
11References
18Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 24, 1996
Grant dateMar 31, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 24, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S209/939
  • WIPO fieldChemical engineering
  • WIPO sectorChemistry

Abstract

For cleaning foodstuffs in the form of a bulk material, such as cereal grains, rice grains, soybeans, sunflower seeds, coffee beans, and the like, there is provided an optical sorting device (24, 24a, 24a') subsequent to a precleaning system (6), which enables sorting on the basis of color and/or size and/or shape. Each particle of the bulk material is allocated to a particle class determined by parameters and conveyed on a supporting surface transporting the bulk material to a reception area (43, 44, 45) for the respective particle class. To clean the bulk material, impurities and bad particles are sorted out of the product, with the product being partitioned into classes, if required.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.