Patent ID: 11872593
Assignee: AGT-USA, INC.
Field: Chemical engineering (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 12:
13. A method of separating trichomes from plant stock, said method comprising:
providing the system of claim 1;
depositing plant stock comprising one or more of stems, stalks, leaves, flowers, at least one of which have trichomes attached, into the hopper, transporting the plant stock through a conveyor 34 while exposing the plant stock to the cryogen by spraying or washing cryogen over the plant stock, depositing the plant stock into a mill 35 and milling the plant stock while exposing the plant stock to a cryogen by spraying or washing cryogen over the plant stock,
depositing the milled plant stock into a first sifting tray assembly 2A of the system of claim 1; and
vibrating the first sifting tray assembly 2A to (1) separate a first population of small particles from the larger particle of the plant stock in the first tray, and (2) cause or facilitate movement of the larger plant stock particles downwardly, over the sifting screen 4 and within the upper enclosure 6 and toward the large particle outlet aperture 8 of the first sifting tray assembly 2A, and cause or facilitate movement of a first population of small particles downwardly within the pan bottom 3 of the first sifting tray assembly 2A toward the small particle outlet aperture 5 of the first sifting tray assembly, and spraying cryogen over the plant stock within the first sifting tray assembly 2A, or within the inlet or outlet tube 15 of the first sifting tray assembly 2A while vibrating and moving the stock toward the outlet apertures 5, 8 of the first sifting tray assembly 2A, passing the first population of small particles from the first sifting tray assembly 2A to a second sifting tray assembly 2B;
vibrating the second sifting tray assembly 2B to (1) separate a second population of small particles from the first population of small particles in the second sifting tray assembly, and (2) cause or facilitate movement of the larger plant stock particles downwardly, over the sifting screen and within the upper enclosure 6 and toward the large particle outlet aperture 8 of the second sifting tray assembly 2B, and cause or facilitate movement of a second population of small particles downwardly within the pan bottom 3 of the second sifting tray assembly 2B toward the small particle outlet aperture 5 of the second sifting tray assembly 2B, and spraying cryogen over the plant stock within the second sifting tray assembly 2B, or within the inlet or outlet tube 15 of the second sifting tray assembly 2B while vibrating and moving the stock toward the outlet apertures of the second sifting tray 2B assembly, passing the second population of small particles from the second sifting tray assembly 2B;
drawing the gaseous cryogen from the particle separation system with a first pump 50; and
operating the first pump to force the gaseous cryogen through a filter means 49 to remove any small particles entrained in the gaseous cryogen drawn from the particle separation system.