Patent ID: 7556455

Claim:
In a conveyor, comprising a cyclic drive means transporting a carrying medium having at least one object entrained therein through an enclosed passage, said drive means interposed between upstream and downstream segments of said passage and comprising a first working zone in a negative drive cycle and a second working zone in a positive drive cycle; a method of optimizing at least one value of said object entrained carrying medium characteristic of said transporting of said object entrained carrying medium with respect to drive means energy consumption comprising: providing at least one shunt passage from said second working zone to said first working zone; flowing said object entrained carrying medium through said shunt passage from said second working zone to said first working zone thereby changing said at least one value of said object entrained carrying medium and the difference in magnitude between said cycles; modulating the flow through said shunt passage to optimize said at least one value with respect to drive means energy consumption, wherein said object is a fluid medium and performs a function of said carrying medium.