Patent ID: 7661909

Claim:
A method of powdering a substance in powder form, the method comprising: admitting gas under pressure through an orifice formed in the bottom portion of a tank of substance in powder form; guiding the admitted gas into an internal tube connected to the gas admission orifice and passing through the powder stored in the tank; causing the gas traveling along the internal tube to entrain powder through openings formed in the wall thereof; and extracting from the tank a gas-and-powder flow through a tank outlet in the top portion of the tank, wherein the mixture of gas and powder traveling along the internal tube is guided to the top portion of the tank and is directed substantially towards a side wall of the tank in such a manner as to set up a gas-and-powder stream traveling through a volume situated inside the tank above the powder stored in the tank, prior to extracting the gas-and-powder flow through the tank outlet, and wherein the gas-and-powder mixture traveling along the internal tube is directed towards the side wall of the tank in a direction that is substantially opposite from the direction in which the tank outlet opens out into the inside of the tank.