How do you calculate feeder capacity for a loss-in-weight system?

Multiply doses per cycle by available cycles for gross capacity, then multiply by uptime and yield. With 4 doses/cycle over 480 cycles at 90% uptime and 97% yield, good capacity is 1,676 units.

What is the difference between gross and good capacity?

Gross capacity (1,920 units in the example) is the theoretical cycle maximum. Good capacity (1,676) subtracts uptime loss and yield loss — here 192 units lost to downtime and about 52 to off-spec doses.

What is a good dose yield for gravimetric feeding?

Precision loss-in-weight feeders commonly hold 97-99.5% of doses within tolerance on free-flowing material. Cohesive or flooding powders can drop yield below 95%, where the yield-loss term starts to dominate.

Why is my delivered dose count lower than the cycle count suggests?

Because gross cycles assume every cycle runs and every dose is in spec. Uptime loss (missed cycles) and yield loss (rejected doses) both trim the total; the calculator separates them so you can attack the bigger one.

Feeder capacity vs. throughput rate?

Throughput rate is mass or length per unit time; feeder capacity here counts discrete good doses per shift. For batch dosing, dose count is the more actionable number because each dose is a fill event.

How do I improve good output capacity?

Attack the larger loss term first. In the example, 192 units lost to uptime dwarf the 52 lost to yield, so a bigger refill hopper or faster settle would recover more than tightening dose tolerance.

Weighing, Dosing & Loss-in-Weight Feeding calculator

Feeder Capacity Calculator

Feeder Capacity estimates how many good, in-spec doses a loss-in-weight feeder can deliver over a shift by taking gross cycle capacity and discounting it for mechanical uptime and dose yield. Loss-in-weight feeders are rate-limited by their refill-and-settle rhythm, so raw cycle count overstates what actually reaches the process. Planners, dosing-line engineers, and capacity modelers use this to right-size a feeder against a batch or continuous demand before committing to hardware. It matters because buying to gross capacity — ignoring the 3-10% you lose to downtime and out-of-tolerance doses — is how lines end up chronically short of a demand they were supposedly specced to meet.

What this calculator does

Feeder Capacity estimates how many good, in-spec doses a loss-in-weight feeder can deliver over a shift by taking gross cycle capacity and discounting it for mechanical uptime and dose yield.
Use it when feeder capacity in weighing, dosing and loss-in-weight feeding is being asked to take on more work and you need to know if there is room.
It computes good output capacity by multiplying doses per cycle by available cycles for gross capacity, then applying uptime and yield.

Formula used

Gross feeder capacity capacity = units per cycle × available cycles
Good capacity = gross capacity × uptime × yield

Inputs explained

Doses delivered per feed cycle:
Feed cycles available per shift:
Feeder mechanical uptime:
In-spec dose yield:

How to use the result

Use it when sizing or auditing a loss-in-weight feeder against a per-shift demand, or when reconciling why delivered doses trail the nameplate cycle rate.
It treats uptime and yield as independent multipliers; in reality a feeder starving from poor refill can hurt both at once, so the two losses may not add cleanly.

Common questions

How do you calculate feeder capacity for a loss-in-weight system? Multiply doses per cycle by available cycles for gross capacity, then multiply by uptime and yield. With 4 doses/cycle over 480 cycles at 90% uptime and 97% yield, good capacity is 1,676 units.
What is the difference between gross and good capacity? Gross capacity (1,920 units in the example) is the theoretical cycle maximum. Good capacity (1,676) subtracts uptime loss and yield loss — here 192 units lost to downtime and about 52 to off-spec doses.
What is a good dose yield for gravimetric feeding? Precision loss-in-weight feeders commonly hold 97-99.5% of doses within tolerance on free-flowing material. Cohesive or flooding powders can drop yield below 95%, where the yield-loss term starts to dominate.
Why is my delivered dose count lower than the cycle count suggests? Because gross cycles assume every cycle runs and every dose is in spec. Uptime loss (missed cycles) and yield loss (rejected doses) both trim the total; the calculator separates them so you can attack the bigger one.
Feeder capacity vs. throughput rate? Throughput rate is mass or length per unit time; feeder capacity here counts discrete good doses per shift. For batch dosing, dose count is the more actionable number because each dose is a fill event.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.