Solid material comminution or disintegration – Apparatus – Comminuting mounting means – frames or other normally...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-12
2001-05-08
Rosenbaum, Mark (Department: 3725)
Solid material comminution or disintegration
Apparatus
Comminuting mounting means, frames or other normally...
C241S001000, C241S301000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06227473
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to apparatus and methods of pulverizing materials into small particle sizes.
Reducing large, discrete materials into smaller particles is an important process for many industries. For example, in the mining industry, ores are crushed into smaller size particles to increase the available surface area so that metals can be extracted by chemical leaching. The cement industry grinds rocks into grains of various particle sizes. Most machines used for these purposes grind larger chunks of material into smaller particles with rollers or with a ball crusher. The crushed material is typically comprised of a range of particle sizes. Both types of machinery are massive and prone to breakdown when crushing hard materials. In addition, they have large power requirements.
The recycling industry also reduces waste materials into smaller particles. Typically, materials with different compositions must be separated prior to being reduced in size, making the process more costly.
The livestock industry produces a great deal of animal waste that must be dried and reduced in bacterial content, which process can takes weeks, before being used for fertilizer or other purposes.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect, the invention provides a rotor for an apparatus for pulverizing material comprised of wet or dry discrete objects into relatively smaller particles. The rotor includes a hub being adapted for coupling to a rotatable shaft for rotation therewith, and a rotor plate that is centrally coupled to the hub. The rotor plate has an approximately polygonal-shaped peripheral edge forming a plurality of apices. A plurality of vanes are positioned on a side of the rotor plate, wherein each of the vanes extends approximately radially inward from one of the apices. The rotor plate preferably has an odd number of sides, for example, the peripheral edge can have a shape being a member of the group consisting of a pentagon, a heptagon and a nonagon.
Each of the vanes can be positioned to provide a small overhang over the peripheral edge of the rotor plate, and positioned with respect to an apex of the rotor plate such that a leading surface of the vane, defined with respect to a direction of rotation, is at the apex. An end of each of the vanes being located near an apical corner can be shaped like the peripheral edge at that location. Each of the vanes can be curved in an arc, the concave side facing the direction for rotation. Each of the vanes can have an upper edge that is beveled such that the elevation of the upper edge generally increases with increasing distance from the hub. One type of rotor, a distributor rotor, can further include a ring fixed to the upper edges of the vanes, the ring having a regular polygonal shape being about aligned with the peripheral edge of the rotor plate.
The pulverizing apparatus, which can having at least one rotor as described above, can further include a housing having first and second ends, the first end including input structure being adapted to introduce the material into the housing, the second end including output structure adapted to remove the smaller particles. A rotatable shaft extends longitudinally through the housing between the first and second ends. The hub of each rotor is coupled to the shaft for rotation therewith. The housing can have longitudinally extending internal sides that form longitudinally extending interior corners where they meet. There may be an odd number of internal sides, for example, the sides can form a regular nonagon in lateral cross section.
The apparatus can further include an orifice plate positioned between each adjacently located pair of the rotors, each orifice plate extending inwardly from the internal sides of the housing to a central aperture which provides an orifice around the shaft. The orifices of at least two of the orifice plates can be of different sizes. In one configuration, the central aperture of each orifice plate has a diameter that is smaller than a circle defined by the locus of the apices of the rotor located immediately upstream from the orifice plate, the upstream direction being determined by a direction of movement of the material through the housing. In another configuration, the orifices generally increase in size with increasing distance from one of the first and second ends of the housing.
The apparatus can also include a plurality of circumferentially spaced members located proximate each of the rotors, wherein the members extend inwardly from the corners of the housing toward the rotors. The members can be configured as pins, which can be arranged to provide support to the orifice plates.
In a particular embodiment, the locus of the apices of each rotor defines a circle, and the circles generally increase in size with increasing distance from one of the first and second ends of the housing.
The distance between each orifice plate and the rotor positioned next nearest the first end of the housing defines a first spacing, the distance between each orifice plate and the rotor positioned next nearest the second end of the housing defines a second spacing, the distance between each pair of adjacently located orifice plates defines a third spacing, and the distance between each pair of adjacently located rotors defines a fourth spacing. In some embodiments, at least one of the first spacing, the second spacing, the third spacing, and the fourth spacing is non-uniform. One or more of the first spacing, the second spacing, the third spacing and the fourth spacing can be generally decreasing with increasing distance from the first end of the housing, and the orifices can be generally increasing in size with increasing distance from the first end of the housing.
In another aspect, the invention provides an apparatus for pulverizing material comprised of wet or dry discrete objects into relatively smaller particles, the apparatus includes a housing having a longitudinal central axis, the housing including a first end comprising input structure being adapted to introduce the material into the housing, a second end comprising output structure adapted to remove the smaller particles, and a longitudinally extending internal surface surrounding the central axis, the internal surface having sides meeting in longitudinally extending corners. A rotatable shaft extends substantially coextensively with the central axis. At least one rotor is positioned the housing and coupled to the shaft. Each rotor includes a hub being coupled to the shaft for rotation therewith in a plane transverse to the central axis, a rotor plate centrally fixed to the hub, and a plurality of vanes on a side of the rotor plate, each of the vanes extending about radially inward from a peripheral edge of the rotor plate. In one feature, orifice plates are positioned alternately with rotors, an orifice plate being arranged between each pair of adjacently located rotors. Each orifice plate extends inwardly from the internal side surface of the housing to a central aperture which provides an orifice around the shaft, the orifices being of more than one size. In another feature, a plurality of circumferentially spaced members are located proximate the at least one rotor, wherein the members extend inwardly from the side surface towards the at least one rotor. In yet another feature, the distance between each orifice plate and the rotor positioned next nearest the first end of the housing defines a first spacing, the distance between each orifice plate and the rotor positioned next nearest the second end of the housing defines a second spacing, the distance between each pair of adjacently located orifice plates defines a third spacing, and the distance between each pair of adjacently located rotors defines a fourth spacing. At least one of the first spacing, the second spacing, the third spacing and the fourth spacing is non-uniform.
In yet another aspect of the pulverizing apparatus of the invention, the housing defines a longitudinal central axis and includes a first plate at a first e
C. A. Arnold & Associates, Inc.
Rosenbaum Mark
Wainer Jonathan J.
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