Apparatus mixing, filtering, reacting and drying materials

Details Apparatus mixing, filtering, reacting and drying materials Apparatus mixing, filtering, reacting and drying materials

1998-06-24

2001-09-18

Walker, W. L. (Department: 1723)

Agitating

Having interrelated feed and discharge means

Including means to monitor or control operation

C366S144000, C366S145000, C366S147000, C366S149000, C366S139000, C366S278000, C366S276000, C366S309000, C366S313000, C366S325400

Reexamination Certificate

active

06290383

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for processing materials including mixing, drying, reacting and filtering.
BACKGROUND ART
FIGS. 1
illustrates an apparatus
10
which is disclosed in the Assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,484 which is incorporated herein by this reference in its entirety. The apparatus
10
continually processes liquids and/or solids (materials) including mixing, drying or reacting. A chamber
12
is used for processing of materials. The chamber
12
is comprised of a plurality of zones
14
,
16
,
18
which may be varied in number and dimension depending upon the particular application and the degree of processing required. The apparatus is supported by a stand
19
. The zones
14
,
16
,
18
are defined by an inner wall
20
of the chamber
12
and weir
22
which is disposed at a boundary between zones within the chamber. An opening
24
extends vertically upward from the weir
22
between adjacent zones within the chamber
12
for permitting the materials to pass from one zone to an adjacent zone. The opening may be produced by a manually adjustable gate
26
which slides horizontally to permit adjustment of the opening
24
. A shaft
32
is driven by a motor and gear box (prime mover)
34
for rotating a series of elements
36
which are connected to the shaft by radially extending members
38
. The shaft
32
is rotatably supported by bearings
33
. The elements
36
contact the material within the zones
14
,
16
,
18
to promote mixing, drying, and reacting, etc., of the materials within the zones. The elements
36
may have differing shapes promoting agitation, mixing, drying and reactions by moving material contacted by moving elements
36
. The design, number and orientation of the mixing elements within each of the zones
14
,
16
,
18
is varied to control retention time of the matter within the zones. Contacting of the elements
36
with the materials within the zones controls the rate of movement of the material through the opening
24
between the zones and axially within a zone. Each of the elements
36
typically will have substantial surface area
37
which is inclined with respect to the axis of rotation of the shaft
32
to provide a plow-like function to move the material axially within the zone toward the opening
24
.
Increasing of the rate of rotation of the shaft imparts additional energy to the materials within each of the zones
14
,
16
,
18
which increases the rate of movement of the materials through the opening
24
between the zones and decreasing the rate of rotation Decreases the rate of movement of materials through the opening. Additionally, the opening
24
between adjacent zones may be adjusted to be larger to increase the rate of movement of materials through the opening and may be adjusted to be smaller to decrease the rate of movement of materials through the opening.
A programmed controller
40
, having an electrical control and logic panel, which may be in the form of a programmed control logic, controls the operation of the various components in the system including the rate of rotation of the shaft
32
produced by the prime mover
34
. The programmed controller
40
may be programmed to control a rate of rotating of the shaft by the prime mover
34
to produce programmed contact of the elements
36
with the materials within the zones
14
,
16
,
18
, a programmed rate of movement of the materials through the opening
24
between the zones and axially within a zone and a programmed dwell time of materials within each zone. The controller is programmable to cause the prime mover
34
rotating the shaft
32
for a first time interval at a lower speed to provide a lower rate of movement of the materials through the opening
24
between zones
14
,
16
,
18
, a longer dwell time of a processing of the materials within the zones and to rotate the shaft for a second time interval at a higher speed than the lower speed to provide a higher rate of movement of the materials through the opening between the zones and a shorter dwell time of processing of materials within the zone. Alternatively, the controller
40
is programmable to cause the prime mover to rotate the shaft at a set speed to provide a continuous rate of processing and movement of materials through the opening between zones. The controller
40
may be implemented in any programmable device including a microprocessor or other programmable analog or digital device. The controller
40
includes a memory (not illustrated) for storing a plurality of different programs used for processing different materials which provides the ability to choose stored programs to economically process diverse types of materials without substantial manual overhead, especially when the controller controls all of the variable elements within the apparatus as described below.
A material input
42
controls the flow of materials to be processed by the apparatus and controls the addition of the materials into the first zone
14
and a material output
44
controls the flow of materials which has been finally processed in the final processing zone
18
from the apparatus. Both the material input and the material output
42
and
44
are atmospherically sealed to the chamber
12
with seals (not illustrated) so that non-atmospheric conditions may be provided within the material input, the material output and inside of the chamber during processing. A non-atmospheric pressure source
45
is coupled to the interior of the chamber
12
at one or more of the zones
14
,
16
,
18
or to the material input
42
or material output
44
to provide either a vacuum to promote drying and the removal of other vapors within the materials being processed or pressurization with gas used for processing materials within the chamber such as during chemical reactions within the chamber. The material input
42
and the material output
44
are provided with valuing to control the addition of materials for processing within the chamber and the removal of processed materials from the chamber while maintaining non-atmospheric pressure. The valving in the material input
42
and the material output
44
may be a pair of valves
46
and
48
which are connected in series in conduit within the material input
42
and the material output
44
.
The valves
46
and
48
may be of diverse form including, but not limited to, slide gate valves as illustrated or ball or butterfly valves, etc. In order to control the pressure within the chamber
12
at non-atmospheric pressure, the valves
46
and
48
are operated under the control of the controller
40
to control movement of the materials through the material input
42
into the first zone
14
.
The lower valve
48
in the material input
42
is controlled by the controller
40
to be closed while the upper valve
46
is controlled by the controller
40
to be open to seal the chamber
12
from atmospheric pressure and the hopper
106
during conveying of materials by the material input for addition to the first zone
14
. Thereafter, the upper valve
48
is closed by the controller
40
to seal the materials conveyed by the material input from atmospheric pressure between the upper and lower valves. Finally, the lower valve
48
is opened by the controller
40
to cause the materials between the lower and upper valves to be added to the first zone
14
. The above-described sequence of operation of the valves in the material output
42
is repeated cyclically during the continuous processing performed by the invention.
The lower valve
48
in the material input
44
is controlled by the controller
40
to be closed while the upper valve
46
in the material output is opened during discharge of materials from the last zone
18
. Thereafter, the upper valve
46
in the material output
44
is closed by the controller
40
to seal the discharged materials between the valves from atmospheric pressure. Finally, the lower valve
48
is opened to cause the materials between the lower and upper valves
46
and
48
of the materi

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