Solid material comminution or disintegration – Processes – With application of fluid or lubricant material
Patent
1997-10-20
1999-11-02
Husar, John M.
Solid material comminution or disintegration
Processes
With application of fluid or lubricant material
241 23, 241 27, 241 65, 2412613, 241DIG14, 241DIG31, B02C 702, B02C 712
Patent
active
059754400
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to mixing, and in this regard is concerned with mixers and mixing methods.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention is especially concerned with heavy-duty mixers and heavy-duty mixing methods that are capable of use where, for example, the resultant mix has a viscosity of some 3,000 poise (300 N/m.sup.2) or more. Such mixers and mixing methods are applicable, for example, in the mastication and blending of rubbers, in the mixing of rubbers with carbon black and other ingredients for vulcanisation, in incorporating plasticisers and other chemicals into polyvinyl chloride, and in mixing fillers into polyethylene and polystyrene. The known mixers and mixing methods used for such applications have practical shortcomings, and in this regard it is an object of the present invention to provide improved forms of mixer and mixing method.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a mixer wherein a first member that is mounted for movement relative to a second member has a grooved surface that is opposed to, and separated by a gap from, a grooved surface of the second member such that one or more grooves and lands of each grooved surface are traversed within the gap by one or more grooves and lands of the other surface during said movement of the first member for shearing and splitting material entered into the gap, and the grooves have outwardly-inclined walls, characterised in that the grooves of each member are also configured to draw the entered material progressively further into the gap forcing it along the grooves to well up for mixing distributively with material moving backwardly of the grooves in the gap.
There is also provided, according to another aspect of the invention, a method of mixing wherein material to be mixed is entered into a gap between opposed grooved-surfaces of two members and there is relative movement between the two members such that one or more grooves and lands of each grooved surface are traversed within the gap by one or more grooves and lands of the other surface so as to subject the material within the gap to shearing and splitting, and the grooves have outwardly-inclined walls, characterised in that the grooves of each member are also configured to draw the entered material progressively further into the gap forcing it along the grooves to well up for mixing distributively with material moving backwardly of the grooves in the gap.
The said surfaces of the mixer and the method of mixing of the present invention may be substantially planar faces and the relative movement may be rotational with the grooved faces opposed face to face with one another. Both members, or only one, may rotate, and the grooving of one or both of them may comprise one or more spiral grooves or parts of such grooves. The grooving in this latter regard may comprise a multiplicity of spiral grooves each of less than one turn, or, on the other hand, may comprise a multiplicity of straight grooves radiating from a position off-centre with respect to the axis of relative rotation of the two members. The grooves of the grooving, whether spiral or straight, are preferably of reducing width and depth inwardly of the respective members.
The use of grooved planar faces is convenient where batch mixing is to take place, but where mixing is to take place as a continuous process, it is generally more appropriate for the grooved surfaces to be coaxial with one another, with rotation between them being about their common axis. The two surfaces may be cylindrical and may be grooved helically.
The mixer and mixing method of the present invention are advantageous in providing for shearing and splitting of the material entered into the gap between the two grooved members. The shearing and splitting that arises from the traversing of the grooves and lands of the two surfaces over one another, separates small elements of the material from one another to enhance the mixing that arises from the distribution of the material in larger bulk within the gr
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