Rotor configuration for a rotary valve

Abstract

A rotary valve for metering the flow of particulate material from a supply source into the air stream of a pneumatic conveying system includes a central rotor manufactured through a precision casting process. The rotor is formed with a plurality of radially extending vanes terminating in tips that are flared circumferentially into the leading side of the vane to provide a flared vane tip that is preferably at least twice the thickness of the vane itself. The valve housing is formed with an elongated release port that has an overall length approximately equal to the length of the pockets formed between adjacent vanes to provide a more complete release of pressurized air from the pocket after the particulate material has been dropped into the pneumatic conveying system. The angled leading edge of the flared tips provides a less aggressive engagement with the particulate material to reduce damage thereto.

Description

[0001] Referenced related application [0002] This application claims domestic priority to US Provisional Patent Application No. 61 / 161,401, filed March 18, 2009, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. technical field [0003] The invention disclosed in this application relates generally to rotary valves for conveying particulate material to pneumatic conveying systems, and in particular to rotor arrangements that reduce air leakage on individual rotor blades resulting in air passing through the rotor. Leakage results in less air consumption and further leads to increased operating efficiency as measured by increased volume. Background technique [0004] Rotary valves are well known in the art as a mechanism for introducing a large flow of particulate material into a pressurized pneumatic conveying system. Pneumatic conveying systems use large volumes of compressed air through a pipe or tubular conduit to fluidize large volumes of particulate material ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Simply increasing the number of vanes reduces the air leakage problem, but also results in a reduction in the depth of the bag and the overall volume of the rotary valve in order to accommodate welding techniques

The thickness of the blades can be increased when the rotor is manufactured by welding techniques, however, this increase in blade thickness results in a corresponding reduction in the size of the chambers located between the radially extending blades and reduces the operating volume of the rotary valve when feeding granular material into the conduit

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