Liquid addition device for granular material

Abstract

To add liquid to a granular matter evenly.SOLUTION: A liquid addition device for a granular matter includes: a supply part for continuously supplying a granular matter; a rotary circular plate for dispersing the granular matter that is supplied to the top face around thereof; a straightening part for causing the dispersed granular matter to fall as a cylindrical flow; and a spray part for spraying liquid to the granular matter forming a falling cylindrical flow.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a liquid adding device for powder or granular material. [Background technology]

[0002] There is a technical demand for powder to contain a certain amount of liquid. For example, in geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste, the overpack is covered with a bentonite mixture made of sand and bentonite, and buried in bedrock to prevent contact between the overpack and the vitrified waste enclosed therein and groundwater, and to prevent leakage of radioactive materials to the outside for a long period of time. In this case, the amount of moisture contained in the bentonite mixture must be appropriately controlled in order to effectively compact the clayey bentonite mixture and perform construction so that moisture does not easily pass through.

[0003] Patent Document 1 describes a hydration device for powder or granular materials such as bentonite or its mixed soil. In this document, dry-kneaded bentonite mixed soil is dispersed concentrically by a cone-shaped member with an expanding diameter downward, and falls freely, and water is added to the soil by spraying water from multiple spray nozzles while the soil falls. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 5583564 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] When handling powdered or granular material that can become very sticky depending on the amount of liquid (water in this example) contained, such as bentonite mixed soil, it is difficult to control the flow of the powdered or granular material, as it may form dumpling-like lumps or adhere to walls, etc. Even with the water-adding device described in Patent Document 1, there was a risk of unevenness in the moisture content in some areas depending on the conditions.

[0006] This problem does not necessarily occur only when water is added to bentonite mixed soil, but can occur with any powder or granule whose properties change significantly when it contains any liquid, particularly powder or granule that becomes sticky. Examples of such powder or granule include food products such as grain flour and potato flakes, functional materials such as polymer compounds, and building materials such as cement raw materials.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to add a liquid evenly to powder or granular material. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The invention disclosed in this application to solve the above problems has various aspects, and representative aspects are outlined below.

[0009] (1) A liquid adding device for powdered or granular material, comprising: a supply unit which continuously supplies powdered or granular material; a rotating disk which disperses the powdered or granular material supplied to its upper surface around it; a shaping unit which causes the dispersed powdered or granular material to fall as a cylindrical stream; and a spray unit which sprays liquid onto the powdered or granular material forming the falling cylindrical stream.

[0010] (2) In (1), a liquid adding device for powdered or granular material, comprising a peeling device arranged at a predetermined distance from the upper surface of the rotating disk to prevent the powdered or granular material from adhering to the upper surface of the rotating disk.

[0011] (3) In the liquid adding device for powdered or granular material described in (2), the peeling tool is a linear material, the shaping unit has an outer guide having a cylindrical surface surrounding the rotating disk, and the linear material is fixed to the outer guide.

[0012] (4) In the liquid adding device for powdered or granular material described in (1), the shaping unit has an inner guide having an upwardly convex conical surface, the rotating disk is provided on the upper part of the inner guide, and a rotation drive mechanism for the rotating disk is provided inside the inner guide.

[0013] (5) In the liquid adding device for powder or granular material according to (1), the supply unit has an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the supply position of the powder or granular material on the upper surface of the rotating disk.

[0014] (6) In (5), the adjustment mechanism includes a detection unit that detects the dispersion state of the powder or granular material around the rotating disk, or the falling state of the powder or granular material as a cylindrical flow, or both, a control quantity acquisition unit that acquires a control quantity for adjusting the supply position of the powder or granular material based on the detection result by the detection unit, and an actuator that changes the supply position based on the control quantity. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] 1 is an elevational view showing the overall configuration of a powder / granular mixture manufacturing apparatus including a powder / granular liquid adding device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 1 is an elevational view showing a structure of a powder / granular material liquid adding device according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 3] 13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating a specific configuration example of an adjustment mechanism of a supply unit. [Figure 4] 4A to 4C are diagrams illustrating specific configuration examples of a rotating disk and a shaping unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] FIG. 1 is an elevational view showing the overall configuration of an apparatus 100 for producing a powder or granular mixture, including a powder or granular liquid adding device 500 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0017] The powder / granular mixture manufacturing apparatus 100 is a facility that is usually installed outdoors, and mixes one or more types of powder / granular materials uniformly and adds liquid to a specified content. The powder / granular mixture manufacturing apparatus 100 is configured by connecting powder / granular material supplying devices 200, 300, a mixing device 400, and a powder / granular material liquid adding device 500 with each other by a transfer device 600 such as a conveyor as appropriate, and by providing auxiliary equipment 700. The operating state of each device is monitored by a control device (not shown), and the operation of each device is controlled. The control device may be installed in a monitor room provided in a separate building or a temporary shed.

[0018] The powder / granular material supplying devices 200 and 300 weigh the powder / granular material prepared in advance and supply it onto the conveyor 601. The powder / granular material supplying devices 200 and 300 may be prepared for each type of powder / granular material to be mixed, and although two are provided in the example of FIG. 1, one or three or more may be provided. The weighed and supplied powder / granular material is continuously transported by the conveyor 601. That is, in the example of FIG. 1, the second powder / granular material is further supplied by the powder / granular material supplying device 300 onto the first powder / granular material supplied onto the conveyor 601 by the powder / granular material supplying device 200, and the two powder / granular materials are transported to the mixer 400 in an overlapping state. When the number of types of powder / granular material is three or more, the third, fourth, etc. powder / granular materials are similarly supplied onto the conveyor 601 and transported together by the conveyor 601.

[0019] The powder / granular material supplying apparatus 200, 300 measures the amount of powder / granular material to be supplied according to the liquid content of the powder / granular material to be supplied. The liquid content of the powder / granular material may be measured in advance or may be measured by the powder / granular material supplying apparatus 200, 300.

[0020] In this embodiment, the powder or granular material supplied by the powder or granular material supplying device 200 is sand, and the liquid to be added is water. The moisture content of sand varies greatly depending on the storage conditions (e.g., outdoors or indoors), the weather and climate (dry winter or wet rainy season), delivery conditions (e.g., how dried river sand or sea sand after washing has been), etc., and it is difficult to make this uniform. For this reason, the supply amount is controlled according to the moisture content of the sand, so that sand of the desired dry weight is supplied to the conveyor 601.

[0021] In this example, the powder / granular material supplying device 200 is configured to include a hopper 201 and a CFW (constant feedware) 202, and is configured so that the CFW 202 dispenses sand supplied and stored in the hopper 201 so as to supply a fixed amount onto a conveyor 601. Sand may be supplied to the hopper 201 using appropriate heavy machinery, automatic input from a silo, or the like. In addition, any sensor for measuring the moisture content of the sand in the hopper 201, such as a microwave moisture meter, may be provided.

[0022] In this embodiment, the powdered or granular material supplied by the powdered or granular material supplying device 300 is bentonite. The powdered or granular material supplying device 300 includes a silo 301 and a fixed-quantity hopper 302, and transports bentonite stored in the silo 301 to the fixed-quantity hopper 302 by a transporting device such as an appropriate powder pump, and then supplies a fixed amount of bentonite from the fixed-quantity hopper 302 onto the conveyor 601 in response to or in conjunction with the operation of the conveyor 601.

[0023] The moisture content of the bentonite is measured for each delivery lot, or the measurement results are inputted into the control device of the powdered or granular mixture manufacturing apparatus 100, and the hopper 302 is controlled so that a desired weight of bentonite is supplied onto the conveyor 601. Alternatively, similar to the powdered or granular material supplying apparatus 200, an appropriate sensor, for example, a microwave moisture meter, may be provided in the silo 301 or hopper 302 to directly measure the moisture content of the stored bentonite.

[0024] One or more types of powder or granular materials, in this embodiment, sand and bentonite, supplied at a predetermined weight ratio on a conveyor 601 are transferred to a mixer 400 .

[0025] The mixer 400 mixes the multiple types of powdered materials uniformly, that is, performs so-called dry mixing. Multiple types of powdered materials are fed into the upper part of the mixing tower 402 from an inlet 401 provided at the end of a conveyor 601, and are sufficiently stirred and mixed inside the mixing tower 402 before being discharged from the lower part of the mixing tower 402.

[0026] The mixing tower 402 mechanically mixes multiple powders and granular materials, and may be of any type. For example, it may be a so-called static mixer having fixed mixing blades inside, and multiple types of powders and granular materials charged into the mixing tower 402 are mixed together and uniformly mixed as they fall through the mixing tower 402 due to their own weight. Alternatively, the mixing tower 402 may be a power mixer having power-driven mixing blades inside, or a combination thereof.

[0027] The bentonite supplied by the powder / granular material supplying device 300 is usually handled in a dry state so that it can be easily handled as a powder / granular material, but the powder / granular material mixture discharged from the mixing device 400 contains a certain amount of liquid overall because the powder / granular material that constitutes the mixture contains a small amount of liquid that is natural or that originates from the manufacturing process or the storage / transportation state. In the example of this embodiment, the bentonite is mixed with sand that contains a small amount of water, so the bentonite-mixed soil as a whole has a certain amount of moisture content, becomes moist, and becomes sticky.

[0028] The liquid content of the powder / granule mixture as a whole is measured by a sensor 701 provided on the outlet side of the mixer 400. The form and type of the sensor 701 may be selected according to the liquid or powder / granule mixture to be measured. In this embodiment, for example, a microwave moisture meter may be used to measure the moisture content of the target.

[0029] A conveyor 602 is disposed below the mixing device 400, and this conveyor 602 conveys the powder / granular mixture to the upper part of the powder / granular liquid adding device 500. In the example shown in Fig. 1, the inclination angles of the conveyors 601, 602, and 603, which will be described later, are different from one another, but the inclination angles of the conveyors 601, 602, and 603 may be appropriately changed depending on the area of ​​the site where the device is installed, the amount and number of types of powder / granular material to be transported, properties, and types of the conveyors 601, 602, and 603, etc.

[0030] In addition, when only one type of powder or granule is used and mixing is not required, the mixer 400 may be omitted. In that case, the conveyor 601 may be directly connected to the top of the powder or granule liquid adding device 500.

[0031] The powder / granular material liquid adding device 500 adds liquid evenly to the powder / granular material or mixture of powder / granular material conveyed to its upper portion, and is composed of a supply section 503 having a hopper 501 and a CFW 502, a shaping section 504, and a spray section 505. The powder / granular material or mixture of powder / granular material conveyed to the powder / granular material liquid adding device 500 is given an appropriate amount of desired liquid while passing through the powder / granular material liquid adding device 500, and is discharged from its lower portion in an evenly added state. In this embodiment, the powder / granular material liquid adding device 500 adds water to a mixture of sand and bentonite to achieve a predetermined moisture content. The specific structure of the powder / granular material liquid adding device 500 will be described later.

[0032] The powder or mixture of powder to which the liquid has been appropriately added is conveyed by the conveyor 603 and dispensed. The dispensed powder or mixture of powder is collected by a conveying device, heavy machinery, transport vehicle, or the like (not shown) and used appropriately. A sensor 702 may be provided near the outlet of the powder / granule liquid adding device 500 or on the top of the conveyor 603, and may measure and monitor whether an appropriate amount of liquid is added by the powder / granule liquid adding device 500 and whether the liquid content is a predetermined content. When the liquid to be added is water as in this example, a microwave moisture meter may be used as the sensor 702. The measurement result by the sensor 702 may be used to judge whether the product obtained by the powder / granule mixture manufacturing apparatus 100 is good or bad, or to control (e.g., feedback control) the amount of liquid added by the powder / granule liquid adding device 500.

[0033] 2 is an elevational view showing the structure of the powder / granular material liquid adding device 500 according to this embodiment. For the sake of convenience, the internal structure, which is not visible from the outside, is also shown in the figure. In addition, the flow of the powder / granular material or the mixture of powder / granular material is indicated by black arrows in the figure.

[0034] The powder / granular liquid adding device 500 is equipped with a supply section 503 which continuously supplies powder / granular material (including a mixture of powder / granular material), a rotating disk 506 which disperses the powder / granular material supplied to its upper surface around it, a shaping section 504 which causes the dispersed powder / granular material to fall as a cylindrical flow, and a spray section 505 which sprays liquid onto the powder / granular material forming the falling cylindrical flow, and is an apparatus which adds liquid uniformly to the powder / granular material supplied to its upper section and discharges it from its lower section.

[0035] Supply unit 503 includes hopper 501 and CFW 502. Powder and granules are fed into hopper 501 by conveyor 602 (see FIG. 1), and are measured and dispensed by CFW 502 provided below it, and are supplied to the upper surface of rotating disk 506 through adjustment mechanism 507. Powder and granules that drop from the end of CFW 502 are led directly to adjustment mechanism 507.

[0036] The adjustment mechanism 507 adjusts the supply position of the powder dropping from the bottom of the hopper 502 onto the upper surface of the rotating disk 506. The specific configuration of the adjustment mechanism 507 will be described later.

[0037] The rotating disk 506 is a hard disk that is rotated by a power source such as an induction motor, and the powder or granules that have fallen onto its upper surface are urged toward the outer periphery by the centrifugal force generated by the rotation, dispersing them around the periphery. The rotation speed of the rotating disk 506 depends on the properties of the powder or granules, the diameter of the rotating disk 506, and other factors, so it is difficult to determine a specific value, but it is likely to be driven at several to several tens of rpm. When the powder or granules are a mixture of sand and bentonite as in this embodiment, the rotation speed is preferably 1 to 100 rpm, more preferably 2.5 to 75 rpm, and even more preferably 5 to 50 rpm. In this example, the diameter of the rotating disk 506 is approximately 200 mm to 500 mm.

[0038] At this time, it is desirable that the mass distribution of the powder or granules dispersed over 360° around the rotating disk 506 is uniform. This mass distribution depends on the momentum and the falling position of the powder or granules when they are supplied to the upper surface of the rotating disk 506. The above-mentioned adjustment mechanism 507 adjusts the supply position of the powder or granules on the upper surface of the rotating disk 506 so that the powder or granules are dispersed evenly around the rotating disk 506.

[0039] The powder dispersed in the centrifugal direction by the rotating disk 506 falls as a cylindrical flow due to the action of the shaping section 504. The shaping section 504 has an outer guide 508 having a cylindrical surface surrounding the rotating disk 506, and an inner guide 509 having an upwardly convex conical surface. The rotating disk 506 is provided above the inner guide.

[0040] The powder particles dispersed by the rotating disk 506 collide with the inner cylindrical surface of the outer guide 508 and fall downward, as shown by the black arrows in Fig. 2. Powder particles that are scattered toward the center due to collisions between themselves or by bouncing off the outer guide 508 collide with the conical surface of the inner guide 509 and slide down its surface to fall downward. As a result, the powder particles pass through the ring-shaped gap between the outer guide 508 and the inner guide 509, forming a cylindrical flow and falling.

[0041] The inner guide 509 may be provided with a cylindrical extension 510 extending vertically below the conical surface. The extension 510 is for suppressing radial movement of the powder or granule that has passed through the inner guide 509 so that the powder or granule does not scatter toward the center. The vertical length of the extension 510 is desirably long enough to suppress radial movement of the powder or granule. The specific configurations of the rotating disk 507 and the shaping unit 504 will be described later.

[0042] The powder or granule falling as a cylindrical flow is sprayed with liquid by the spraying section 505 provided below the shaping section 504, and a predetermined amount of liquid is added. The spraying section 505 is provided with a plurality of spray nozzles 511 from the center of the cylindrical flow of the falling powder or granule toward its inner periphery and from the outside of the cylindrical flow toward its outer periphery (in FIG. 2, only one spray nozzle is indicated by a reference number to avoid cluttering the illustration), and is configured to spray and add liquid. A plurality of spray nozzles 511 are arranged so that the liquid can be added evenly and in the required amount to the powder or granule, and may be arranged in a plurality of tiers in the height direction as shown in the figure.

[0043] A controlled flow rate of liquid is supplied from a flow rate control pump 513 to each spray nozzle 511 through a pipe 512. The amount of liquid supplied is determined based on the liquid content of the powder or granular material measured in advance and the flow rate per hour of the powder or granular material passing through the device for adding liquid to powder or granular material 500 so that the powder or granular material after passing through the device for adding liquid to powder or granular material 500 has a predetermined liquid content.

[0044] In this way, the liquid is sprayed evenly from the inside and outside of the powder and granules that are shaped into a thin, uniform cylindrical flow and falling, so that the liquid is evenly added to the powder and granules. The powder and granules to which the liquid has been added are then discharged to the bottom of the liquid adding device 500 for powder and granules through a chute 514 provided at the bottom of the spray section 505. The discharged powder and granules are carried out by the conveyor 603 shown in Fig. 1. It is also possible to have the powder and granules to which the liquid has been added fall directly from the spray section 505 onto the conveyor 603 without providing the chute 514.

[0045] 3 is a diagram showing a specific configuration example of the adjustment mechanism 507 of the supply unit 503. In the figure, the CFW 502 and the shaping unit 504 are shown by dashed lines to show their positional relationship.

[0046] The adjustment mechanism 507 has a fixed discharge tube 516 attached below the end of the CFW 502 via a flange 515 fixed to a facility structure (not shown), and a movable chute 517 arranged below the fixed discharge tube 516. The fixed discharge tube 516 is a short cylindrical member that guides the powder discharged from the end of the CFW 502 and falling under its own weight downward, and the movable chute 517 is a member that receives the powder that passes through the fixed discharge tube 516 and falls, and directs it using a funnel-shaped conical surface and discharges it from the bottom. The movable chute 517 is not directly fixed to the fixed discharge tube 516 but is suspended, so that its orientation and other posture can be changed to some extent in the air, and the position of the discharge destination of the powder discharged from its bottom can be adjusted. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the lower end of the movable chute 517 is notched diagonally and the opening shape is elliptical, but the opening shape may be circular by cutting it along a plane perpendicular to the conical surface.

[0047] Any mechanism may be used for controlling the attitude of movable chute 517, but in this embodiment, a bracket 518 provided on the outer periphery of fixed discharge tube 516 and a bracket 520 provided on the outer periphery of movable chute 517 are connected by linear actuator 519. The connection parts between bracket 516, bracket 520 and linear actuator 519 are supported so as to be pivotable. Since the overall length of linear actuator 519 can be changed according to an external command, the orientation of movable chute 517 can be freely changed.

[0048] In Fig. 3, the movable chute 517 is suspended by two linear actuators 519 provided at positions opposite to the center line of the fixed discharge tube 516, and the direction of the movable chute 517 can be changed in the plane of the figure, but instead, the movable chute may be suspended at positions that divide the center line of the fixed discharge tube 516 into thirds, i.e., at three points that form a central angle of 120° with each other, and linear actuators 519 may be used at two of the points to change the attitude of the movable chute 517 to any direction in the plane. In this case, a rod with a fixed length may be used at the remaining point, but linear actuators 519 may be used at all three points, and the positions of the suspension points do not necessarily have to divide the entire circumference into thirds exactly. Furthermore, the movable chute 517 may be suspended by four or more suspension points.

[0049] Furthermore, the linear actuator 519 may be an electric cylinder, or may be a hydraulic, water or pneumatic cylinder. Alternatively, a simple screw mechanism may be adopted so that an operator can manually adjust the connection length between the bracket 518 and the bracket 520. In this case, however, the automatic control of the adjustment mechanism 507 described below cannot be performed.

[0050] The adjustment mechanism 507 may further include a detection unit 521 and a control amount acquisition unit 522.

[0051] The detection unit 521 is an arbitrary device that detects the dispersion state of the powder around the rotating disk 506, or the falling state of the powder as a cylindrical flow, or both. In this embodiment, the detection unit 521 is specifically a digital camera, and transmits image data of the powder discharged from the lower part of the adjustment mechanism 507, falling onto the upper surface of the rotating disk 506, and being dispersed around it at regular intervals to the control amount acquisition unit 522. The digital camera used as the detection unit 521 may be a so-called video camera or a still camera. It is sufficient that an image can be acquired at each control cycle in the control amount acquisition unit 522, and the control in the powder liquid addition device 500 does not require a high speed response, so that the detection unit 521 does not usually need to acquire an image at an image acquisition speed of less than one second, and it is sufficient that the detection unit 521 can acquire images at intervals of several seconds to several tens of seconds. However, when a video camera is used as the detection unit 521, it can be used as a surveillance camera, so that the obtained video can be used not only by the control amount acquisition unit 522 but also by the operator for confirmation.

[0052] The configuration of the detection unit 521 is not limited to a digital camera. For example, the detection unit 521 may be a unit in which a plurality of load cells are arranged on the outer guide 508 of the shaping unit 504 or on the outer periphery of the chute 514 (see FIG. 2) to detect the bias of the force caused by the collision of the powder or granular material, thereby detecting the falling state of the powder or granular material as a cylindrical flow, or may be other devices or a combination of them. The detection unit 521 may be supported by an appropriate support member (not shown).

[0053] The control amount acquiring unit 522 is a device that acquires a control amount for adjusting the supply position of the powder or granular material based on the detection result by the detection unit. Any device may be used as the control amount acquiring unit 522, but it needs to have a computing capacity sufficient to acquire the control amount of the actuator for appropriately adjusting the supply position of the powder or granular material by the adjustment mechanism 507 based on the output of the detection result from the detector 521, and therefore a digital computer is used.

[0054] The control amount acquisition unit 522 may take the form of so-called edge computing, in which a device is arranged in the powder / granular liquid adding device 500 itself, or may take the form of communicating with a device with high computing power, such as a server computer arranged elsewhere. In the former case, the control amount acquisition unit 522 may use a small embedded computer, such as a PLC (programmable logic controller) or a single board computer. In the latter case, the server computer may be installed in a monitor room provided in a separate building or a temporary shed, or may use so-called cloud computing, in which a cloud server is used via an Internet line or the like.

[0055] Any information processing may be performed by the control amount acquisition unit 522 as long as it is based on an appropriate algorithm. However, it is difficult to immediately derive from an image showing the state in which the powder discharged from the lower part of the adjustment mechanism 507 falls onto the upper surface of the rotating disk 506 and is dispersed around it how to control the linear actuator 519, which is an actuator, so that the powder is uniformly dispersed around the rotating disk 506, and it is generally not easy to construct a deterministic algorithm.

[0056] Therefore, in this embodiment, the control amount acquisition unit 522 obtains the control amount from the image obtained by the detection unit 521 by an inference algorithm using machine learning. The control amount here may be a target value given directly to the linear actuator 519, or the center position of the powder / granule drop position directed by the movable chute 517 of the adjustment mechanism 507 may be set as the control amount, and the target value given to the linear actuator 519 may be obtained by calculation from the obtained center position using parameters determined by the mechanism.

[0057] Any known algorithm for machine learning may be used, but a DNN (deep neural network) can be preferably used, and in this embodiment, a CNN (convolutional neural network) is used. The machine learning model can be obtained by using a trained model that has been trained using the results of a previous experiment, or by using the bias of the falling state of the powder or granular material as a cylindrical flow falling from the powder or granular material liquid adding device 500, and by reinforcement learning.

[0058] The linear actuator 519 functions as an actuator that changes the supply position of the powder to the upper surface of the rotating disk 506, based on the control amount output from the control amount acquisition unit 522. As a result, the powder is dispersed evenly around the rotating disk 506, and falls as a uniform cylindrical flow all around.

[0059] 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of the configuration of the rotating disk 506 and the shaping unit 504. In the drawing, the adjustment mechanism 507 is shown by a dashed line to show the positional relationship.

[0060] The rotating disk 506 is a hard disk attached to the shaft end of the rotary drive mechanism 523, and is rotated in a horizontal plane. The material of the rotating disk 506 may be selected according to the properties of the powder and the amount of processing, but in this embodiment, stainless steel is used. The material of the rotating disk may be various materials such as various engineering plastics, FRP (fiber reinforced plastic), glass, ceramics, natural or artificial stone, as well as metal materials, and may be a material that has been subjected to an appropriate surface treatment such as coating. In this embodiment, the powder contains sand, and the rotating disk wears with use, so it is desirable to make it easy to attach and detach from the rotary drive mechanism 523 by, for example, bolting so that it can be replaced at an appropriate time.

[0061] The rotary drive mechanism 523 may be any mechanism capable of rotating the rotary disk 506 at a desired rotation speed. In this embodiment, a three-phase induction motor is used, but in addition to an induction motor, other types of motors such as a synchronous motor may be used. In addition, the rotary drive mechanism 523 is not necessarily required to be an electric motor, but from the viewpoints of space saving, maintenance saving, and ease of rotation speed control, it is convenient to use an electric motor. In addition, the rotary drive mechanism 523 and the rotary disk 506 may be directly connected, or may be connected via an appropriate reducer. The three-phase induction motor used in this embodiment is one equipped with a reducer.

[0062] A cylindrical outer guide 508 is provided so as to surround the rotating disk 506. The powder dispersed around the rotating disk 506 is intercepted by the outer guide 508 and falls naturally downward along the inner cylindrical surface.

[0063] At this time, if the rotation speed of the rotating disk 506 is excessive, and if the powder is sticky, the powder that is thrown outward with force may stick to the inner cylindrical surface of the outer guide 508 and accumulate, forming large lumps. In such a case, the lumps may become an obstacle, causing the powder to be dispersed unevenly around the rotating disk 506, or the lumps that fall irregularly may impair the uniformity of the cylindrical flow of the powder. In such a case, it is necessary to reduce the rotation speed of the rotating disk 506.

[0064] On the other hand, if the rotation speed of the rotating disk 506 is insufficient, the powder particles will not be sufficiently dispersed around the rotating disk 506, and may tend to remain on the upper surface of the rotating disk 506 or may not be evenly dispersed around the rotating disk 506. In such cases, it is necessary to increase the rotation speed of the rotating disk 506.

[0065] If the rotation speed of the rotating disk 506 is appropriate, the powder or granular material supplied to its upper surface receives sufficient centrifugal force from the upper surface of the rotating disk 506, is evenly dispersed around the periphery of the rotating disk 506, and is guided downward with almost no adhesion to the inner cylindrical surface of the outer guide 508.

[0066] The shaping section 504 is further provided with an inner guide 509 having an upwardly convex conical surface, which is coaxial with the outer guide 508. The powder and granular material dispersed by the rotating disk 506 that is scattered inward is guided downward along the conical surface of the inner guide 509, and falls vertically downward as a cylindrical flow from a ring-shaped gap formed between the lower edge of the inner guide 509 and the outer guide 508.

[0067] The rotation drive mechanism 523 is provided inside the inner guide 509 with its axis facing vertically upward. The rotating disk 506 is provided directly above, on the upper part of the inner guide 509, so as to cover the rotation drive mechanism 523. Therefore, the intrusion of powder and granular material from above the rotation drive mechanism 523 is prevented by the rotating disk 506, and the intrusion of powder and granular material from the sides is prevented by the inner guide 509.

[0068] A cylindrical extension 510 is connected to the lower edge of the inner guide 509 so as to be continuous with the lower end edge, so that the cylindrical flow of powder or granular material falls stably while maintaining its shape.

[0069] 4, a peeling tool 524 may be disposed at a predetermined distance, specifically, at a distance of about several mm, from the upper surface of the rotating disk 506. The peeling tool 524 is intended to prevent the powder or granular material from adhering to the upper surface of the rotating disk 506.

[0070] The peeling tool 524 is not limited in shape or structure as long as it can prevent powder particles from adhering to the upper surface of the rotating disk 506, but is preferably a wire-shaped material, and in this embodiment, it is a piano wire.

[0071] The type of the linear peeling tool 524 is not particularly limited, and may be a piano wire as shown in this example, or a flexible wire such as other steel wire or wire, or a rigid rod. The cross-sectional shape of the rod is arbitrary, and may be circular, polygonal such as triangular or rectangular, blade-shaped, or hollow. The material is not necessarily limited to metal, but from the viewpoint of avoiding breakage due to cutting, it is desirable to select a material that is highly tough and wear-resistant.

[0072] When the linear peeling tool 524 is stretched across the center of the rotating disk 506 in a plan view, the powder or granular material supplied to the upper surface of the rotating disk 506 will collide with the peeling tool 524 as the rotating disk 506 rotates, regardless of where on the upper surface of the rotating disk 506 it adheres due to its stickiness, and will be peeled off from the rotating disk 506 and dispersed around it.

[0073] The peeling tool 524 is preferably fixed to the outer guide 508. The outer guide 508 is provided with an attachment portion 525 for the peeling tool 524 at a position facing the center thereof, and the peeling tool 524 is fixed so as to be stretched across the outer guide 508 by utilizing the attachment portion 525.

[0074] 4, the attachment portion 525 is a hook, and both ends of a piano wire, which is a linear peeling tool 524, are fixed to the hook and stretched across the hook to fix the peeling tool 524. Note that the fixing method of the peeling tool 524 shown here is just one example. The peeling tool 524 may be fixed by any mechanism, such as a suitable fastener or clasp, and a tension adjustment mechanism that can adjust the tension applied to the peeling tool 524 may be provided. For periodic or irregular replacement of the peeling tool 524 due to deterioration over time such as wear, it is desirable that the peeling tool 524 is also fixed by a fixing method that allows easy attachment and removal.

[0075] A plurality of opposing sets of mounting portions 525 may be provided on outer guide 508, and the distance between peeler 524 and the upper surface of rotating disk 506 may be selectable from a plurality of options depending on which set is selected. The distance between peeler 524 and the upper surface of rotating disk 506 may be selected according to various conditions such as the properties of the powder or granular material and the processing amount per hour.

[0076] The above preferred embodiment has been described using an example in which water is added to a mixture of sand and bentonite as the powder or granular material. However, the specific shapes, materials, dimensions and other conditions of the components in the embodiment shown here may be modified and optimized according to the properties of the powder or granular material being handled. [Explanation of symbols]

[0077] 100 Powder and granular mixture manufacturing device, 200 Powder and granular material supply device, 201 Hopper, 202 CFW, 300 Powder and granular material supply device, 301 Silo, 302 Fixed amount hopper, 400 Mixing device, 401 Inlet, 402 Mixing tower, 500 Powder and granular material liquid addition device, 501 Hopper, 502 CFW, 503 Supply section, 504 Forming section, 505 Spray section, 506 Rotating disk, 507 Adjustment mechanism, 508 Outer guide, 509 Inner guide, 510 Extension section, 511 Spray nozzle, 512 Piping, 513 Flow rate control pump, 514 Chute, 515 Flange, 516 Fixed discharge tube, 517 Movable chute, 518 Bracket, 519 Linear actuator, 520 Bracket, 521 Detection section, 522 Control quantity acquisition unit, 523 rotation drive mechanism, 524 peeling tool, 525 mounting unit, 526 fixing tool, 527 nut, 600 transfer equipment, 601 conveyor, 602 conveyor, 603 conveyor, 700 ancillary equipment, 701 sensor, 702 sensor.

Claims

1. A supply unit that continuously supplies powder and granular material; A rotating disk that disperses the powder and granular material supplied to its upper surface around the rotating disk; A shaping section that causes the dispersed powder or granular material to fall as a cylindrical flow; a spray unit that sprays a liquid onto the powder or granule that forms the falling cylindrical flow; A liquid adding device for powder and granular material.

2. a peeling tool disposed at a predetermined distance from the upper surface of the rotating disk to prevent the powder or granular material from adhering to the upper surface of the rotating disk; 2. The liquid adding device for powder or granular material according to claim 1.

3. The peeling tool is a wire-shaped material, The shaping unit has an outer guide having a cylindrical surface surrounding the rotary disk, The wire is fixed to the outer guide. The liquid adding device for powder or granular material according to claim 2.

4. The shaping portion has an inner guide having an upwardly convex conical surface, The rotating disk is provided on the upper part of the inner guide, A rotation drive mechanism for the rotating disk is provided inside the inner guide.

2. The liquid adding device for powder or granular material according to claim 1.

5. The supply unit has an adjustment mechanism for adjusting a supply position of the powder or granular material on the upper surface of the rotating disk.

2. The liquid adding device for powder or granular material according to claim 1.

6. The adjustment mechanism includes: a detection unit that detects a dispersion state of the powder around the rotating disk, or a falling state of the powder as a cylindrical flow, or both; a control amount acquisition unit that acquires a control amount for adjusting the supply position of the powder or granular material based on a detection result by the detection unit; an actuator for changing the supply position based on the control amount; The liquid adding device for powder or granular material according to claim 5 , further comprising:

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