Variable flow field ruminant feed mixing mechanism

Abstract

This invention discloses a variable flow field ruminant feed mixing mechanism, which includes a mixing cylinder with a mixing chamber. A main shaft is rotatably connected to the lower part of the mixing cylinder. Several first main helical blades and second main helical blades are arranged in the direction of outward from the center of the main shaft. A first side shaft and a second side shaft are rotatably connected inside the mixing cylinder above the main shaft. Several first left-side helical blades and first right-side helical blades are arranged in the direction of outward from the center of the first side shaft, with opposite helical directions. Several second left-side helical blades and second right-side helical blades are arranged in the direction of outward from the center of the second side shaft. The second left-side helical blades and the first left-side helical blades convey the material in the same direction, while the conveying directions of the first main helical blades and the first left-side helical blades are opposite. This invention has a good mixing effect.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of feed mixing technology, and in particular to a variable flow field ruminant feed mixing mechanism. Background Technology

[0002] The research and development and production of ruminant feed has long been a weak link in the development of my country's feed industry. In recent years, with the optimization of agricultural production structure and the improvement of people's consumption levels, the price of high-quality protein resources provided by ruminants has remained high, while supply cannot meet demand. Therefore, large-scale ruminant farming has increasingly become an inevitable trend concerning national nutrition and health and national food security. From another perspective, ruminants are primarily grass-fed, so improving their feeding methods is also related to major national strategic needs such as forestry and grassland carbon sequestration and the green and sustainable development of ruminant farming.

[0003] Total Mixed Ration (TMR) is a modern ruminant feeding technology developed and promoted in countries with advanced ruminant husbandry techniques, such as the Netherlands, the United States, and Israel. Its core technical requirement is the thorough mixing of roughage, concentrates, and other additives to provide ruminants with a stable ratio of roughage to concentrates and a consistent nutrient concentration. TMR feeding technology not only prevents ruminants from being picky eaters, reduces mortality, and improves feed conversion ratios, but also effectively avoids the complex processes of traditional roughage processing, significantly reducing labor and production costs and increasing the utilization rate of agricultural waste resources such as straw. Therefore, TMR feeding technology is currently the most suitable large-scale, grain-saving, green, and low-carbon ruminant feeding model for my country.

[0004] The mixing performance of a total mixed ration (TMR) mixer is crucial for the successful implementation of TMR feeding technology. Previously, due to the generally small scale of ruminant farming and the late development of TMR technology in China, most farmers relied on manual mixing. With the popularization of TMR technology and the continuous expansion of farming scale, vertical spiral TMR mixers imported from the Netherlands and the United States have dominated the domestic market in recent years. However, imported equipment is expensive, has high maintenance costs, and generally requires large power supplies, deterring many farmers. To meet domestic market demand, my country has successively launched horizontal spiral TMR mixers with different power matching, significantly reducing farmers' purchase costs. However, due to severe equipment wear and tear, annual expenditures exceeding tens of thousands of yuan are required to replace key components within the mixer, making subsequent maintenance costs unaffordable for many small farms. To address the aforementioned issues, scholars both domestically and internationally have proposed various novel total mixed ration (TMR) mixer designs, such as paddle-type and blade-plate-type TMR mixers. These design prototypes primarily draw upon commonly used and advantageous mixer models in the food, metallurgy, and pharmaceutical industries. Their working principle involves the mixing device rotating at high speed to create a high-shear flow field within the mixing chamber, thereby enabling multi-component convection and high-speed diffusion of the material under high shear. For highly fluid particles or fluids, enhancing convection and diffusion is fundamental to achieving uniform mixing during shear-dominated mixing processes. However, for easily agglomerated materials such as ruminant feed, strong convection often causes roughage such as straw to clump together, preventing small-scale concentrates from fully mixing with the agglomerated roughage. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The purpose of this section is to outline some aspects of embodiments of the present invention and to briefly describe some preferred embodiments. Simplifications or omissions may be made in this section, as well as in the abstract and title of this application, to avoid obscuring the purpose of these documents; however, such simplifications or omissions should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.

[0006] Therefore, the present invention solves the problem in the prior art that the components that are prone to tangling during the mixing of ruminant feed become "more tangled and more knotted the more they are stirred," thus making it difficult to mix concentrate and roughage evenly.

[0007] This invention provides a variable flow field ruminant feed mixing mechanism, in which the spiral blades on the main shaft and the spiral blades on the side shaft convey the material in opposite directions to achieve cyclic shearing and mixing of the material, thereby improving the mixing effect.

[0008] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present invention provides the following technical solution: a variable flow field ruminant feed mixing mechanism, comprising a mixing cylinder with a mixing chamber, a main shaft rotatably connected to the lower part of the mixing cylinder, a plurality of first main helical blades and second main helical blades respectively arranged in the outward direction at both ends of the axial center of the main shaft, the first main helical blades and the second main helical blades rotating in opposite directions, a first side shaft and a second side shaft rotatably connected inside the mixing cylinder above the main shaft, a plurality of first left-side helical blades and first right-side helical blades respectively arranged in the outward direction at both ends of the axial center of the first side shaft, the first left-side helical blades and the first right-side helical blades rotating in opposite directions, a plurality of second left-side helical blades and second right-side helical blades respectively arranged in the outward direction at both ends of the axial center of the second side shaft, the second left-side helical blades and the second right-side helical blades rotating in opposite directions, the second left-side helical blades and the first left-side helical blades conveying materials in the same direction, the first main helical blades and the first left-side helical blades conveying materials in opposite directions.

[0009] As a preferred embodiment of the variable flow field ruminant mixing mechanism of the present invention, the first side shaft and the second side shaft are centrally symmetrically arranged about the radial direction of the main shaft.

[0010] To improve the mixing effect, a first stretching and kneading space is provided between the end of the first left helical blade located near the axial center of the first side shaft and the end of the first right helical blade located near the axial center of the first side shaft.

[0011] To improve the mixing effect, a second stretching and kneading space is provided between the end where the second left helical blade is located near the axial center of the second side axis and the end where the second right helical blade is located near the axial center of the second side axis.

[0012] To further improve the mixing effect, two first mixing platforms are connected to the first side shaft at the first stretching and kneading space, which are spaced apart in the axial direction. The two first mixing platforms are respectively connected to the two ends of the first side shaft in the radial direction. The outer diameter of the left first mixing platform increases from left to right, and the outer diameter of the right first mixing platform increases from right to left.

[0013] To further improve the mixing effect, two second mixing platforms are connected to the second side shaft at the second stretching and kneading space, which are spaced apart in the axial direction. The two second mixing platforms are respectively connected to the two ends in the radial direction of the second side shaft. The outer diameter of the left second mixing platform increases from left to right, and the outer diameter of the right second mixing platform increases from right to left. The first mixing platform and the second mixing platform are centrally symmetrical about the first side shaft and the second side shaft.

[0014] As a preferred embodiment of the variable flow field ruminant mixing mechanism of the present invention, there is a gap between the first main helical blade close to the center of the main shaft and the second main helical blade close to the center of the main shaft.

[0015] The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows: A shearing and mixing zone is formed between the left and right spiral zones on the main shaft, the left and right spiral zones on the side shafts, and the inner wall of the mixing drum, targeting the ruminant feed to be mixed, thus achieving shearing and mixing of the materials. A contraction channel is periodically formed on the side of the mixing table, the inner wall of the mixing drum, and between the two side shafts. The ruminant feed to be mixed enters the contraction channel under the drive of the lower main shaft, thereby achieving a stretching effect on the tangled materials. The materials to be mixed move towards the middle stretching and kneading zone under the drive of the spiral blades on the main shaft, and towards the left and right ends of the mixing drum under the drive of the left and right spiral blades on the side shafts, respectively. During this process, the materials to be mixed circulate into the shearing and mixing zone and the stretching and mixing zone, achieving a variable flow field mixing process of coordinated shearing and stretching. This allows easily tangled ruminant roughage to separate under the stretching effect and be fully mixed with small-scale concentrate, resulting in a uniformly mixed total mixed ration (TMR). Attached Figure Description

[0016] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings used in the following description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort. Wherein:

[0017] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the design theory of the present invention.

[0018] Figure 2 This is a perspective front view schematic diagram of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 3 for Figure 2 View from point AA.

[0020] Figure 4 for Figure 2 View from point BB.

[0021] Figure 5 for Figure 2 The view at CC.

[0022] Figure 6 for Figure 2 The view at point DD.

[0023] Figure 7 The above is a qualitative effect diagram of a simulation example of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 8This is a structural diagram of a traditional ruminant feed mixing mechanism that primarily uses pure shearing.

[0025] In the diagram: 1 First main helical blade, 2 Main shaft, 3 First side shaft, 4 First left helical blade, 5 First mixing platform, 6 Second main helical blade, 7 First right helical blade, 8 Mixing cylinder, 9 Second side shaft, 10 Second left helical blade, 11 Second mixing platform, 12 Second right helical blade, a Mixing chamber, b Second groove, c First groove, d First stretching and kneading space, e Second stretching and kneading space. Detailed Implementation

[0026] To make the above-mentioned objects, features and advantages of the present invention more apparent and understandable, the specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0027] Many specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a full understanding of the invention. However, the invention may also be practiced in other ways different from those described herein, and those skilled in the art can make similar extensions without departing from the spirit of the invention. Therefore, the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

[0028] Secondly, the term "one embodiment" or "embodiment" as used herein refers to a specific feature, structure, or characteristic that may be included in at least one implementation of the present invention. The phrase "in one embodiment" appearing in different places in this specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor is it a single or selective embodiment that is mutually exclusive with other embodiments.

[0029] Example 1

[0030] Reference Figures 1-6 This is the first embodiment of the present invention, which provides a variable flow field ruminant feed mixing mechanism that can improve the dispersion and mixing effect of ruminant feed.

[0031] A variable flow field ruminant mixing mechanism includes a mixing cylinder 8 with a mixing chamber a. A main shaft 2 is rotatably connected to the lower part of the mixing cylinder 8. A plurality of first main helical blades 1 and second main helical blades 6 are arranged outwards from the center of the main shaft 2, with opposite rotation directions. A gap exists between the first main helical blades 1 and the second main helical blades 6, which are close to the center of the main shaft 2. A first side shaft 3 and a second side shaft 9 are rotatably connected inside the mixing cylinder 8 above the main shaft 2. The first side shaft 3 and the second side shaft 9 are centrally symmetrical about the radial direction of the main shaft 2. A plurality of first left-side helical blades 4 and first right-side helical blades 7 are arranged outwards from the center of the first side shaft 3, with opposite rotation directions. A plurality of first left-side helical blades 4 and a plurality of first right-side helical blades 7 are sequentially connected along the first side shaft 3. Together, the gap between the leftmost first left-side spiral blade 4 and the inner wall of the mixing drum 8 is between 60-120mm, and the gap between the rightmost first right-side spiral blade 7 and the inner wall of the mixing drum 8 is between 60-120mm. Several second left-side spiral blades 10 and second right-side spiral blades 12 are arranged on the second side shaft 9 in the direction of outward from the center. Several second left-side spiral blades 10 and several second right-side spiral blades 12 are connected together along the second side shaft 9. The gap between the leftmost second left-side spiral blade 10 and the inner wall of the mixing drum 8 is between 60-120mm, and the gap between the rightmost second right-side spiral blade 12 and the inner wall of the mixing drum 8 is between 60-120mm. The spiral directions of the second left-side spiral blades 10 and the second right-side spiral blades 12 are opposite. The second left-side spiral blades 10 and the first left-side spiral blade 4 convey the material in the same direction, while the conveying directions of the first main spiral blade 1 and the first left-side spiral blade 4 are opposite.

[0032] In implementation, feed inlets can be opened on the left and right sides of the upper end of the mixing drum 8, and discharge outlets can be opened at the lower end of the mixing drum 8. Under normal circumstances, the discharge outlets are sealed before the mixing ends. The feed inlets and discharge outlets are not shown in this application, as they are prior art. During operation, the main shaft 2, the first side shaft 3, and the second side shaft 9 rotate in opposite directions. The material is fed into the mixing drum 8 through the two feed inlets. By controlling the rotation direction of the first side shaft 3 and the second side shaft 9, the first left spiral blade 4 and the first right spiral blade 7 can be used to push the material towards... The material is conveyed in the central direction by the first side shaft 3. Under its own weight, the material will fall into the area where the main shaft 2 is located. The main shaft 2 is controlled to rotate. The first main spiral blade 1 and the second main spiral blade 6 convey the material to both sides. After the feeding is completed, the side shaft and the main shaft 2 rotate in opposite directions. The left and right spiral blades on the side shaft convey the material to both sides respectively, and the left and right spiral blades on the main shaft 2 convey the material to the center respectively. The left and right spiral areas on the main shaft 2, the left and right spiral areas on the side shaft and the inner wall of the mixing drum 8 form a shearing and mixing zone for the ruminant feed to be mixed, realizing the shearing and mixing effect on the material.

[0033] Specifically, a first stretching and kneading space d exists between the end of the first left helical blade 4 located near the axial center of the first side shaft 3 and the end of the first right helical blade 7 located near the axial center of the first side shaft 3. Two first stirring and mixing platforms 5, spaced apart in the axial direction, are connected to the first side shaft 3 at the first stretching and kneading space d. The two first stirring and mixing platforms 5 are respectively connected to the two ends of the first side shaft 3 in the radial direction. The outer diameter of the left stirring and mixing platform 5 increases from left to right, and the outer diameter of the right stirring and mixing platform 5 increases from right to left. The maximum diameter of the first stirring and mixing platform 5 is equal to the diameter of either the first left helical blade 4 or the second right helical blade 12. Several first grooves c are arranged on the outer periphery of the first stirring and mixing platform 5. The minimum diameter of the first stirring and mixing platform 5... The distance between the plane containing the first left helical blade 4 and the nearest end point is between 5-10 mm; the distance between the plane containing the minimum diameter of the second mixing platform 11 and the nearest end point of the first right helical blade 7 is between 5-10 mm; in the direction of the line connecting the axes of the first side shaft 3 and the second side shaft 9, the distance between the first left helical blade 4 and the second left helical blade 10 is between 10-20 mm; the gap between the first main helical blade 1, the second main helical blade 6 and the inner edge of the mixing cylinder 8 is between 30-100 mm; the gap between the end point of the first main helical blade 1 near the center of the main shaft 2 and the end point of the second main helical blade 6 near the center of the main shaft 2 does not exceed 10 mm; and the gap between each side helical blade and the inner edge of the mixing cylinder 8 is between 60-120 mm.

[0034] A second stretching and kneading space e is located between the end of the second left helical blade 10 near the axial center of the second side shaft 9 and the end of the second right helical blade 12 near the axial center of the second side shaft 9. Two second mixing platforms 11, spaced apart in the axial direction, are connected to the second side shaft 9 at the second stretching and kneading space e. Several second grooves b are arranged on the outer periphery of each mixing platform 11. The grooves increase the friction between the material and the mixing platform, thereby increasing the resistance to the material flowing through the stretching and kneading space, resulting in stronger friction when easily tangled coarse feed flows through the stretching and kneading space. The stretching and entanglement effect; the two second mixing platforms 11 are respectively connected to the two ends of the second side shaft 9 in the radial direction. The outer diameter of the left second mixing platform 11 increases from left to right, and the outer diameter of the right second mixing platform 11 increases from right to left. The maximum diameter of the second mixing platform 11 is equal to the diameter of the second left helical blade 10 or the second right helical blade 12. The first mixing platform 5 and the second mixing platform 11 have the same structure. The first mixing platform 5 and the second mixing platform 11 are centrally symmetrical about the first side shaft 3 and the second side shaft 9.

[0035] The sides of the mixing table, the inner wall of the mixing cylinder 8, and the space between the two shafts periodically form contraction channels. The ruminant feed to be mixed enters the contraction channels under the drive of the main shaft 2 below, thereby achieving the stretching effect on the tangled material. The material to be mixed moves towards the middle stretching and kneading zone under the drive of the spiral blades on the main shaft 2, and moves towards the left and right ends of the mixing cylinder 8 respectively under the drive of the left and right spiral blades on the two shafts. During this process, the material to be mixed will circulate into the shearing mixing zone and the stretching mixing zone, realizing the variable flow field mixing process of shearing and stretching in synergistic circulation. This allows the easily tangled ruminant roughage to separate under the stretching effect and be fully mixed with the small-scale concentrate feed to obtain a uniformly mixed total mixed ration of concentrate and roughage.

[0036] Example 2

[0037] Reference Figure 7 This is the second embodiment of the present invention. Based on the previous embodiment, this embodiment uses simulation to demonstrate that using the present application to stir and mix ruminant feed has a better dispersion and mixing effect.

[0038] The mixing effect of the present invention and the pure shear mixing structure were simulated using EDEM software to compare the mixing effect of the two.

[0039] Specifically, the geometric models are a variable flow field ruminant mixing mechanism described in this application, and a traditional pure shear-based ruminant mixing mechanism (such as...) that is compared and analyzed with this application. Figure 8(As shown). Flexible rod-shaped particles were constructed using an elastic bond model in EDEM software to simulate easily entangled fibrous roughage during ruminant feed mixing. A single-sphere model was used to simulate small-scale concentrate during ruminant feed mixing. Both models used the same simulation parameters shown in the table below. Numerical models of the two mixing mechanisms were constructed according to the parameters in Table 1. The flexible rod-shaped particles and single-sphere models were sequentially filled into the two mixing mechanisms, first the rod-shaped particles and then the single-sphere models, and the ruminant feed mixing process was simulated. The simulation obtained the dispersion effect of the corresponding small-scale concentrate dispersed in the fibrous roughage, as shown below. Figure 7 As shown, Figure 7 The left and right figures in the image show the mixing effect of this application and the mixing effect of a conventional pure shear structure at a mixing time of 4.16704 s, respectively. To more clearly observe the dispersion of small-scale concentrates, the fibrous coarse material is hidden in this embodiment.

[0040]

[0041] from Figure 7 As can be seen from the above, the variable flow field ruminant mixing mechanism described in this application has a better dispersion and mixing effect compared with the traditional ruminant mixing mechanism based on pure shear.

[0042] It should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and are not intended to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications or equivalent substitutions can be made to the technical solutions of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the present invention, and all such modifications or substitutions should be covered within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A variable flow field ruminant feed mixing mechanism, characterized in that: The mixing drum (8) includes a mixing chamber (a). A main shaft (2) is rotatably connected to the lower part of the mixing drum (8). A plurality of first main helical blades (1) and second main helical blades (6) are arranged on the main shaft (2) with both ends facing outward along the axial center. The first main helical blades (1) and second main helical blades (6) rotate in opposite directions. A first side shaft (3) and a second side shaft (9) are rotatably connected inside the mixing drum (8) above the main shaft (2). A plurality of first left-side helical blades (4) and first right-side helical blades (7) are arranged on the first side shaft (3) with both ends facing outward along the axial center. The first left-side helical blades (4) and the first right-side helical blades (7) rotate in opposite directions. The blades (7) have opposite spiral directions. Several second left spiral blades (10) and second right spiral blades (12) are arranged on the outward direction at both ends of the axial center of the second side shaft (9). The spiral directions of the second left spiral blades (10) and the second right spiral blades (12) are opposite. The second left spiral blades (10) and the first left spiral blades (4) convey the material in the same direction. The conveying directions of the first main spiral blades (1) and the first left spiral blades (4) are opposite. There is a first stretching and kneading gap between the end of the first left spiral blade (4) near the axial center of the first side shaft (3) and the end of the first right spiral blade (7) near the axial center of the first side shaft (3). Between (d), there is a second stretching and kneading space (e) between the end of the second left helical blade (10) near the axial center of the second side shaft (9) and the end of the second right helical blade (12) near the axial center of the second side shaft (9). Two first stirring and mixing platforms (5) are connected to the first side shaft (3) at the first stretching and kneading space (d) and are spaced apart in the axial direction. The two first stirring and mixing platforms (5) are respectively connected to the two ends of the first side shaft (3) in the radial direction. The outer diameter of the left first stirring and mixing platform (5) increases from left to right, and the outer diameter of the right first stirring and mixing platform (5) increases from right to left. The plane containing the minimum diameter of the first stirring and mixing platform (5) and The distance between the endpoints of the nearest first left-side spiral blade (4) is between 5-10 mm; in the direction of the line connecting the axes of the first side shaft (3) and the second side shaft (9), the distance between the first left-side spiral blade (4) and the second left-side spiral blade (10) is between 10-20 mm; the gap between the first main spiral blade (1), the second main spiral blade (6) and the inner edge of the mixing drum (8) is between 30-100 mm; the gap between the endpoint of the first main spiral blade (1) near the center of the main shaft (2) and the endpoint of the second main spiral blade (6) near the center of the main shaft (2) does not exceed 10 mm; and the gap between each side spiral blade and the inner edge of the mixing drum (8) is between 60-120 mm.

2. The variable flow field ruminant feed mixing mechanism as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The first side axis (3) and the second side axis (9) are centrally symmetrical about the radial direction of the main axis (2).

3. The variable flow field ruminant feed mixing mechanism as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: Two second mixing tables (11) are connected on the second side shaft (9) at the second stretching kneading space (e) and are spaced apart in the axial direction. The distance between the plane of the minimum diameter of the second mixing table (11) and the end point of the nearest first right helical blade (7) is between 5-10 mm. The two second mixing tables (11) are respectively connected to the two ends in the radial direction of the second side shaft (9). The outer diameter of the left second mixing table (11) increases from left to right, and the outer diameter of the right second mixing table (11) increases from right to left. The first mixing table (5) and the second mixing table (11) are centrally symmetrical about the first side shaft (3) and the second side shaft (9).

4. The variable flow field ruminant feed mixing mechanism as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: There is a gap between the first main helical blade (1) close to the center of the main shaft (2) and the second main helical blade (6) close to the center of the main shaft (2).

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