Additive Introduction Device for Polymer Wetting
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for adding liquid additives to plastic materials are inadequate for highly viscous or solid additives, leading to incomplete and uneven wetting, deposits, and contamination due to the inability to handle non-dry particulates effectively.
Innovation Solution
A process and device that uniformly distribute non-dry, highly viscous additives by introducing them directly into rotating material particles within a container, using feeding devices arranged on the side wall to prevent contact with cooler components and ensure complete surface wetting and distribution, with optional heating to reduce viscosity and improve flowability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If liquid additives are sprayed from above onto plastic material, then the additive can be applied to the material surface, but highly viscous or solid additives cannot be handled effectively, resulting in incomplete and uneven wetting
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of spraying additives from above onto the material surface, the invention introduces additives from the bottom of the container into the rotating material particles. This inverted approach allows highly viscous and solid additives to be effectively incorporated through the dynamic motion of particles rising from the bottom, achieving complete and uniform wetting while handling various additive types.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical parameters of the system by introducing additives at the bottom where material particles are in a high-pressure, high-temperature state due to rotation and friction. This parameter change enables the handling of highly viscous and solid additives that cannot be processed by conventional spraying methods, achieving complete wetting and uniform distribution.
2Ease of operation
If highly viscous additives are heated to higher temperatures to enable addition, then the additives become more fluid, but deposits or precipitates form at cooler points or colder surfaces of the device
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the harmful effect of cooling and deposition by introducing additives directly into the hottest zone at the bottom of the container where material particles are most mobile. This ensures additives are immediately incorporated into the hot material matrix, preventing contact with cooler surfaces and eliminating deposit formation.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention converts the potentially harmful high temperature that could cause decomposition into a beneficial effect by using the heat to maintain additive fluidity and promote complete mixing. The high-temperature zone at the bottom becomes advantageous for handling highly viscous additives, preventing solidification and deposits while ensuring uniform distribution.
3Manufacturing precision
If liquid additives are added to plastic granules in a mixer, then the additives can be distributed, but dust nuisance or dust formation occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The invention creates a dust-free environment by introducing additives from the bottom into the rotating material particles, avoiding the aerosolization and dust formation associated with spraying from above. The closed system and bottom-introduction method prevent additive particles from becoming airborne, eliminating dust nuisance while achieving uniform distribution.
4Manufacturing precision
If plastic granules are whirled in a continuous mixer and wetted with highly heated liquid additive in the gas stream, then the additive can be applied, but the process is complex and may not achieve complete wetting
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the complex gas stream and heating systems by introducing additives directly at the bottom into the mechanically agitated material particles. This simplification achieves complete wetting through the natural convection and friction heat generated by the rotating particles, without requiring external gas streams or complex heating apparatus.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Ensures complete and uniform wetting of material surfaces, accurate dosing, and prevents deposits and contamination, enhancing the distribution and homogeneity of additives within the material particles.
Implementation Method 1
The dynamic movement or rotation of the material particles in the container facilitates the introduction of the additives, the application onto the surfaces of the material particles
Implementation Method 2
with optional heating to reduce viscosity and improve flowability
Data Source
AI summary
A method and a device for introducing and/or adding non-dry-powder additive materials and/or coating materials with a liquid, solid, semi-solid, or paste-like consistency or in suspended or emulsified form, for example, peroxides, fats, waxes, IV improvers, polymers, or similar materials, to an existing lumpy or particulate material which is moved and mixed, and optionally warmed and reduced to small pieces in a receptacle and/or compressor, said material being in particular polymer particles and/or flakes, wood fibers, paper cuttings, or similar materials. According to the invention, the additive material is introduced below the level of the material and/or material particles already in the receptacle.