Autogenous Impact Mill Air Suspension Particle Size Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing milling devices require significant energy input, suffer from wear, and fail to produce consistently sized material particles due to the lack of efficient size reduction mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
An autogenous impact mill utilizing a rotatable impeller to generate air jets that suspend material particles via the Coanda Effect, causing them to impact with ricochet bars and fracture plates, resulting in size reduction through repeated collisions and air flow management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If traditional pulverizing or grinding devices are used to reduce particle size, then material particles can be reduced to desired size, but considerable energy input is required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical grinding and pulverizing systems with a pneumatic system that uses air jets to suspend and transport particles. The impeller generates controlled air currents that lift particles and direct them through the processing chamber, eliminating the need for mechanical contact between grinding elements and particles, thereby significantly reducing energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention employs pneumatic principles by using an impeller to generate air jets that create suspended particle flows. The air suspension system utilizes fluid dynamics to transport and process particles through controlled airflow patterns, replacing mechanical force with pneumatic forces for size reduction and classification.
2Manufacturing precision
If traditional milling devices are used to reduce particle size, then particles can be pulverized, but the devices suffer wear from impacts and other forces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates mechanical contact between moving parts and particles by substituting pneumatic forces for mechanical grinding. The air suspension system transports particles through the chamber without mechanical impact, and size reduction is achieved through controlled particle-particle collisions in the air stream rather than through mechanical wear of grinding elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the particles themselves to perform the size reduction work through controlled collisions in the air suspension. The particles interact with each other and with the air flow to achieve size reduction, rather than requiring external mechanical grinding elements that would suffer wear.
3Productivity
If traditional milling devices are used to reduce particle size, then particles can be pulverized, but the particles do not achieve consistent size
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates a classification mechanism where particles that have not achieved the desired size are separated and redirected back into the processing chamber for further treatment. The system monitors particle size distribution and uses feedback control to ensure that only particles meeting the size specification exit the system, while undersized particles receive additional processing cycles.
Solution Approach 2:
The air suspension system continuously processes particles through multiple passes, with the impeller maintaining constant airflow to keep particles in suspension and subject them to repeated size reduction opportunities. The continuous circulation ensures that all particles receive adequate processing time and multiple collision events to achieve consistent size reduction.
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
The mill effectively reduces material particle size with reduced energy consumption and improved consistency, as particles are efficiently broken down by the combination of air suspension and collision impacts, with a screen ensuring only smaller particles exit the system.
Implementation Method 1
The at least one impeller is operative to produce at least one air flow jet within the interior area. Material particles are suspended by the at least one air jet due to the Coanda Effect.
Implementation Method 2
Other material particles are propelled by the at least one jet into the ricochet bars. Particles bounce off ricochet surfaces of the ricochet bars and impact the suspended particles. The impacts between the suspended particles and the particles that ricochet from the ricochet bars breaks the particles into smaller pieces.
Data Source
AI summary
An autogenous impact mill (10) is operative to size reduce friable material particles processed through operation of the mill. At least one impeller (58) rotatable within an interior area (44) of a housing (12) of the mill is operative to produce one or more air jets. The air jets are operative to suspend material particles using the Coanda Effect. Other particles moved by the air jets bounce off ricochet bars (74) and impact suspended particles so as to break and reduce the particles to a suitable size to pass through a screen (110) to an outlet opening (42).