Resin Mixing Apparatus with Tool-Free Coupling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mixing apparatuses for plastics made of granules and/or flakes face challenges in achieving homogeneous mixing, particularly with materials of different chemical compositions, geometries, and densities, leading to segregation, breakage, and overheating, while also complicating cleaning and maintenance operations.
Innovation Solution
A mixing apparatus with a rotatable mixing element and coupling means allowing for easy assembly and disassembly without tools, featuring a supporting shaft with mixing blades and a hemispherical bottom portion to prevent material accumulation and facilitate uniform mixing, along with a dosing system that ensures all material is conveyed inside the mixing tank.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If mixing elements with radial blades are used to mix plastic granules and flakes, then mixing action is provided, but homogeneous mixing is difficult to achieve due to separation by gravity and segregation by shape
Solution Approach 1:
The mixing element combines rotational movement around a vertical axis with oscillatory back-and-forth movement along the same axis. This dynamic combination creates variable mixing patterns that prevent material segregation and promote homogeneous mixing of granules and flakes with different densities and shapes.
Solution Approach 2:
The oscillatory movement of the mixing element along the vertical axis creates periodic variation in mixing intensity and pattern. This periodic action prevents the formation of stagnant zones and ensures continuous redistribution of materials, achieving homogeneous mixing despite gravitational separation and shape-based segregation.
2Productivity
If mixing elements rotate at high speed to mix materials, then mixing efficiency increases, but breakage or shattering of granules and flakes occurs producing hazardous dust
Solution Approach 1:
The oscillatory movement component adds a gentle lifting and dropping action that complements rotation. This dynamic pattern reduces impact forces on granules and flakes compared to pure high-speed rotation, maintaining mixing efficiency while minimizing breakage and dust generation.
3Stability of the object's composition
If mixing elements are designed for optimal mixing performance, then mixing quality improves, but cleaning and maintenance operations become difficult and complex requiring dismantling
Solution Approach 1:
The mixing element is designed as a separable component that can be easily detached from the mixing tank without dismantling the entire apparatus. This segmentation allows the mixing element to be removed for cleaning and maintenance while the tank remains in place, resolving the contradiction between optimal mixing design and cleaning accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The mixing element is extracted as a removable component from the mixing system. This extraction enables independent cleaning and maintenance of the mixing element without requiring disassembly of the mixing tank or other fixed structures, maintaining both mixing quality and ease of maintenance.
4Ease of manufacture
If the mixing tank is dismantled for cleaning operations, then thorough cleaning is achieved, but operation time is lost and safety systems are required
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the mixing system into a fixed tank and a removable mixing element, cleaning can be performed on the mixing element alone without dismantling the entire tank. This reduces cleaning time and eliminates the need for complex safety systems while still achieving thorough cleaning of the mixing surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The mixing element is extracted and removed from the tank for cleaning. This extraction allows cleaning operations to be performed quickly on a small, accessible component without requiring the entire tank to be dismantled, significantly reducing downtime and safety requirements.
5Measurement precision
If mixing tanks are fixed to dosing machines for weighing functions, then weighing capability is provided, but material accumulates in the joining zone and hinders operation
Solution Approach 1:
The mixing element is extracted as a removable component, eliminating the problem of material accumulation in fixed joining zones. Material can flow freely into the mixing element without getting trapped in connection areas, while the dosing machine's weighing function remains intact through its own integrated weighing mechanism.
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 apparatus achieves optimal homogeneous mixing, reduces breakage and dust generation, and simplifies cleaning and maintenance, enhancing operational safety and productivity by allowing tool-free mixing element replacement and eliminating overheating issues.
Implementation Method 1
a mixing element (3) housed in the containing element (2) and provided with rotational and/or oscillatory motion around a respective axis
Implementation Method 2
The dosing devices, which are in turn supplied by respective hoppers or reservoirs containing the materials, are located upstream of the mixing apparatus to permit the flow of the materials determined by the force of gravity
Implementation Method 3
The mixing element rotating and/or oscillating in the tank distributes and mixes the different plastic products made of granules and/or flakes, making a homogenous mixture
Data Source
AI summary
A mixing apparatus, in particular associable with a dosing machine (50), for mixing plastic products made of granules and/or flakes, comprises a containing element (2), arranged for receiving and containing the plastic products and a mixing element (3) provided with a first end (11) and with a second end (12), housed in the containing element (2) and rotatable around a rotation axis (X) so as to move and mix the plastic products; the apparatus (1) comprises first coupling means (4) and second coupling means (5) fixed opposite each other to a side wall (20) of the containing element (2) and arranged for receiving and coupling reversibly respectively with the first end (11) and with the second end (12) of the mixing element (3) in such a manner as to enable the latter to be assembled or dismantled.