Water-absorbing resin spray nozzle clogging prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for producing water-absorbing resin particles using spray nozzles fail to consistently achieve stable physical properties due to clogging issues caused by unreacted monomers vaporizing and adhering to strainers, leading to degraded spray function and uneven mixing of surface cross-linking agents.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus is designed with a strainer configuration where the point of smallest cross-section in the spray nozzle flow path is the exit, preventing clogging by eliminating fine-mesh members within the nozzle flow path and placing the strainer in the supply pipe upstream, ensuring uniform mixing and preventing foreign object entry.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a strainer with fine mesh is placed inside the spray nozzle flow path, then foreign objects and unreacted monomers are filtered out, but the spray nozzle clogs due to adhesion of vaporized monomers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the strainer from the spray nozzle flow path and relocates it to the supply pipe upstream. This separation removes the harmful interaction where vaporized monomers would adhere to the strainer inside the nozzle, causing clogging. The strainer still performs its filtering function but without the adverse effect of monomer adhesion in the heated spray zone.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the fluid delivery system into two distinct zones: the supply pipe containing the strainer for filtration, and the spray nozzle flow path optimized for atomization without internal strainers. This segmentation allows each component to perform its function without interfering with the other, preventing clogging while maintaining filtration.
2Manufacturing precision
If the spray nozzle has a narrow flow path for precise spraying, then uniform surface cross-linking is achieved, but clogging occurs more easily
Solution Approach 1:
The strainer is extracted from the narrow spray nozzle flow path, eliminating the bottleneck that caused clogging. The spray nozzle maintains its precise narrow geometry for uniform atomization, while the strainer handles filtration in the broader supply pipe where clogging from vaporized monomers does not occur.
3Manufacturing precision
If heating is applied to vaporize monomers for surface cross-linking, then cross-linking reaction is promoted, but monomer vapor adheres to strainer causing clogging
Solution Approach 1:
The strainer is extracted from the heated spray zone where monomer vaporization occurs. By relocating it to the cooler supply pipe upstream, the strainer is removed from the environment that generates harmful vapor adhesion, preventing clogging while the heating process continues to promote cross-linking in the treatment container.
Solution Approach 2:
The strainer is positioned in the supply pipe before the fluid enters the heated spray nozzle, providing preliminary filtration. This beforehand cushioning prevents unreacted monomers from reaching the spray nozzle in the first place, reducing the amount of vapor that could adhere to components and cause clogging.
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
This configuration prevents nozzle clogging and ensures uniform surface cross-linking, resulting in water-absorbing resin particles with stable physical properties and improved production consistency.
Implementation Method 1
spraying a surface cross-linking agent in fine liquid droplets
Implementation Method 2
heating the inside of the treatment container
Implementation Method 3
unreacted monomers remaining in the water-absorbing resin particles vaporize
Implementation Method 4
the strainer includes plural openings each having an opening cross-section smaller than an opening cross-section of the spray exit
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
An apparatus for producing water-absorbing resin particles for which surface cross-linking treatment is conducted, the surface cross-linking treatment being conducted by spraying a surface cross-linking agent to a water-absorbing resin particle precursor and heating the agent and the precursor, the apparatus includes a treatment container in which the surface cross-linking treatment is conducted, a stirring device including a stirring member disposed in the treatment container, a heating device that heats an inside of the treatment container; and a spray nozzle disposed in the treatment container, the spray nozzle spraying into the treatment container the surface cross-linking agent supplied from a surface cross-linking agent supply source in an exterior of the treatment container through a supply pipe. In a flow path in the spray nozzle spanning from an entrance of the spray nozzle to a spray exit, a point whose opening cross-section is smallest in a flow path through which a fluid passes is the spray exit. A product with further stable physical properties can thereby be acquired.