Rotating Vessel Cooling Mixer for Wear Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooling mixers experience wear on vessel walls, contamination, and inefficient cooling due to limited use of the inner wall surface, along with complex cleaning processes, especially when switching between materials.
Innovation Solution
A cooling mixer with a turnably supported vessel driven by a motor, allowing the entire inner wall to be used as a cooling surface, eliminating the need for mixing tools and optimizing the use of the cylindrical jacket surface for cooling, and enabling easy pivoting for filling and emptying.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If motor-driven mixing tools are used to circulate the mixture in known cooling mixers, then the mixture can be cooled during circulation, but wear occurs on the vessel walls and the mixture can be contaminated by rubbing-off material
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of rotating the mixing tools within a stationary vessel, the invention inverts the approach by making the vessel itself rotatable while the mixing tools remain stationary. This eliminates the harmful wear and contamination caused by rotating tools contacting the vessel walls, while still achieving effective circulation and cooling of the mixture through the rotation of the vessel.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention segments the cooling function from the circulation function. The vessel rotation provides circulation without contact wear, while stationary mixing tools provide gentle mixing. This segmentation eliminates the harmful interaction between rotating tools and vessel walls that causes wear and contamination.
2Ease of operation
If the outlet connector piece is placed on the cooled wall of the vessel, then the mixture can be expelled, but the placement area does not contribute to cooling and cooling surface is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The invention makes the vessel rotatable, transforming the static cooling surface into a dynamic one. As the vessel rotates, different portions of the inner wall sequentially contact the mixture, effectively utilizing the entire inner wall surface for cooling. The outlet connector remains stationary but the rotating vessel ensures continuous cooling coverage.
3Ease of manufacture
If the mixing vessel has a fixed geometry with attachment connector pieces, then the mixer can be assembled, but a portion of the mixture cannot be emptied completely and remains in the mixing vessel requiring expensive cleaning
Solution Approach 1:
The rotatable vessel design dynamically changes the position of the outlet connector during operation. By rotating the vessel to different angular positions, the outlet can be oriented downward to facilitate complete emptying of the mixture, eliminating residual material that would otherwise require expensive cleaning operations.
4Device complexity
If only part of the inner wall is used for cooling in known mixers, then the structure is simple, but cooling efficiency is reduced and processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces rotation of the vessel to dynamically utilize the entire inner wall surface for cooling. This dynamic approach maximizes the cooling surface area without increasing structural complexity, as the same vessel wall serves the cooling function throughout its rotation, thereby improving cooling efficiency and reducing processing time.
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 design enhances cooling efficiency, reduces contamination, and simplifies the cleaning process by utilizing the entire inner wall for thermal treatment, ensuring uniform cooling and faster processing times.
Implementation Method 1
The vessel is designed with a dual wall, with cold water being channeled into or through the channels forming the dual wall. Therefore a part of a cooling channel forms the interior wall of the vessel, with the product for mixing being fed past this cooled wall section during the mixing process.
Implementation Method 2
In the course of the mixing process the particle mixture is heated by friction
Data Source
AI summary
A mixer 1 for thermal treatment of a material for mixing consisting of solid particles comprises a mixing vessel 2 for admitting the material for mixing. The vessel 2 has at least one thermal medium channel that with its surface gets at least partially in contact with the solid particles to be heat-treated, through which thermal treatment media are fed when the mixer 1 is in operation. Additionally, the mixer 1 has available a device for circulating the material for mixing found in the container 2. The container 2 is turnably supported about an axis R that penetrates the two front sides 7, 20. A motorized drive 17, 18, 18.1 serves as a circulating device to turn the container 2.