Soft Gel Mixing Pump with Integrated Metering for Excavation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for creating a sealing sole using a soft gel medium in excavation pits face challenges such as uneven mixing, premature gel formation, and component segregation, leading to difficulties in injecting the medium and forming a reliable water-blocking layer.
Innovation Solution
A device comprising a pump device with a metering system that mixes and conveys the components of the soft gel medium directly into the soil, ensuring precise dosage and preventing settling, using a pump element with rotating screws and a high-speed mixing drive for efficient mixing and injection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If components are mixed in advance to form soft gel medium, then the medium can be prepared for injection, but premature gel formation and flocculation occur leading to uneven mixing and injection difficulties
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-positioning the metering device to deliver components in precise ratios immediately before mixing, ensuring that components are combined only when needed for injection. This prevents premature gel formation while maintaining consistent mixing quality through pre-configured dosing ratios.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements continuous useful action by integrating the metering device with the injection system to continuously deliver and mix components in real-time during the injection process. This eliminates interruption between mixing and injection, preventing flocculation while maintaining continuous operation.
2Manufacturing precision
If soft gel medium is prepared with precise dosing, then injection quality improves, but complex metering and dosing equipment is required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the metering device with the injection system by integrating multiple dosing mechanisms into a single unified apparatus. This combination achieves precise dosing of multiple components while reducing overall equipment complexity compared to separate metering and injection systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies universality by designing the metering device to handle multiple components (silica sol, water glass, HCO3 powder, water) through a single integrated system. This multi-functional device performs dosing, mixing, and injection preparation, reducing the need for multiple specialized equipment while maintaining precision.
3Productivity
If soft gel medium is injected with high viscosity or partial flocculation, then injection may proceed, but the injection body fails to form with desired radial expansion causing leaks and increased consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by using the pump element's rotation to both convey and mix the medium immediately before injection. This continuous mixing action during conveyance ensures uniform viscosity and prevents flocculation, providing real-time quality control that maintains both injection efficiency and sealing reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional separate mixing and pumping systems with a pump element that performs both functions. The rotating pump element creates mechanical mixing action while conveying the medium, eliminating the need for separate mixing equipment and ensuring consistent medium quality for reliable injection and sealing.
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 solution enables reliable and efficient production of the soft gel medium, preventing premature gelation and segregation, ensuring a consistent sealing sole with the desired radial extent and reducing leakage and medium consumption.
Implementation Method 1
a pump element arranged on the pump shaft, wherein the pump housing has a receiving space with the pump element, a pump inlet for suction and a pump outlet for conveying the soft gel medium under pressure through the pump element
Implementation Method 2
The soft gel medium is adjusted depending on the local conditions and, in particular, the pH value of the groundwater so that the soft gel medium is injected into the soil layer in a liquid state, if possible. After injection, the soft gel medium transforms into a gel-like state in the soil layer, thus blocking capillaries between rock particles or pebbles.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
AI summary
The invention relates to a device for mixing a soft gel medium, comprising a pumping unit 12, which includes a pump housing 14, a pump drive 20, a rotating pump shaft 22, and a pump element 30 arranged on the pump shaft. The pump housing has a receiving chamber 18 containing the pump element, a pump inlet 15 for suction, and a pump outlet 16 for pumping the soft gel medium under pressure through the pump element. A metering device 40, flanged to the pump inlet, has a first inlet area 44 for a first component of the soft gel medium and at least one second inlet area 46 for at least one second component of the soft gel medium. The pumping unit is configured to mix the first component and the at least one second component together to form the soft gel medium and to pump the mixture out of the pump outlet.