Triangular Pulper with Rounded Corners for Efficient Fiber Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pulpers are inefficient in breaking down fibrous materials into individual fibers, leading to residual fiber bundles and high energy consumption.
Innovation Solution
A pulper with a triangular container wall and rounded corner areas, where the ratio of the container's maximum diameter to the radius of curvature of the rounded corners is between 2 and 10, facilitating efficient fiber separation with minimal energy input.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a conventional cylindrical container is used, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the pulping efficiency is insufficient and fiber bundles remain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies curvature by replacing the conventional cylindrical container with a triangular container featuring rounded corner areas. The rounded corners create specific flow patterns that enhance pulping efficiency by preventing stagnant zones and improving fiber separation, while the triangular overall shape maintains structural simplicity and ease of manufacture.
2Productivity
If the container operates for a long period to improve pulping, then fiber separation improves, but energy consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the container by adopting a triangular shape with rounded corners and specific radius-to-diameter ratios. This parameter change creates more effective flow patterns that accelerate fiber separation, achieving high pulping efficiency in shorter time and thus reducing energy consumption compared to conventional cylindrical containers.
3Device complexity
If the container wall has sharp corners, then the structure is simple, but the flow creates high stress and energy loss
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies curvature by replacing sharp corners with rounded corner areas in the triangular container wall. This curvature modification smooths the flow paths, reduces turbulence and energy loss at the corners, and prevents excessive stress concentration, while maintaining the overall structural simplicity of the triangular design.
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 pulper achieves perfect dissolution of fibrous suspensions with significantly reduced energy consumption, breaking down fiber bundles into individual fibers more efficiently than conventional pulpers.
Implementation Method 1
the suspension undergoes a gyratory motion around the rotor's axis of rotation, and in this case also around the vertical longitudinal axis of the vessel
Implementation Method 2
Just before each rounded corner area, the flow is decelerated, but in the exiting corner area, the flow is accelerated again. The acceleration also affects the solid particles of the resulting suspension, causing them to be carried along and thus torn apart.
Implementation Method 3
The acceleration also affects the solid particles of the resulting suspension, causing them to be carried along and thus torn apart. In the case of fiber bundles or fiber lumps, individual fibers are separated from such bundles.
Data Source
AI summary
A pulper for producing a pulp suspension from paper, solids and water, including a cylindrical container for holding a main part of the pulp suspension and having a container wall and a container bottom, and a rotor arranged in an interior of the container for disintegrating the pulp fed into the container and for producing an aqueous suspension. The container wall has, as seen in plan view and/or in a horizontal section, the shape of a triangle with rounded corner regions, at least one of the corner regions is configured such that a flow deflection of less than 90° occurs during operation, the container wall between two corner areas is flat or curved with a radius of curvature that is greater than that of the two corner regions, and the pulper is free of additional containers located outside of the container.