Mixing apparatus
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An apparatus for mixing viscous material comprising:
- at least one pair of stirrers, said stirrers located adjacent one another in closely spaced intermeshing relationship and being mounted for rotation about parallel axes in opposing sense to each other, each of said stirres including;
a shaft;
a plurality of blades mounted on the shaft in parallel axially spaced-apart relation with each other, each blade lying in a corresponding tier perpendicular to the shaft axis, each stirrer having the same number and spacing of blades as said adjacent stirrer, and the blades in each tier of one stirrer being aligned side-by-side in coplanar relation with the blades in corresponding tiers of the adjacent stirrer;
each blade including a plurality of evenly spaced radially extending vanes lying within the plane of its blade, each vane having working surface means operatively engaging the viscous material for pumping and stirring the same upon rotation of the stirrer;
the vanes of each blade being circumferentially offset from vanes on a blade in an adjacent tier, such that the vanes in adjacent tiers of each stirrer are angularly offset from each other about the axis of the stirrer, and the vanes of one blade being advanced by a predetermined angle relative to the vanes of an adjacent blade in the same tier so that all of said vanes of one blade intermesh with the vanes of such adjacent blade; and
each coplanar blade being a structural mirror image of an adjacent blade, such that upon rotation of said stirrers, each working surface means pumps the viscous material in the same relative direction.
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Abstract
An apparatus for mixing or homogenizing viscous material is disclosed. Stirrers, comprising multiple vane mixing blades are mounted on a pair of parallel shafts in corresponding spaced apart parallel tiers. Each vane has a working surface inclined relative to the shaft and offset relative to the vanes of an immediately adjacent blade. One shaft is advanced relative to the other so that the vanes intermesh. The inclination of the vanes in one blade is mirrored in sense to the other blade on the adjacent shaft, and the shafts are rotated in opposite sense so that the stirrers in each tier pump the material in the same relative direction when the shafts are so rotated.
52 Citations
16 Claims
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1. An apparatus for mixing viscous material comprising:
- at least one pair of stirrers, said stirrers located adjacent one another in closely spaced intermeshing relationship and being mounted for rotation about parallel axes in opposing sense to each other, each of said stirres including;
a shaft;
a plurality of blades mounted on the shaft in parallel axially spaced-apart relation with each other, each blade lying in a corresponding tier perpendicular to the shaft axis, each stirrer having the same number and spacing of blades as said adjacent stirrer, and the blades in each tier of one stirrer being aligned side-by-side in coplanar relation with the blades in corresponding tiers of the adjacent stirrer;
each blade including a plurality of evenly spaced radially extending vanes lying within the plane of its blade, each vane having working surface means operatively engaging the viscous material for pumping and stirring the same upon rotation of the stirrer;
the vanes of each blade being circumferentially offset from vanes on a blade in an adjacent tier, such that the vanes in adjacent tiers of each stirrer are angularly offset from each other about the axis of the stirrer, and the vanes of one blade being advanced by a predetermined angle relative to the vanes of an adjacent blade in the same tier so that all of said vanes of one blade intermesh with the vanes of such adjacent blade; and
each coplanar blade being a structural mirror image of an adjacent blade, such that upon rotation of said stirrers, each working surface means pumps the viscous material in the same relative direction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
- at least one pair of stirrers, said stirrers located adjacent one another in closely spaced intermeshing relationship and being mounted for rotation about parallel axes in opposing sense to each other, each of said stirres including;
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9. A method for mixing viscous material comprising the steps of:
- locating a pair of stirrers in adjacent side-by-side relation;
rotating the stirrers about respective axes thereof in opposing sense to each other;
forming the stirrers with a plurality of blades in axially spaced-apart tiers with each blade having multiple vanes;
providing each stirrer with the same number and axial spacing of blades;
arranging the blades of one stirrer in parallel spaced relation with each blade of the other stirrer in a corresponding tier;
aligning the blades in each corresponding tier of the stirrers in side-by-side coplanar relation;
operatively engaging each vane with the viscous material for pumping and shearing the same upon rotation of the stirrers;
circumferentially offsetting each vane on a blade in a tier from vanes in parallel vertically spaced adjacent tiers;
angularly offsetting the vanes of one blade with vanes of the adjacent stirrer in the corresponding coplanar tier a predetermined advance angle and intermeshing the vanes within each tier;
forming each blade in the same tier as a structural mirror image of an adjacent blade in the tier, and thereby pumping the viscous material in the same relative direction upon opposing rotation of the stirrers. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
- locating a pair of stirrers in adjacent side-by-side relation;
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16. A method of mixing viscous material comprising:
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mounting a plurality of stirrers having a plurality of axially spaced tiers of coplanar blades with intermeshing angled vanes for rotation about adjacent parallel axes, flowing viscous material perpendicular to the plane formed by said parallel axes, rotating each said stirrer about its axis in an opposing direction to the rotation of an adjacent stirrer of mirror image and providing equal and symmetric treatment to all of the viscous material flowing through said stirrers, engaging the viscous material with said angled vanes and imparting movement to the viscous material in both an axial direction along said parallel axes and a transverse direction across the flow of said viscous material thus creating tortuous convection patterns for thorough mixing of the viscous material, and initially intermeshing the angled vanes on blades of adjacent stirrers in one coplanar tier and sequentially intermeshing the angled vanes on blades of said adjacent stirrers in an axially spaced coplanar tier and thereby inhibiting any bypass of the flow of said viscous material through said stirrers so as to provide complete mixing of such material as it flows through said stirrers.
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Specification