Description:
Reference #: 00960
Invention Description:
The subject invention is a method and apparatus for improved mixing of solid, liquid or gaseous materials. Improved mixing is achieved by a novel arrangement of the mixer impellers that yields ideal mixing without the use of baffles and without torque being transmitted to the vessel walls.
Potential Applications:
· Food processing (industrial and personal)
· Kitchen stick mixers
· Contractor grade mixers for grout, paint, etc.
· Industrial grade mixers and reactors for oil and gas, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries, animal feed, cosmetics, building materials, foundries, etc.
Advantages and Benefits:
1. Provides a simpler way to achieve ideal mixing in stirred tank mixers, reactors, beakers, bowls and similar vessels
2. Eliminates vortexes without the use of baffles, simplifying vessel internals and reducing required power
3. Eliminates torque traditionally transmitted to mixing vessel walls
4. Reduces high maintenance, construction, and operating costs of industrial mixers with baffles
5. Increases safety when mixing viscous slurries in contractor applications
Background:
When a reactor or mixing vessel uses traditional impeller design to agitate the contents, baffles on the inside of the reactor vessel are required to prevent the formation of a vortex which is inimical to proper mixing. After prolonged usage, deposits of materials collect unevenly on the baffles which must be removed for consistent performance. This means downtime to clean the baffles in the vessel with the subsequent loss of production output and higher production cost. Thorough mixing is difficult to achieve in some cases such as glass lined reactors, even with baffles.
The invention achieves good mixing in all cases without the use of baffles and, in eliminating vortexes in liquids and slurries, removes the torque transmitted to vessel walls. The latter feature provides safer mixing in situations involving loose and potentially spinning mixing vessels.
Existing Products:
No available mixers/devices are designed to achieve mixing of slurries, liquids, or gases in the manner of this invention – without baffles and with no torque transmitted to the vessel walls. The most comparable available mixers feature a central impeller and an outer scraper contra-rotating at low rpm, which serves to direct the flow of the viscous material back towards the center of the vessel.