Patent ID: 6234664
Filing Date: 2001-05-22
Classification: B01F

Abstract:
An improved mixing reservoir configured for containing particles suspended in a liquid in the form of a slurry and coupled within a recirculating system, said mixing reservoir having an outlet port at its lowest point coupled to a pump, said pump arranged to draw said slurry from said mixing reservoir and to cause a stream of said slurry to flow through said recirculating system, said improvement comprising:a) the reservoir having a top and bottom section, said bottom section having generally conical-shaped sides between the top section and the outlet port;b) a plurality of inlet ports located on said mixing reservoir, the inlet ports being positioned in said conical-shaped sides;c) each inlet port connected to said recirculating system and said stream of slurry for defining multiple respective slurry streams for the inlet ports;d) each of the inlet ports being located in the conical-shaped sides directly opposite to each other and each inlet port thereby configured for directing a respective stream of slurry therefrom directly opposite to another respective stream of slurry from another of the inlet ports so that the streams directly collide with each other in a single mixing region generally between the conical-shaped sides of the reservoir to impart chaotic motion to the particles in the streams;whereby said particles may be retained for a longer period of time in suspension within said mixing reservoir by the resulting chaotic motion of the directly colliding streams of slurry between the conical-shaped reservoir sides before being pumped through the recirculating system.