Patent ID: 7036759
Filing Date: 2006-05-02
Classification: B02C

Abstract:
1. Device for accelerating a stream of material, comprising: a rotor that can be rotated about a vertical axis of rotation in at least one direction of rotation, said rotor being supported on a shaft having a shaft axis coincident with said axis of rotation; a central member carried by said rotor and provided with an essentially circular central surface having a center coincident with said axis of rotation; an edge member carried by said rotor and provided with an edge surface that extends between an outer edge of said central member and an outer edge of said rotor; at least one chamber member carried by said rotor and provided with at least one chamber wall and at least one chamber tip; at least a portion of the inside of said at least one chamber wall, which inside faces said axis of rotation, being oriented essentially transversely at a tangential location to the radial plane from said axis of rotation and extending towards said chamber tip, which is located close to said outer edge of said rotor, such that a continuous layer of material settles as an autogenous chamber bed, on at least a portion of said inside of said chamber wall under the influence of centrifugal force; said autogenous chamber bed extending along said inside of said chamber wall towards said chamber tip; said rotor being provided with at least one guide member associated with said chamber member and carried by said rotor; said guide member being provided with at least one guide surface that extends towards said outer edge of said rotor between a central feed and a release end; said central surface having an outer edge which extends at least as far as said central feed; said release end being a smaller radial distance away from said axis of rotation than said chamber member for, respectively, picking up by said central feed at least a portion of material that is metered with a metering member onto said central surface, guiding picked up material along said guide surface under the influence of centrifugal force, thereafter guiding material into a spiral path directed backwards, viewed in the direction of rotation and viewed from a standpoint moving with said guide member; the position of said guide member being selected such that said material moving along said spiral path impinges on said chamber member at a predetermined impingement location in said chamber bed that is located behind a radial line from said axis of rotation with said chamber tip thereon and in front of the radial line from said axis of rotation with said tangential location thereon, viewed in the direction of rotation; thereafter said material moving from said impingement location along said autogenous chamber bed in the direction of said chamber tip under the influence of centrifugal force, and being propelled outwards from said rotor.