Two-shaft continuous mixing apparatus

Abstract: A two-shaft continuous mixing apparatus, comprising: a housing having a feed opening at one end for feeding materials to be mixed; a discharge port provided in the end of said housing, or one side of said housing; two rotors rotatably mounted in a mixing chamber formed in said housing; a discharge control device connected outside of said discharge port for controlling the discharge of materials to be mixed; a material passage formed so as to communicate with said mixing chamber, extending nearly horizontally from said discharge port; the upper surface of said material passage being formed within a range between below the vicinity of a horizontal centerline of said rotor and above the lower end of said mixing chamber, and the lower surface of said material passage being formed within a range between below a rotor located on the opposite side of said discharge port and above the vicinity of a longitudinal center line of said rotor.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION : This invention relates to a two-shaft continuous mixing apparatus. In the above-mentioned two-shaft continuous mixing apparatus, it is generally customary that a discharge control device (a gear pump) for discharging materials to be mixed is connected outside of the mixed material discharge port provided on one end in the longitudinal direction of a housing, and further a pelletizer is installed on the discharge side of the apparatus. That is, apparatus for forming the mixed materials such as plastics and rubber materials are consecutively arranged. In this case, the following types of two-shaft continuous mixing apparatus are known, which vary mainly with the way of setting the positional relationship of the housing and the gear pump. First, the apparatus of the type shown in Fig. 5 is a so-called downward discharge type. In this drawing, a numeral 20 refers to a housing of the mixing apparatus. In a mixing chamber 21 defined within this housing 20 are rotatably installed two rotors 22 and 23 arranged in a horizontal direction. A numeral 24 denotes a gear pump, which is directly coupled with the housing 20 immediately below a discharge port 25, and mounted on the floor 26 of a second floor. A numeral 27 designates a pelletizer, which is installed on the floor 28 of a first floor and connected With the discharge side of the gear pump 24 by means of a transfer pipeline 29 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-3091 corresponding to US-4310251). Next, Fig. 6 shows a lateral discharge type two-shaft continuous mixing apparatus all set up on the floor 28 of the first floor, in which the housing 20 of the downward discharge type described above is installed with the rotors vertically arranged. On the side of the housing 20 the gear pump 24 and the pelletizer 27 are connected sidewise. Finally, Fig. 7 shows the two-shaft continuous mixing apparatus of an inclined lateral discharge type according to the present invention, which is of an inclined lateral discharge type. As is shown in this drawing, the housing 20 is inclined by about 45 degrees and the gear pump 24 and the pelletizer 27 connected to the housing 20 are both coupled in juxtaposition with each other similarly to the above-described lateral discharge type (Specification and drawings in Japanese Patent Application No. 61-172096 published as Kokai No JP-A-63-28609). These prior arts have made a progress in order of mention. For example, the above-described downward discharge type required a larger-size plant due to an increase particularly in machine height. This problem has been solved by the use of the lateral discharge type in which the housing 20 is vertically arranged. This lateral discharge type, however, still had such a disadvantage as a lowered feed capacity of the rotors 22 and 23 and a non-uniform material temperature within the mixing chamber 21 caused by the adoption of the vertical arrangement of the housing 20. Both the above-described problems and disadvantages have been simultaneously solved by the adoption of the inclined lateral discharge type without accompanying an increase in the plant size. In the inclined lateral discharge type, however, the housing 20, being inclined 45 degrees as shown in Fig. 7, has become complicated in construction and consequently costly. Further, a facility for replacing the rotors 22 and 23 requires a troublesome maintenance work. Furthermore, the twin rotors 22 and 23 are desired to be horizontally arranged in order to perform mixing operation most satisfactorily. In this respect, therefore, the above-described types of mixing apparatus can not fully obviate these problems and disadvantages. Japanese Published Utility model Application No. 61 (1986) -120509 discloses (see particularly Figs. 2 and 4) a two-shaft continuous mixing device as stated in the preamble to Claim 1, namely such a device comprising a housing; a mixing chamber contained within said housing and comprised of two interconnecting chambers; two mixing rotors mounted for rotation in respective rotor chambers, the mixing rotors being mounted for rotation about parallel axes located within the same horizontal plane; a feed opening for feeding materials to be mixed into the mixing chamber; a discharge port located to one side of the mixing chamber for the discharge of mixed materials, the discharge port being connected to the mixing chamber by a material passage which extends in a horizontal direction largely perpendicular to the direction of the axes of rotation of the mixing rotors, wherein the upper surface of the material passage is connected to the rotor chamber closest to the discharge port, and the lower surface of the material passage is connected to the rotor chamber furthest from the discharge port at a position ranging from the lowest point of the rotor chamber to a point further from the discharge port than the vertical plane passing through the axis of the rotor in the further chamber but not as far as the horizontal plane of the axes of the mixing rotors. US-4310251 describes a continuous mixer for plastic material and of the type which permits control of the pressure on the material being mixed in the mixer by resisting the flow of mixed material displaced from the mixer when unmixed material is fed into the mixer. The resistance to the discharged flow is effected by one or more elements which engage the flow and which are movable. JP-A-59-159328 describes a screw discharging type kneader with vent for making kneaded material uniformly and to secure safe operation, by adjusting a discharge throttling mechanism and a pressure sensor provided to a discharge section between an extruder and a kneading section when vacuum deaeration is effected at a vent port. When vacuum deaeration treatment by a vent port is not effected on the side of an extruder, the throttling mechanism in a continuous kneader is operated to close a discharge section, and the material to be kneaded is fed continuously to the kneader from a feeding port to be introduced into a feed section. As the kneader is operated, the pressure detected by the pressure sensor provided to the discharge section rises, and the completely closed throttle mechanism is opened by an actuator. Then an extruder is started and the rotational frequency corresponding to the production is predetermined. The opening of the throttle mechanism is adjusted via the actuator in such a way that the pressure detected the by pressure sensor is at a constant value at all times thereby securing safe operation. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION : This invention has as its object the provision of a two-shaft continuous mixing apparatus with the horizontal arrangement of the rotors unchanged and which is capable of smooth lateral discharge of mixed materials. Relative to the prior art acknowledged above, the present invent is characterised in that the upper surface of the material passage is connected to the rotor chamber closest to the discharge port at a position that ranges from the horizontal plane of the axes of the mixing rotors to the lowest point of the rotor chamber. Particular embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the dependent claims. In the two-shaft continuous mixing apparatus according to the present invention, two right and left rotors 3 and 4 for mixing materials and conveying a mixture in a fixed direction are installed in the mixing chamber 2 defined in the housing 1 having the material feed opening and discharge port. These rotors are rotatable in opposite inward and downward directions S. Outside of the discharge port 5 is connected the mixed material discharge control device 24. The discharge port 5 is provided open in one side 7 of the housing 1. A material passage 8 extends nearly horizontally from the discharge port 5, communicating with an about lower half part of the mixing chamber 2. The upper surface 9 of this passage 8 communicates with the mixing chamber 2 within a range below the vicinity of the horizontal centerline ℓ 1 of the rotors 3 and 4 and above the lower end 11 of the mixing chamber 2. The lower surface 10 of the material passage 8 is open beneath the right rotor 4 and on the right near the vertical centerline ℓ 3 of the rotor 4. In this invention, as shown in Fig. 1, the mixed material discharge port 5 is provided in one side 7 of the housing 1. The material passage 8 extends nearly horizontally from the discharge port 5, communicating with the mixing chamber 2, and the upper part of the passage 8 is arranged overlapping nearly the lower half part of the mixing chamber 2. In this case, when the right and left rotors 3 and 4 are turned in opposite inward and downward directions S, the mixture is scraped off from the upper edge 12 and the lower edge 15 formed as intersections between the upper surface 9 and the lower surface 10 of the material passage 8 and the mixing chamber 2 as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Thus there takes place fluid flow in the direction of the arrow U, along which the mixed material flows out in the material passage 8 towards the discharge port 5. The foregoing object of the two-shaft continuous mixing apparatus according to this invention will become more apparent and understandable from the following detailed description thereof, when read in connection with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS : Figs. 1 to 3 show one embodiment of the present invention, wherein: Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the discharge side of a housing; Figs. 2 and 3 are longitudinal sectional views of a major portion thereof; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the discharge side of the housing showing an example of a variation of a material passage; Figs. 5 to 7 are schematic explanatory views each showing an example of each type of prior-art equipment for forming materials to be mixed. DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT : Hereinafter an exemplary embodiment of a two-shaft continuous mixing apparatus according to the present invention will be particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In Fig. 1, a numeral 1 refers to a housing of the two-shaft continuous mixing apparatus, within which is defined a mixing chamber 2 of a spectacles-shaped section. In right and left chambers 2a and 2b of this mixing chamber 2 are rotatably inserted two rotors 3 and 4 in a horizontal direction. The rotors 3 and 4 have a feed section consisting of axially and longitudinally arranged screw blades and a mixing section consisting of a mixing blade. These rotors 3 and 4 rotate in the opposite inward and downward directions (in the directions of the arrows S in Fig. 1), mixing materials in the mixing chamber 2 and then conveying a mixture in a fixed direction. In one axial end of the housing 1 is provided a feed opening, which is not illustrated, for feeding materials to be mixed, opening upwardly. In the other end is provided a discharge port 5 for discharging the mixed materials. A numeral 6 denotes a casing of a gear pump directly connected to the discharge port 5, or an auxiliary passage for connection with the gear pump. In the present embodiment, the discharge port 5 is formed in one side 7 of the housing 1 and the material passage 8 for discharging a mixture from the mixing chamber 2 is formed extending horizontally from the discharge port 5 so as to overlappingly communicate with the lower part of the mixing chamber 2. This material passage 8 is routed so that an about upper half part thereof will overlap an about lower half part of the mixing chamber 2. The height position of the upper surface 9 is positioned on the horizontal centerline ℓ 1 of the rotors 3 and 4, and the lower surface 10 is set so as to be positioned lower than the lower end 11 of the mixing chamber 2. There is formed an upper edge 12 as an intersection between the upper surface 9 of the material passage 8 and the left chamber 2a. The lower surface 10 rises at an about center of vertical centerlines ℓ 2 and ℓ 3 of the right and left rotors 3 and 4 and reaches the lower end of the right chamber 2b through a curved section 13 and a perpendicular section 14, thus forming a lower edge 15 as an intersection between the perpendicular section 14 and the right chamber 2b. In the present embodiment, this lower edge 15 is positioned on the vertical centerline ℓ 3 of the right rotor 4. Next, conveyance of materials to be mixed and its operation effect in the present embodiment of the above-described constitution will be explained. First, the materials to be mixed conveyed with a pressure from the feed section of the rotors 3 and 4 come to the material passage 8 while being mixed in the mixing section, dropping into the passage 8. Then, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, as the right and left rotors 3 and 4 rotate in specific directions S, the mixing blades 16 of the rotors 3 and 4 approach the edges 12 and 15 respectively every rotation. At this time the mixed materials are scraped off by the edges 12 and 15, being conveyed, as a fluid flow (scraping effect), in the direction of the arrow U in the drawing, to the casing 6 side through the discharge port 5. According to the present embodiment, the housing 1, unlike the prior-art housing, can smoothly discharge the mixed materials laterally towards the housing 1 side by the rotating force of the rotors 3 and 4 themselves without inclining the housing 1. Therefore, it is possible to set such equipment as the gear pump and others in juxtaposition on the side of the discharge side of the housing 1 while maintaining the horizontal arrangement of the right and left rotors 3 and 4 which is the optimum condition for the mixing apparatus, thereby simultaneously realizing the sound mixing of materials by means of the mixing apparatus and the adoption of a compact housing 1 by decreasing machine height on the discharge side. The material passage 8 in the present embodiment extends horizontally from the discharge port 5 to communicate with the mixing chamber 2, overlapping the chamber 2 from below. The height of the housing 1, therefore, can be decreased as low as possible despite of the presence of the passage 8 in the housing 1 itself. In the foregoing explanations of the present invention, one preferred embodiment has been described in detail, but it should be noted that this invention is not limited to the above-described and that the shape of the material passage in the mixing apparatus according to this invention and the state of flow of mixed materials according to the shape will vary with variations in the relative positions of the upper and lower edges 12 and 15 relative to the right and left chambers 2a and 2b, and in the height L of the vertical section 14. First, to explain the positional relation between the upper edge 12 and the left chamber 2a, the height of the upper edge 12 is allowed to be below the upper edge of the left chamber 2a and above the lower edge, provided that the material passage 8 according to the present invention overlapping the mixing chamber 2 is sufficient. To attain a substantial scraping effect of the edge 12, however, it is desirable that the height position of the upper edge 12 be below the about lower half of the left chamber 2a, that is, below the vicinity of the horizontal centerline ℓ 1 of the rotors 3 and 4 and above the lower edge 11 of the left chamber 2a. Next, the position of the lower edge 14 in relation to the right chamber 2b will be explained. Here, as shown in Fig. 1, it is clear from experiments that when the right rotor 4 is at the degree of 0 on the vertical centerline ℓ 3 when rotated down to its horizontal position and the center angle  of its normal counterclockwise rotation expresses the position of the lower edge 15 in relation to the right chamber 2b, the value of  is preferred to be within the range of 0° ≦  ≦ 45° . That is, if the center angle  becomes greater than 45 degrees, the direction of flow of the mixed materials caused by the scraping effect of the lower edge 15 described above will fail to agree with the desired direction of discharge of the mixed materials, resulting in an excess discharge resistance. Furthermore, as regards the height L of the vertical section 14, it is clear from experiments that when the right and left chambers 2a and 2b have the diameter D, the height D is applicable within the range of 0.05D≦L≦0.4D, and that the optimum value, therefore, is obtainable when L=0.15D. That is, when L>0.4D, the height of the material passage 8 accordingly increases excessively high, resulting in excessive exhaust resistance of the mixed materials. Reversely when L<0.05D, the aforementioned scraping effect becomes excessively little. The upper surface 9 and the lower surface 10 which form the material passage 8 are not necessarily required to be held strictly level as in the above-described embodiment, and, for example, as shown in Fig. 4, may be inclined towards the discharge port 5 for the purpose of decreasing the discharge resistance of the mixed materials. According to this invention, as described above, it is possible to smoothly discharge the mixed materials towards the housing 1 side without inclining or erecting the housing 1, that is, without changing the horizontal arrangement of the rotors 3 and 4, and therefore it is possible to insure sound mixing of materials by the mixing apparatus and also to decrease the machine height on the discharge side of the housing without lowering the feeding capacity of the rotors 3 and 4 and causing any non-uniform material temperature within the mixing chamber 2. The material passage 8 extending from the discharge port 5 in an about horizontal direction, communicates with the mixing chamber 2, and the upper part of the passage 8 is so arranged as to overlap the about lower half part of the mixing chamber 2. It is, therefore, possible to decrease the height of the housing 1 itself, thereby enabling further reduction of machine height as compared with the prior-art lateral discharge type and the inclined lateral discharge type. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of this invention as claimed.

Claims: A two-shaft continuous mixing device comprising; a housing (1); a mixing chamber (2) contained within said housing (1) and comprised of two interconnecting rotor chambers (2a,2b); two mixing rotors (3, 4) mounted for rotation in the respective rotor chambers (2a,2b), the mixing rotors (3,4) being mounted for rotation about parallel axes located within the same horizontal plane; a feed opening for feeding materials to be mixed into the mixing chamber (2); a discharge port (5) located to one side of the mixing chamber (2) for the discharge of mixed materials, the discharge port (5) being connected to the mixing chamber (2) by a material passage (8) which extends in a horizontal direction largely perpendicular to the direction of the axes of rotation of the mixing rotors (3,4), characterised in that the upper surface (9) of the material passage (8) is connected to the rotor chamber (2a) closest to the discharge port (5) at a position that ranges from the horizontal plane (l 1 ) of the axes of the mixing rotors (3,4) to the lowest point of the rotor chamber (2a). A two-shaft continuous mixing device as claimed in Claim 1, in which the lower surface (10) of the material passage (8) connects with the discharge port (5) at a position lower than the lowest point (15) of the mixing chamber (2) and is connected with the mixing chamber (2) through a curved section (13) and a vertical section (14). A two-shaft continuous mixing device as claimed in Claim 2, in which the height (L) of the vertical section (14) is from 0.05 to 0.4D, where D is the diameter of a rotor chamber (2a,2b). A two-shaft continuous mixing device as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3, in which the position where the lower surface (10) of the material passage (8) joins the mixing chamber (2) ranges from (i) a position where a line (l 3 ) drawn vertically through the centre of rotation of the furthermost rotor (4) intersects the wall of the rotor chamber (2b) to (ii) a position further from the discharge port (5) than the vertical line (l 3 ), where a line drawn through the centre of rotation to intersect the wall of the furthermost rotor chamber (2b) lies at an angle of 45° to the vertical line (l 3 ).

Inventors: IMUTA KAZUYOSHI, KIMURA HIROFUMI, TASHIRO NAOYUKI, UEDA HIROSHI, YASUDA SYOUJI, IMUTA, KAZUYOSHI, KIMURA, HIROFUMI, TASHIRO, NAOYUKI, UEDA, HIROSHI, YASUDA, SYOUJI
Applicants: KOBE STEEL LTD, KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOBE SEIKO SHO
Application year: 1991
Main classification: B29B7
IPC codes: B29B7, B01F15, B01F7