GB2146917A - Cane mincer - Google Patents

Abstract

A cane mincer comprises a casing 1 enclosing a plurality of operating regions 31, 32, 33, 34, and a rotor 14 within the casing having a row of hubs with offset holders 15 which carry hammer/knife sets 16, 17 in a variety of combinations for controlling the quality of minced cane. The hammer/knife sets 16, 17 face adjustable anvils 3A, 7 formed by curved plates 3, 41 of the casing, each having indentations/serrations on its inside face. One of the anvils 3A is at the entry throat of the casing and the other 7 is yieldably supported on a floating pivot 9 below a steep hopper 44 on one side of said rotor and supported on nut-bolt means 12 through shear pins 13 which break to allow the anvil 7 to swing back on the floating pivot 9 under excessive load. A plurality of adjustable, stationary deflectors are provided: plate 29, or adjustable stationary knives 49A, 49B forming a comb-like deflector (Figure 4 not shown) are located behind the entry throat, and a plate 18 with a bent extension is located below the rotor 14 between the swing area of the rotor 14 and means 21 for feeding material into the casing towards the rotor 14. Means such as the bent extension of plate 18, and curved entry lip 2 are provided for preventing bridging of cane material and choking at the entry throat. A plurality of independent adjustment means are provided for adjusting gaps G1, G2, G3 between the hammers or knives 16, 17 and the anvils. A discharge chute 45 is provided below the second deflector 18. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Cane mincer This invention relates to "Energy Efficient Cane Mincer." More particularly this invention relates to energy efficient cane mincer consuming less than 30% energy per tonne of minced cane mass reduced under rotation of a rotortherewithin compared to existing types of shredders, unigrators, disintegrators and fiberisers and wherein each fiber constituting said cane mass is having low fines, high P.l. (Performance Index), high B.D. (Bulk Density), high fiber length, and high cell openings of the type described herein for extracting increased juice yield per tonne of crushed cane mass in a juice extraction mill.

Shredders, unigrators, disintegrators and fiberisers are commonly used to prepare into small pieces, reduce and fiberise various materials including sugar cane. They are all built according to more or less the same general principles and design which includes a casing, provided with a fixed or yieldable serrated anvil within which is a rotor on bearings, said rotor having rows of hammers on its periphery mounted either pivotally or rigidly, the tips of hammers rotating close to the anvil serrations during operation, whereby under rotation material fed into said machine is reduced.

We are also aware of prior UK Patent No. 1,389,960 which describes and claims as claimed in Claim 1 of said specification an "Oscillating anvil disintegrator" (which for brevity sake shall hereinafter be referred to as "said OAD") comprising a casing, a plurality of blades rigidly mounted on the periphery of the said rotor, each blade comprising a stem portion and hammers arranged at the top of the stem portion, a chute arranged on one side of said rotor, anvil means yieldably mounted on lower part of said chute, said anvil means comprising a curved adjustable gate means having an indented lining, the serrations of which face said hammers to form a so-called shredder, suspension means supporting said gate means and means yieldably biasing said gate means toward said rotor, means for feeding material to be reduced toward said rotor and onto said gate, means for rotating said rotor whereby, under rotating, said material is reduced.

The disadvantages in the aforesaid "OAD" of said prior UK Patent No. 1,389,960 as shown in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings reside in the following: i) The entrance of the said OAD has specified a geometry which is prone to occasional bridging and choking by uncut cane sticks preventing entry of pre-cut cane into said entrance. In the event of any long length of cane sticks escaping the cutting action of cutting knives on apron carrier, the entrance in said OAD, due to the geometry of enterances dig into sharp edge of said entrance profile and get stuck. The single piece of stuck sugar cane stick then starts gathering a few more much uncut sticks of cane over a period. Thereafter a bunch of such stuck cane sticks may get entangled and this entangled cane mass of such stuck cane then starts preventing travel of the remaining cane pieces from apron carrier into the said entrance.The increased entangled mass thus forms a bridge which initiates chocking at the entrance of said OAD as shown in Figure 1(A) of accompanying drawings.

A partial effort has been made in said OAD for avoiding this bridging and choking by increasing the entrance gap between tip of hammers on rotor shaft and hitting point at the entrance plate, and also by increasing the gap between the top of slat of cance feed apron carrier and hitting point of entrance plate. This however, has not solved the the problem totally but only partially. While this bridging and choking is only partially reduced due to increases in the gaps at the entrance as stated above, it has adversely affected the performance of cutting cane at the entrance. The wider gaps at entrance has also resulted into inefficient and ineffective hammering action and a lot of unaffected or untreated cane gets thrown over the hammers towards anvil portion which finally result in delivery of comparatively poorly prepared fiberised cane, mass, consuming more power at anvil portion.Thus the OAD continues to operate with the ever present problem or bridging and choking of the entrance which finally results in increased energy consumption per tonne of cane mass prepared for comparatively prepared poor quality fiberised cane mass.

ii) In our opinion the said OAD consumes a very high amount of energy for the same amount offiberised cane prepared which is serious under the present and continuing energy crises. The configuration at the entrance of OAD as shown in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings as also various other factors such as distribution and profile of blade holders, approach angle AA-37, clearance angle CA-38 of the rotating hammers with respect entrance, anvil profile all contribute to excessive energy consumption per tonne of fiberised cane prepared by said OAD.

iii) The basic disadvantage as claimed for said OAD resides in the uieldable arrangement of anvil to allow 'tramp iron' or any other foreign hard material to escape therethrough without any damage. This alleged claim that in the event of 'tramp iron' entering the gap between yieldable anvil and sweep of rotating hammers will increase the gap by yielding of anvil towards coil spring and permit said 'tramp iron' to escape therethrough and prevent damage to anvil or rotating hammers is only notional. In actual practice the anvil rarely yields and damage to hammers can rarely be avoided. The axis of the coil spring in OAD is tangent to the radius passing through the center of pivot on -nvil. The axis of the spring is also approximately passing through the center of rotating rotor shaft (as shown in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings).This kind of configuration is effective only if the occasion such as 'tramp iron' entry provides a major force in the direction of spring and lesser force tangential to the inside curve of anvil. Since the approach angle AA-37 of hammer is almost reaching 90" and the clearance angle CA-38 of the outer-most surface of hammer is almost 0 (this is due to radial positioning of hammers on blade holders), the resultant force on the anvil provided by the 'tramp iron' or similar hard foreign material will not be in the direction of the spring axis. Due to this configuration the force 39 generated by the impact of hammers on the 'tramp iron' is extremely low in the direction of spring axis and the force in the tangential direction TF-40 of the hammers is extremely high.The direction of force will vary depending upon the location of 'tramp iron' on the anvil surface as well as depending upon the size and shape of tramp iron. But the configuration is such that under normal circumstances the force will be in the direction as explained above. As a result of this, hammers in said OAD will break before giving an opportunity for the anvil to yield due to low normal force and sluggish effect of the mass at anvil to yield. This major force to break the hammer is about tangential to a circle swept by hammer head, however, the force required to yield spring is about normal to this circle.

However, the reaction on the anvil by the spring will always increase whene-er the anvil tries to yield. This is due to the provision of compression type coil spring which is intended to get compressed under the force exerted on the anvil by the 'tramp iron' entering between the gap in anvil and sweep of rotating hammers on rotor. This will result in further breaking action of the rotating rotor shaft causing either hammers to break or bend or prime mover to stall thereby the continuous operation of the said OAD will get adversely affected.

iv) The basic purpose of said OAD as claimed is to prepare the cane in desired fineness for sugar mill. The desired cane preparation is normally measured by cane P.O. (Preparatory Index) and B.D. (Bulk Density) arrived at by a prescribed method as per annexed known method I and II and commonly used in sugar industries. The top pivot P of anvil (as shown in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings) in said OAD is fixed with respect to hopper or chute and sweep or swing diameter of hammers on rotor shaft. This arrangement restricts the possible adjustments of inside functional surface of anvil in relation to outermost surface or sweep or swing diameter of hammers on rotor.The shredding action taking place between the anvil functional surface and the swing diameter of hammers on rotor is therefore, limited due to this restriction under various possibilities of feeding of incoming cane and type of cane from the entrance of OAD into the anvil zone, and also looses the facility to have different varieties of cane preparation by adjusting the gap at the entrance of anvil at different feed rates. This is because the entrance gap of anvil will have fixed relationship with exit gap of anvil due to said fixed pivot P for said anvil.

To overcome the problems ever present in the existing prior machines of the type hereinbefore described, the applicants conducted indepth studies and experiments on various factors such as: i) profile of hammers and knives ii) combination of numbers and distribution of hammers and knives on rotor shaft iii) approach and clearance angle on hammers and knives iv) entry mouth profile and its effect on bridging and choking, v) various profiles, serrations and gaps of throat and their effects on mincingifiberisation i.e. fiber length, fines and cell openings for individual fibers forming fiberised cane mass, vi) effect on various profiles of adjustable deflector plate or rows of adjustable stationary knives forming combIike deflector behind entry throat, vii)effect on cane sticks entering the entry mouthithroat when rows of detachable indentations are provided on inside of curved entry mouth;; viii) effect on cane sticks entering entry mouth when upwardly extending curved lip plate is provided at front of entry mouth, ix) effect on mincedifiberised cane mass wheniunder various geometrics of anvil surfaces, x) effect due to various gaps between anvils and swing diameter of hammer/knife set on rotor, xi) effect due to provision of first anvil at entry mouth/throat and yieldable anvil below steep hopper on one side of rotor and opposite entry mouthithroat, xii) effect of various speeds, various swing diameters of hammers/rotors, fixing hammers/knives in combination/permutation on rotor shaft, xiii) effect on cane mincer by pre-preparation of cane done by first set of cutting knives/hammers as cane sticks enter entry mouth.

which finally led to the design and development of the energy efficient cane mincer of the present invention.

The principal object of the present invention is to offer energy efficient cane mincer consuming less than 30% energy per tone of minced/fiberised cane mass of concistently high quality of fibers having high P.l.

(Performance Index), B.D. (Bulk Density), low fines, high fiber length, high opening of cells and low fines for each fiber forming said cane mass compared to the energy consumed and poor quality of fiberised cane mass produced by the existing prior art machines.

With these objects in view the energy efficient cane mincer comprises a casing, plurality of operating sectors/regions, a rotor having rows of hubs on its periphery with offset holders for rigidly attaching thereto hammer/knife sets in a variety of permutation/combination order and facing plurality of adjustable anvils formed by curved plates, each having indentations/serrations on its inside face, one of said anvil with indentations being at entry mouthithroatforming primary anvil zone and the other being yieldably supported on a floating pivot below a steep hopper on one side of said rotor and supported on nut-bolt means through shear pins or the like to break and swing back said anvil on said floating pivot under excessive load due to tramp-iron or like hard substance entering said secondary anvil zone and prevent damage to hammers on rotor or stalling of rotor, plurality of adjustable stationary deflectors, first being a plate or plurality of adjustable stationary knives forming comb-like deflector behind said entry throat and the second being a plate with or without bent extension being located below said rotor between/swing diameter and means for feeding material towards rotor and on to said operating sectorsiregions, plurality of means for preventing bridging of cane material and choking at entry mouthithroat and gap between said deflector therebelow, plurality of independent adjustment means for adjusting gaps in operating sectors/regions for controlling quality of minced/fiberised cane mass of the type herein described, a discharge chute below said second deflector, optionally rake carrier means being provided below said discharge chute, and means for rotating said rotor whereby under rotation material is reduced, minced and fiberised.

In one embodiment the gaps G-2 and G-3 forming entry gate and exit gate in yieldable secondary anvil are respectively adjustable independently with infinite permutation/combination order in terms of absolute dimensions of gap between serrated face of anvil and swing diameter of rotor to obtain any of the following adjustments i) the Gaps G-2 and G-3 with any absolute value that can be maintained parallel/symmetrical with respect to serrated face of anvil and swing diameter of rotor, ii) the gap G-2 may be adjusted and kept narrower at the entrance and the gap G-3 may be adjusted and kept wider at exit gate of anvil, iii) the gap G-2 may be adjusted and kept wider at the entrance and the gap G-3 may be kept and adjusted narrower at exit gate of the anvil, or iv) the gaps G-2 and G-3 may be adjusted and kept in "tapering-in" or "tapering-out" position in various infinite combinations/permutations, to control the quality of minced/fiberised cane mass produced by the cane mincer.

In another embodiment the cane micer is capable of simultaneously, successively, intensively, and continously carrying out chopping, cutting, combing, aligning, hammering, disintegrating deflecting, and throwing cane mass towards yieldable zone for final mincingifiberising of cane mass of the type herein described.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 shows a side view of Oscillating Anvil Disintegrator as shown in Figure 1 of UK Patent No.

1,389,960 taken at right angle to the rotor axis, Figure 1A shows a schematic diagram of "OAD" shown in Figure 1 showing different stages of how bridging and choking at entrance of "OAD" takes place during feeding of cane from apron carrier, Figure 2 shows a section through cane mincer of the present invention taken at right an angle to the rotor with one side plate removed;; Figure 3 shows a section through cane mincer shown in Figure 2 showing Approach Angle AA-35, Clearance Angle CA-36 with respect to rotor shaft axis, Figure 4 shows a section through modified cane mincer shown in Figure 2 showing two rows of adjustable stationary knives forming comb-like deflector behind entry throat and forming a deflector and also showing approach Angle AA-35 and Clearance Angle CA-36 with respect to rotor axis, Figure 4A shows a view of two staggered rows of adjustable stationary knives forming a comb-like deflector when viewed from X on Figure 4; Figures 5A,5B and 5C respectively show elevation, plane and end view of reversible knife on stem; Figures 6A, 6B and 6C respectively show elevation, plan and end view of reversible hammer on stem;; Figures 6D, 6E and 6F respectively show elevation, plan and end view of modified reversible hammer on stem; Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of typi-arrangement in which hammers and knives are fixed on to holders forming hubs around the periphery of rotor; Figures 8, 9 and 10 respectively show a partial cross section of cane mincer seen through the direction of arrow Z in Figures 2, 3 and 4 with side cover removed therefrom, Figures 1 lA shows enlarged elevation of anvil assembly having special shaped bars with hack-saw shaped teeth and swing diameter of rotor; and Figure 11B shows exploded view of special shaped bar with hack-saw shaped tooth showing rake angle "RA" and clearance angle "CA" with respect to rotor center "RC".

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which the cane mincer which is energy efficient and consumes less than 30% power per tonne of mincelfiberised cane mass compared to the energy consumed by existing machines and as shown in Figure 2 and 3 comprises a casing 1 with a fixed top plate 4, an adjustable hood plate 3 mounted on a pivot 6 at front end of said top plate, an adjustable inclined back plate 41 mounted on a pivot 42 at rear end of said top plate and two side plates 5 (of which only one side plate is shown in Figure 2) forming a steep hopper 44 on one side of rotor 14. Said hood plate 3 is provided at its front end with a curved plate 2 forming an extension lip for entry mouth in the direction of flow of cane sticks 43 on apron carrier 21.An adjustable entry throat entry throat formed by a curvilinear plate 3B is provided with means for adjusting the gap G-1 at entry mouth and said entry throat is immediately behind said entry mouth. Inside of said curvilinear plate 3B at its front i.e. inner face of said plate forming entry mouth is provided with or without detachable indentations 3A as per requirements facing swing diameter of rotor 14 and forming primary anvil for pre-paration of cane fed thereinto before reducing cane into minced/fiberised cane mass by secondary anvil zone.An adjustable stationary deflector plate 29 (as shown in Figure 2) is provided behind said entry throat alternatively two rows 49A- 49B of adjustable stationary knives (as shown in modified cane mincer of Figure 4) forming comb-like deflector as shown in Figure 4A) is provided behind said entry throat and the portion behind said deflector is extended to form inclined hood plate 3C.The said hood plate 3 is provided with independent nut-bolt or like adjustment means 47 with a graduated scale 30A for adjusting simultaneously to any desired degree the gap G-1 at entry mouth/throat and swing diameter of rotor, the gap 46 between top of lat on apron carrier 21 and extension lip 2 on entry mouth, and the gap between indented face 3A and swing diameter of rotor 14 and entry throat behind said indented face 3A and forming respectively operational sectors/regions 32 and 33, to control the quality of the preparation level of cane in operating sector/region 32 before it is fed into the successive operating sectorsiregions 33 and 34 between said secondary anvil 7 and swing diameter of said rotor.14.

Said adjustable knives forming adjustable stationary knives making two rows 49A-49B on hood plate forming a comblike deflector behind said entry throat in said hood plate are positioned in such a manner (as shown in Figure 4A) that knives in one row come in the middle of two consecutive knives in the other row when viewed in the direction of cane travel as indicated by Y on Figure 4A.

The curvature of said curvilinear plate 3B of the throat has certain geometrical relation with the swing diameter of rotor 14 formed by hammer/knife set rigidly attached to offset holders on hubs of said rotor.

An anvil assembly7 if formed from a curved rib plate 7A (shown in Figure 1 1A) with integrally formed or detachably mounted longitudinally extending series of special shaped bars 48 forming a serrated lining 8 having hacksaw shaped hard faced teeth with desired rake angle RA and clearance angle CLA with respect to axis RC of rotor 14 (as shown in Figure 11 B). Said anvil assembly is suspended at its top on a floating pivot 9 working on a nut-bolt or like adjustable means 11 having graduated scale 30B for adjusting the gap G-2 at entry gate facing swing diameter of rotor 14. Said floating pivot is mounted on a frame formed by pillars 20 and brackets 10 and said anvil abuts bottom of said inclined back plate 11 forming steep hopper 44.Said anvil is supported near its middle on another nut-bolt or the like adjustable means 12 having graduated scale 30Cthrough shear pins or the like 13. Alternatively said shear pins are substituted with any other mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic or electronic actuators operated through impulses from force transducers provided in place of shear pins arrangment to break or actuate said anvil to yield and swing back the anvil on said floating pivot 9 in the event of any excessive load due to "tramp-iron" or the like hard foreign substance/matter entering the operating sector or region 34 thereby avoiding any damage being caused to anvil or hammers!knives set on rotor or stalling of rotor.The rotor 14 has on its periphery rows of hubs having offset holders 15 with means for rigidly attaching thereto stems of hammers 17 and knives 16 in a variety of combination/permutation order to control the quality of minced/fiberised cane mass reduced by the cane micer and one such typical arrangement is shown in schematic diagram of Figure 7 wherein H represents hammer 17 and K represents knife 16 and 28 represents the direction in which the rotor rotates within the cane mincer casing. The steep hopper 44 is located on one side of said rotor and opposite to said entry mouth at front end of said hoot plate 3. An inclined fixed or adjustably stationary deflector plate 18 having a bent extension is provided below said rotor and located between the swing diameter of said rotor and means 21 provided for feeding cane material into cane mincer.Said deflector guides minced/fiberised cane 43A into a discharge chute 45 provided there between, A rake carrier 19 (shown in Figure 2) is optionally provided below said discharge chute 45 for taking up and deliverying minced/fiberised cane mass to juice extraction mill (not shown). The top bent end of said deflector plate being located between swing diameter of rotor and apron carrier forms a means for preventing bridging of cane and choking the gap formed there-between and ensuring smooth operation of cane mincer. The said components forming the cane mincer 1 are mounted on frame structure 10 and pillars 20 which are independent of the foundation stools on which frictionless bearings 22 are mounted and supported as shown in Figure 9.The Cane mincer 1 has plurality of operating sectors/regions 31,32,33 and 34 around the periphery of rotor 14formed by swing diameter of hammersiknives set on rotor rotating within cane mincer 1 wherein the cane sticks entering from the apron carrier 21 are prepared in the first operating sector/region 31, and are further prepared in second operating sector/region 32.The third cane preparation takes place in the third operating sector/region 33 where cane pieces and chips thrown towards top of hood get deflected, minced and fly back partially due to deflector 29 or two rows of adjustable stationary knives 49A-49B forming comb-like deflector, and the fourth and final cane preparation takes place in the fourth operating sector/region 34 where the partly prepared cane mass from operating sector/regions 32 and 33 are scattered over the inclined back plate of steep hopper 44 and exit gates respectively in said secondary anvil zone and minced/fiberised cane mass 43A is discharged onto rake carrier 19 provided below discharge chute 45 via said deflector 18 for deliverying cane mass to juice extraction mill (not shown).Thus the chopping, cutting, combing, alining, hammering, disintegrating and mincing/fiberising operations are simultaneously, successively, intensively and continuously carried out within the cane mincer during the rotation of material within said casing by the rotor rotating in reverse direction and material is reduced having desired quality set for individual fibers forming fiberised cane mass of the type herein described and consuming less than 30% energy per tonne of fiberised cane mass produced by the cane mincer 1 than the energy otherwise consumed by known machines used by the sugar industry which produce indifferent quality for fiberised cane mass thereby affecting adversely sugar yield pertonne of crushed cane.

The rotor assembly as shown in Figure 8 is supported on frictionless bearings 22 mounted on stools supported on independent foundations. Said rotor is driven by two electric motors 24-24 coupled through flexible flywheel type couplings 25 whih act as flywheels for rotating mass for surge requirements. The said drive motors are either connected to both ends of rotor as shown in Figure 8) or a single motor 24 connected at one end of rotor and the other end is fitted with a flywheel 25 as shown in Figure 9. Alternatively the drive can be a geared turbine or turbine with reduction gear 27 through flywheel type coupling or flywheel 26 (as shown in Figure 10). Alternatively said rotor may be fitted and coupled to any prime mover through flywheel type coupling for operating the cane mincer.

The knife 16 used in the cane mincer (as shown in Figure 5A, 5B and 5C) is a reversible knife having different shapes and profiles e.g. the top of said knife is either blunt or is pointed and has hard faced sharp edges 1 6A on both sides.

The hammer 17 (as shown in Figures 6A, 6B and 6C) is also reversible and the two edges 17A of stem as also the square or rectangular shaped hammer head are hard faced and said hammer head is either rigidly welded or otherwise formed integral with top of said or is detachably attached to said stem which is having means for rigidly attaching said hammer 17 to holders on hubs of rotor 14 as hereinbefore described.

In one alternative embodiment the hammer 17 (as shown in Figures 6D, 6E and 6F) is also reversible and the two edges 17A of stem as also the hammer head 17C are hard faced and taper outwardly from its narrow base. Said hammer head is also either welded to or otherwise formed integral or is detachably attached to top of said stem which is having means for rigidly attaching said hammer to holders on hubs of rotor 14 as hereinbefore described. In this embodiment the basic purpose of providing a taper extending outwardly from narrow base of hammer head is to achieve desired approach angle "AA" in spite of certain offset of hammer axis with respect to rotor center. In a reversible hammer having square or rectangular head the clearance angle "CA" is usually decided by offset of holders on hubs of rotor.In nonreversible hammerthe clearance angle "CA" can also be independent of offset of holders on hubs of rotor. Clearance Angle and Aprroach Angle are one of the most important parameters to effect high performance of cane mincer in terms of higher P.l. (Performance Index), higher B. D. (Bulk Density) and consistently high quality for each fiber constituting the minced/fiberised cane mass of the type herein described while at the same time consuming less than 30% electric energy per tonne of fiberised cane mass produced by the cane mincer.

Each of the knife forming two rows 49A - 49B of adjustable stationary knives forming comb-like deflector behind entry throat, is also of the reversible type and has either a blunt or pointed sharp edge and both edges thereof are sharp and hard faced and having a stem with means for adjustably mounting or attaching it to a bracket (not shown) to form comb-like deflector. Said two rows of knives function as supplementary means for combing, cutting, hammering, aligning cane chips within the spaces between said deflector, curvilinear hood forming entry throat and the operating sector/region 33 in said casing and deflecting cane chips and mass thereof towards rotating hammers/knives on rotor for further disintergrating the mass before throwing it into the hopper 44.

Principle ofoperation The operational sequence of the cane mincerto obtain desired quality for fibers constituting minced/fiberised cane mass to improve the cane crushing rate and increased juice extraction per tonne of cane crushed in a cane crushing mill using existing cane crushers is as follows: Prior to operating the cane mincer the geometry of gaps G-1, G-2 and G-3 as also the gap 46 between apron carrier and extension lip on entry mouth are respectively adjusted to desired levels by independently adjusting the independent adjustable nut-bolt means 47, 11 and 12. Likewise the adjustable stationary knives 49A-49B on hood plate forming comb-like deflector are adjusted and locked in fixed position. With these adjustments being carried out the cane mincer is then ready for operation.

The cane mincer is then switched ON and cane sticks from apron carrier 21 start feeding cane into the cane mincer.

The preparation of cane starts as soon as cane marked by arrow 43 on apron carrier 21 enters the mouth portion of cane mincer. The first preparation takes place at the first operating sector/region 31 against the blanket of cane sticks being lifted and guided by the swing diameter of rotor hitting against cane material forming blanket of cane sticks while it is fed into the entry gate G-1 in entry mouth. Bridging of cane at entry mouth/throat is prevented by curved extension lip 2 on entry mouth. The second and most important pre-preparation of cane takes place in the second operating sector/region 32 where the cane material passing through gap between indentation inside entry mouth and swing diameter of rotor forming primary anvil is hammered, knifed and disintegrated before entering into the entry throat behind entry mouth.The third cane preparation takes place in the operating sector/region 33 when cane pieces thrown towards top of hood get deflected, minced and flown back partially due to stationary deflector or adjustable stationary knives forming comb like deflector behind entry throat and hit back towards swing diameter of rotor before throwing the mass into steep hopper behind said deflector in entry throat. Some of the heavier cane chips specifically directed by the comb-like deflector are further knifed, hammered and disintegrated by the swing diameter of said rotor rotating within casing, in said third operating sector/region 33.The fourth and final cane preparation takes place in the operating sector/region 34 when the partly prepared cane mass from operating sectors/regions 32 and 33 are acattered over the back plate 41 and hopper 44, and which cane mass slides therefrom into the gap G-2 and enters the secondary anvil zone where said mass is finally minced/fiberised during its passage to gap G-3 forming exit gate in said anvil 7 and the minced/fiberised cane mass 43A is discharged onto rake carrier 19 provided below discharge chute 45 via plate 18.

As shown in Figure 2 the indentations on the inside of entry mouth/throat opening at front end of casing 1 and forming primary anvil may be in the form of breaker lugs and extending inwardly into space between the type of hammeriknife set on rotor and the gap opening G-2 therethrough - which preperably is kept as minimum as possible for breaking cane during its travel therethrough forming operating sector/region 32.

The cane pre-preparation starts as soon as the cane sticks forming blanket of cane on apron carrier enters the first operating sector/region 31 where the cane is hmmered/knifed softly against the said blanket of cane as it is fed towards and into the entry mouth/throat formed by gap G-1 forming second operating sector/region 32 where the cane sticks are broken and knifed during their travel through the gap into the space behind entry throat. The cane is further prepared in the said space and some of the cane mass thrown back by said deflector or comb-like deflector behind said entry throat is also prepared in said operating sector/region 33 during the rotation of said rotor before it is scattered into the steep hopper 44.The cane mass from said hopper slides down along inclined back plate by gravity enters the gaps G-2 and travels towards exit gate formed by gap G-3 where final mincing/fiberising operation takes place in the fourth operating sector/region 34.

The reference herein before made is related to the use of cane mincer for mincing/fiberising sugar cane.

However, such a reference is only by way of an exemplary embodiment without intending to imply any limitation thereto.

In the cane mincer the provision of various novel features hereinbefore described seek to overcome the inherent defects ever present in prior art disintegrators including one described in prior UK Patent No.

1,389,960. The manner in which said defects are overcome are further elaborated as under: i) Due to the provision of the curved plate 2 at the entry mouth, long uncut cane pieces are guided and travelled smoothly into the entry throat without any problem such as bridging or choking. Because there is no chance for bridging and choking due to entry mouth geometry there is further advantage that the entry gap G-1 after entry mouth and entry throat can be kept as minimum as is possible depending upon the requirement of cane pre-preparation in the operating sector/region 32 and 33, and also the variety of cane available in different parts of the World for mincing/fiberising;; ii) The HP (Horse Power) requirements for desired level of cane preparation in the cane mincer is very much low per fiber tonne content per hour of cane, and which reduced energy consumption is due to various provisions incorporated in the cane mincer design. The overall complex of approach and clearance angles, entry mouth geometry, entry throat geometry, indentations facing swing diameter of rotor forming primary anvil, the gap in entry throat, deflector plate or adjustable stationary knives forming comb-like deflector behind entry throat, gaps in yieldable anvil and their respective choice of gap adjustment variations, offset position of blade holders on rotor shaft assembly and plurality of operating sectors/regions contribute considerably in not only improved cane preparation but also reduces the HP re-requirements and consequent energy saving for operating the cane mincer.

iii) The provision of shear pins or similar means for yieldable anvil reduces the damage likely to be caused by "tramp iron" or similar hard materials entering the gap between anvil and swing diameter of rotor. In a situation when excess forces are induced due to passing of the "tramp iron", the shear pins are broken and anvil assembly swings back on floating pivot making room for "tramp iron to pass further there through without damage to the parts of cane mincer; iv) The better and higher P.l. (Performance Index), and higher B.D. (Bulk Density) for the prepared cane forming minced/fiberised cane mass is made possible in the cane mincer due to plurality of operating sectors/regions 32 and 33 within the cane mincer for pre-preparing level of cane mass before it enters the operating sector 34 as hereinbefore stated.Sector/region 34, due to special geometry of anvil serrations facing hammer/knife sets on rotor also further contribute in achieving desired and consistently high quality for minced/fiberised cane mass reduced by the cane mincer; v) All the plurality of operating sectors/regions provided within cane mincer are effectively utilised for obtaining better cane preparation level having higher P.l. and higher B.D. as hereinbefore stated; vi) An increased preparatory index for cane mincer utilises less HP and consumes less than 30% energy per tonne of mincedifiberised cane per hour compared to the energy consumed by existing disintegrators used by the sugar industry.This is due to the approach angle "AA" and clearance angle "CA" for hammer/knife sets on blade holders fixed on periphery of rotor shaft and which inter alia increases the hammer/knife life by making effective use of wearing surfaces; vii) The yieldable anvil being mounted and supported at its top on a pivot floating in space i.e. it is floating in a particular direction in relation to hood or swing diameter of rotor and likewise said anvil being supported near its middle on shear pins through adjustable nut-bolt means as hereinbefore stated. The said adjustment means provides infinitely variable adjustment means not only for adjusting the gaps G-2 and G-3 between serrated face of anvil and swing diameter of rotor, the back plate 41 being mounted on pivot 42 correspondingly gets adjusted.And these infinte combinations of adjustments in terms of absolute dimensions of gap including the "tapering-in" and "tapering out" of gaps in various permutation/ combinations provide for obtaining and achieving consistently high quality and desired level of cane preparation of the type hereinbefore described. The present state-of-art in sugar cane crushing mill or juice extracting mill stipulates that cane be prepared in a minced/fiberised manner thereby opening juice cells in each fiber constituting the fiberised cane mass to the maximum extent in the prepared cane before it is delivered to the cane crushing mill. The full cane pieces as well as fine powdery mass in the prepared cane needs therefore, to be avoided. The cane mincer of the present invention can achieve the ideal requirements of sugar cane juice extraction mill by its effective adjustment at entry mouth, throat and anvil zones.

However, in the event of the state-of-art of milling in sugar industry changing at a future date and a different kind of cane preparation being stipulated, the present cane mincer can also achieve the same by making proper and suitable but different adjustments at the entry mouth, throat, -nvil, and changing the distribution of hammers/knives set on rotor shaft assembly and their configuration, making suitable adjustments in plurality of anvils, one of which being yieldable anvil, facing the swing diameter of rotor and adjustable stationary knives forming comblike deflector behind entry throat and their configuration.The cane mincer of the present invention is therefore, a very versatile unit which can be ideally adapted not only for the present sugar mill requirements but also for any other different requirements stipulated by sugar mills and allied industries for fiberising/mincing mass from any agricultural product including sugar cane, at a future date.

The cane mincer according to this invention is designed for operation in reverse cycle order i.e. the rotor rotates in anticlockwise direction for feeding material to be reduced and fiberised by the cane mass.

However, where certain process conditions stipulate that the material be fed into and fiberised under rotation of rotor in clockwise direction the same can be achieved by making suitable additions or alterations in the cane machine design to change the direction of flow of material.

APPENDIX I Method of wording out Preparatory Index (P.l.) 1. Take representative sample from the output side of cane preparatory machine such as cane mincer: Quantity about 1000 gms.

2. Take out of the above 333 gms. prepared cane and 2000 ml. of water and disintegrate the mass in Rapipol Extractor for 20 minutes.

3. Then find out the Pol and Brix of the extract: Say: P2 & B2 4. Take 5000 gms of same representative sampie of prepared cane and leach in 3000 ml. water for 30 mins.

5. Then find out the Pol and Bris of the extract: Say: P1 & B1 P1 6. Preparatory Index P.1. = - x 100 by Pol method P2 B1 P.1."' - By Brix method xl00ByBrixmethod B2 ANNEXUTRE I Method of working Bulk Density 1. Take known weight of prepared cane and fill up in a cylinder and compress the same under pressure of 7.5 PSIC for one minute; then find the volume of the compressed prepared cane.

Weight of prepared cane 2. Bulk Density = Volume of compressed prepared cane While we have described a particular embodiment of our present invention, we do not wish to limit ourselves to the exact form shown and described herein since the particular embodiment is intended to illustrate the invention rather invention is susceptible of such changes and modifications which shall define no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

Claims (34)

1. Energy efficient cane mincer comprising a casing, plurality of operating sectors/regions, a rotor having rows of hubs on its periphery with offset holders for rigidly attaching thereto hammer/knife sets in a variety of permutation combination order and facing plurality of adjustable anvils formed by curved plates, each having indentations/serrations on its inside face, one of said anvil with indentations being at entry mouth/throat forming primary anvil zone and the other being yieldably supported on a floating pivot below a steep hopper on one side of said rotor and supported on nut-bolt means through shear pins or the like to break and swing back said anvil on said floating pivot under excessive load due to 'tramp-iron' or the like hard substance entering said secondary anvil zone and prevent damage to hammers on rotor or stalling of rotor, plurality of adjustable stationary deflectors, first being plate orplurality of adjustable stationary knives forming a comb-like deflector behind said entry throat and the second being a plate with or without bent extension being located below said rotor between its swing siameterand meansforfedding material towards rotor and on to said operating sectors/regions, plurality of means for preventing bridging of cane material and choking at entry mouth/throat and gap between said deflector therebelow, plurality of independent adjustment means for adjusting gaps in operating sectors/regions for controlling quality of minced/fiberised cane mass of the type herein described, a discharge chute below said second deflector, optionally a rake carrier means being provided below said discharge chute, and means for rotating said rotor whereby under rotation material is reduced, minced and fiberised.

2. A cane mincer as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the casing comprises a fixed top plate a hood plate at its front end and a back plate at its rear forming a steep hopper on one side of said rotor and two side plates.

3. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims 1 and 2 wherein the said hood plate supported on a hinge pin/pivot at front end of said fixed top plate is having an adjustable stationary curvilinar or curved plate with rigid or detachable indentations on its inside forming entry mouth/throat facing swing diameter of said rotor and forming adjustable preliminary anvil zone therebetween.

4. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims 1 to 3 wherein means for preventing bridging and choking at entry mouth/throat comprises a stationary or adjustable stationary curved plate extending upwardly from front end of hood plate and forming extension lip.

5. A cane mincer as claimed in Claim 1 wherein means for preventing bridging and choking of gap between swing diameter of rotor and deflector plate means for preventing bridging of cane at gap between swing diameter of rotor and deflector plate provided therebelow comprises a stationary or adjustable stationary bent extension on deflector located between swing diameter of rotor and said means for feeding material towards said rotor.

6. A cane mincer as claimed in Claim 1 wherein each of the knife forming plurality of rows of adjustable stationary knife set forming a comblike deflector behind said entry throat has a pointed sharp or blunt tip and is reversible or non-reversible.

7. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims 1 and 6 wherein each of said adjustable stationary knife has independent adjustment means.

8. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims 1 and 2 wherein the said back plate adjustably supported on hinge pin or pivot at rear of said fixed top plate is independently adjustable.

9. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims 1 wherein gap G-2 and G-3 at entry and exit gate in said secondary anvil is independently adjustable as herein described.

10. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims 1 and 9 wherein independent nut/bolt or the like independent adjustment means are provided for adjusting the said back plate of hopper and the gap G-2 at entry gate of said secondary anvil and swing diameter of said rotor.

11. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims 1 and 9 to 10 wherein the gap G-2 and G-3 forming entry and exit gates in said secondary anvil are independently adjustable to have different gap dimensions therebetween and swing diameter of said rotor as herein described.

12. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims 1 and 9 to 11 wherein independent nut-bolt or like adjust means are provided for adjusting the gap G-3 at exit gate of said secondary anvil and swing diameter of said rotor.

13. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims 1 and 6 wherein the front hood plate is having adjustable stationary deflector adjacent or abutting the curvilinear or curved plate immediately behind said entry throat.

14. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims 1,6 and 13 wherein the said deflector behind entry throat is having two rows of adjustable sttionary knives forming comb-like deflector.

15. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims 1,6 and 13 and 14 wherein the adjustable stationary knives in one row are staggered with respect to the knives in second row such that any one knife in one row comes in the middle of two consecutive knives in the second row when viewed from the direction of cane travel flow from entry mouth and forms a comb-like deflector.

16. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims 1,6 and 13 to 15 wherein each of the knives forming two or more rows of adjustable stationary knives is having hard faced cutting edge on its two sides and the tip is either blunt or is having hard faced cutting edge on its two sides and is reversible or non-reversible or combination thereof and are staggered in any desired permutation/combination to form a comb-like deflector.

17. A cane mincer as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the rotor has on its periphery rows of hubs each having offset holders with means for rigidly attaching thereto stems of hammer/knife set and wherein said holders are offset with respect to axis of said rotor and wherein the offset of each of said holder is of prescribed degree or angle wherein the clearance angle "CA" and approach angle "AA" are the function of the offset of the said arms with respect to rotating shaft as well as they are the function of geometry of hammer/knife set on rotor as herein described.

18. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims 1 and 17 wherein the hammer head is either welded to or otherwise detachably attached rigidly to top or stem therefor and said head is hard faced and is reversible.

19. A cane mincer as claimed in Claim 1 wherein each of the knife on rotor is reversible and has hard faced cutting edge on both sides and has either a hard faced blunt or pointed sharp edged tip.

20. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims 1,9 to 12 wherein the adjustable means for said hood plate and/oryieldable anvil are mutually exclusive and inded of each other.

21. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims, 1,9 to 12 wherein the yieldable secondary anvil is form a curved plate having integrally formed or detachably attached longitudinally extending bars forming indentations/ serrations and wherein each of said bar preferably has hacksaw shaped hard faced teeth with desired rake angle "RA" and clearance angle "CLA" with respect to the rotor center "RC" as shown in the Figure 11 B of the accompanying drawings.

22. A cane mincer as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the curved plate form extension lip on hood plate at front end of said casing is in the direction of cane flow entering entry mouth/throat.

23. A cane mincer as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the gap G-1 at entry mouth/throat is being maintained as minimum as possible.

24. A cane mincer as claimed in any of preceding claims wherein the hammer head on top of stem therefor is substantially rectangular or square in shape and two sides of said stem and hammer head are hard faced and are reversible or non-reversible.

25. A cane mincer as claimed in Claim 1 and any of preceeding Claims 2 to 23 wherein the front and rear provile of each of said hard faced reversible hammer heads extends upwards angularly from the base therefor substantially as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

26. A cane mincer as claimed in any of preceding claims wherein the hammers on rotor are attached in any permutation combination order on said rotor wherein each of said hammer is having a hammer head having square or rectangular shaped head or an angular shaped head or combination thereof.

27. A cane mincer as claimed in any of preceding claims wherein the steep hopper on one side of said rotor is opposite said entry mouth/throat and diagonally opposite said second deflector below said rotor.

28. A cane mincer as claimed in any of preceeding claims wherein the rigidly attached knives with blunt or sharp pointed tips are staggered on rotor in any variety of permutation/combination order with respect to said hammers on rotor.

29. A cane mincer as claimed in any of preceeding claims wherein the means for rotating said rotor comprises a single prime mover coupled at one side of rotor through a flywheel type coupling and a flywheel at the other side thereof.

30. A cane mincer as claimed in any of preceding Claims 1 to 28 wherein the means for rotating said rotor comprises two prime movers, one on each side of said rotor comprises two prime movers, one on each side of said rotor and coupled through flywheel type coupling.

31. A cane mincer as claimed in any of preceeding Claims 1 to 28 wherein said rotor is driven by a geared turbine or a turbine with reduction gear through flywheel type coupling fitted at one end of said rotor and the other end being fitted with a flywheel.

32. A cane mincer as claimed in Claims 1 to 28 wherein the said rotor is driven by any prime mover through flexible type or flywheel type coupling and a flywheel fitted at the other end of said rotor.

33. A cane mincer as claimed in any of preceding Claims 1 to 28 wherein the curved plate forming entry mouth/throat and forming a primary anvil is having breaker lugs extending inwardly into space between the tips of hammer/knife set on rotor.

34. Energy efficient cane mincer for reduced any material including sugar cane sticks and other agricultural produce/materials into minced/fiberised cane mass of desired quality and substantially as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.