JP2003284932A - Method for mixing fluids and apparatus therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for mixing fluids and an apparatus therefor capable of sufficiently and effectively mixing a fluid of high viscosity such as a surface active agent and a fluid of low viscosity such as water in a mixer. <P>SOLUTION: This method for mixing the fluids wherein the fluid of high viscosity in a high viscosity fluid tank 1 and the fluid of low viscosity in a low viscosity fluid tank 2 are respectively and separately delivered by means of pumps 11, 12 to the mixer 9, which continuously mixes both of the fluids, is characterized in that, on beginning the delivery of the fluids from the tanks 1, 2 by starting each of the pumps 11, 12, the delivery of the high viscosity fluid is started, a prescribed time after the delivery of the low viscosity fluid is started so as to make the low viscosity fluid flow into the mixer 9 ahead of the high viscosity fluid. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a fluid mixing method and apparatus for mixing a high viscosity fluid and a low viscosity fluid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, when a mixed fluid is produced by mixing a surfactant (high-viscosity fluid) and water (low-viscosity fluid) at a predetermined ratio with a mixer, a tank for the surfactant and water are used. Tanks for fluid communication are connected to the mixer by fluid feed pipes, and each fluid feed pipe is provided with a pump that feeds the fluid in each tank to the mixer. The activator and water are sent at a predetermined flow rate and sent to a mixer, and the mixer continuously stirs and mixes the surfactant and water. And, as for the feed pipe from the tank to the mixer, usually, the surfactant feed pipe is shorter than the water feed pipe.

[0003]

In the prior art, since the pump for supplying the surfactant and the pump for supplying the water are simultaneously activated, the surfactant having a shorter pipe length is earlier than the water. Into the mixer, after which water flows into the surfactant. Thus, when water flows in after the surfactant has flowed into the mixer, the surfactant causes a chemical reaction in the mixer to easily harden, and the surfactant and water cannot be sufficiently mixed. There is a problem to say. Even if the length of the water supply pipe is shorter than that of the surfactant supply pipe, if the surfactant supply flow rate becomes larger than the water supply flow rate, the surfactant will be used first. May flow into the.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is possible to sufficiently and effectively mix a high viscosity fluid such as a surfactant and a low viscosity fluid such as water in a mixer. It is an object of the present invention to provide a fluid mixing method and device which can be used.

[0005]

The invention according to claim 1 is
High viscosity fluid of high viscosity fluid tank 1 and low viscosity fluid tank 2
In the fluid mixing method in which the low-viscosity fluid of 10 is separately fed to the mixer 9 by the pumps 11 and 12, respectively, and the two fluids are mixed by the mixer 9, each of the tanks 1 and 2 is activated by starting the pumps 11 and 12. When starting the feeding of the fluid from the low viscosity fluid among the high viscosity fluid and the low viscosity fluid so that the low viscosity fluid flows into the mixer 9 earlier than the high viscosity fluid, the constant feeding from the low viscosity fluid is started. It is characterized in that the feeding of the high-viscosity fluid is started after a lapse of time.

The invention according to claim 2 relates to a high-viscosity fluid tank 1, a low-viscosity fluid tank 2, a mixer 9, a high-viscosity fluid in the high-viscosity fluid tank 1 and a low-viscosity fluid in the low-viscosity fluid tank 2. In the fluid mixing device for mixing both fluids in the mixer 9 with the pumps 11 and 12 for separately feeding the respective fluids to the mixer 9 through the feeding pipes 3 and 4, respectively.
When the supply of the fluid from the tanks 1 and 2 is started by the start of, the start of the high-viscosity fluid supply pump 11 is delayed by a predetermined time from the low-viscosity fluid supply pump 12 so that the low-viscosity fluid has a high viscosity. It is characterized in that a control device 10 for controlling the activation of both pumps 11 and 12 is provided so as to flow into the mixer 9 before the fluid.

In the fluid mixing device according to claim 2,
A double pipe having an inner pipe portion 6 and an outer pipe portion 7 for feeding the high-viscosity fluid and the low-viscosity fluid to the mixer 9 without joining the high-viscosity fluid and the low-viscosity fluid on the tip side of the fluid both-supply pipes 3 and 4. Is provided with a fluid feed pipe 5, and the low-viscosity fluid feed pipe 4 is provided in the inner pipe portion 6 thereof.
And the high-viscosity fluid feed pipe 3 is connected to the outer pipe portion 7.

[0008]

1 is a block diagram showing a fluid mixing apparatus for carrying out a fluid mixing method according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. In these figures, 1 is a tank for storing a high viscosity fluid such as a surfactant, and 2 is a tank for storing a low viscosity fluid such as hot water. 3 is a high-viscosity fluid feed pipe connected to the outlet of the tank 1, 4 is a low-viscosity fluid feed pipe connected to the tank 2, and the tip of the low-viscosity fluid feed pipe 4 is It is connected to the inner pipe portion 6 of the fluid feed pipe 5 having a double pipe structure, and the tip portion of the high viscosity fluid feed pipe 3 is connected to the outer pipe portion 7 of the fluid feed pipe 5.

The fluid feeding pipe 5 is for feeding the high-viscosity fluid and the low-viscosity fluid fed from the respective feeding pipes 3 and 4 to the mixer 9 without joining them on the way, and the inner pipe portion 6 and an outer pipe part 7, and a branch pipe part 8 branches from an intermediate part of the outer pipe part 7. The tip part of the high viscosity fluid supply pipe 3 is connected to the branch pipe part 8. There is. Also, the outer tube portion 7
The outer end of the mixer is closed, and the inner end of the outer pipe portion 7 and the inner end of the inner pipe portion 6 are opened in the mixer body 9a of the mixer 9, respectively. Therefore, the high-viscosity fluid and the low-viscosity fluid respectively sent from both the supply pipes 3 and 4 join together inside the mixer main body 9a of the mixer 9 (see FIG. 3).

The high-viscosity fluid feed pipe 3 and the low-viscosity fluid feed pipe 4 are provided with pumps 11 and 12 for respectively feeding the surfactant of the tank 1 and the hot water of the tank 2 to the mixer 9 side. Each pump 1 is provided between the two pumps 11 and 12.
When the supply of the surfactant and the hot water from the tanks 1 and 2 is started by starting the tanks 1 and 12, the high-viscosity fluid supply pipe side pump 1 is started for a predetermined time longer than the low-viscosity fluid supply pipe side pump 2. A control device 10 is provided to control the start-up of both pumps 11 and 12 so that hot water may flow into the mixer 9 before the surfactant is delayed. Each pump 1
1, 12 are rotary pumps.

Further, the high-viscosity fluid supply pipe 3 and the low-viscosity fluid supply pipe 4 are provided with open / close valves 13 and 14 between the tanks 1 and 2 and the pumps 11 and 12, respectively.
And the fluid feed pipe 5, flowmeters 15 and 16 are provided near the pumps 11 and 12, and check valves 17 and 18 are provided near the fluid feed pipe 5.

As shown in FIG. 2, the mixer 9 is composed of a mixer body 9a and a rotation drive section 9b. Regarding the structure of the mixer main body 9a, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the rotary shaft 21 extending from the rotary drive unit 9b is inserted into the main body casing 20, and the rotary shaft 21 integrally provided on the rotary shaft 21 is provided. Disk 22
A ring-shaped inner rotor 23 and an outer rotor 24 are concentrically provided on one side of the rotor.
A stator 25 provided in the main body casing 20 is disposed between the rotors 24 and 24 with a proper gap formed between the stator 25 and the rotors 23 and 24.
The notches a, b, and c are opened at regular intervals in the circumferential direction.

The fluid feed pipe 5 is connected to the inlet 26 of the mixer main body 9a. That is, as shown in FIG.
The outer pipe portion 7 of the fluid feed pipe 5 is the inlet 2 of the mixer main body 9a.
The outer pipe portion 7 is formed to have a diameter substantially the same as that of the outer pipe portion 6 and is flange-joined to the mixer main body 9a. At this time, an appropriate gap is set between the tip of the inner pipe portion 6 of the fluid feed pipe 5 and the rear end of the rotating shaft 21 of the mixer main body 9a that faces the tip.

The warm water (low-viscosity fluid) sent from the inner pipe portion 6 of the fluid feed pipe 5 to the inlet 26 of the mixer body 9a hits the convex rear end face 21a of the rotary shaft 21 and spreads in an inverted conical shape. While passing through the cutout portion a of the rotating inner rotor 23, the cutout portion c of the stator 25, the cutout portion b of the rotating outer rotor 24 to the discharge flow passage 27, and the outer pipe portion of the fluid feed pipe 5. 7 to mixer body 9
Surfactant sent to the inlet 26 of a (high viscosity fluid)
Rides on the hot water flow entering the inner rotor 23 while being spread in an inverted conical shape from the tip of the inner pipe 6 (guided by the hot water flow), and the cutout portion a of the inner rotor 23 is the same as this hot water.
Through the cutout portion c of the stator 25 and further through the cutout portion b of the rotating outer rotor 24 to the discharge flow passage 27, the hot water and the surfactant are thus discharged from the rotor 23,
While passing through the notches a, b, and c (stirring / mixing action portion) of the stator 24 and the stator 25, they are subjected to shearing action to be agitated and mixed,
Thus, the mixed fluid that is agitated and mixed passes through the discharge flow path 27 and is fed by the mixed fluid feed pipe 19 that is connected to the outlet of the mixer main body 9a. The mixed fluid supply pipe 19 is connected to a product tank (not shown).

As described above, the fluid feeding pipe 5 consisting of a double pipe for feeding the high-viscosity fluid and the low-viscosity fluid to the mixer 9 without joining them on the way is provided, and the inner pipe portion 6 thereof is provided.
By connecting the low-viscosity fluid feed pipe 4 to the outer pipe portion 7 and connecting the high-viscosity fluid feed pipe 3 to the outer pipe portion 7, the surfactant, which is the high-viscosity fluid, is properly applied to the stirring and mixing action portion of the mixer body 9a. It is possible to effectively perform stirring and mixing of the surfactant and the warm water.

The control device 10 includes timer means for setting a time for delaying the activation of the high-viscosity fluid supply pipe side pump 11 by a predetermined time relative to the low-viscosity fluid supply pipe side pump 12, and a high-viscosity fluid. Both pumps 11 and 12 so that the low-viscosity fluid is continuously mixed by the mixer 9 at a predetermined ratio.
It has a control means having a function of controlling the discharge flow rate. Then, the timer means of the control device 10 is appropriately set and, for example, by pressing the start button of the device, the low-viscosity fluid feed pipe side pump 12 is started first, and after a predetermined time, the high-viscosity fluid The pump 11 on the feed pipe side is activated. In this case, the time set by the timer means of the control device 10 must be such that the low-viscosity fluid is always higher than the high-viscosity fluid in consideration of the lengths of the supply pipes 3 and 4, the discharge flow rates of the pumps 11 and 12. A certain time early, for example 2
It is a time such that the fluid flows into the mixer main body 9a 5 seconds earlier, and thereafter the high-viscosity fluid flows into the low-viscosity fluid.

When the surfactant of the tank 1 and the hot water of the tank 2 are mixed in a predetermined ratio set in advance by using the fluid mixing device having the above-mentioned structure, the controller 10
When the start button (not shown) of the apparatus is pressed after the timer means of is set appropriately, the low-viscosity fluid feed pipe side pump 2 is activated first, and the hot water in the low-viscosity fluid tank 2 becomes low. It is fed at a predetermined flow rate from the viscous fluid feed pipe 4 and enters the mixer body 9a of the mixer 9 from the inner pipe portion 6 of the fluid feed pipe 5.

For example, three seconds after the low-viscosity fluid supply pipe side pump 2 is activated, the high-viscosity fluid supply pipe-side pump 1 is activated so that the surfactant in the high-viscosity fluid tank 1 transfers the high-viscosity fluid. It is fed at a predetermined flow rate from the feed pipe 3, passes through the outer pipe portion 7 of the fluid feed pipe 5, and flows into the mixer main body 9a of the mixer 9,
It joins the warm water flow that has flowed into the mixer body 9a earlier. Thus, since the surfactant flows into the mixer main body 9a after the hot water flows into the mixer main body 9a, the surfactant does not cause a chemical reaction in the mixer main body 9a to solidify. .

In this way, the surfactant that has entered the mixer 9 after the hot water is mixed with the hot water inside the mixer body 9a in the rotor 2
While passing through the notches a, b, and c (stirring / mixing action portion) of the stator 3 and 24 and the stator 25, they are sufficiently and effectively stirred and mixed while being sheared by the shearing action. Then, the mixed fluid of the hot water and the surfactant mixed by stirring is fed from the outlet of the mixer main body 9a to the product tank through the mixed fluid feeding pipe 19.

As described above, when starting the supply of the surfactant and the hot water from the tanks 1 and 2 by starting the pumps 11 and 12, the hot water which is a low viscosity fluid is a surfactant which is a high viscosity fluid. By starting the feed of the surfactant from the tank 1 by the pump 11 after a few seconds have elapsed from the start of the hot water feed from the tank 2 by the pump 12 so as to flow into the mixer 9 earlier, The surfactant does not cause a chemical reaction in the mixer body 9a of the mixer 9 to solidify, and therefore, the surfactant can be sufficiently and effectively mixed with warm water to obtain a high-quality mixed product. Become.

In this embodiment, the surfactant is used as the high-viscosity fluid and water is used as the low-viscosity fluid, but a high-viscosity fluid other than the surfactant and a low-viscosity fluid other than water are also used. By carrying out the method described above, the same effect as the above can be obtained.

[0022]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the high-viscosity fluid in the high-viscosity fluid tank and the low-viscosity fluid in the low-viscosity fluid tank are separately pumped to the mixer, and the mixer is used. In the fluid mixing method that continuously mixes with each other, when starting the supply of the fluid from each tank by starting each pump, the low viscosity fluid flows into the mixer before the high viscosity fluid. By starting the feeding of the high viscosity fluid after a lapse of a certain time from the start of the fluid feeding, the high viscosity fluid does not solidify in the mixer and can be sufficiently and effectively mixed with the low viscosity fluid. Resulting in a good quality mixed product.

The invention according to claim 2 is an apparatus for carrying out the fluid mixing method according to claim 1, wherein the start of the high viscosity fluid feed pipe side pump is delayed by a predetermined time from the low viscosity fluid feed pipe side pump. By providing the control device for controlling the start-up of both pumps so that the low viscosity fluid flows into the mixer before the high viscosity fluid, the fluid mixing method according to claim 1 can be effectively implemented. .

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the inner pipe portion and the outer pipe for feeding the high-viscosity fluid and the low-viscosity fluid to the mixer without joining the high-viscosity fluid and the low-viscosity fluid in the middle of the two fluid feed pipes. A high-viscosity fluid is mixed by connecting a low-viscosity fluid feed pipe to the inner pipe and a high-viscosity fluid feed pipe to the outer pipe. It can be accurately introduced into the stirring and mixing section of the machine, whereby the stirring and mixing of the surfactant and warm water can be effectively performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a fluid mixing apparatus for carrying out a fluid mixing method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view showing a part of a mixer main body and a fluid feed pipe connected to the mixer main body.

4 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 High viscosity fluid tank 2 Low viscosity fluid tank 3 High viscosity fluid supply pipe 4 Low viscosity fluid supply pipe 5 Fluid feed pipe 6 Inner pipe part of fluid feed pipe 7 Outer pipe part of fluid feed pipe 9 mixer 9a Mixer body 9b Rotation drive unit 10 Control device 11 High viscosity fluid supply pipe side pump 12 Low viscosity fluid supply pipe side pump

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A fluid mixing method in which a high-viscosity fluid in a high-viscosity fluid tank and a low-viscosity fluid in a low-viscosity fluid tank are separately fed to a mixer by a pump, and both fluids are mixed by the mixer, When starting the supply of fluid from each tank by starting each pump, of the high viscosity fluid and the low viscosity fluid, the low viscosity fluid flows so that the low viscosity fluid flows into the mixer before the high viscosity fluid. A method for mixing fluid, characterized in that the feeding of the high-viscosity fluid is started after a lapse of a certain time from the start of the feeding. 2. A high-viscosity fluid tank, a low-viscosity fluid tank, a mixer, a high-viscosity fluid in the high-viscosity fluid tank and a low-viscosity fluid in the low-viscosity fluid tank are separately mixed through fluid feed pipes. In the fluid mixing device that mixes both fluids in the mixer, the pump for high-viscosity fluid supply is started when the supply of the fluid from each tank is started by starting each pump. Is provided with a control device for controlling the start-up of both pumps so that the low-viscosity fluid flows into the mixer before the high-viscosity fluid before the high-viscosity fluid. Mixing device. 3. A double pipe having an inner pipe portion and an outer pipe portion for feeding a high-viscosity fluid and a low-viscosity fluid to a mixer without joining the high-viscosity fluid and the low-viscosity fluid on the tip side of the both fluid feed pipes. The fluid mixing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a fluid feeding pipe is provided, a low viscosity fluid feeding pipe is connected to the inner pipe portion thereof, and a high viscosity fluid feeding pipe is connected to the outer pipe portion thereof.