JP5294264B2 - Powder feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a powder feeder, while being a device with a simple structure, continuously feeding powder with low fluidity and tendency to agglomerate into a mass, without causing plugging, and allowing only powder to be vacuum sucked into a dissolver or the like in a constant speed without allowing air to flow into it. <P>SOLUTION: The powder feeder includes: a cylindrical hopper 1 into which powder A is charged; a conical rotating nose 2 rotatably arranged so as to slide in contact with the inside of the hopper 1; an aperture passage 3 for the powder, formed between the bottom wall circumferential edge of the rotating nose 2 and the inner hopper wall; a discharge groove 4 in the circumferential direction formed below the rotating nose 2 communicating with the aperture passage 3; an agitating blade 5 running from the rotating nose 2 into the discharge groove 4; a suction nozzle 6 sucking the powder A forwarded by the agitating blade 5 from a discharge opening 4a provided in the discharge groove 4, and discharging it; and an edged claw 7 protruding into the discharge groove 4 to introduce the powder A to the discharge opening 4a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a powder supply device, and in particular, even a powder that has low fluidity and tends to agglomerate to agglomerate is continuously supplied without causing clogging, and only powder is supplied at a constant speed without inflowing air. It is related with the powder supply apparatus which can be made to vacuum-suck to a melting machine etc.

  For example, when supplying powder to a powder vacuum suction type melting machine, an optimal powder supply method has been established, such as clogging at the suction port or foaming of the dissolved liquid by simultaneously sucking in air. Absent.

  As a device for cutting powder from a powder hopper at a constant speed, a roller rotating type or a saddle weighing type circular feeder has been conventionally used, but the cut powder is intermittently discharged under atmospheric pressure. There is nothing that discharges continuously under vacuum.

  On the other hand, as a powder carry-out device having low fluidity and easily bridging, a bridging prevention device described in Patent Document 1 and a powder agitation carry-out device including the bridge prevention device have been proposed.

JP 2002-137831 A

However, since the apparatus described in Patent Document 1 is an extrusion type, the force for compressing the powder works, for example, the fluidity is low like whole soybean powder, and it tends to agglomerate into a lump. In the case of powder, there is a problem that the powder solidifies at the indented portion.
In the case of powder with high fluidity, there is no problem with the extrusion method, but when sucking powder like a powder vacuum suction type melting machine, the powder is sucked by such a continuous extrusion mechanism. The problem is that the quantitativeness cannot be ensured.

  In view of the problems of the conventional powder supply apparatus, the present invention is an apparatus with a simple structure, for example, continuously supplying powder that has low fluidity and tends to aggregate and become agglomerated without clogging. A first object of the present invention is to provide a powder supply apparatus that can vacuum-suck only powder at a constant speed into a melting machine or the like without flowing air.

  The second object of the present invention is to provide a powder supply apparatus that can adjust the flow rate of discharged powder by a simple mechanism.

In order to achieve the first object, a powder supply apparatus according to the present invention includes a cylindrical hopper into which powder is charged, and a conical rotating nose that is rotatably disposed in sliding contact with the hopper. And a powder throttle passage formed between the bottom wall peripheral edge of the rotating nose and the hopper inner wall, a circumferential discharge groove formed below the rotating nose in communication with the throttle passage, A stirring blade extending from the nose to the discharge groove, a suction nozzle for sucking and discharging the powder sent by the stirring blade from a discharge port provided in the discharge groove, and for guiding the powder to the discharge port It has a cut-out claw protruding in the discharge groove, and a slit that allows the cut-out claw to pass through is formed in the stirring blade .

In this case, in order to achieve the second object, an outlet flow rate adjusting mechanism having a measuring rotor having a slit is provided below the outlet, and the volume of the measuring rotor and / or the measuring rotor is adjusted. By adjusting the rotation speed, the flow rate of the powder discharged from the discharge port can be adjusted.

According to the powder supply apparatus of the present invention, the powder pressure is directly applied to the powder passing through the throttle passage by the sliding along the conical slope of the rotating nose and the vertical drop along the inner wall of the hopper with a simple structure. Therefore, the powder can be caused to flow down to the discharge groove while being fluidized by a peristaltic motion.
Further, the powder that has flowed down to the discharge groove can be sent by a stirring blade, crushed by a cutting claw, fluidized, and forcibly sent to a discharge port.
Then, by sucking the powder sent to the discharge port with a suction nozzle, for example, even if the target powder is a whole grain soybean powder or the like that has low fluidity and tends to aggregate and agglomerate, The body can be continuously supplied without causing clogging, and only the powder can be vacuum sucked into the dissolver or the like at a constant speed without flowing air.

Then , by forming a slit in the stirring blade that allows the passage of the cut-out claw, the cut-out claw and the slit come into contact when the stirring blade that has formed the slit passes through the protruding position of the cut-out claw. In addition, the agglomerated and solidified powder can be crushed more effectively in this gap.

  In addition, a discharge port flow rate adjusting mechanism having a measuring rotor having a slit is provided below the discharge port, and the volume of the measuring rotor and / or the rotational speed of the measuring rotor is adjusted to discharge from the discharge port. The powder flow rate can be adjusted by a simple mechanism.

It is front sectional drawing which shows one Example of the powder supply apparatus of this invention. (A) is XX sectional drawing of FIG. 1, (b) is the plane enlarged view of a cutting nail | claw. It is a YY sectional view of Drawing 2 (a) showing the lower part and suction nozzle of the powder supply device. It is YY sectional drawing of Fig.2 (a) which shows the advance / retreat mechanism (reference example) of a cutting nail | claw. The powder supply mechanism, the suction nozzle, and the mixing nozzle are shown, (a) is a partially cutaway sectional view, and (b) is a ZZ sectional view of (a). The powder supply apparatus and the dissolving machine are shown, (a) is a plan view thereof, and (b) is a front view thereof.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the powder supply device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 to 6 show an embodiment of the powder supply apparatus of the present invention (FIG. 4 is a reference example) .
This powder supply apparatus includes a cylindrical hopper 1 into which powder A is charged, a conical rotation nose 2 that is slidably in contact with the hopper 1, and a bottom of the rotation nose 2. From the narrowing passage 3 of the powder formed between the wall peripheral portion and the inner wall of the hopper, the circumferential discharge groove 4 formed in communication with the throttling passage 3 and below the rotation nose 2, and the rotation nose 2 The stirring blade 5 extended in the discharge groove 4, the suction nozzle 6 for sucking and discharging the powder A sent by the stirring blade 5 from the discharge port 4a provided in the discharge groove 4, and the discharge port 4a In order to guide the powder A, a cutting claw 7 protruding into the discharge groove 4 is provided.

In this powder supply apparatus, the powder supplied from the suction nozzle 6 is mixed with the solvent (for example, fresh water) supplied from the solvent supply pipe, and the mixed liquid supplied to the dissolver 9 is mixed. A nozzle 8 is provided.
Here, the dissolver 9 may be a device that sucks the mixed solution mixed by the mixing nozzle 8 and suspends and / or dissolves and sends out the powder and the solvent contained in the mixed solution.

The hopper 1 has a bottomed cylindrical shape with an open top and is installed as a fixed side. The hopper 1 can also be provided in a tapered shape that gradually expands upward.
The rotation nose 2 has a conical shape and is provided to rotate in the hopper 1 by connecting a central shaft 21 extending downward to a motor 22.

A powder throttle passage 3 is formed between the peripheral edge of the bottom wall of the rotating nose 2 and the inner wall of the hopper, and an annular discharge groove is formed below the rotating nose 2 so as to communicate with the throttle passage 3. 4 is formed (see FIG. 2A).
In the discharge groove 4, a plurality of stirring blades 5 (four in the illustrated example at equal intervals) are extended from the bottom wall of the rotating nose 2, and the powder A sent by the stirring blade 5 is discharged into the discharge groove 4. 4 is provided with a suction nozzle 6 for sucking with a vacuum suction force from the discharge port 4a provided in 4, and a cut-out claw 7 protruding into the discharge groove 4 for guiding the powder A to the discharge port 4a. The powder A put into the hopper 1 is crushed by the cutting claw 7 and forcedly sent out toward the discharge port while being fluidized.

Specifically, first, the entire powder is fluidized with a difference in speed by a combination of a stationary cylindrical hopper 1 and a conical rotating nose 2 that swivels.
Next, the powder A is passed through the throttle passage 3 formed between the peripheral edge of the bottom wall of the rotating nose 2 and the inner wall of the hopper 1, so that the powder A flowing down to the discharge groove 4 is powdered by the squeezing effect. The body density is increased and the inflow of air into the throttle passage 3 is prevented.

Specifically, first, the whole powder is fluidized while giving a difference in speed in the circumferential direction to the powder A by the action of static and movement by the combination of the cylindrical hopper 1 and the conical rotating nose 2.
Next, the powder A is passed through the throttle passage 3 formed near the bottom wall of the rotating nose 2 to increase the powder density of the powder A flowing down to the discharge groove 4 by the squeezing effect. Block the inflow of air.

In this case, due to the presence of the throttle passage 3, the powder A in the discharge groove 4 does not directly receive the powder load in the hopper 1 and turns around the discharge groove 4 by the turning of the stirring blade 5 to be in a fluid state.
The powder A in the discharge groove 4 is continuously fed at a constant speed by the vacuum suction force of the dissolver 9 by the suction nozzle 6 installed at a 45 ° angle downward from the horizontal direction from the discharge port 4a. Let it drain.
The suction nozzle 6 is provided immediately below the discharge port 4a, and sucks the powder A that is forcibly sent toward the discharge port 4a while being crushed and fluidized by the cutting claw 7. There is no retention of the powder A, and there is no blockage due to the adhesion of the powder A.

Further, the stirring blade 5 is formed with a notch-like slit 5 a that allows the cut-out claw 7 to pass through. The stirring blade 5 comes into contact with the cut-out claw 7 protruding into the discharge groove 4, and the rotation of the rotating nose 2 It is configured not to cause any trouble.
In this embodiment, the cutting claw 7 is inclined and protrudes in the axial direction of the suction nozzle 6 in a side view so that the powder A can be forcibly sent out. In order to prevent this interference, it is formed in an arc shape having the same radius R as the center radius R of the discharge groove 4 in plan view, as shown in FIG.

Further, in order to prevent interference between the stirring blade 5 and the cutting claw 7, when the stirring blade 5 passes through the protruding position of the cutting claw 7 as in the reference example shown in FIG. By providing the advancing / retreating mechanism C for retreating, the slit 5a provided in the stirring blade 5 can be omitted.
This advancing / retracting mechanism C opens a long hole 6a in the pipe of the suction nozzle 6, projects a pin 7a extending from the cutting claw 7 into the long hole 6a, and connects the pin to the central shaft 21 of the motor 22 and the cam mechanism. By interlocking via (not shown), when the stirring blade 5 passes through the protruding position of the cut-out claw 7, the cut-out claw 7 is retracted to the lower right side of the figure and after passing, It returns to the position.
As the advancing / retracting mechanism C, the stirring blade 5 is always attached to the bottom wall of the rotating nose 2 through a hinge so as to protrude into the discharge groove 4 by an urging means such as a winding spring (not shown). It can also be configured to swing to the bottom wall side of the rotating nose 2 when it comes into contact with the protruding claw 7.

When adjustment of the powder flow rate of the powder A discharged from the discharge port 4a is necessary, it can be adjusted by the discharge port flow rate adjusting mechanism 10.
As shown in FIG. 5, the discharge port flow rate adjusting mechanism 10 is disposed immediately below the discharge port 4 a, and includes a housing 13 having a cylindrical space 13 a formed therein, and a center eccentric with the central axis of the space 13 a. A measuring rotor 11 having a plurality of hollow slits 11a extending from the outer surface to the inner surface at equal intervals in the circumferential direction (eight positions in the illustrated example), which is rotatably arranged by a shaft, and directly below the discharge port 4a It comprises a bottom receiving plate 12 that covers the inner surface side of the positioned slit 11a and prevents the passage of powder.
The flow rate of the powder A can be adjusted by the volume of the slit 11 a and / or the rotational speed of the measuring rotor 11.

Next, the operation of the powder supply apparatus of this embodiment will be described.
When the powder A is put on the rotating nose 2 from the opening side of the upper part of the hopper 1, the powder A flows in the hopper by the rotation of the rotating nose 2.
At this time, while the powder A swirls between the conical slope of the rotating rotating nose 2 and the cylindrical inner wall of the hopper 1, a deviation occurs in the circumferential speed due to the frictional resistance on the hopper inner wall side, and the powder fluidizes. .

The powder A flowing down the throttle passage 3 and flowing into the discharge groove 4 has a good flow without the powder load acting directly because the powder in the hopper 1 is supported by the conical slope of the rotating nose 2. Is in a state.
The upper part of the discharge groove 4 is covered with the bottom wall of the rotating nose 2, and the stirring blades 5 provided at equal intervals are swung along the discharge groove 4.
When the powder A in the discharge groove 4 passes through the discharge port 4a while being pushed by the swirling stirring blade 5, the powder A is crushed by the cutting claw 7 and sent to the suction nozzle 6 while being fluidized. .

When it is necessary to adjust the powder flow rate of the powder A discharged from the discharge port 4a, when passing through the suction nozzle 6 installed at an inclination of about 45 ° downward with respect to the horizontal direction from the discharge port 4a. In addition, the powder flow rate can be adjusted by changing the rotational speed of the discharge port flow rate adjusting mechanism 10.
In addition, in the mixing nozzle 8 that is vacuum-sucked by the dissolver 9, the powder A is directly sucked into the center of the swirling vortex of the solvent (for example, fresh water) supplied in the tangential direction from the solvent supply pipe, thereby containing air. A mixed liquid with a small amount is obtained, and the function of the dissolving machine 9 can be greatly improved by supplying the mixed liquid to the dissolving machine 9 in the next step.

[Experiment 1]
20 kg of whole-grain soybean powder (manufacturer: Aika Core Technos, trade name: Miyagi Shirome domestic soybean powder), which has low fluidity and tends to agglomerate, is put into the hopper 1, followed by the powder supply apparatus of this embodiment and When processed by the suction-type dissolver 9, it was possible to convey at a constant speed of 12 kg / min.
The vacuum degree of the suction type dissolver 9 was −0.02 MPa to −0.04 MPa.

[Experiment 2]
In addition to the above-mentioned whole soybean powder, there is cocoa powder (manufacturer = VAN HOUTEN, trade name: COCOA) as a powder that does not flow simply by putting it in a hopper and sucking it. As a result, it was possible to carry at a constant speed of 6 kg / min.

In addition, since the powder supply apparatus of this embodiment sucks the powder A into the dissolver 9 without vacuum by vacuum suction, the dissolution rate of the powder is increased and the amount of bubbles contained in the solution is reduced. (The gas is only air contained between the powder particles), and the quality of the solution is improved.
Thereby, the height of the foam | bubble isolate | separated after melt | dissolution was within 10 mm.

Thus, the powder supply apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a cylindrical hopper 1 into which the powder A is charged, a conical rotation nose 2 that is rotatably disposed in sliding contact with the hopper 1, A powder throttle passage 3 formed between the bottom wall peripheral edge of the rotating nose 2 and the inner wall of the hopper, and a circumferential discharge groove 4 formed below the rotating nose 2 in communication with the throttle passage 3. A stirring blade 5 extending from the rotating nose 2 to the discharge groove 4, and a suction nozzle 6 for sucking and discharging the powder A sent by the stirring blade 5 from a discharge port 4a provided in the discharge groove 4. Since the cutting claw 7 protruding into the discharge groove 4 is provided to guide the powder A to the discharge port 4a, the sliding of the rotating nose 2 along the conical slope and the inner wall of the hopper 1 can be performed with a simple structure. The powder pressure passing through the throttle passage 3 should not be directly applied to the powder A by the vertical descent passing through , It can be made to flow to the discharge groove while the powder A are fluidized by peristalsis.
Further, the powder A flowing down to the discharge groove 4 can be sent by the stirring blade 5, crushed by the cutting claw 7, fluidized, and forcibly sent to the discharge port 4a.
Then, by sucking the powder A sent to the discharge port 4a with the suction nozzle 6, for example, the target powder is a low-fluidity whole grain soybean powder or the like that tends to aggregate and form a lump. However, the powder A can be continuously supplied without causing clogging, and only the powder A can be vacuum sucked into the melting machine 9 or the like at a constant speed without flowing air.

  Further, the agitation blade 5 is formed with a slit 5a that allows the cutting claw 7 to pass through, or when the agitation blade 5 passes through the protruding position of the cutting claw 7, the advancing / retracting mechanism C retreats the cutting claw 7. The interference between the stirring blade 5 and the cutting claw 7 can be prevented.

  As mentioned above, although the powder supply apparatus of the present invention has been described based on the embodiments thereof, the present invention is not limited to the configurations described in the above embodiments, and the configurations thereof are appropriately set within the scope not departing from the gist thereof. Can be changed.

  The powder supply apparatus of the present invention is an apparatus having a simple structure and continuously supplies powder that is low in fluidity and tends to aggregate and agglomerate without clogging, and only powder without inflowing air. Is widely suitable as a powder supply device for continuously supplying powder to a powder vacuum suction type melting machine, for example. Can be used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hopper 2 Rotating nose 21 Center shaft 22 Motor 3 Restriction passage 4 Discharge groove 4a Discharge port 5 Stirring blade 5a Slit 6 Suction nozzle 7 Cutting claw 8 Mixing nozzle 9 Dissolving machine 10 Discharge port flow rate adjustment mechanism A Powder C Advance / Retreat mechanism

Claims (2)

It is formed between a cylindrical hopper into which powder is charged, a conical rotation nose that is rotatably disposed in sliding contact with the hopper, and a peripheral edge of the bottom wall of the rotation nose and the hopper inner wall. A powder narrowing passage, a circumferential discharge groove formed below the rotating nose in communication with the throttling passage, a stirring blade extending from the rotating nose to the discharging groove, and a feed by the stirring blade comprising a suction nozzle for discharging the resulting powder by suction from the discharge port provided in the discharge groove, and a switching Detsume projecting discharge groove for guiding the powder to the outlet, the stirring blades, switching Detsume A powder supply device characterized in that a slit is formed to allow passage of the powder. A discharge port flow rate adjusting mechanism having a metering rotor having a slit is arranged below the discharge port, and the volume is discharged from the discharge port by adjusting the volume of the metering rotor and / or the rotational speed of the metering rotor. powder supplying device according to claim 1, characterized in that to perform the adjustment of the powder flow rate.

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