JPH04114724A - Stirrer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the generation of a fluid cut off from circulation with respect to the fluid outside a stirring chamber and to enhance the uniformity of the whole of the fluid by rotating either one of or both of the suction port and discharge port provided to the stirring chamber. CONSTITUTION:A stirring chamber 2 is arranged in a fluid to be subjected to treatment such as emulsification, dispersion or mixing and a blade wheel 3 is arranged in the stirring chamber 2. This blade wheel 3 is rotated in the stirring chamber 2 to perform the above-mentioned emulsification, dispersion or mixing in the gaps between the inner wall of the stirring chamber 2 and the tips of rotary blades. A suction port 23 sucking the fluid from the outside to the inside and a discharge port 25 discharging the fluid from the inside to the outside are provided to the stirring chamber 2 so that either one of them or both of them is rotated. As a result, the sucking or discharging position of the fluid or both sucking and discharging positions thereof is successively changed with respect to the fluid outside the stirring chamber and the generation of the fluid cut off from circulation can be prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an improvement in a stirrer used for emulsification, dispersion, or mixing treatment.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, emulsifying, dispersing, or mixing a plurality of fluids is performed by disposing a stirring device in a fluid storage tank or in a fluid flow path.

This stirring device is composed of a stirring chamber, a support for fixing the stirring chamber in a storage tank, etc., and an impeller rotatably arranged within the stirring chamber. This stirring chamber is
It has an inlet for sucking fluid from the outside into the inside and a discharge port for discharging the fluid from the inside to the outside, and is generally implemented as a housing, and the impeller rotates within this stirring chamber. . Then, the fluid is introduced into the stirring chamber from the suction port, and is emulsified, dispersed, or mixed in the gap between the inner wall of the stirring chamber and the rotating blade tip by the rotation of the impeller, and then flows into the storage tank from the discharge port. Alternatively, by returning it into the flow path, it undergoes emulsification, dispersion, or mixing treatment.

For example, in the case of emulsification processing, the rotation of the impeller causes shearing of the fluid in the gap between the inner wall of the stirring chamber and the rotating blade tips, and one fluid emulsifies the other fluid.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Such conventional agitators also rely on the rotation of the impeller to circulate the fluid within the storage tank or the like. Such circulation is important in ensuring uniformity of fluid within the storage tank and the like.

However, the impeller only rotates within the stirring chamber, and the positions of the suction port and the discharge port are constant relative to the fluid outside the stirring chamber. For this reason, a region in which the fluid outside the stirring chamber does not circulate was created. To be more specific, in the vicinity of the external surface of the stirring chamber, there is a portion of the fluid that does not participate in suction or discharge into the stirring chamber, that is, does not move, located near a portion where no suction port or discharge port is provided.

Due to the occurrence of parts that do not circulate in the fluid, for example, in the case of processing such as emulsification, the uniformity of the entire processed material is inhibited.

For this reason, in order to avoid such a situation where circulation is insufficient, some systems have been seen in which a separate stirring means is inserted into the tank to stir the entire tank.

However, even with such a device equipped with a separate stirring means in the tank, it has been impossible to circulate uniformly around the stirring chamber. In other words, it was not possible to sufficiently and uniformly stir the fluid located near the external surface of the stirring chamber where the suction port and discharge port were not provided.

The present invention aims to solve such conventional problems.

[Means to solve the problem]

Therefore, the present invention solves the above problems by providing an agitator having the following configuration.

That is, the apparatus of the present invention includes a stirring chamber 2 disposed in a fluid to be subjected to processing such as emulsification, dispersion, or mixing, and an impeller 3 disposed within this stirring chamber 2.

By rotating the impeller 3 within the stirring chamber 2,
The above emulsification, dispersion, or mixing is performed in the gap between the inner wall of the stirring chamber 2 and the rotating blade tip.

Further, the stirring chamber 2 has an inlet 23 that sucks fluid from the outside into the inside, and an outlet 25 that discharges the fluid from the inside to the outside.
and has.

Both or one of the suction port 23 and the discharge port 25 of the stirring chamber 2 rotates.

In addition, in the present invention, fluid includes not only liquid and gas, but also
Refers to powder, granules, and other fluid materials. Furthermore, the treatments such as emulsification, dispersion, or mixing in the present invention are not limited to treatments that have the same correlation, such as liquid phase and liquid phase, but include processes that have different correlations, such as gas phase and liquid phase. It also includes processing.

[For production]

In the present invention having the above-mentioned means, at least one or both of the suction port 23 and the discharge port 25 provided in the stirring chamber 2 rotate, so that the fluid is not sucked into the fluid outside the stirring chamber 2. Alternatively, by sequentially changing the position of the discharge or both, it became possible to prevent the generation of fluid excluded from the circulation.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a general sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment adopts a configuration in which the device of the present invention is inserted from above into a storage tank l containing a fluid.

This device includes a stirring chamber 2 and a support cylinder 17 that supports the stirring chamber 2 in the storage tank 1 from above.

12 is a lid body that covers the upper part of the storage tank l. This lid body 12
is provided with a through hole in the center for introducing the support cylinder 17 into the storage tank l, and is removably fixed to the storage tank l by suitable means such as screws. The stirring chamber 2 accommodates an impeller 3 therein, and is provided at the lower end of a support tube 17, which will be described later. Further, this impeller 3 is provided at the lower end of a rotating shaft 410, which will be described later.

The support tube 17 is rotatable in its circumferential direction and includes a rotating shaft 410 in its center. The structure around this support cylinder 17 will be described in detail later.

The rotating shaft 410 is configured to move the impeller 3 up and down within the stirring chamber 2 .

By raising and lowering the impeller 3, it becomes possible to adjust the clearance between the blades 31 of the impeller 3 and the inner wall of the lower housing 22 of the stirring chamber 2, which will be described later, ie, the shearing part for emulsification processing or the like. Therefore, if such adjustment is not required, it is not necessary to implement the configuration responsible for vertical movement of the impeller 3, which will be described below.

The rotation shaft 410 has an upper end located at the top of the motor 4.
Connected to 2. The state of this connection will be explained in detail. As shown in FIG. 2, the upper end of the rotating shaft 410 and the motor 4
It is connected to the tip of the shaft of No. 2 through an expandable bellows tube 411, and furthermore, an elevating plate 41 is connected to the upper end of the rotating shaft 410.
2 is fixed. As the elevating plate 412 moves up and down, the rotating shaft 410 moves up and down to move the impeller 3 as described above. The elevator plate 412 has a receiving portion 41 on its upper surface.
3 is provided. On the other hand, a lifting motor 420 is provided near the motor 42, and this lifting motor 420 is connected to a shaft 421 via a coupling 414. 415 is a bearing. The tip of this shaft 421 has a male thread, and is received in the receiving portion 413. A female screw is cut in the receiving portion 413 and is screwed together with the male screw of the shaft 421 . Therefore, the lifting motor 4
As 20 rotates, the elevator plate 412 moves up and down.

416 is a bearing interposed between the rotating shaft 410 and the elevator plate 412. 417 is a rotation stopper, and the elevator plate 41
2 and is fitted into a holder 100 of a support tube 17, which will be described later. The mounting leg 14 supporting the motor 42 described above is hidden in the shadow of the elevator plate 412 in the figure and is difficult to distinguish, but it is fixed to the holder 100.

The holder 100 is connected to the support cylinder 1 via a bearing 101.
7 rotatably supported. Further, the lower part of the holding body 100 is fixed to the upper lid 12 of the storage tank l.

The part indicated by spots in FIG. 2 is a member 102 that is formed integrally with this support tube 17 and rotates together with the support tube 17.

A gear is formed on the surface of this rotating member 102 (
(not shown) receives rotational force from a motor 430 and rotates. This motor 430 is provided on the side of the support tube 17 and is fixed to the holder 100 via the support 103. A shaft 433 extends from the tip of a shaft 431 of the motor 430 via a coupling 432 .

A worm gear (not shown) is formed at the tip of this 433 and engages with a gear on the surface of the rotating member 102. Therefore, by rotating the motor 430, the support tube 17 is rotated.

Next, the configuration around the stirring chamber 2 will be explained using FIG. 3. The stirring chamber 2 is formed at the lower end of the support cylinder 17, and is formed by a housing 200 that covers the impeller 3. A suction port 23 is formed in an upper housing 21 that forms the upper part of the housing 200 . Further, a discharge port 25 is formed in the lower housing 22 forming the lower part of the housing 200. Normally, the rotation of the impeller 3 leads the fluid into the stirring chamber 2 through the suction port 23, and after emulsification or other processing, the fluid is discharged to the outside of the stirring chamber 2 through the discharge port 25. It is also possible to implement the present invention even if the suction port 23 and the discharge port 25 are provided at opposite positions. That is, the discharge port 25 may be used as the suction port, and the suction port 23 may be used as the discharge port.

The inside of the stirring chamber 2 includes a portion including the impeller 3 and the discharge port 25, that is, the inside of the lower housing 22, and an upper housing 21.
It is effective in terms of processing efficiency if a partition 201 is provided to partition the inside of the device. If such a partition 201 is unnecessary, it may be implemented without providing it.

By adopting the above-described configuration, the support tube 17 can be rotated by rotating the motor 430. At this time, the housing 2 supported by the support tube 17
00 rotates together with the support cylinder 17. Therefore motor 4
By rotating 30, the suction port 23 and the discharge port 25 can be rotated. Here, 43 is a bearing, and 44 is an oil seal. Further, 440 is a mechanical seal, which is unnecessary when used in common with an oil seal.

With the above configuration, the fluid can be circulated in all directions around the outer periphery of the stirring chamber 2, and the generation of fluid excluded from the circulation is eliminated. Here, such fluid circulation is carried out in the storage tank l.
A configuration for reliably performing this over the entire area will be described using FIG. 4. In the storage tank 1, a fin 8 is wound around the outer circumference of the support cylinder I7 in a spiral shape along its longitudinal direction.
0 is set.

As the fins 80 rotate in accordance with the rotation of the support tube 17, the fluid located in the upper part of the storage tank 1 is transferred to the support tube 1.
7 and is guided to the suction port 23.

Next, a configuration for circulating the fluid discharged from the post-processing discharge port 25 above the storage tank l will be described. This is to form band-shaped fins 81 that spiral around the support tube 17 at appropriate intervals on the outside of the fins 80 described above.

The entire band-shaped fin 81 is twisted into a shape that carries fluid in the opposite direction to the fin 80, that is, upward. Further, this band-shaped fin 81 rotates together with the fin 80 according to the support cylinder 17. For this reason, the band-shaped fin 81 is provided with a support (not shown) at an appropriate position, and is supported at an appropriate position on the surface of the support cylinder 17 via this support.

In each of the embodiments described above, the inlet 23 and
The discharge port 25 rotates together with the discharge port 25, but a method is provided in which a means for separately rotating the inside of the lower housing 22 and the upper housing 21 is provided to rotate the suction port 23 and the discharge port 25 separately. It is possible to implement even if In this case, the upper housing 21, that is, the suction port 23 is connected to the rotating shaft 41.
0, that is, one that rotates together with the impeller 3, is also possible. Such an embodiment will be described in detail below.

FIG. 5 is a general longitudinal cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the stirrer provided with means for rotating the lower housing 22, and FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the essential parts thereof.

In the agitator of this embodiment as well, the storage tank l is composed of a tank main body 11 that contains fluid, and a lid 12 that closes the upper opening. This lid body 12 is removably attached to the tank body 11 using appropriate fixing means such as screws.

This tank body II is rotatable via the rotary arm 13.
It is supported above a pedestal (not shown).

The lid body 12 has an insertion opening in the center for inserting the upper rotating shaft 41, and a support cylinder 17 that supports an upper housing 21, which will be described later, is suspended from the lower surface of the lid body 12. On the other hand, on the upper surface of the lid body 12, mounting legs 14 are erected upward from the periphery of the insertion opening. The mounting leg 14 is supported above a pedestal (not shown) via an elevating arm 15 so as to be movable up and down, and an upper motor 42 is mounted and fixed on the upper end thereof.

To open and close the lid 12, remove the above-mentioned fixing means and use the lifting arm 15.
This is done by raising the . And the above rotating arm ■3
By rotating, the tank main body Il can be tilted, and the fluid inside can be made to flow out. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 16 indicates insertion holes for various sensors that measure the state of the fluid inside the tank body 11, an inlet for processing material, and a connection port for adjusting the pressure inside the tank (in addition to being used at normal pressure). There are many cases where the pressure inside the tank is reduced or increased, including when creating a vacuum inside the tank.Also, if the pressure inside the tank changes during processing, a pressure adjustment means may be required to adjust it to a constant pressure.In this case Instead of connecting a separate pressure adjustment means to the connection port, it is also possible to simply open the connection port to evacuate air when the inside of the tank becomes high pressure.Of course, the connection port (It is also possible to implement it even if it is connected to a pressure regulating means such as a compressor.)

Next, the stirring chamber 2 is divided into upper and lower halves, an upper housing 21 and a lower housing 22.

The upper housing 21 has an inverted funnel shape whose diameter increases toward the bottom, and its upper end is continuous with the lower end of the support tube I7. This upper housing 21 is formed with a suction port 23 for sucking fluid from the outside into the inside. Although the shape and number of the suction ports 23 are free, it is preferable to form a plurality of suction ports 23 at appropriate intervals in the circumferential direction.

The lower housing 22 has a substantially funnel shape whose diameter decreases toward the bottom, and its upper end is rotatably and slidably connected to the lower end of the upper housing 21 in the axial direction.

A labyrinth seal 24 is formed at this connection part,
This labyrinth seal 24 allows the lower housing 22
The connection portion with the upper housing 2I can be sealed while allowing rotation of the upper housing 2I. Note that this connection part does not necessarily need to be completely sealed, and it is sufficient that the lower housing 22 is rotatable with respect to the upper housing 21, and it is not necessarily necessary to connect the lower housing 22 so that it can be slidably separated in the axial direction. Therefore, it is also possible to change to other connection means other than the labyrinth seal 24.

A discharge port 25 is formed in the lower housing 22 to discharge fluid from the inside to the outside. Although the shape and number of the discharge ports 25 are free, it is preferable to form a plurality of discharge ports 25 at appropriate intervals in the circumferential direction, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

The lower end of the lower housing 22 is continuous with a lower rotating shaft 51, and the lower rotating shaft 51 is connected to a drive shaft of a lower motor 52, whereby the entire lower housing 22 rotates.

Here, the configuration from the lower housing 22 to the lower motor 52 will be explained. First, an opening is formed in the center of the bottom of the tank body 11, and the upper end of the shaft seal support part 53 is inserted and fixed into this opening via a seal. A shaft seal portion 54 is disposed within the shaft seal support portion 53, through which the lower rotating shaft 51 is rotatably inserted, and seals the inside and outside of the tank body 11. A bearing support portion 55 is provided at the lower end of the shaft seal support portion 53.
The upper end of is slidably inserted in the axial direction.

This bearing support portion 55 has a bearing 56 therein, and rotatably supports the lower rotating shaft 51. A lower motor 52 is connected and fixed to the lower end of the bearing support portion 55 via a lower motor support 57 .

The shaft seal support section 53 and the bearing support section 55 are connected by a ring body 58 that is screwed onto the outer peripheral portions of both. The upper part of the ring body 58 and the shaft seal support part 53 are screwed together by a normal thread 59, and the lower part of the ring body 58 and the bearing support part 55 are screwed together by a reverse thread of 6 degrees. As a result, when the ring body 58 is rotated, the normal thread 59 and the reverse thread 6
o, the shaft seal support portion 53 and the bearing support portion 55 slide relative to each other. Here, the shaft seal support portion 53 is connected to the bolt 62.
Since it is fixed to the bottom of the tank body 11, this sliding movement causes the bearing support part 55 to move up and down. Along with this vertical movement, the lower motor 52 fixed to the bearing support part 55, the lower rotating shaft 51, and the lower housing 22
will all move up and down. In addition, 61 is the ring body 5
8 is rotated, the bearing support portion 55 is rotated.
It also shows a locking rod to prevent it from rotating.

With the above configuration, the lower housing 22 can rotate and move up and down.
It is not necessarily necessary to be able to move up and down, and it is also possible to have a simpler configuration by not moving up and down. Further, the configuration for rotation and the configuration for vertical movement can be changed to other appropriate configurations.

Finally, the impeller 3 will be explained.

The impeller 3 can be arranged in the stirring chamber 2, but in this example it is arranged in the lower housing 22. The impeller 3 has an appropriate number of blades 31, and is rotated by being fixed to the lower end of the upper rotating shaft 41. This direction of rotation is opposite to the direction of rotation of the lower housing 22.

The upper rotating shaft 41 has its upper end connected to the drive shaft of the upper motor 42, passes through the support cylinder 17, and is rotatably supported in the upper part of the upper housing 21 at its lower end via a bearing 43 and a shaft seal 44. has been done.

Although the shape of the blades 31 of the impeller 3 is free, it is preferable that the blade tips thereof form a minute gap with the inner wall of the lower housing 22 and are formed in a substantially spiral shape overall.

Next, the operating state of the stirrer of this embodiment will be described. The impeller 3 rotates clockwise when viewed from above using the upper motor 42 as driving light. This allows the lower housing 2 of the stirring chamber to
2 In the gap between the inner wall and the rotating blade tip, the fluid is sheared and emulsified, dispersed, or mixed, and the fluid is sucked into the interior from the suction port 23, and the fluid is subjected to the shearing action. is discharged from the discharge port 25. The above operation is similar to that of a conventional stirrer, but in this stirrer, the lower housing 22 rotates in the opposite direction to the impeller 3, that is, to the left when viewed from above. As a result, impeller '3
This makes it possible to increase the relative rotational speed between the impeller and the inner wall of the stirring chamber 2, and even after the impeller itself has increased its rotational speed to the limit at which cavitation occurs, the lower housing 22 of the stirring chamber 2 can be rotated in the opposite direction. By doing so, it is possible to increase the relative rotational speed between the impeller 3 and the inner wall of the stirring chamber 2 without causing cavitation, thereby increasing the shear strength, energy amount, number of passes, and ultimately processing capacity.

Moreover, the stirring chamber wall, which creates fluid shear between the impeller and the stirring chamber discharge port, are located at different positions, so that only the stirring chamber wall, which creates fluid shear between the impeller and the impeller, rotates. However, in this embodiment, the inner wall of the stirring chamber that creates fluid shear with the impeller 3 is the inner wall of the portion of the lower housing 22 where the discharge port 25 is located.

Therefore, due to the rotation of the lower housing 22, the discharge port 25
will also rotate. As a result, the position at which the fluid is discharged from the stirring chamber 2 constantly changes, and the dispersion of the entire fluid within the storage tank 1 can be promoted.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the discharge port 25 has a direction. That is, the discharge port 25 is not formed in the radial direction, but is inclined from the inside of the lower housing 22 toward the outside in a direction opposite to the rotational direction of the lower housing 22. As a result, as the lower housing 22 rotates, the internal fluid is guided to the outside, and the discharge force due to the rotation of the lower housing 22 is added to the discharge force by the impeller 3, resulting in better discharge.
It is possible to increase the processing capacity and further promote the dispersion of the entire fluid within the storage tank 1.

As described above, in the present invention, the stirring chamber wall that causes fluid shearing between the impeller and the discharge port of the stirring chamber are located at different positions, and the fluid shearing between the impeller and the stirring chamber In addition to rotating only the inner wall portion of the stirring chamber that forms the shear, it is also possible to rotate both the inner wall portion of the stirring chamber that forms the shear and the suction port.

Furthermore, the stirring chamber wall, which creates fluid shear between the impeller, the stirring chamber suction port, and the stirring chamber discharge port, are constructed so that they all rotate independently of each other. It is also possible to do so. This can be done by making the lower housing 22 rotatable in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 above (FIG. 9).

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in the stirrer of the present invention, at least one or both of the suction port 23 and the discharge port 25 provided in the stirring chamber 2 rotate, so that fluid suction or By sequentially changing the position of the discharge or both, it became possible to prevent the generation of fluid that was excluded from the circulation. Therefore, the uniformity of the entire fluid could be improved in processes such as emulsification.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view showing the main parts above. FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view showing the vicinity of the stirring chamber 2 in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a front view of the storage tank l of FIG. 1. Fig. 5 is an overall schematic vertical cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the stirrer, Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the same main part, Fig. 7 is a side view of the lower housing of the stirrer, and Fig. 8 is the same as Fig. 7. It is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV. FIG. 9 is a partially cutaway front view of an embodiment in which the agitator of FIG. 1 is provided with means for rotating the lower housing 22. 1,... Storage tank, 2... Stirring chamber, 3... Impeller, 1
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Tank body, 17... Support tube, 21... Upper housing, 22... Lower housing, 23... Suction port, 25...-Discharge port, 31... Vane, 41... ...Upper rotating shaft, 42...Upper motor, 51...Lower rotating shaft, 52...Lower motor Applicant M Technique Co., Ltd. Agent Takeo Suzuki Agent Same
Shima Takeshin Diagram Diagram

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A stirring chamber 2 disposed in a fluid to be subjected to treatment such as emulsification, dispersion, or mixing, and an impeller 3 disposed within the stirring chamber 2; 3 rotates in the stirring chamber 2,
The above-mentioned emulsification, dispersion, or mixing is performed in the gap between the inner wall of the stirring chamber 2 and the rotating blade tip. A stirrer having a discharge port 25 for discharging to the outside, and characterized in that both or one of the suction port 23 and the discharge port 25 of the stirring chamber 2 is rotatable.