KR101528284B1 - Powder supply system and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a powder supply system. The powder supply system comprises: a first powder supply device which stores and supplies a first powder; a plurality of additive powder supply devices which store and supply a plurality of additive powders mixed with the first powder; and an additive mixing and quantitative measuring device which mixes the plurality of additive powders supplied from the plurality of additive powder supply devices and measures the quantity of the mixed powder, wherein the first powder supply device includes a supply pipe which is connected from the first powder supply device to the additive mixing and quantitative measuring device to supply a part of the first powder from the first powder supply device to the additive mixing and quantitative measuring device, and includes a powder mixer which receives the first powder not supplied from the first powder supply device to the additive mixing and quantitative measuring device and remaining in the first powder supply device, and a mixture of the plurality of additive powder and a part of the first powder mixed in the additive mixing and quantitative measuring device, and forms a final mixture of the first powder and the plurality of additive powders.

Description

[0001] Powder supply system and method [0002]

The present invention relates to a powder supply system and a powder supply method.

In the Fe powder manufacturing process using water spraying, iron scrap is first dissolved in a molten steel or an electric furnace produced in a converter, and high-pressure water is sprayed on a falling molten metal to prepare a metal powder, which is dehydrated / dried and then the impurities are separated .

When such a dried powder is put into a reducing furnace in a high-temperature reducing atmosphere and reduced, a cake-like reducing powder is produced. After the crushing / classification, a pure iron powder having an average particle size of about 70 μm is produced.

In powder metallurgy, which produces parts using metal powder, pure iron powder, Cu powder, Ni powder, lubricant, graphite powder, etc. are separately purchased and mixed from the powder supplier or mixed with a premix powder of desired composition Purchase.

Recently, there has been a steady increase in the demand for premixed powders premixed in the powder feeder due to the environmental problem of fine dust in the powder mixing process and the problem of quality uniformity of mixed powder.

A double cone mixer and a Nauta mixer are known as typical mixers used for mixing metal powders. These mixes uniformly the Fe powders and other powders, while deforming the shape of the Fe powders To avoid this, various technologies are applied.

The double cone mixer is mainly used in the range of about 500kg to 3ton because of the problems such as the uniformity of mixing and the shape deformation of the Fe powder in the mixing of a large amount.

In contrast, the Nauta mixer is known to be capable of ensuring the uniformity of composition of the mixed powder and minimizing the shape distortion of the Fe powder even at a large mixing ratio, and is also applied to large capacity blending of a maximum of 20 Ton.

In particular, the Nauta mixer rotates inside the container with the main arm rotating in a large circle, and at the same time rotating and mixing the powders, the powders move up and down by the screw blade attached to the arm, Increase.

Powder metallurgy (PM) parts companies mainly purchase commercial mixers and use weighing devices to mix the weights according to the composition of the mixture to the mixer capacity, and to mix the powder by setting the target mixing time.

At this time, powder metering is performed manually by a field worker, and there are problems such as environmental safety problem due to powder scattering and lot defect due to incorporation.

An embodiment of the present invention is a method for manufacturing a powder mixture, which can automate a powder mixing process that is manually metered and supplied to prepare a mixed powder and can combine the intermediate-stage high-concentration Fe powder pre- To provide a powder supply system.

In addition, one embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for reducing the mixing time in the final mixer, suppressing shape deformation of the Fe powder, preventing health environment problems in the manufacturing process, Supply method.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a powder supply system comprising: a first powder supply device capable of storing and supplying a first powder; A plurality of additive powder supply devices capable of storing and supplying each of a plurality of additive powders mixed with the first powder and a plurality of additive powder supply devices supplied from the plurality of additive powder supply devices, Wherein the first powder feeder is adapted to feed a portion of the first powder from the first powder feeder to the additive mixing and quantifying device, And a supply pipe connected to the additive mixing and quantifying device from the device, wherein the remaining first powder remaining in the first powder supplying device from the first powder supplying device and not supplied to the additive mixing and quantifying device, A method for measuring the amount of a first powder mixed with an additive, There is provided a powder supply system comprising a powder mixer for receiving a mixture of a plurality of additive powders to form a final mixture of the first powder and the plurality of additive powders.

The first powder supply device, the plurality of additive powder supply devices, and the additive mixture and quantification device each include: a container for storing powder; A stirrer capable of mixing the powder stored in the container inside the container, and a capacity measuring means capable of measuring the capacity of the powder in the container.

At this time, the capacity measurement means includes a load cell mounted on the container and measuring the weight of the powder in the container; And a controller for supplying a predetermined amount of powder in the vessel according to the weight of the powder measured by the load cell.

At this time, a part of the first powder supplied to the additive mixing and quantifying device may be 10 to 50% of the total amount of the first powder.

At this time, each of the plurality of additive powder feeders may have a storage and feed capacity of 20% of the first powder feeder.

The apparatus may further include an on-off valve disposed downstream of the first powder feeder, the plurality of additive powder feeders, and the additive mixing and quantifying device.

In this case, the first powder may be Fe powder, and the plurality of additive powders may include Ni powder, Cu powder, Graphite powder, lubricant, and MnS powder.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a powder supplying method for mixing and supplying a first powder and a plurality of additive powders, comprising: a first step of providing a first powder; A second step of providing each of a plurality of additive powders; A third step of primarily mixing a portion of the first powder with a plurality of the additive powders respectively provided to form a highly concentrated first powder preliminary mixture; And a fourth step of secondarily mixing the remaining portion of the first powder with the first powder premix to finally form a first powder final mixture of the desired composition.

At this time, a part of the first powder mixed with the plurality of additive powders may be 10 to 50% of the total amount of the first powder.

At this time, in the first step, the second step and the third step, the amount of the powder provided in each step is measured, and a predetermined amount of powder for forming the first powder final mixture of the desired composition is provided .

At this time, the powder provided in each step in the first step, the second step and the third step can be uniformly mixed.

The powder feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an automated metering and quantitative feed system for mixing the Fe powder and the additive and an intermediate process for producing the highly concentrated powder mixture, Prevent health environment problems in advance.

The powder feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention can uniformly mix additives such as lubricant through a two-step mixing process in which final mixing is performed by mixing a highly concentrated premix powder and Fe powder, Performance can be improved.

1 is a configuration diagram of a powder supply system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of a mixed additive mixing and quantitative feeder in a powder feed system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a flowchart of a powder supply method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. The present invention may be embodied in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. In order to clearly illustrate the present invention, parts not related to the description are omitted, and the same or similar components are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the specification.

1 is a configuration diagram of a powder supply system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a powder supply system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a first powder supply device 10, a plurality of additive powder supply devices 30, an additive mixing and quantification device 20, , And a powder mixer (40).

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first powder may be Fe powder, and the plurality of additive powders to be mixed with the first powder may include Ni powder, Cu powder, Graphite powder, lubricant, and MnS powder. However, the additive powder mixed with the Fe powder is not limited thereto.

Accordingly, the powder supply system according to an embodiment of the present invention may be a system that mixes and supplies Fe powder with a plurality of additive powders. In this embodiment, the Fe powder is mixed with a plurality of additive powders. However, the first powder and the plurality of additive powders may be other powders of other raw materials.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the Fe powder, which is the first powder, is stored in the first powder supply device 10 and then supplied. The first powder feeder 10 includes a container capable of storing a first powder to uniformly supply the first powder, a stirrer 11 capable of stirring the first powder stored in the container, And a capacity measuring means 18 for measuring the capacity of the battery. And the first powder feeder 10 may have a powder feeder for feeding the first powder. At this time, the container capable of storing the first powder of Fe powder may have a capacity capable of storing at least 1.0 ton of Fe powder.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first powder supply device 10 is connected to the powder mixer 40 by the first supply pipe 12, and the additive mixing and quantification device 20 And is connected by the second supply pipe 14. The first powder supplied in the first powder supply device 10 can be supplied to the powder mixer 40 through the first supply pipe 12 and the additive mixed and quantitatively measured through the second supply pipe 14 May be supplied to the device 20. The first supply pipe 12 and the second supply pipe 14 are provided with an on-off valve 16 to open and close the first supply pipe 12 and the second supply pipe 14, respectively.

On the other hand, a plurality of additive powders are respectively stored in a plurality of additive powder feeders 30 capable of storing each of a plurality of additive powders, and then supplied. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of additive powders to be mixed with the Fe powder may be Ni powder, Cu powder, graphite powder, lubricant, and MnS powder. Five additive powders Powder supply devices 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d, and 30e are provided.

At this time, the five additive powder feeders 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d, and 30e for feeding the additive powder to be mixed with the Fe powder are provided with a container for storing the additive powder, 31a, 31b, 31c, 31d, 31e, and the capacity measuring means capable of measuring the additive powder stored in the container. At this time, each additive powder feeder 30 may include respective powder feeders 34a, 34b, 34c, 34d, and 34e for feeding additive powder.

On the other hand, the five additive powder feeders 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d, and 30e may have a capacity capable of storing about 20% of the additive powder relative to the capacity of the container of the first powder feeder 10 have. Each of the plurality of additive feeders 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d and 30e is connected to additive mixing and quantifying device 20 through additive powder feed pipes 32a, 32b, 32c, 32d and 32e. At this time, the additive powder feed pipes 32a, 32b, 32c, 32d and 32e are provided with on / off valves 16 so as to be able to open and close the additive powder feed pipes 32a, 32b, 32c, 32d and 32e.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the additive agent mixing and quantifying device 20 mixes and mixes a plurality of additive powders respectively supplied from a plurality of additive powder feeders 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d, and 30e And to supply the mixed powder after measuring the amount of the powder.

The additive agent mixing and quantifying device 20 is disposed downstream of the plurality of additive powder feeders 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d and 30e and is connected to a plurality of additive powder feeders 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d and 30e A plurality of additive powders are mixed in the vessel, and the mixed additive powders are supplied to a powder mixer 40 described later.

For this purpose, the additive mixing and quantifying device 20 includes a container in which additives are mixed, a stirrer 21 capable of stirring the powder stored in the container, and a capacity measuring means 28 capable of measuring powder stored in the container do. At this time, the additive mixing and quantifying device 20 may have a powder feeder for feeding the mixed powder.

At this time, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the additive mixing and quantification device 20 is connected by the first powder supply device 10 and the second supply pipe 14 so that the first powder is mixed with additives and quantified And is supplied to the measurement device 20.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, 10 to 50% of Fe powder mixed with the additive is supplied from the first powder feeder 10 into the additive mixing and quantifying device 20, Are mixed together with a plurality of additives in the measuring device (20). Accordingly, the container in the additive mixing and quantifying device 20 stores the highly concentrated Fe powder preliminary mixture.

Thus, the highly concentrated Fe powder pre-mixture stored in the additive mixing and quantifying device 20 is supplied to the powder mixer 40 through the third supply pipe 17.

In the powder mixer 40, the remaining Fe powder supplied from the first powder feeder 10 and the highly concentrated Fe powder preliminary mixture supplied from the additive mixing and quantifying device 20 are mixed again to form a final Fe mixture.

FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of an additive mixing and quantitative feeder of a powder feed system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The detailed configuration of the additive mixing and quantitative feeder will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first powder feeder 10, the additive powder feeder 30, the additive mixing and quantifying device 20, and the powder mixer 40 may have the same configuration, A detailed description of the constitution of the first powder feeder 10, the additive powder feeder 30 and the powder mixer 40 is omitted in the description of the constitution of the additive mixing and quantifying device 20. [

2, the additive mixing and quantifying device 20 may include a container 22, a stirrer 21, a capacity measuring device 28, and a powder feeder 24. [

The vessel (22) can be made of a hopper having a cylindrical shape and a longitudinal cross section of a V-shape.

Inside the container 22, an agitator 21 for mixing the additive is provided. The stirrer 21 is formed such that the wing of the stirrer 21 is rotatable in the container 22 by the drive motor 23. [

A powder feeder 24 is provided at the lower end of the vessel 22. The powder feeder 24 may be a vertical screw feeder, but is not limited thereto,

The powder feeder 24 is connected to the servo motor 26 by a screw shaft 25 so as to be able to regulate the amount of powder supplied to the lower end of the container 22 under the control of a controller described later.

The vessel 22 is provided with a capacity measuring means 28 for measuring the supply amount of the powder. The capacity measuring means 28 includes a load cell 27 and a controller 29 coupled to the vessel 22.

The load cell 27 can measure the weight of the container 22 containing the powder, for example, and accurately measure the amount of powder stored in the container 22. [ A plurality of load cells may be installed in the container for more precise measurement.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the controller 29 controls the servomotor 26 that drives the powder feeder 24 according to the amount of powder measured in the load cell 27, It is possible to precisely control the amount of powder to be discharged through, for example, within an error range of 0.2%.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the amount of powder stored in each of the first powder feeder 10, the additive powder feeder 30, and the additive mixing and quantifying device 20 is individually The amount of powder supplied from each device can be precisely controlled.

At this time, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the operator controls the controller to select the amount of the first powder and the additive powder to be mixed, and accordingly, the amount of the first powder and the additive powder to be mixed are controlled, The composition of the resulting final mixture can be adjusted. At this time, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the control of the powder supply system 1 can be controlled by supplying the amount of powder to be supplied through PC-based control based on PLC-HMI.

3 is a flowchart of a powder supply method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, first powder is supplied to the first powder supply device 10 to supply powder according to an embodiment of the present invention. (Step S10) At this time, the first powder may be Fe and may account for 90 to 95% of the total weight of the final final mixture.

Then, a plurality of additive powders are supplied to the respective additive powder feeders 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d, and 30e. (Step S20) The weight of the additive mixed with the Fe powder may be 10 to 5% of the total weight of the final final mixture. The plurality of additive powders may include Ni powder, Cu powder, Graphite powder, lubricant, and MnS powder.

Thereafter, 10 to 50% of the Fe powder is supplied from the first powder feeder 10 to the additive mixture and quantitative measurement device 20, and 10 to 50% of the Fe powder is supplied from each of the additive powder feeders 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d and 30e Each of the additives is supplied to the additive mixing and quantifying device 20 and mixed.

At this time, the weight of the Fe powder and the additive supplied to the additive mixing and quantifying apparatus 20 are set to be set in the first powder feeder 10 and the respective additive powder feeders 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d, and 30e The capacity can be precisely controlled by the capacity measuring means.

A portion of the first powder mixed and the respective additive mixture in the additive mixing and quantifying device 20 are primarily mixed to form a highly concentrated Fe powder premix. (Step S30)

Thereafter, the remaining Fe powder is supplied from the first powder feeder 10 to the powder mixer 40, and the highly concentrated Fe powder preliminary mixture is supplied from the additive mixing and quantifying device 20 to the powder mixer 40, To form the Fe powder final mixture. (Step S40)

The final Fe powder mixture thus produced is supplied to the user. (Step S50)

Generally, in the mixer, as the powder mixing time increases, the uniformity of the mixed powder can be sufficiently ensured. On the other hand, the shape of the Fe powder gradually becomes dull and becomes close to the circular shape, resulting in a decrease in the molding strength. Therefore, when mixing Fe powder with metal powders such as lubricant, graphite powder and Cu powder, it is the most ideal mixing technique to maximize the uniformity of the entire mixed powder while maintaining the irregularity of the Fe powder.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the amount of powder to be charged is controlled and supplied through PC-HMI-based PC control, and after an intermediate process for preparing a pre-mixture of high-concentration Fe powder is performed before putting into the final powder mixer, By mixing again, it is possible to improve the operating environment such as powder scattering while securing the homogeneity of the Fe mixed powder while reducing the mixing time of the final powder.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

1 powder feed system 10 first powder feeder
11 stirrer 12 first supply pipe
14 Second supply pipe 16 On-off valve
17 Third supply pipe 18 Capacity measuring means
20 Additive Mixing and Quantitative Measuring Apparatus 21 Stirrer
22 vessel 23 drive motor
24 Quantitative feeder 25 Screw shaft
26 Servo Motor 27 Load Cell
28 Capacity measuring means 29 Controller
30 Additive Powder Feeder 40 Powder Mixer

Claims (12)

A powder supply system,
A first powder supply device capable of storing and supplying a first powder;
A plurality of additive powder supply devices capable of storing and supplying each of a plurality of additive powders to be mixed with the first powder;
And an additive mixing and quantifying device for mixing the plurality of additive powders respectively supplied from the plurality of additive powder feeders and measuring the amount of the mixed powder,
The first powder feeder is connected to the additive mixing and quantifying device from the first powder feeder so that a part of the first powder can be supplied from the first powder feeder to the additive mixing and quantifying device. / RTI >
The remaining first powder remaining in the first powder feeder without being supplied to the additive mixing and quantifying device from the first powder feeder and a part of the first powder mixed in the additive mixing and quantifying device And a powder mixer for receiving a mixture of said plurality of additive powders to form a final mixture of said first powder and said plurality of additive powders. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the first powder feeder, the plurality of additive powder feeders, and the additive mixing and quantifying device each comprise:
A container for storing the powder;
An agitator capable of mixing powders stored in the vessel inside the vessel and
Capacity measuring means capable of measuring the capacity of the powder in the container;
And a powder feeder for discharging the powder stored in the container to the outside of the container. 3. The method of claim 2,
The capacity measuring means
A load cell mounted to the vessel for measuring the weight of the powder in the vessel;
And a controller for quantitatively supplying powder in the vessel according to the weight of the powder measured by the load cell.
Powder supply system. The method of claim 3,
Wherein a portion of the first powder supplied to the additive mixing and quantifying device is 10-50% of the total amount of the first powder. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein each of the plurality of additive powder feeders has a storage and feed capacity of 20% of the first powder feeder. 6. The method of claim 5,
And an on-off valve provided downstream of the first powder feeder, the plurality of additive powder feeders, and the additive mixing and quantifying device, respectively. The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the first powder is an Fe powder,
Wherein the plurality of additive powders comprises Ni powder, Cu powder, Graphite powder, lubricant and MnS powder. A powder supplying method for mixing and supplying a first powder and a plurality of additive powders,
A first step of providing a first powder;
A second step of providing each of a plurality of additive powders;
A third step of firstly mixing a part of the first powder with the plurality of additive powders respectively provided to form a highly concentrated first powder preliminary mixture;
A fourth step of secondarily mixing the remaining portion of the first powder with the first powder premix to finally form a first powder final mixture of the desired composition;
And a fifth step of providing the first powdered final mixture. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein a part of the first powder mixed with the plurality of additive powders is 10-50% of the total amount of the first powder. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the first step, the second step and the third step comprise the steps of measuring the amount of powder provided in each step and providing a powder amount to provide a predetermined amount of powder for forming the first powder final mixture of the desired composition Way. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the powders provided in the respective steps are uniformly mixed in the first step, the second step and the third step. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the first powder is an Fe powder,
Wherein the plurality of additive powders comprises Ni powder, Cu powder, Graphite powder, lubricant, and MnS powder.

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