Agitators
Agitators are equipment used in homogenizing media inside a tank. It works by rotating the impeller at its immersed end at a controlled speed or revolutions per minute (rpm). The work exerted by...
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This article contains everything you will need to know about drum mixers.
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Drum mixers are mixers that are used for mixing free flowing materials by rotating them forward and reverse with welded chutes or flights that fluidize the mixture. The design of drum mixers gives them the ability to mix materials of different consistencies, such as granular materials and powders, which have differing densities and particle sizes. The most common type of drum mixer is a concrete mixer, also known as a tilting mixer, that mixes concrete in a single batch.
The process of a drum mixer involves loading the barrel of the mixer with the ingredients to be mixed. The loaded barrel revolves around its central shaft as the ingredients in the barrel move up and down, forward and backward. The many names of drum mixers are dimensional mixer, rotating horizontal mixer, rotary drum blender, and rotary drum mixer. They have a compact design and small footprint and are exceptionally quiet and safe for easy and simple operation. Drum mixers are widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries for mixing powders and granules that require gentle mixing.
How a drum mixer works depends on the type of drum mixer, which include mixers that rotate 55-gallon drums, direct drive mixers, cement mixers, and rotary mixers that are complex mixing devices that are constantly mixing and discharging mixtures. Of the different types, 55-gallon drum mixers and direct drive mixers are the least complicated and have the fewest components.
A 55-gallon drum tumbler is used to blend or mix the contents of a drum. Its process is very similar to rolling a drum on the floor. The two types of drum tumblers are end to end tumblers that spin a drum end over end and drum rollers. The end-to-end version picks up a 55-gallon drum and moves the drum like shaking the contents of a bottle. A drum roller places a 55-gallon drum on a set of rollers and rotates it.
A direct drive mixer is a larger version of a hand mixer that fits on top of a 55-gallon drum. It is a lightweight portable mixer that can be attached to a 55 gallon drum in various ways including be placed through the bunghole of the drum. Direct drive mixers are designed for mixing small batches of light to medium viscosity materials. In most cases, they have a 36 in long mixing shaft attached to the motor coupler and different types of impellers that are attached using a set screw.
The clamps for direct drive mixers vary between plate, cup, clamp, and angle, which allow for positioning and are tightening the mixer to the drum. The different mounting styles are designed such that they can fit the needs of the user and make it possible to achieve high level shearing with lower levels of torque. With a direct drive mixer, unlike geared mixers, the speed of the motor is locked and set and is normally around 2000 rpm.
Direct drive portable mixers or agitators provide high speed mixing when greater shearing is necessary for small batch mixing. The impellers for a direct drive mixer are designed to create high velocity eddies for dispersing and dissolving various materials into a solution.
Unlike a direct mixer and tumbler mixer that are more blenders than mixers, cement mixers have the structure of a mixer. Inside the drum of the mixer are fins that are designed to mix the contents of the mixer. At the top of the drum is a large opening into which the ingredients are poured for mixing. Once all ingredients are loaded, the mixer is turned on and rotates continuously until the contents are thoroughly mixed.
Of the various types of drum mixers, rotary drum mixers are complex pieces of equipment by comparison. The ingredients to be mixed are fed by gravity into the top of the inlet of the mixer. The drum rotates slowly to use gravity to gently mix the ingredients where flights or chutes fold, cut, and turn the ingredients to increase the efficiency of the mixing process. When the mixing is complete, the blended batch is discharged by gravity through a discharge gate or with the help of a discharge auger.
There are an endless number of types of drum mixers due to their popularity, ease of use, durability, and efficiency. The assortment of drum mixers includes small portable drum mixers and large long horizontal rotary drum mixers. Each category and type are specially designed to meet the needs of the many applications for which they were designed.
The categories of drum mixers include methods for manipulating the contents of 55-gallon drums in order to mix their contents. This type of drum mixer is placed under the category of drum mixers due to the containers in which the ingredients are mixed. The purpose of the mixing process is to blend ingredients that have separated and settled during shipping.
When searching the categories of drum mixers, the two most prevalent types are drum concrete mixers and direct drive drum mixers. The types of concrete drum mixers are further divided into tilting, non-tilting, and reversing drum mixers. A category that tends to be overlooked are rotary drum mixers that are capable of mixing large quantities of materials, continuously in a long horizontal drum.
Barrel drum mixers mix the loose and granular ingredients in a transport barrel. They have gallon drums that spin to mix powders. Barrel drum mixers consist of a hoop that holds the drum that rotates to mix the ingredients. Since the mixing container is a gallon drum, it does not have impellers or blades to mix the ingredients, which is completed by the rotational motion of the hoop.
Without impellers or blades, barrel drum mixers avoid the deterioration of products from friction induced heat and do not have any dead space for ingredients to collect. The power for a barrel drum mixer is supplied by pneumatic or electric motors that come in various sizes to meet the requirements of the mixer. The control mechanism ensures that the mixing process blends the ingredients sufficiently to produce a superior mix.
The wide use of barrel drum mixers is due to the need for low batch mixers that can be used for mixing, blending, homogenizing, dyeing of powders, and mixing of granules. They are ideal for small industries or when frequent product changes are necessary. The barrel of a barrel drum mixer can be welded to the hoop or be any barrel that has been strapped to the hoop mechanism, which is referred to as a roll on and roll off ramp.
The purpose of 55-gallon drum mixers is to blend and mix the contents of a drum that have separated during storage or shipment. Although, in some cases, 55-gallon drum mixers are used to blend ingredients that have been added to a drum, they are mainly used to remix separated products.
Referred to as closed head 55-gallon drum mixers, open head 55-gallon mixers, and direct drive drum mixers, 55-gallon drum mixers consist of a long shaft that extends into the drum that has impellers or blades attached at the bottom of the shaft or along the length of the shaft, and a motor, to which the shaft is attached. The designs of the impellers vary with some 55-gallon drum mixers having ribbon like impellers.
The differentiation between open head and closed head 55-gallon drum mixers is how they are inserted into a 55-gallon drum. Closed head 55-gallon drum mixers have very small impellers that are capable of fitting through the bunghole of a 55-gallon drum. The term closed head refers to the structure of the drum, which is tightly sealed on both ends with a bunghole and air hole on the top for access. The closed head 55-gallon drum mixer is inserted into the bunghole to blend the ingredients and powered by an electric motor connected to the shaft.
Open head 55-gallon drum mixers have a motor and shaft that are attached to a lid that fits the head of a 55-gallon drum. They can have any type and size of impellers. Once the lid of a 55-gallon drum is removed, the lid of the open head 55-gallon drum mixer is placed on the top of the drum and sealed. The electric motor is activated and the blending and mixing begins. Open head 55-gallon drum mixers make it possible to add ingredients to the content of the drum.
A unique form of 55-gallon drum mixer is a 55-gallon drum roller that mixes ingredients in the same way that rolling a 55-gallon drum across the floor does. The purpose of 55-gallon drum rollers is to blend and mix materials in sealed plastic and steel 55-gallon drums to keep workers from being exposed to the ingredients and for easy clean up.
The process of a 55-gallon drum roller is to agitate ingredients as the drum rolls on its side and makes it possible to use a different drum for each batch to be mixed. Additionally, 55-gallon drum rollers are portable, which makes it possible to move the roller to the location of the drums. The fact that the drums are tightly sealed avoids the need to insert a direct drive drum mixer that requires cleaning after the mixing process.
Much like a dolly, a 55-gallon drum roller lifts the drum and tilts it back to place it horizontally on the drum rollers wheels. Liquids, slurries, powders, granular materials, and coatings are easily blended. Additionally, drum mixer rollers can be used for ball milling, rotating a 55-gallon drum at 44 rpm. Although 55-gallon drums are commonly used on drum rotators, certain models have adjustable rollers that make it possible to place smaller drums on the idler rollers.
A tilting drum mixer will discharge its contents by tilting downward at the end of the mixing process, a process that provides for rapid discharge for large projects. The effectiveness of the mixing process depends on the shape of the drum, its angle, and the size of the blades in the drum and their angles. Tilting drum mixers are used for mixing concrete with large sized aggregate.
The blades of a tilting drum mixer lift and tumble the ingredients on themselves. Horizontal tilting drum mixers have an open end for inserting the ingredients and a discharge end. Single drum tilting drum mixers have the ingredients charged and discharged through the same opening. The difference between the types is the tilting mechanism.
A non-tilting drum mixer, also known as a reversing drum mixer, has a drum that rotates as the ingredients are loaded into the drum through a charge chute. Once the ingredients are mixed and the final product is produced, the mixture exits through a discharge chute at the opposite end of the drum. The impellers or mixing blades are mounted on the sides of the drum in a manner that is similar to that of a tilting drum mixer. As the drum rotates the ingredients are lifted, dropped, and lifted again in the continuous motion of the rotating drum.
Once the ingredients are sufficiently blended and mixed, the rotation of the drum is reversed and the mixture moves to the discharge chute. Non-tilting drum mixers have fixed blades, like tilting drum mixers, that lift and drop the ingredients until they are mixed. They have a single drum that rotates along the horizontal axis of the mixer. Most non-tilting drum mixers have a capacity of 1 cubic yard (CY) (0.76 cubic meter).
With a continuous drum mixer, ingredients are continuously gravity fed into the mixing drum at its charging end and discharged at the end in an uninterrupted flow. The feeding system for a continuous mixer typically has a conveying system to supply the flow of materials. The key features of a continuous drum mixer are its stationary inlet and stationary outlet with a drum that has mixing flights that mix with every rotation of the drum. The rate of rotation varies between 8 rpm up to 10 rpm.
The action and motion of a continuous drum mixer is low speed high efficiency tumbling that limits residence time to a couple minutes to produce highly homogenous blends. A metering system is used to feed the required ingredients to control the material depth. Although the typical residence time is a couple of minutes, adjustments of the residence time may be required when special additives are needed for a mixture. The efficiency of continuous drum mixers is seen in their feeding and discharging simultaneously, which makes them ideal for large scale production operations.
A flotti mortar drum mixer is used to process ready mix dry mortar for bricklaying, plastering, cementing, tile adhesives, and anhydrite floor screed. They are an economical entry level continuous mixer and an alternative to other forms of drum mixers. Flotti mortar drum mixers are designed for small volumes of bagged materials. Since the motor for a flotti mortar drum mixer is 220V, it can be powered by electrical power from a domestic outlet.
Like the larger continuous drum mixer, a flotti mortar drum mixer constantly mixes the ingredients making them immediately ready to use. Since it is small and portable, a flotti mortar drum mixer can easily be placed on different floors at a large construction site.
Two dimensional rotary drum mixers have two mixing motions, which are drum swing and drum rotation. The drum of a two dimensional rotary drum mixer is placed on a swing frame that is supported by wheels. Catch wheels provide the axial location of the drum while drive wheels support the drum and activate the rotational system. The crank rocker mechanism drives the swing frame for the second motion of the mixer. Due to the nature of the action of the swing frame, a bearing assembly is necessary to support the swinging frame for effective mixing and safety.
The rotating cylinder of a two dimensional rotary mixer sits on a swinging rack that is supported by four wheels with its axial rotation being controlled by two of the wheels while the other two wheels are the rotating power system. The two motions of the mixer are performed at the same time with the cylinder swinging and rotating along the swing rack. Materials are mixed by the rotation of the cylinder and its left to right motion.
Two dimensional drum mixers are widely used in the pharmaceutical industry, food production, dying, animal feed production, chemical fertilizer industry, and pesticide production. The two motions of the cylinder gently blend and mix the materials without damaging the ingredients. Two dimensional mixers are designed for quick, efficient high volume mixing.
Three dimensional rotary drum mixers add an additional motion to two dimensional mixers. They perform the basic two dimensional motions of swinging and rolling with an added pulse movement. The operation of a three dimensional rotary drum mixer is similar to when a bottle is shaken and twisted back and forth as part of the shaking action. During mixing, the ingredients move in several directions at the same time, from the center to the end of the cylinder and from the bottom to the top.
The different sizes of drums that can be used with a three dimensional rotary drum mixer makes it possible to mix batches of 1.3 gallons up to 79 gallons (5 liters up to 300 liters). Containers can be quickly and easily changed due to the simple mounting system, which saves time and increases the efficiency of the mixing process.
Horizontal rotary drum mixers are ideal for handling the batch mixing of fragile, easily crumbled, and heat sensitive ingredients. Designed without impellers, blades, or ribbons, horizontal rotary drum mixers gently mix without grinding, smearing particles, or creating heat. They do not have the wiping action of impellers that generate heat, which can be transferred into the material being mixed.
The main component of a horizontal rotary drum mixer is a carbon steel or stainless steel drum supported by rollers mounted on trunnions, which allows the drum to freely rotate. The interior of the carbon steel or stainless steel drum is lined with flights or chutes and has a feed inlet at the top. Power is supplied by an electric motor that rotates the drum and is located underneath the drum. Ingredients are fed by an auger, a spiral shaped tool, equipment for handling ingredients, or gravity through the inlet.
The drum of a horizontal rotary drum mixer rotates the material at approximately 15 rpm to be gently carried by the flights or chutes upward and allowed to fall back by gravity. The flights fold, cut, and turn the material for increased mixing efficiency but do not compact, force, or cause friction due to the slowness of the rotation. Moisture is added, when required, by a spray nozzle aimed at the interior wall of the drum. The length of time of mixing, once all the ingredients are added, is between two minutes up to eight minutes. When the mixing is completed, the mixture is discharged through a gravity gate or by another auger.
The basic elements of a horizontal rotary drum mixer are the same for all types with variations added to meet the needs of specific mixtures. In one design, the ingredients are added through an inlet at one end of the drum and discharged at the other end. The chutes of this design do not have any hang up angles or pockets to prevent discharge.
Rotary drum mixers are highly efficient mixing devices that require a small amount of power to complete the mixing process. They are an economical method for blending of powders, granular materials, and materials that require a slow gentle mixing process.
The simple design of rotary drum mixers makes them ideal for the blending process. Their rotating motion that continuously moves ingredients upwards and downwards evenly distributes the ingredients into a homogeneous mixture. The constant motion provides full contact and exchange between a material’s particles for fast and uniform mixing.
The slow rotation motion of a rotary drum mixer requires very little energy to achieve its 5 rpm to 15 rpm rotation. The electric motors of the mixers have very low energy consumption and are nearly noiseless. Since the process is slow and closely monitored, very little dust is produced, which reduces environmental pollution and problems with flying dust.
The various types of rotary drum mixers can be adapted to blend and mix a wide assortment of ingredients with some versions being able to be changed from one material to another with little effort. This feature of rotary drum mixers is one of the reasons that so many industries rely on them. Rotary drum mixers are capable of mixing a wide assortment of granular and powdered ingredients with some mixtures requiring additives or moisture.
The operation of a rotary drum mixer is very simple and straightforward without the need for complicated controls or monitoring. The simplicity of rotary drum mixers can be seen in their structure, which includes a drum of various sizes, rollers for support, an electric motor, and inlets and outlets. Operators can quickly start the mixing operation with limited instruction.
Although industrial rotary drum mixers may have a large footprint, in most cases, the footprint of rotary drum mixers is generally very small. Their simple design is matched by their small footprint. Aside from saving on electricity, they save on space.
Rotary drum mixers fully mix the ingredients by evenly distributing the ingredients. This aspect of the mixing process improves the uniformity of dry materials and their solubility. This makes the final mixture more consistent and useful.
Of the various types of mixing solutions, rotary drum mixers are the most durable and long lasting. Made from high quality stainless steel and carbon steel, rotary drum mixers are capable of completing a wide range of mixing processes for many years.
The fact that there are few moving parts on a rotary drum mixer keeps them from being damaged by wear. Since the metals used to construct the frames of rotary drum mixers are resistant to corrosion and rust, they can be used in harsh and hostile environments.
Since rotary drum mixers do not produce friction, have an absence of temperatures rising, and no topical hot spots, mixing times are very short.
The flights or chutes of a rotary drum mixer gently lift and transfer the fluidized product around the mixer. Powders and granules of different densities and particle sizes move freely for a quick and gentle mixing.
Aside from the highly durable materials used to construct rotary drum mixers, the lack of stress and wear removes the need for regular maintenance. Without drive parts or bearings being exposed to ingredients and low power requirement, rotary drum mixers are maintenance free, even after running continuously for long periods of time.
The straight forward design and easy access makes rotary drum mixers very easy to clean, which is especially necessary in food production and the pharmaceutical industry.
The two industries that use drum mixers the most are the pharmaceutical industry and the food industry. These two industries depend on drum mixers for their gentle treatment of ingredients. With the pharmaceutical industry, rapid friction mixing can be damaging to ingredients while in the food industry certain ingredients can lose their flavor by rapid blending.
Drum mixers are used for specialty food processing such as encapsulating rice with vitamins, blending soup ingredients, and blending teas. Each of these applications necessitate a gentle and delicate blending process with the application of a spray. Gourmet teas flavored with mango and dried peach are easily mixed in a drum mixer. A very common use of a drum mixer in the food industry is the manufacture of powdered health drinks.
Drum mixers of various types are widely used in the animal feed industry to blend ingredients for bulk storage. Since the feed industry deals in high volume with precision, drum mixers are designed to meet the demand by efficiently and rapidly blending the various grains and powders for bulk system storage.
Drum mixers are an ideal tool for the pharmaceutical industry where fine delicate powders are blended and mixed to produce healing medicines. The lack of moving parts, such as impellers and blades, makes it possible to load ingredients into the mixer, have them mixed, and then discharge them into various sizes of barrels and drums. The key to the selection of drum mixers for pharmaceuticals is the lack of friction that can severely damage and spoil various chemicals.
One of the most common uses for drum mixers is the production of concrete, which has depended on drum mixers for many years as a guaranteed method for rapid and efficient mixing of concrete materials. They help mix concrete to form a uniform texture, which is essential for quality concrete. As may be expected, drum mixers are used in construction due to their durability and ability to withstand the wear and tear of construction environments. The mobility, easy operation, and different dimensions of concrete drum mixers makes them ideal for use with any type of construction project.
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