Temperature control for a rotary head extruder
AssigneeFrito-Lay North America, Inc.
InventorsXimena Quintero-Fuentes, Pavan Harshit Manepalli, Robert Egnatchik
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Abstract
An improved rotary head extruder has at least one rotatable auger disposed within a single barrel and having an upstream end and a downstream end. The extruder has a die assembly that includes (i) a stator having a stator head at the downstream end of the at least one rotatable auger and a stationary plate surrounding an outlet end of the stator downstream from the single barrel and (ii) a rotatable plate downstream and spaced apart from the stationary plate to define a die gap. The apparatus includes a heating mechanism to maintain, within a predefined temperature range, one or more of the temperature of the die assembly or an extrudable composition disposed in the die gap.
Claims8
A rotary head extruder comprising:
- at least one rotatable auger disposed within a single barrel and having an upstream end and a downstream end;
- a die assembly comprising (i) a stator having a stator head at the downstream end of the at least one rotatable auger and a stationary plate surrounding an outlet end of the stator downstream from the single barrel and (ii) a rotatable plate downstream and spaced apart from the stationary plate to define a die gap;
- and
- a heating mechanism comprising an internal channel circumferentially disposed within the stationary plate and not in fluid communication with the die gap, for maintaining one or more of the temperature of the die assembly or an extrudable composition disposed in the die gap within a defined temperature range.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.