Temperature management of rubber mixtures discharged from a converging conical twin-screw mixer

A mixing and cooling system that performs a mixing cycle and manages temperatures of a rubber mixture, the mixing and cooling system comprising:

• a screw mixing and extrusion machine including:
• an introduction hopper having an inside;
• a mixer, the mixer being a converging conical twin-screw mixer having:
• sleeves in which two screws are mounted at an angle between an opening and an outlet, the opening being disposed upstream of the sleeves and connected to the introduction hopper for the introduction hopper to feed the two screws, the outlet being disposed downstream of the sleeves to discharge the rubber mixture at an end of a mixing process of the mixing cycle;
• one or more motors coupled to the two screws to rotate the two screws in the sleeves during the mixing process;
• one or more movable doors provided at the outlet and movable to allow, during the mixing process, the discharge and shaping of the rubber mixture;
• and
• one or more mobile sleeves that are arranged top-down towards the outlet and includes a surface that defines a mixing space between the surface and the two screws, the mobile sleeves linearly movable with respect to the outlet to adjust the mixing space between the sleeves and the two screws;
• and
• a ram with an inner surface having a shape that is complementary to an outer contour of the two screws, the ram moving along the inside of the introduction hopper;
• a roller nose system including two counter-rotating rollers arranged just downstream of the outlet, the two counter-rotating rollers being positioned to oppose each other and form a sheet of the rubber mixture as the rubber mixture is discharged from the mixer;
• and
• a cooling system including:
• at least one spray station that delivers water at a predetermined water flow rate to the sheet of the rubber mixture exiting the screw mixing and extrusion machine;
• a suction station corresponding to each spray station that suctions air at a predetermined air flow rate;
• and
• at least one transport means that transports the sheet of the rubber mixture in a predetermined direction corresponding to a cooling process realized by the cooling system.