An apparatus for processing and mixing and thus homogenizing a mass of a loose or incoherent material, which apparatus comprises
- a. at least one trench silo having an inlet that is freely accessible from the outside for feeding raw, unprocessed material, two mutually parallel side walls, an end wall extending transversely to the sidewalls, and a number of partitions with specified spacings between the side walls distributed over the length of the trench silo between the inlet opening and the end wall), dividing the space bounded by the inlet opening, the side walls and the end wall in a number of compartments, in particular an inlet compartment or first compartment, a number of intermediate compartments and an end compartment or fourth compartment, at least in which intermediate compartments and in which end compartment the material is processed, mixed and homogenized.
- b. discharge means abutting to the end wall for the discharge of processed and mixed material;
- c. displacement means for displacing material in steps in the displacement direction from the first compartment through all the intermediate compartments and through the partitions to the end compartment, and finally the depositing of processed and mixed material from the end compartment over the end wall consecutively on the discharge means, wherein the mixing and homogenization occurs as a result of the displacement of the material;
- d. a scraper extending transversely to the side walls of the trench silo and fitting between them with some spacing, up and down pivotably supported by one of the displacement means part of the carriage around a pivot axis effected by at least two hinges by at least two spaced apart support arms, which carriage carries the hinges and is provided with a lifting motor which, together with the hinges forms pivoting means for pivotally supporting the support arms
- which carriage is movable along fixed horizontal guide rails, by drive means, comprising a displacement motor, such that the scraper, every time consecutively may scrape the current top layer with a thickness associated with the vertical dimension of the scraper of a stack of material present in a compartment in the displacement direction and may displace it to the next compartment or the discharge means;
- which pivot axis is located in the displacement direction downstream of the scraper, such that the scraping is executed by pulling from the current top layer each time;
- which scraper may pivot partly under the influence of gravity and partly under the influence of active pivoting means, wherein the pivoting before the scraping in the displacement direction may take place at least partly under the influence of gravity, such that the scraper automatically sort of follows the shape of the free surface of the stack of material;
- and
- e. control means defining the operation of the apparatus controlling the displacement means and the pivoting means for the performance of the following steps to be performed in suitable sequence:
- e1) moving and depositing in a specified pattern the raw or therein worked material deposited in the first or inlet compartment by repeatedly scraping off a top layer thereof via the first partition to the next or second compartment;
- e2) processing of said material in said second compartment by resting it therein for a specified time and optionally treating it with a liquid and/or gas;
- e3) scraping off this material deposited in the second compartment in the same way layer by layer and displacing it via the second partition to the next or third compartment, such that the second compartment is emptied;
- e4) re-depositing of unprocessed material in the second compartment from the first compartment, and so on;
- e5) during continued operation of the apparatus consecutively refilling of a thus emptied compartment with a material from the previous compartment;
- e6) successively depositing of a mass of material in the end compartment and the displacement of said mass of material over the end wall after a period of processing, for example a rest period, to the discharge means;
- e7) each time successively returning of the scraper, in particular after the emptying of a compartment, in the opposite direction with respect to the displacement direction to a specified position, in particular in the inlet zone of a previous compartment, which returning is executed by displacement means in a raised position of the scraper, under influence of the action of the active pivoting means, such that the scraper may be returned unimpeded to the specified position.