Blending of particulate materials
AssigneePhillips Petroleum Company
InventorRobert R. Goins
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Particulate materials are blended in a vessel which has a plurality of vertically extending conduits therein. The conduits are provided with a plurality of openings within the vessel, and terminate in a common collection zone. Certain of the openings are provided with baffle means to permit particles to enter the tubes when there is flow of particles through the tubes from higher elevations. The locations of the openings and the baffle sizes are selected such that the total flow of particles through the conduits at progressively lower elevations in the vessel increases substantially as a linear function with respect to vertical distance measured downwardly. An inverted cone can be employed in the bottom of the vessel to provide more uniform mixing of materials that do not flow through the conduits.
Claims12
Solids blending apparatus comprising:
- a vessel having a solids inlet in the upper region thereof and a solids outlet in the lower region thereof;
- a first baffle disposed within said vessel between said upper region and said lower region, said first baffle blocking a substantial amount of communication between said first and second regions;
- and
- a plurality of conduits positioned within said vessel so as to extend in generally vertical directions downwardly from said upper region past said baffle to said lower region, each of said conduits having at least one first opening therein in said upper region to permit solids disposed in said upper region to enter the conduit and flow by gravity downwardly toward said lower region, each of said conduits having a second opening in said lower region to discharge solids into said lower region, all of said first openings except the uppermost in each of said conduits being provided with baffle means to permit solids to enter the conduit when solids are flowing downwardly through the conduit from a region above the opening, and the vertical locations and numbers of said first opening and the sizes of said baffle means being such that when the upper region of said vessel is filled with solids to the uppermost first opening and permitted to empty by gravity flow of solids through said conduits the total flow of solids through said conduits at progressively lower elevations increases substantially as a linear function with respect to vertical distance measured downwardly from said uppermost first opening.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.