Granulating apparatus

A granulating apparatus including:

• means supplying a powder to be treated, means supplying a binder made of a thermoplastic or thermosetting resin, means mixing the binder into the powder to be treated, granulation means having a pair of rolls with opposed interstices and compression molding the powder to be treated and binder into pellets, screw feeder means which feeds the powder to be treated with the binder mixed therein into the interstices between said rolls while stirring the powder to be treated, driver means which drive said screw feeder means and said rolls respectively, temperature detector means which measures a temperature of the powder to be treated, detector means which measures either torques or driving forces of said screw feeder means and said rolls, computer means which calculates the powder temperature in the molding by said rolls on the basis of the measured values, and controller means which controls a rotational frequency of at least one of said screw feeder means and said rolls so as to bring the calculated powder temperature into a fixed range in which said binder lies above its melting point and is highly viscous.

In a granulating apparatus having storage means to store therein a powder to-be-treated with a thermoplastic or thermosetting resin added thereto, conveyance means to convey the powder to-be-treated to an outlet of the storage means within this storage means while stirring it, and granulation means disposed at the outlet of the storage means and to compress and mold the powder to-be-treated;

• control apparatus comprising temperature sensor means to sense a temperature of the powder to-be-treated at a suitable position in a passage of the powder to-be-treated extending from an inlet of said storage means to an outlet of said granulation means, and speed control means to control a stirring speed of said conveyance means or/and a compressing and molding speed of said granulation means on the basis of the signal of said temperature sensor means.