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US 4,722,608 AGranted
Mixing apparatus
AssigneeGeneral Signal Corporation
InventorsRonald N. Salzman, Keith T. McDermott
Life of this patent
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AssigneeGeneral Signal Corporation
InventorsRonald N. Salzman, Keith T. McDermott
Estimating the term…
Apparatus for mixing liquid and liquid suspension mediums in vessels with a mixing impeller shaft system of a composite of fibrous and plastic material of a structural configuration to enable the use of such material in commercial and industrial applications where the reaction loads of the medium on the system militate against the use of composite fibrous and plastic material. The system utilizes impellers having blades which distribute the reaction load through a hub on a mounting area of a shaft with keys and keyways in a manner to avoid stress risers unamicable to the composite material and which can cause failure thereof. Separate keys and keyways are provided to oppose the thrust due to the reaction loads and to oppose the torque due to such loads. Plural thrust keyways may be used to enable the impeller to be located at different positions on the shaft and at selected heights above the floor of the mixing vessel. Proplets on the tips of the blades extend entirely in the direction of the low pressure surface of the blades to control the flow field in the vessel and provide a more axial velocity profile of the inlet flow to the impeller which is nearly axial and substantially reduces the strength of the tip vortices.
Apparatus for mixing a liquid or liquid suspension medium contained in a vessel which comprises a composite shaft of fibrous and plastic materials, an impeller having a hub and a plurality of blades also a composite of fibrous and plastic material, said blades extending from bases thereon which are disposed at said hub to tips thereof, said blades having a stiffness increasing from the tip to the base for counteracting flexture due to reaction loads of said medium against said blades as said impeller rotates, said hub being disposed on a mounting area of said shaft, and means assembling said hub to said shaft for locking said hub to said shaft against thrust in a direction axially of said shaft and torque in a direction around said shaft due to said reaction loads and while distributing said thrust and torque over said mounting area.
Mixing apparatus for liquid or liquid suspension mediums comprising an impeller having a plurality of blades having high and low pressure surfaces on opposite sides thereof, proplets of air foil profile with neutral lift attached to the tips of said blades and extending only and entirely above said low pressure surfaces, and further comprising means for attaching said proplets to said blades at selected distances radially along said blades to provide impellers of selected diameter.
In mixing apparatus having an impeller with blades, a hub, and a shaft, apparatus for mounting said impeller on said shaft which comprises at least one thrust opposing key and one thrust opposing keyway, one of said thrust key and keyway extending circumferentially around the interior surface of said hub in a plane perpendiculer to the axis of said shaft, the other of said thrust key and keyway extending circumferentially around the exterior surface of said shaft in an area of said shaft for mounting said impeller, at least one torque opposing key and one torque opposing keyway, one of said torque key and keyway extending axially of said shaft along the interior surface of said hub, and the other of said torque key and keyway extending axially of said shaft in said mounting area.
An impeller for mixing liquid or liquid suspension mediums in a vessel which comprises a plurality of blades of composite fibrous and plastic material, each having a base and a tip at its opposite ends, each blade being an airfoil with camber and twist, the thickness of said blades decreasing over a substantial portion of the radial length thereof, the width and cross-sectional shape of said blades being invariant over a portion of said radial length extending a distance up to the end of said substantial portion from the tip of each blade to enable said blades and impeller to be adjusted in diameter by reducing the length of said tip portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.