Fluid mixing apparatus and method of mixing

An apparatus for mixing at least a first fluid and a second fluid comprising:

• a hollow casing having a cylindrical chamber comprising a side wall, a first circular end wall and a second circular end wall;
• a drive shaft located coaxially within the chamber;
• means for rotating a drive shaft;
• a cylindrical rotor mounted on the drive shaft and disposed coaxially within the chamber, said rotor being smaller in all dimensions than the chamber such that there is at least a pre-rotor cavity between the rotor and the first end wall;
• inlet means for injecting the first fluid and the second fluid into the pre-rotor cavity;
• a cylindrical sleeve mounted coaxially within the casing enclosing the rotor and the inlet means wherein a mixing region is formed between the rotor and the sleeve and a mixing zone is formed between the sleeve and the side wall;
• at least one bore running parallel to the axis of the chamber and leading from the pre-rotor cavity to a point in the chamber distal to the pre-rotor cavity;
• at least one conduit extending perpendicular to the axis of the chamber leading from the bore to the mixing region;
• at least one slot in the sleeve;
• and
• an outlet means in the side wall located distal to the pre-rotor cavity.

Apparatus for mixing at least one fluid comprising:

• a cylinder having a side wall, a front end and a rear end;
• at least two bores running through the cylinder from the front end to the rear end parallel to the axis of the cylinder;
• means for the injecting the fluid into the bores;
• at least two conduits in the cylinder leading from each bore to outside the side wall of the cylinder,, wherein mixing of the fluid occurs in the bores as the cylinder rotates and also occurs as the fluid passes through the conduits to outside the side wall.

A fluid mixer comprising:

• a hollow casing defining a cylindrical chamber, said chamber having a first end and a second end distal to the first end;
• a drive shaft rotatably mounted on the casing coaxial with the chamber;
• inlet holes for the fluids, the inlet holes being positioned at the first end of the chamber and an outlet hole positioned at a second end of the chamber;
• a rotor, mounted on the drive shaft within the chamber, the rotor comprising a cylinder having bores running parallel to the axis of the chamber leading from the first end to the second end of the chamber, the rotor also having conduits leading from the bores to the chamber of the casing, wherein the rotor is placed between the first end and the second end of the chamber such that a substantial amount of the fluid passes through the bores and the conduits of the rotor as the fluids travel from the inlet holes to the outlet hole.

A method of mixing at least two fluids comprising:

• introducing a first fluid into a second fluid thereby creating a combined fluid;
• shearing the combined fluid by injecting the combined fluid into a bore located within a cylindrical rotor where the bore runs parallel to the axis of the rotor;
• mixing the combined fluid within the bore by rotating the rotor;
• mixing the combined fluid by transporting the combined fluid into a conduit leading from the bore, where the axis of the conduit is perpendicular to the axis of the bore;
• shearing the combined fluid by transporting the combined fluid out of the conduit when the rotor is rotating;
• mixing the combined fluid by disposing the combined fluid between the rotating rotor and a fixed cylindrical sleeve;
• and
• mixing the fluid by transporting the fluid through a slot in the sleeve.