Planetary gear for a multiple-screw extruder
AssigneeEMS-Inventa AG
InventorsWerner Kaegi, Gerhard Schmidt, Joachim Ensinger
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A planetary gear for a multiple-screw extruder includes a circular stationary housing having internal teeth, a sun wheel formed from at least one toothed portion of a spindle, and a plurality of main planet wheels formed from at least one toothed free end of a plurality of screws and arranged in a circle. The plurality of main planet wheels are spaced from one another, from the sun wheel and from the internal housing teeth. A plurality of internal and external intermediate planet wheels are arranged between the sun wheel and the main planet wheels and between the main planet wheels and the internal housing teeth, respectively.
Claims31
A multiple-screw extruder comprising:
- a housing having an exterior surface and a circular interior surface the housing having teeth on the interior surface and an interior processing chamber;
- and
- a planetary gear having a sun wheel formed on at least one toothed portion of a spindle, a plurality of main planet wheels arranged in a circle around the sun wheel, each main planet wheel being formed on at least one end of a screw and being spaced from each other main planet wheel, from the sun wheel and from the teeth on the interior surface of the housing, a plurality of internal intermediate planet wheels arranged between the sun wheel and the main planet wheels and engaging both the sun wheel and the main planet wheels, and a plurality of external intermediate planet wheels arranged between the main planet wheels and the teeth on the interior surface of the housing and engaging both the main planet wheels and the teeth on the interior surface of the housing.
A method for continuously processing high-viscosity medium in a multiple-screw extruder, the multiple-screw extruder comprising a housing having an exterior surface and a circular interior surface with teeth on the interior surface, a processing chamber within the interior of the housing, the processing chamber having an inlet end and an outlet end, a planetary gear having a sun wheel formed on at least one toothed portion of a spindle, a plurality of main planet wheels arranged in a circle around the sun wheel, each main planet wheel being formed on at least one end of a screw and being spaced from each other main planet wheel, from the sun wheel and from the teeth on the interior surface of the housing, a plurality of internal intermediate planet wheels arranged between the sun wheel and the main planet wheels and engaging both the sun wheel and the main planet wheels, and a plurality of external intermediate planet wheels arranged between the main planet wheels and the teeth on the interior surface of the housing and engaging both the planet wheels and the teeth on the interior surface of the housing, a cross sectional center of the spindle being arranged at a cross sectional center of the processing chamber, the screws arranged circularly around the spindle within the processing chamber, the method comprising the steps of:
- applying the high viscosity medium to the inlet end of the processing chamber;
- driving the spindle for translating the main planet wheels around the sun wheel and for rotating each main planet wheel about a cross sectional center of the respective main planet wheel;
- and
- extruding the high viscosity medium from the outlet end of the processing chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.