Axially reciprocating tubular ball mill grinding device and method
AssigneeMonsanto Technology LLC
InventorKevin L. Deppermann
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tubular vessel is loaded with a combination of grinding media and a material to be ground. The vessel is capped to contain the grinding media and material therein. Grinding of the contained material is effectuated by reciprocating the capped vessel in a direction parallel to its longitudinal axis. The grinding media may comprise either a ball or a slug, and may further utilizing a plurality of balls, perhaps of different sizes. To increase volume, a plurality of vessels may be gathered together into a sample holder. The sample holder is them reciprocated in a direction parallel to the axes of the included vessels.
Claims28
A ball mill, comprising:
- a tubular vessel for containing grinding media and a material to be ground, the tubular vessel having an axis;
- a drive mechanism including a drive rod that induces a linear reciprocating movement of the tubular vessel substantially along the axis of the vessel to grind the contained material by moving the grinding media back and forth within the tubular vessel;
- and
- an air bearing supporting substantially frictionless reciprocating movement of the drive rod.
A ball mill, comprising:
- a sample holder comprised of a plurality of vessels, each vessel having a tubular configuration and a longitudinal axis about which an interior for performing ball grinding is defined;
- and
- means for reciprocating a drive rod coupled to the sample holder in a substantially frictionless manner and in a direction substantially parallel to axes of the plurality of vessels within the same holder.
A ball mill grinding method, comprising the steps of:
- loading a vessel with a grinding media and a material to be ground, the vessel having a longitudinal axis;
- capping the vessel to contain the grinding media and material;
- and
- reciprocating a shaft of a drive mechanism coupled to the capped vessel containing the grinding media and material to be ground in a substantially frictionless manner and in a direction substantially along the longitudinal axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.