Enhancing mixing of particles by baffles in a rotating drum mixer

Using the discrete element method to assess the mixing of polydisperse solid particles in a rotary drum

“…Tumbling blenders play a significant role in food and pharmaceutical industries. They have many technical advantages that are characterized by their moderate mixing intensity, simple structure, easy sanitization, and the large handling capacity (Jiang et al, 2011). However, serious segregation phenomena might appear especially in the mixing of bidisperse or multidisperse particles with different physical properties inside a tumbler mixer.…”

“…However, serious segregation phenomena might appear especially in the mixing of bidisperse or multidisperse particles with different physical properties inside a tumbler mixer. Inside the tumbler, segregation generally appears at the free surface of granular flow, where the larger or lighter particles rise to the top, and the smaller or denser particles sink inside the total mass of particles (Jiang et al, 2011).…”

“…The mixing quality inside the rotary blender was a function of the rotational velocity, particle sizes, powder composition, flow-induced dilation of cohesive granular powders, and geometrical parameters of the mixer. Some studies have shown that the mixing quality in rotary drum blenders can be improved using internal blades or baffles (Jiang et al, 2011;Malhotra, Mujumdar, Imakoma, & Okazaki, 1988;Malhotra, Mujumdar, & Okazaki, 1990). Khakhar, McCarthy, Shinbrot, and Ottino (1997) analyzed the mixing of monodisperse particles in a rotating cylinder to explore the role of flow on the dynamics of the mixing process at rotational speeds ranging 5.0-20 rpm.…”

“…Hertz-Mindlin contact theory (Johnson, 1987) was used to model the contact forces. Jiang et al (2011) analyzed the forces between two spheres, A and B. The total contact force (F contact,Sm ) is the sum of the tangential force (F t ) and the normal force (F n ).…”

DEM simulation of particle mixing for optimizing the overcoating drum in HTR fuel fabrication

“…Additionally, the internals are often intalled at the center of the rotating drum [6]. In the overcoating process, there are ethanol injector and entry of graphite powder in the drum, so the internals can not intalled at the drum axis, and must be installed at the inwall of the drum.…”