Agglomeration Device

This invention relates to an agglomeration device and, more particularly, to the pin construction and casing thereof and is an improvement of my pending application Ser. No. 07/124,090, filed Nov. 23, 1987.

on devices, in the past, have developed serious problems, such as the tendency of breakage of the radially extending pins as they rub against very dense layers of material being mixed which tend to virtually weld to the inner surface of the steel cylindrical body. Attempts have been made by building in scrappers but these have consumed considerable electrical power and have not solved the problem since once the layers are formed they are extremely difficult to scrape.

An object of the present invention is to overcome the abovementioned problems by providing an inner layer of high density resilient plastic material, such as 80-85 durometer polyurethane, and by providing a ceramic sleeve on the end portion of the radially extending pins.

FIG. 1 shows a vertical cross-section of an agglomeration device embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary cross-section showing one way of attachment of the inner lining to the casing; and

FIG. 3 shows a fragmentary, perspective view of the device shown in FIG. 1.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1, numeral 1 denotes a rotating shaft of metal driven by any suitable motor means (not shown), which shaft has screw threadedly attached thereto pins 2 extending radially outwardly of the shaft and fastened thereto by bolts 2a.

The outer end portions of the pins 2 are provided with a ceramic sleeve 6 made of a very hard material such as alumina, tungsten carbide, silicon carbide or boron carbide. Said ceramic sleeve is flush with the end of said pin 2 and increases the diameter of the end of said pin 2 allowing greater coverage of the liner surface. For example, a 1/2 inch diameter pin might have a 1/4 inch thick ceramic sleeve which would provide a 1 inch diameter coverage of the liner surface. The tip speed is between 3000 and 5000 feet per minute to enable pelletizing reaction to take place for certain materials.

While only 4 pins are shown in a circular path, 6 or 8 or any other number may be used instead. The pins may be of heat treated steel to at least 15,000 psig yield and a hardness of 32 to 38 Rockwell C.

An important feature of the invention is that the pins are displaced axially of the shaft 1 by the diameter of each pin so as to completely cover the inner surface area of the lining with an additional overlap relative to the thickness of the ceramic sleeve 6.

To the inner surface of the cylindrical steel body or casing 3 there is attached a lining 4 by any suitable means, such as that shown in FIG. 2, namely by bolts 5 extending through holes formed in the lining 4 in such manner as to not cause engagement of the bolts with the tips of pins 2, as shown in FIG. 2.

Lining 4 is made of high density resistant plastic material, such as 80-85 durometer polyurethane, which may be, instead, cast in place.

The clearance between the tips of the pins and the lining is critical and should be less than 1/16 of an inch. The lining will actually yield on the slightest accumulation of material, either on the tips of the pins or on the inner surface of lining 4. Other lining materials having characteristics similar to polyurethane may be used for example: rubber, neoprene, red rubber silicon or "viton".

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a highly efficient agglomeration device and, more particularly, the construction of the outer ends of the pins and the inner surface of the casing to minimize or prevent any tendency of breakage of the pins as the result of sticking to accumulated layers in the outer surface of the casing, also which provides a great savings in power previously used for scraping, by electrically driven mechanical means, the accumulated layers on the inner surface of the casing.

While I have illustrated and described a single specific embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that this is by way of illustration only and that various changes and modifications may be contemplated in my invention within the scope of the following claims.