Stirrer comprising two rotating shafts having intersecting stirring blades capable of rotating symmetrically and rotating in identical direction and stirring method

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a stirrer for stirring a raw material such as flour or meat. Two rotating shafts are installed inside the stirrer such that stirring blades intersect with each other. The two rotating shafts are controlled to simultaneously rotate symmetrically or to rotate in the same direction, and the stirred raw material is discharged through a side surface of a stirring tank of the stirrer. The rotating shafts having the stirring blades formed thereon are connected to a driving means that can adjust the phase angle of the two shafts, via a position control device. The raw material is stirred while relative positions are adjusted such that the stirring blades formed on the two rotating shafts do not interfere with each other.

Claims

1. A stirrer comprising: two rotating shafts having intersecting stirring blades capable of rotating symmetrically and in the same direction with respect to each other; stirring blades formed on each of the rotating shafts and connected to a driving means that can relationally and independently adjust a phase angle of one or both of the two shafts, each of the stirring blades having a rotational path; and a position control device connected to the driving means such that a raw material is stirred while the relative positions of the stirring blades are adjusted such that the stirring blades formed on the two rotating shafts intersect with the rotational path of other stirring blades during operation and do not interfere with each other.

2. The stirrer according to claim 1, further comprising a stirring tank having a raw material discharge hole formed in a lower portion of a side surface of the stirring tank; and a discharge cover configured to open or close the raw material discharge hole.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1a is a schematic view showing a prior art stirrer having intersecting type stirring blades,

(2) FIG. 1b is a schematic view showing a prior art stirrer having non-intersecting type stirring blades,

(3) FIG. 2 is a plan view showing dead zones of a prior art stirrer,

(4) FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a prior art stirrer, in which a raw material discharge hole is formed in the lower portion of a side surface,

(5) FIG. 4a is a front view showing a stirrer according to the present disclosure,

(6) FIG. 4b is a cross-sectional view of the stirrer shown in FIG. 4a,

(7) FIG. 5a to FIG. 5c are conceptual diagrams showing the rotation in identical directions in the present disclosure,

(8) FIG. 6a to FIG. 6c are conceptual diagrams showing the rotation in symmetrical directions in the present disclosure, and

(9) FIG. 7 is a view illustrating an allowable interference margin angle “a” according to the area (size) of stirring blades in the present disclosure.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS

(10) TABLE-US-00001 1: stirring tank 2: raw materials 4: driving means 5: rotating shafts 6: stirring blades 7: discharge cover 8: raw material discharge hole 9: position control device

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE DISCLOSURE

(11) Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings so that it can be readily carried out by a person skilled in the art to which the present disclosure belongs. The present disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. The drawings are schematic and illustrate that they are not shown to scale. The relative dimensions and ratios of the parts in the figures are exaggerated or reduced in size for clarity and convenience in the figures, and any dimensions are merely illustrative and not restrictive. In addition, to the same structures, elements or parts appearing in more than one drawing, the same reference symbols are used to denote similar features.

(12) FIG. 4 show cross-sectional views of a stirrer according to the present disclosure, FIG. 5a to FIG. 5c are conceptual diagrams showing the rotation in identical directions in the present disclosure, and FIG. 6a to FIG. 6c are conceptual diagrams showing the rotation in symmetrical directions in the present disclosure. The stirring tank 1 according to the present disclosure includes rotating shafts 5 mounted therein and having stirring blades 6, the rotating shafts having the stirring blades 6 are connected to a driving means 4 which can adjust the phase angle of the two shafts, and the driving means 4 is connected to a position control device 9 such that the relative positions of the stirring blades 6 can be controlled by the position control device 9 and the stirring blades 6 formed on the two rotating shafts 5 can stir raw materials 2 without interfering with each other.

(13) Therefore, the raw materials 2 can be mixed while driving the stirring blades 6 to rotate in symmetrical directions or in an identical direction by using the position control device 9.

(14) It will be appreciated that the position control device 9 may be adopted in any of electrical, electronic, or mechanical ways.

(15) Furthermore, a raw material discharge hole 8 is formed in the lower portion of a side surface of the stirring tank so as to be opened or closed, wherein the raw material discharge hole 8 is opened or closed by means of a discharge cover 7 such that at the final stage of the mixing of the raw materials 2, the raw materials 2 are mixed by the rotation in an identical direction and thus mixed raw materials 2 can be discharged through the raw material discharge hole 8 without reversing the stirring tank 1.

(16) FIG. 7 is a view illustrating an interference margin angle “a”, which is allowable according to the area (size) of the stirring blades in the present disclosure, wherein a non-interference space between the stirring blades 6 can vary depending on the area and the intersection ratio of the stirring blades 6 (the interference ratio of the area intersected by the two stirring blades), but it would be preferable that the non-interference area is minimized since the larger the areas of the stirring blades 6, that is, the wider the space occupied by the rotation, the better the stirring efficiency.

(17) For example, if the non-interference space is designed to cover a range of 5° as shown by “a” in FIG. 7 (that is, if an intersection and interference space ranges 85°, the stirring effect of 85/90=94.4% can be obtained per revolution in theory), the required precision of the phase angle of the intersecting stirring blades is 5° and thus precise control within 5° is required.

(18) If an interval between the stirring blades 6 disposed on either one of the rotating shafts 5 is wide or the width or outer diameter of the stirring blades 6 is small, the stirring blades 6 of the one rotating shaft 5 does not interfere with the stirring blades of the other rotating shaft but the stirring efficiency is deteriorated. Therefore, this should be taken into account sufficiently when designing.

(19) The following explains the operations of the present disclosure structured as above.

(20) First, as the raw materials 2 to be mixed are put in the stirring tank 1 and power is supplied, since the phase angle of the stirring blades 6 is set to 70°-110° or 160°-200° such that the raw materials are stirred by rotation in symmetrical directions. The, at every set time, the phase angle of the stirring blades 6 is set to 10° or less by the position control device 9 such that the raw materials 2 are stirred by rotation in an identical direction. The stirring of the raw materials 2 by the rotation in symmetrical directions and the stirring of the raw materials 2 by the rotation in an identical direction are carried out repetitively.

(21) As shown in FIG. 5a, if the phase angle is 0° during the mixing by the rotation in an identical direction, the stirring blades 6 do not interfere with each other and thus the stirring blades 6 do not collide with each other during the mixing of the raw materials.

(22) However, as FIG. 5b or FIG. 5c, if the phase angle is 90° or 180°, the one pair of stirring blades 6 collide with each other and thus the stirring cannot be carried out.

(23) Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6a, if the phase angle is 0° during the mixing by the rotation in symmetrical directions, the stirring blades 6 collide with each other on the contrary to the case of the rotation in an identical direction. However, as shown in FIG. 6b or FIG. 6c, if the phase angle is 90° or 180°, the one pair of stirring blades 6 do not interfere with each other and thus the stirring blades 6 do not collide with each other during the mixing of the raw materials 2.

(24) Herein, when the phase angle is 90°, if it is assumed that the area (size) of the stirring blade 6 is 1, the area of the stirring blade 6 should be gradually decreased as the phase angle becomes smaller or larger than 90° such that the stirring blades 6 are prevented from colliding with each other when the raw materials 2 are mixed by the rotation in symmetrical directions.

(25) Therefore, it is preferable that the phase angle of the stirring blades 6 is set to 90° or 180° when the stirring is carried out in symmetrical directions while the phase angle of the stirring blades 6 is set to 0° when the stirring is carried out in a same direction, such that the areas of the stirring blades 6 can be maximized.

(26) That is, if the driving means 4 drives the rotating shafts 5 to rotate in symmetrical directions under the control of the position control device 9 in a state, in which the areas of the stirring blades 6 are set to be maximum, the one pair of stirring blades 6, of which the phase angle is set to 70°-110° or 160°-200°, repetitively intersect each other and mix the raw materials 2, thereby maximizing the stirring efficiency.

(27) Therefore, if the two rotating shafts 5 stir the raw materials 2 by rotation in symmetrical directions for a set time and then stir the raw materials 2 by rotation in an identical direction by the position control device 9, the raw materials 2 which are gathered in the corner portions of the stirring tank 1 and not mixed can be drawn out and then mixed, thereby exhibiting even mixing efficiency.

(28) As the mixing of the raw materials 2 is completed in a short time by combination of the rotation in symmetrical directions and the rotation in an identical direction as described above, the discharge cover 7 is opened from the raw material discharge hole 8 in the lower portion of the side surface of the stirring tank 1 and the stirring blades 6 are finally rotated in an identical direction, such that the mixed raw material 2 can be discharged simply without reversing the stirring tank 1 itself.

(29) While the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, a person skilled in the art will recognize that the present disclosure can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof.

(30) Therefore, it should be understood that the above-described embodiments are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and the scope of the present disclosure described in the foregoing description is defined by the appended claims, and all equivalents or variations derived therefrom are to be construed as being included within the scope of the present disclosure.