| 摘要 |
Apparatus for blending free-flowing particulate material. The blender includes a hopper having a central blending tube disposed therein. The blending tube has axially and circumferentially spaced apart openings sized to pass the particulate material into the interior of the blending tube. Disposed within the blending tube are a plurality of baffles which create imperforate, annular areas above the openings. Also disposed within the hopper are a series of circumferentially cascading weir plates which divide the hopper into a plurality of compartments. Each of the compartments communicates with at least one of the openings in the blending tube. In a preferred embodiment the baffles are spaced apart unevenly along the axis of the blending tube so that the openings to the interior of the tube at a particular level service substantially equal volumes of the particulate material in the hopper. In this embodiment the topmost baffle has a lower open area substantially equal to the imperforate annular areas. The sum of this open area and all of the imperforate annular areas is approximately equal to the cross-sectional area of the blending tube. The combination of the central blending tube and circumferentially cascading weir plates results in a blender having superior mixing capabilities.
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