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Frequently Asked Questions
A Ploughshare Mixer is often suitable for materials that tend to agglomerate.
Its plough-shaped mixing tools generate intensive circulation of the material, while optional high-speed choppers can break up lumps and agglomerates during mixing.
The final selection should be based on the material characteristics and process requirements.
Vortex mixers are designed for a wide variety of powders, granules, and powder-liquid mixtures.
Typical applications include chemical powders, food ingredients, pharmaceutical powders, animal feed, dry mortar, ceramics, battery materials, fertilizers, pesticides, minerals, refractory materials, and other bulk solids. The actual mixer configuration should be selected according to the physical and chemical properties of the material.
Vortex manufacture a wide range of industrial powder and bulk solids mixing equipment, including:
- Horizontal Ribbon Mixers
- Ploughshare Mixers
- Double Shaft Paddle Mixers (Paddle Mixers / “No-Gravity” Mixers)
- Conical Twin-Screw Mixers
- Vertical Screw Ribbon Mixers
- Double Cone Mixers
- V-Type Mixers
- 3D Motion Mixers
- Customized mixing systems and complete mixing lines
The most suitable mixer depends on your materials, production capacity, mixing ratio, required mixing time, and process conditions.
Mixer capacity should be evaluated using both the total vessel volume and the effective working volume. The required volume depends on material bulk density, batch weight, filling ratio and the mixing principle of the selected machine. A mixer should not normally be filled to its total geometric volume because sufficient space is required for material movement and effective mixing. For this reason, selecting a mixer based only on vessel volume can result in an unsuitable configuration.
The appropriate industrial powder mixer depends on several factors, including:
- Material characteristics
- Bulk density
- Particle size
- Required mixing uniformity
- Batch size or production capacity
- Moisture content
- Whether heating or drying is required
- Whether liquid addition is required
- Required discharge configuration
- Production and automation requirements
Vortex provides different powder mixer designs so that equipment can be selected according to the specific process requirements.
Vortex powder mixer selection depends on several factors, including:
- Material type and characteristics
- Bulk density and particle size
- Material flowability
- Moisture content
- Viscosity
- Mixing ratio
- Batch size or required production capacity
- Whether liquid addition is required
- Required mixing uniformity
- Temperature, pressure, vacuum, or other process requirements
Vortex engineers can recommend a suitable powder mixer based on your material and process requirements.
Yes, We can supply simple stand alone panels or automated PLC controlled systems. We normally install and test all controls on our mixers before they are shipped.
Yes, we normally test the mixers before they are shipped and mark out the wire need to connect on the control box.
We manufacture specialty mixing equipment for powder & bulk materials. Included are ribbon blender, plough mixer, conical screw mixer, twin shaft paddle mixer, V blender, double cone blender and other auxiliary equipment such as screw conveyor, quantitive auger filler.
We sell across the world, our cusotmers distribute 5 continents.
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Food Grade Design in Plough Shear Mixer for One Fast Food Customer
In 2013, Pepsi company in Thailand found us to inquiry a fast mixer to mix their fast food product. Actually, fast food product is free flowing and light density which is very easy to be mixed in every kind of mixers but the customer want to have a FDA standard design mixer and frequent cleaning is necessary in their daily production duty. Then, our Vortex Engineer team help customer to find a best solution through detail analysis and careful design.
Analysis
1. Conical Screw Mixer
Although conical screw mixer is clear for discharge, the mixing time is longer than horizontal mixer. Furthermore, it takes long time to cleaning thoroughly for inside.
Result: Not Acceptable
2. Ribbon Blender
Although the ribbon mixer is very easy to clean, the speed is not fast enough which could take long time mixing.
Result: Not Acceptable
3. Twin Shaft Paddle Mixer
As we know that the mixing time is very fast for twin shafts paddle mixer but there are many dead space for inside which is not easy to clean for frequent cleaning job.
Result: Not Acceptable
4. Plough Shear Mixer
Fast Speed and Easy to clean can meet customer’s requirement but the project manager of Pepsi still worry about dead space inside the mixer. So, our engineer take effort to make some tailor design for customer.
Tailor Design Vortex offered to customer
A. Chopper Canceled
Fast food is very free flowing and without any blocked during mixing. So, we decide to cancel chopper for plough shear mixer because chopper blade has more dead space and not easy to clean.
B. Plough Shovel Tool
Ordinary plough shovel is 3D dimensional shape which has some indentations on plough shovel surface. So, our engineer decide to use smooth paddle shovel to instead of plow which avoid dead space during cleaning. Furthermore, the paddle shovel is welded on support without any screw bolts. As for how to make paddle shovel, we use linear cutting to make paddle shovel to ensure more smooth and clean.
C. Discharge Door
Our engineer design pneumatic operated flap valve for discharge because the valve body can match with cylindrical shell body and without any dead space during mixing.
D. Inspection Door
In order to make worker to access inside of mixer during cleaning, we design full and big open on the side of cylindrical shell body to let worker more easier to access every part of mixer including two end, bottom and top.
E. Enclosure Stainless Steel Safety Guard for Drive Unit
F. Food Grade Certificate for PTFE Packing
We use Burgmann brand PTFE packing with international food grade certificate for shaft seal.
Finally, the customer appreciated and agreed our design to give purchase order to Vortex. We successfully finished mixer at the end of 2013 and customer fulfilled commission and started fast food product line in the middle of 2014. Now, the customer using 1000L total volume mixer and they need more mixers for their other different products in the near future.
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