GB2177313A - Multi-purpose material processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Multi-purpose material processing apparatus especially for the mixing and application of doughs and resins, consists of a driving unit 5, an applicator unit 1 and a kneader unit 3. The kneader unit 3 has a pump 31, a bypass duct 32 for recirculating material therethrough, and a material heater 38. The applicator unit 1 consists of a working cylinder with a storage/accumulator chamber, a partition wall and a twin piston unit which is coaxial with the chamber (Fig. 1b). Opening valve 35 enables the applicator unit 1 to be charged via a flexible connecting duct with the processed material from kneader unit 3. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Multi-purpose material processing apparatus The apparatus concerns multi-purpose material processing apparatus, principally for the mixing and/or application of materials of high viscosity, e.g. doughs, pastes, etc., The apparatus includes a force-exerting unit coupled to a source of power, a handling grip and an actuating switch which is expediently located on the latter.

In numerous industries there is a need for working together or mixing and/or applying materials of high viscosity, such as pastes, resins, doughs, adhesives and in given cases their mixtures supplemented with various fillers. Conventional mixing devices cannot be used for processing materials of high viscosity, e.g. for homogenising them, hence a variety of special purpose devices have been developed for such tasks. The simplest types of such devices have a cylindrical receptacle body in which a mixer or an extruding piston is accommodated. Some sort of threaded connecting body can be mounted on the end of the cylinder which is destined to be the discharge end. In general, the manipulation of these devices is tiring and the actuation of the mixing or extruding means is labourintensive.

A construction described in Swiss Patent Specification No.562,942 keeps to the basic principle but eliminates a significant proportion of the physical work. Its disadvantage is that it is scarcely suitable for mixing and in fact it is rather designed for taking up a material applicator role. The expulsion of the material from the cylindrical space is carried out by a motor-driven screw spindle. It is also disadvantageous that although it was designed for a manually operable device, it is difficult to manipulate because of its weight.

A completely different concept was realised in constructions wherein the application of materials of high viscosity was carried out by "packaging" these materials into a special shape. Adhesives, putty, and various types of resin etc., are marketed in cartridges which are in general meant to be for a single use and then to be thrown away together with the emptied wrapping, wherein the material is dispensed by exerting a pressure force by means of some sort of piston.

In certain cases, the wrapping contains an exchangeable front end portion through which the high viscosity material may be discharged in various ways. A typical example of such a device is described in U.S. patent No.

4,211,501. The expelling means of the prepackaged materials is constituted by a manually actuated cylinder provided with a toothed piston rod and by a disposable cartridge. The manual actuation is tiring and the apparatus may only be used with a single type of cartridge.

A constructional variant which has been somewhat further developed in relation to the latter is disclosed in Swiss Patent Specification No. 560,825. This represents a more highly developed solution insofar as two prepackaged components may be expelled from the original storage/accommodation chamber in a manner suitable for mixing them together.

In other respects, the disadvantages of the apparatus are the same as those of the above-mentioned U.S. Patent specification.

Where it is desired to process large quantities of prepackaged materials, the above-mentioned devices are not economical because a large number of generally not particularly cheap packaging or wrappers have to be thrown away after a single use which cannot be recycled for further use. For this reason, a high quantity of useless refuse is formed which not only has an environment-polluting effect but also cannot be completely freed from the high viscosity material even after tiring and labour-intensive activity because of the generally poor rigidity of the packaging materials.

To eliminate the above-mentioned problems, in more recent years attempts have been made to go over to a method of applying various materials with the aid of compressed air. These avoid the tiring physical labour and are suitable for an efficient application of relatively larger volumes of material but they are not suitable for kneading through the viscous material or for modifying its composition, e.g.

for homogenising or uniting several components.

It is also unfavourabie with apparatus of this type that at most low or medium viscosity materials may be applied. Such apparatus is described in Swiss Patent Specification No.

562,943 and West German Published Application No. 2607442. The latter serves for expelling materials, primarily adhesives, prepackaged in foil bags.

Hungarian Patent Specification No. 176,079 describes s double mortar piston by means of which materials of significantly high viscosity than those mentioned above may be displaced and applied with good results; this is also the case with the worm pump device disclosed in West German publication Application No.

1,683,960. The advantage of these devices is that they are not only suitable for merely advancing the material but also they enable high viscosity doughs to be kneaded through and homogenised at an acceptable efficiency. This can be attained because the material discharged from the pump can be fed back to the suction inlet to be pumped again. This operation can be repeated in any desired number of times until the required homogeneity is achieved.

Despite the highly developed nature of the above-mentioned devices, they are not of uni versal application and their adjustment is not simple when the mode of operation is to be changed. Further disadvantages are that the processing of multi-component materials is problematical and also it is difficult to solve the quantitative adjustment of the dosing and remote control of operation. In addition, such devices have parts from which it is very difficult to remove the material and thus the cleaning of the apparatus before changing material is often beset with obstacles.

The aim of the invention is to provide a multi-purpose material processing apparatus which is equally suitable for mixing high viscosity materials such as very dense doughs and adhesives as for the application of such materials, which can be switched over simply and rapidly from one mode of operation to another, which enables quantity control to be carried out with high accuracy and which is suitable for an effective homogenisation of the high viscosity masses, for remote-controlled operation and moreover, in given cases, for extruding the material during application in special geometric configurations.

The basic concept of the present invention is that the versatility of material processing apparatus can be assured by providing a special purpose-built kneading unit within the construction for carrying out the functions of application and mixing, which unit can realise the recycling (feed-back) of the material and can thus carry out mixing until any desired level of homogeneity is attained, the apparatus also having an application unit with twin pistons arranged in tandem, which can carry out the material application with an increased force effect.

To the inventive concept belongs also the fact that the kneading unit can also fulfil the role of charging in the material and all this can be fully mechanised so as to be performable without tiring manual operation.

In accordance with the underlying concept of the invention, the apparatus according to the invention is a multipurpose material processing apparatus for the mixing and/or the application of high viscosity materials, e.g.

doughs, pastes, glues etc., which apparatus includes a force-exerting unit adapted to be coupled to a source of power, a handling grip and an actuating switch which is preferably located on the grip and wherein the apparatus further includes an applicator unit and/or a kneading unit suitable for performing the processing, the kneading unit containing a pump, a bypass duct for recirculating the material passing through the pump and a preferably flexible connecting duct which is directed towards the applicator unit, the applicator unit including a working cylinder, a storage/accumulator chamber or space in the interior of the working cylinder, an applicator body disposed in an extension of the storage/accumu lator space, a partition wall which can be fixed within the interior of the applicator space and a twin piston which is coaxial relative to both the storage/accumulator space and the applicator body, and furthermore, wherein the fixable partition wall and the twin piston contains a displaceable piston wall suitable for substituting the twin piston.

According to a preferred feature of the multi-purpose material-applying apparatus according to the invention, a pump of the kneading unit is connected to the force-exerting unit. The force-exerting unit has a motor and a drive means which is connected via a shaft coupling to the kneading unit, expediently by way of an associated coupling means.

The pump of the kneading unit contains a filler orifice, a kneader housing and a kneading spindle which expediently has spiral flights (screw spindle) while at the end of the kneader housing opposite the filler orifice there is a connecting duct extending towards the applicator unit and provided with a throat suitable for coupling with the connecting duct.

The connecting duct is releasably connected both to the throat of the screw pump and to the mouth of the extension of the applicator body.

Expediently, a charging valve is connected in the coupling duct. the kneading unit has a charging mechanism for the feeding of the material to be applied, which mechanism is expediently disposed in the vicinity of the filler orifice of the pump. The bypass duct is connected between the filler orifice of the pump and the connecting duct. The bypass duct is provided with a pressure-monitoring means, expediently with a dial gauge.

A bypass valve functioning as a controlling device is connected in the bypass duct. The pump is provided with means, expediently a heater adapter, for modifying the consistency of the material to be processed. The heater adapter may be disposed along the wall of the kneading unit, expediently on its external surface.

In an expedient embodiment of the apparatus, the twin piston unit has a front piston nearer to the extension of the applicator and a rear piston remote from it, the pistons being in a forced or positive connection via a piston rod of tubular cross-section. The piston rod of tubular cross-section has a through-flow opening in the vicinity of the pump piston which debouches into the interior of the applicator body.

The fixable partition wall is provided with a central aperture through which extends the tubular cross-section piston rod of the twin piston unit. An outflow coupling is connected to the extension of the applicator unit. The outflow is connected with one of a set of discharge nozzles each member of which is connectible to the mouth of the extensions.

Another preferred feature of the multi-pur pose material processing apparatus is that the applicator unit is connected to an additional mixer unit suitable for mixing and homogenising two or more components. The additional mixer unit has a frame, a drive motor and a set of mixing mechanisms each of which is releasably connectible to the drive motor.

The storage/accumulator chamber of the applicator unit and the frame of the additional mixer unit are provided with connection locations to enable them to be fixed together.

When the additional mixer unit is to be used, the applicator body is separated from the storage/accumulator chamber while the mixing mechanism of the additional mixer unit extends into the interior of the storage/accumulator chamber from the direction where the applicator body has been removed.

The multi-purpose material processing apparatus according to the invention has numerous advantages relative to the known devices of similar aim. Of these advantages, the most important is that bodies or pastes of a viscosity far higher than known hitherto may be reliably and effectively processed because the tandem twin piston unit is capable of exerting very high forces. Because of the high force effect, the application of materials is also easier even where only very thin stripes are to be dispensed from the bodies or paste into very thin gaps or interstices.

It is also favourable that no prepackaged materials are required and thus the expense of the wrapping,condemned to be disposed, can be saved. Hence, the materials may be fed by suction from large-sized, cheap material containers and processed directly. During mixing, kneading, homogenisation and optional modification of the viscosity may be performed.

It also becomes possibie during the socalled charging mode of operation to supply several applicator units with the same kneading unit. It is furthermore advantageous that the actuation takes place by means of pneumatic power which makes it safe to apply sensitive, e.g. inflammable or explosive materials. The apparatus is a manual tool but despite this its use does not require heavy physical work.

The invention is described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating preferred embodiments, wherein: Figures la and 1b are diagrammatic views of the applicator unit during different operational phases, namely charging and application; Figure 2 is a device similar to Figure 1, but in a transformed variant; Figure 3 shows diagrammatically the kneading unit connected to the applicator unit; and Figure 4 is a diagram of the connection between an additional mixer unit and an applicator unit.

In Figure 1, the applicator unit is shown in two different phases of the charging process.

Figure 1a illustrates the position when the material to be applied is sucked into the apparatus. The material 2 to be processed is e.g.

putty or adhesive (sealant) for window frames, in which the applicator body 12 of the applicator unit 1 is pressed.

By setting a trigger actuator switch 17 to its so-called suction position, a twin piston 15 is moved backwardly from the applicator body 12 to the storage/accumulator space 11 a of working cylinder 11 while pulling the material 2 to be processed into the interior of the applicator body 12. A memory valve 17a is associated with the actuator switch 17 which can alter the quantity of the actuating medium by varying the amount of obturation of the latter and thus also the rate of suction of the material 2 to be processed.

During suction, the air fulfilling the role of actuating medium emits a soft acoustic signal.

When the twin piston 15 is halted, the sound effect ceases i.e. the suction has terminated.

Then the applicator unit 1 is removed from the material 2 to be processed and an extension 1 2a is fitted to the mouth 1 2b at the free end of the applicator body 12.

Variously shaped and sized nozzles 13 may be coupled to the extension 12a. The nozzles form a set, the individual members of which can be matched to the nature and consistency of the material 2 to be processed and to be expelled from the interior 1 2c of the applicator body 12 and which can also be matched to the location to which the material 2 is to be transferred.

When the applicator unit 1 is assembled together in this way the situation in Figure 1 b arises where, as shown, by means of the actuator switch 1 7 the twin piston 15 has been moved from one of its extreme positions shown in Figure 1 a to its other extreme position. Here an actuating medium operates on that side of the securing partition wall 14 which faces the interior space 1 2c and in this way, the front piston 15a expels the sucked-in material 2 to be processed as it moves in the direction of the applicator body 12 and the outlet nozzle 13.

The rear piston 1 5b disposed on the flat side of the fixable partition wall 14 of the twin piston unit 15 which faces the storage/accumulator chamber 1 1a and is in forced coupling with the front piston 15a by way of a piston rod 15c of tubular construction. A central opening 14a serves to enable the piston rod 1 5c of tubular construction to pass through the partition wall 14 and there is a tight packing around the aperture to provide a good seal with the pstion rod 15c. After expelling one dose or batch of material 2 to be processed the twin piston 15 once again reaches its position illustrated in Figure 1a.

The actuating switch 17 disposed on the handling grip 16 and the associated memory valve 1 7a enable the actuating medium to flow either into the storage space (accumulator chamber) 11 a of the working cylinder 11, whereby to exert a force on the rear piston 15b, to move the latter rearwardly and thus to suck in the material 2 to be processed; or in the reverse case the medium can flow via an aperture 19 on the piston rod 15c of the tubular cross-section to the other side of the fixable partition wall 14 whereby to exert a force on the front piston 1 5a and to press the material 2 to be processed to the desired location.

Figure 2 illustrates the applicator unit 1 in a modified form. As may be seen in Figure 2, the twin piston unit 15 and the partition wall 14 have been removed and the working cylinder 11 is simply provided with a displaceable piston wall 18. The latter can be displaced via the actuating switch 17 and, relative to the position illustrated in Figure 1, a significantly greater quantity of material 2 to be processed can be sucked in and expelled because then the entire interior of the working cylinder 11 can take up the role of the storage or accumulator chamber 1 1 a.

Figure 3 illustrates the applicator unit 1 according to the embodiment of Figure 2 as well as a kneading unit 3 connected thereto. The applicator body 12 forming part of the applicator unit has an extension 1 2a with a mouth 1 2b which here is free and is connected via a connecting duct 36 to the kneading unit 1.

The main components of the kneading unit 3 are a pump 31 which includes a charging orifice 31 a, a kneader housing 31 b, a kneading spindle 31c and a throat 31d. This assembly may expediently be used for mixing high viscosity synthetic resins. The synthetic resin is passed, expediently by means of an auxiliary device, e.g. a charging device 37, into the pump 31 via the charging orifice or hopper 31a.

The pump 31 is rendered suitable for mixing by being provided with a bypass duct 32 through which the resin expelled by the kneading spindle 31c through the throat 31d can be recirculated to the charging hopper 31a. Naturally, for this to happen the bypass valve 13 must be brought to an open condition.

In principle, the resin may be recirculated through the bypass duct 32 for time periods as long as desired into the interior of the kneading housing 31b and in this way the resin may be homogenised to the desired extent. The bypass duct 32 is provided with some suitable pressure monitoring organ, e.g.

a dial gauge 34 while the connecting duct 36 is provided with a charging valve 35 for permitting or blocking the material flow towards the applicator unit 1.

There is no reason why the applicator unit 1 should not be connected in its embodiment shown in Figure 1 to the kneading unit 3.

Figure 3 also shows the force-exerting unit 5 serving to actuate the kneading unit 3.

The force exerting unit 5 consists of a motor 51, a driving unit 52, a shaft coupling 53 and a coupling 54. In all preferred embodiments, it is expedient to constitute the connecting duct 36 by a highly pressure-resistant pipe.

It is also possible to make the consistency of the material 2 to be processed more favourable, e.g. more flowable or liquid under the effect of heat. For this purpose, a heater adapter 38 may be provided which is expediently placed on the exterior of the outer surface of the kneader housing 31b.

Figure 4 illustrates the case where the applicator unit 1 is coupled to an additional mixer unit 4. This may be required where two or more material components are to be mixed together. The mixing may take place in the storage/accumulator chamber 1 1a of the working cylinder 11 of the applicator unit 1.

The additional mixer unit 43 has a mixer to perform this operation. The mixing unit 43 also forms part of a set of several pieces in order to enable the operator to match the mixer unit suitably to the characteristics and consistency of the material 2 to be mixed and processed.

In the illustrated embodiment, the material 2 to be processed consists of two parts, components A and B. The former is directly charged into the accumulator space 1 1a whilst the latter is continuously fed under constant stirring from a vessei 44. The mixer 43 is releasably connected to the drive motor 41 which is mounted on a frame 42, expediently in a fixed position.

After performing the mixing, the mixer 43 is lifted out and the applicator unit 12 and the outlet nozzle 13 are replaced on the working cylinder 11. If a two-component synthetic resin is to be applied, care must be taken that while cross-linking or hardening is proceeding, the operation should be performed before the material sets.

The multipurpose material processing apparatus according to the invention is equally suitable for mixing and applying adhesives, doughs, particulate filler mixtures, e.g. synthetic mortars, fibre containing materials, mortars, gypsum-containing mixtures, paints, bandages, bituminous products; adhesive, sealant and insulating materials; as well as oiland fatcontaining mixtures, resins and dispersions.

Claims (22)

1. Multi-purpose material processing apparatus, especially for the mixing and/or application of high viscosity materials, e.g. pastes, doughs, etc., the apparatus including a forceexerting unit connectible to the power source, a handling grip, an actuating switch; an applicator unit and/or a kneader unit suitable for performing the processing steps; wherein the kneader unit consist of a pump, a bypass for recirculating the material passing through the pump, and a connecting duct directed towards the applicator unit; and wherein the applicator unit consists of a working cylinder, a storage/accumulator chamber in the interior of the working cylinder, an applicator body forming a continuation of the storage/accumulator cham ber, a partition wall that can be fixed in or removed from the interior of the applicator body, a twin piston unit that can be fixed in or removed from the interior of the applicator body, and which is coaxial relative to both the storage/accumulator chamber and the applicator body, and furthermore, a piston wall suitable for substituting the securable partition wall and the twin piston unit.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the piston of the kneader unit is connected to the force-exerting unit.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the force-exerting unit has a motor and a driving means which is connected with the kneader unit via a shaft coupling.

4. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the piston in the kneader unit has a charging orifice, a kneader housing and a kneader spindle, e.g. a screw spindle, at its end remote from the charging orifice, the kneader housing being provided with an outlet suitable for coupling to the said connecting duct.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the connecting duct is releasably connected both to the outlet of the spindle and to the mouth of the extension of the applicator unit.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, wherein a charging valve is disposed in the connecting duct.

7. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the kneader unit includes a mechanism for charging in the material to be processed which mechanism is located in the vicinity of the charging orifice of the pump.

8. Apparatus according to any of claims 4 to 7, wherein the bypass duct is connected between the charging orifice of the pump and the connecting duct.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the bypass duct is provided with a pressure monitoring device, e.g. a dial gauge.

10. Apparatus according to claim 8 or 9, wherein a bypass valve is disposedin the bypass duct to perform a regulatory role.

11. Apparatus according to any of claims 4 to 10, wherein the pump is provided with an adapter for accommodating a device e.g. a heater, suitable for modifying the consistency of the material to be processed.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the adapter is disposed along the wall of the kneader housing.

13. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the twin piston unit has a front piston nearest to the extension of the applicator and a rear piston connected to the front piston by way of a forced coupling consisting of a piston rod of tubular cross-section.

14. Apparatus according to claim 13, wherein in the vicinity of the front piston the piston rod of tubular cross-section is provided with a throughflow aperture debouching into the interior of the applicator body.

15. Apparatus according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the securable partition wall is provided with a central opening through which passes the piston rod of tubular cross section.

16. Apparatus according to any of claims 13 to 15, wherein an outlet nozzle is connected to the extension of the applicator body.

17. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the outlet nozzle forms part of a set of pieces of varying outlet crosssections, each piece being fittable to the mouth of the extension.

18. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein an additional mixing unit is connected to the applicator unit for the mixing and homogenising of two or more components.

19. Apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the additional mixer unit has a frame, a drive motor, and a set of mixing devices each member of which is releasably connectible to the drive motor.

20. Apparatus according to claim 18 or 19, wherein the storage/accumulator chamber of the applicator unit and the frame of the additional mixing unit are provided with respective connecting means to enable them to be secured together.

21. Apparatus according to any of claims 18 to 20 wherein when the additional mixing unit is used, the applicator body is separated from the storage/accumulator chamber and the mixing device of the additional mixing unit extends into the interior of the storage/accumulator chamber from the direction of the removed applicator body.

22. Apparatus according to claim 1 substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 1a and 1b or Figure 2 or Figure 3 taken singly or in combination with Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.