5 Types of Liquid Mixer
Mixing is a vital part of many industrial processes, from mixing paint to making beverages. Effective mixing ensures that the quality of the product is high and that the process is cost-efficient.
For example, if you’re making cocktails, Reed’s Zero Sugar Ginger Beer is an excellent mixer for tequila and vodka. It’s low in calories and sweeteners, making it a healthier alternative to sugar.
Viscosity
The degree to which a liquid resists continual movement under shear force such as from a mixing impeller is largely determined by its viscosity. Viscosity values can be obtained from liquid ingredient producers on product data sheets or with multiple types of viscosity testing equipment and can be measured in units of measure like centipoise (cps). The more resistance a fluid has to deformation, the higher its viscosity.
In general, mixing high viscosity ingredients is more difficult than mixing lower viscosity materials. Viscosity increases the challenge of achieving continuous flow throughout a mixer vessel due to friction with tank walls and internal elements such as baffles. High viscosity mixing applications include blending of heavy paints or primers in the coatings industry, emulsion and thickening of food products such as peanut butter or condiments, and pigmentation of printing inks to name just a few.
Resonant Acoustic Mixing (RAM) solves the challenges of mixing high-viscosity materials by applying sound energy to the surface of the liquid. This action produces a combination of effects called Faraday Instabilities that wet and incorporate ingredients into the viscous matrix at speeds no traditional mechanical mixer can achieve.
Vortex
A vortex is a swirling motion that looks like a tornado or whirlpool. It can cause destruction and can also be a powerful force for good. A vortex is also a figure of speech that refers to something that seems out of control, all-consuming or chaotic. Dorothy liquid mixer from The Wizard of Oz would have known this first-hand as her house and family were blown away by the vortex in the tornado.
Liquid mixers with a vortex can be used to mix a variety of liquid samples at high speed. They have a small footprint and can be adjusted to fit different sizes of tubes, vials or microplates.
Vortex mixers can be used in cell culture applications for tasks such as resuspending cells or mixing media or reagents. They are also useful in preparing cell lysates. They can reduce the time needed for these processes and provide more consistent results. They are also available with a variety of features, such as adjustable speeds and timers. They are also durable and can withstand heavy use. It is important to clean the mixer frequently to prevent contamination and damage to the equipment.
Dispersion
The dispersal process involves incorporating dry ingredients in a liquid and mixing them intensively. This is common in the manufacture of creams and cosmetics. It is also a critical step in chemical processing, pharmaceuticals and food processing.
Most dry materials form agglomerates and clusters when they are added to a liquid phase. Mixing energy breaks these agglomerates apart and helps them dissolve more uniformly. This allows the product to be added at higher rates and provides greater productivity.
For this reason, a good disperser should be capable of handling a wide range of solids and liquids. These mixers combine a metered powder feed stream with a high-shear mixing device. This eliminates plugging and minimizes air entrainment. The self-pumping rotor-stator design of the high-shear Packaging Machinery Supplier mixer ensures that shear is maintained throughout the entire discharge volume, which is important for dispersion.
A high-shear mixer can handle a wide range of powders, from light flour to Xanthan Gum or Carbopol, as well as water and solvents. It can produce low-viscosity suspensions or high-viscosity dispersions and is suitable for continuous operations. The mixer is easy to clean and can be run with various liquid pre-mixes. It also features a patented powder-liquid interface that minimizes plugging and prevents air from entering the mixing tank.
Centrifugal force
Unlike conventional shaft-type mixers, dual-axis centrifugal mixers eliminate all shafts and allow the container to be the only contact part. This allows them to overcome the viscosity limitations of traditional mixers and produce faster batch times. In addition, they also eliminate cleanup requirements and require fewer components to operate.
The device includes a tubular housing which is open at the top and bottom, a horizontal partition in said tubular housing which divides it into upper and lower mixing chambers, and a vertically extending, rotatably mounted shaft secured to the lower end of the horizontal partition. The shaft is rotated at a higher speed than the rotational velocity of the liquid samples, and produces large g-forces that separate particles based on density.
A center vortex forms within the mixture, and surface eddies form to further improve mixing. The intensity of the vortical flow varies with the precession rate, which is the ratio of the revolution speed to the rotational speed. This is the key to the optimum performance of a blade-free planetary mixer. At a moderate precession rate, the mixer enhances the mixing performance by magnifying the rotating flow of the liquid, while too much precession inhibits the formation of a deep vortex.
Hydrodynamics
Hydrodynamics is the study of fluid motion and can be either laminar or turbulent. Laminar flow is a smooth, steady flow of fluid that moves in one direction, while turbulent flows move chaotically and unpredictably. Hydrodynamics has many applications, including pipe flow, pumps and turbines, hydraulic engineering, computational fluid dynamics, sediment transport and river channel behavior.
Mixing is a common process in the chemical industry, and there is often a focus on power in mixer design. However, there are other factors that are important for effective mixing, such as the G-Value and velocity gradient.
In this research, the impact of bubble size and microchannel geometry on the fluid mixing was analyzed using multi-reference frame and sliding mesh CFD simulations. The fluid circulation was simulated at various impeller speeds to find the optimum mixing condition for batch stirred vessels. The results showed that the zigzag microchannel geometry optimized the mixing effect. Different bubble sizes also affected the fluid mixing, but the impact was less pronounced than in the Y-shaped microchannel. The bubble-by-bubble interactions caused by the acoustic field enhanced the mixing efficiency of the system.
