A motor with a gearbox option for speed control.

A shaft with an impeller and impeller blades.

Table 1: Comparison of different types of agitators Components of an AgitatorĪn agitator is usually composed of three main components. Can efficiently handle visco-elastic liquids. Propeller Agitators Can handle corrosive materials with a glass lining. High power and high-efficiency gearbox requirement. Not preferred for highly viscous solvents Anchor Agitators Widely used in the pharma industry.

High radial flow, good for dispersion operation. Turbine Agitator Liquids and gas reactions are widely used for reaction and extraction operations. High power consumption, Inefficient mixing. The procedures in this article do not apply to problems such as immiscible liquid-liquid dispersion, or the blending of highly non-Newtonian fluids.įollowing the design logic of the Figure 1, we will analyze each of the three components under the heading “magnitude of the agitation problem.”įor the rest of this article, which was first published by Chemical Engineering in 1976, please fill out the form below.Type of Agitator Applications Advantages Disadvantages Paddle Agitator Mixing of Solids, Slurry Mixing, Used during the Crystals forming phase during Supersaturated Cooling Heavy-duty, Slow Operation, 2 to 4 blades. It is equally important to state where the blending-and-motion logic is not applicable. An example would be fluids containing a very small concentration of solids and having very slow settling velocities.

The agitator design logic for blending and motion also applies to some two-phase systems that exhibit single-face behavior. On the other hand, a fluid motion problem may require improved convective heat transfer coefficients to facilitate heat removal from a reacting fluid. For example, a typical blending problem may require the mixing to uniformity of fluids having dissimilar viscosity, density or concentration. The design procedure for blending and motion applies to agitation problems where fluids behave as a single phase and where a predictable level of fluid motion must occur. Here, we will limit our discussion to procedures for blending and motion up to and including design of the impeller system. We will review the mechanical design of drives, shafts and seals, and economic evaluations, in future articles of the series. This illustration represents a portion of the overall logic flow diagram originally presented in part one of this series. To understand the need for an organized approach to design, we will follow steps shown in the logic flow diagram of Figure 1 in deciding on an agitator for blending-and motion-problems.

Eeua handbook for agitator design pdf