CN100531876C

CN100531876C - Stirring device, cycle cleaning device and circulating pipeline system

Info

Publication number: CN100531876C
Application number: CNB2005100807295A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 松本宏幸; 库本睦雄; 开正彦
Original assignee: Kansai Paint Co Ltd
Current assignee: Kansai Paint Co Ltd
Priority date: 2005-06-30
Filing date: 2005-06-30
Publication date: 2009-08-26
Anticipated expiration: 2025-06-30
Also published as: CN1887415A

Abstract

The present invention provides one kind of stirring apparatus with excellent mixing dispersivity, excellent cleaning performance and high cooling efficiency. The stirring apparatus includes stirring tank, rotating shaft inside the stirring tank and flat stirring blades mounted on the rotating shaft. The flat stirring blade includes one bottom flat blade part laterally extending from the bottom of the rotating shaft and two upper rectangular blade parts upwards extending from the sides of the bottom flat blade part. The size ratio between the inner diameter of the stirring tank to the diameter of bottom flat blade part is 0.6-0.9, and the height ratio between the bottom flat blade part and the upper rectangular blade part is 1-4. Inside the rotating shaft and the flat stirring blades, flow passage is formed for refrigerant to flow.

Description

Stirring device, circulation cleaning device and circulation pipeline system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a stirring device, a circulation cleaning device attached to the stirring device, and a circulation line system (line system) having the circulation cleaning device.

Background

Conventionally, a product prepared by blending a pigment paste in a varnish or the like is generally used as a coloring liquid such as paint or ink. Pigment pastes are generally produced by the following procedure: that is, raw materials such as a pigment, a resin, and an organic solvent are mixed in a stirring device to be used as a stirring base, and the pigment is dispersed by passing the stirring base several times through a continuous dispersing device such as a particle stirring (beads mi1l) dispersing device.

Specifically, the steps of: that is, the unprocessed pigment slurry stored in the supply tank is supplied to the dispersing device, the pigment slurry dispersed by the dispersing device is temporarily stored in the receiving tank, after the first pigment dispersing process is completed, the pigment slurry stored in the receiving tank is returned to the dispersing device to be dispersed, the pigment slurry subjected to the second pigment dispersing process is returned to the original supply tank to be stored, and then the processes are repeated a plurality of times to disperse the pigment. However, in the above production process, there is a problem that: that is, two tanks, a supply tank and a reception tank, are required and a switching operation between these tanks is required.

Therefore, there is a technique in which a stirring apparatus and a dispersing apparatus are connected by a circulation line, and pigment slurry is circulated between the two apparatuses, thereby combining a supply tank and a receiving tank (see, for example, patent documents 1 and 7).

Conventional particle stirring apparatuses (see patent documents 1 to 3) have a mechanism for separating a pigment slurry and a dispersion medium by a centrifugal force generated by rotation of a rotor, and have the following advantages: that is, the processing capacity (flow rate) is large, and it is only necessary to use one tank to perform cyclic distribution, and since processing can be performed by one tank, it is not necessary to perform switching operation between the supply tank and the reception tank.

However, even when the pigment is subjected to dispersion mixing by using the above-mentioned particle stirring apparatus, there are disadvantages as follows: that is, in the case where the stirring and mixing by the stirring device is insufficient, when the stirring base material flows in and out by the stirring device (for example, anchor type, propeller type), there is a possibility that a short circuit occurs, and if a staying portion having poor fluidity is present in the tank, the efficiency of pigment dispersion is lowered.

Therefore, in order to efficiently perform stirring and mixing in a stirring apparatus, a twin-shaft stirrer having a high-speed stirrer and a low-speed anchor-type stirring blade for removing a stirring base material accumulated on a wall of a tank has been developed.

However, there are also the following problems: that is, the equipment cost of the twin-shaft agitator is high, and the interval between the tank wall and the anchor-type agitating blade is narrow, so that the cleaning by spraying the cleaning solvent becomes difficult, and thus, the cleanability is poor when used for the production of paint in which the variety change is frequently performed.

In addition to the above-described stirring devices, for example, there have been known single-shaft stirrers (see, for example, patent documents 4 and 5) which are only applied to a circulating dispersion system for uniformly mixing a treatment liquid in a tank, feeding the treatment liquid into the tank from a return pipe provided in an upper part of the tank, taking the treatment liquid out of a lower part of the tank, and returning the taken-out treatment liquid to the return pipe through a dispersion device, and have disadvantages such as: that is, as the circulating flow of the treatment liquid in the tank increases, the treatment liquid supplied from the return pipe is instantaneously taken out from the lower portion of the tank, and therefore, short-circuiting occurs without mixing in the tank. Further, since the effect of scraping the treatment liquid from the surface portion of the inner wall of the tank of the stirring device to perform mixing and circulation is weaker than that of the anchor-type stirring blade, the pigment slurry having a high structural viscosity is likely to be accumulated on the surface of the inner wall of the tank, and thus the mixing and circulation performance is poor.

In order to solve the above problems, the present inventors have improved a stirring blade, and proposed a stirring device including: a stirring device which can be applied to a large flow circulation system and is excellent in various types of treatment liquids, variations in liquid amounts, mixing dispersibility of treatment liquids having different viscosities from a low viscosity to a high viscosity, cleaning properties, and the like (see patent document 6).

In addition, in a process of producing a coloring liquid such as paint, there are many kinds of products produced in small quantities, and it is often necessary to clean a portion of a stirring tank where other color pastes come into contact with each color change, but in a conventional cleaning process, there is a cleaning device: for example, a cleaning liquid is sprayed from a cleaning nozzle connected to a cleaning liquid container to an agitation tank (see, for example, patent document 6). The cleaning device sprays the cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid container from the cleaning nozzle in a shower shape to wash the pigment paste attached to the inner wall of the agitation tank and the surface of the agitation blade. The cleaning liquid sprayed from the cleaning nozzle into the agitation tank is immediately drawn from the bottom of the agitation tank and collected to be circulated.

[ patent document 1 ] Japanese patent application laid-open No. 8-266880

[ patent document 2 ] Japanese examined patent publication No. 6-28745

[ patent document 3 ] Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2002-204969

[ patent document 4 ] Japanese patent No. 3224498

[ patent document 5 ] Japanese examined patent publication No. Hei 1-37173

[ patent document 6 ] Japanese patent No. 3189047

[ patent document 7 ] Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2002-306940

Disclosure of Invention

However, in the particle mixer, the heat generated by the friction between the dispersion medium and the rotor or the container and the friction between the dispersion media is larger than the cooling amount in the container of the particle mixer, and therefore, the temperature of the pigment slurry rises. The deterioration of the pigment paste may occur due to the increase in temperature, and the amount of heat generated from the pigment paste becomes significant as the viscosity increases.

Therefore, a first object of the present invention is to provide a stirring device, which is an improved stirring device proposed by the present inventors, and which further improves the flat stirring blades and the stirring tank, mainly to improve the cooling efficiency.

Further, the above-mentioned improved agitating apparatus proposed by the present inventors can wash the flat agitating blade and the inner wall of the agitating vessel by circulating the cleaning liquid, and since the flat agitating blade is used, the cleaning performance is excellent compared to the above-mentioned conventional two-shaft agitator, but there are cases where: that is, the pigment paste attached to the peripheral end surface (flat surface) of the flat stirring blade or the pigment paste attached to the bottom of the stirring tank is slightly less likely to fall off.

In the case of cleaning the above-described conventional improved agitating apparatus, for example, a cleaning liquid is left in the agitating tank, and the flat agitating blade and the inner wall of the agitating tank are cleaned by rotating the flat agitating blade in the forward and reverse directions. In this case, the cleaning liquid is circulated through the circulation path connecting the pellet mixer and the mixer, whereby the inside of the pellet mixer is also cleaned.

As a result of intensive studies, the inventors of the present invention found the following problems in the prior art including the prior improved stirring device: since the peripheral edge of the stirring blade is a flat surface as shown in the cross section of fig. 8, the pigment paste attached to the flat surface around the stirring blade is likely to stay during the circulation dispersion, and the dispersion performance is lowered.

Further, the present inventors have also found such a problem: that is, the flow of the cleaning liquid supplied from the treatment liquid supply port provided in the upper part of the agitation tank and discharged from the treatment liquid take-out port provided in the bottom part, and circulated between the agitation device and the pellet agitator through the circulation passage connected to the pellet agitator may be retained in the bottom part of the agitation tank.

Accordingly, a second object of the present invention is to provide a stirring device in which the cleaning performance of the stirring blade and the stirring tank is improved.

In addition, in the conventional cleaning device for cleaning the agitation tank and the like, a large amount of cleaning liquid is required until sufficient cleaning is obtained.

Further, if the stirring device and the dispersing device are connected by using the piping, it is necessary to wash the piping by disassembling the piping or the like in order to wash the piping without leaving a cleaning liquid or the like in the piping at the time of color replacement, which results in a large amount of labor and a significant increase in production cost.

Therefore, a third object of the present invention is to provide a circulation cleaning device capable of reducing the amount of cleaning liquid used.

Moreover, a fourth object of the present invention is to provide a circulation line system: that is, in the system of the stirring device and the dispersing device connected by the pipe, the amount of the cleaning liquid used can be reduced and the labor for cleaning can be reduced.

In order to achieve the first object, a stirring device according to the present invention includes: the method comprises the following steps: a stirring tank having a treatment liquid supply port at the upper part and a treatment liquid take-out port at the bottom part and having a cylindrical circumference, a rotating shaft vertically provided inside the stirring tank, and a flat stirring blade attached to the rotating shaft; the flat stirring blade includes a bottom flat stirring blade portion extending in a lateral direction from a bottom of the rotating shaft, and an upper flat stirring blade portion extending upward from upper portions of both side ends of the bottom flat stirring blade portion and having a rectangular shape, a size ratio (b/a) between a blade diameter (b) of the bottom flat stirring blade portion and an inner diameter (a) of the stirring tank is 0.6 to 0.9, a size ratio (d/c) between a height (d) of the upper flat stirring blade portion and a height (c) of the bottom flat stirring blade portion is 1 to 4, and a flow path for flowing a refrigerant is formed in the rotating shaft and the flat stirring blade.

The stirring device preferably further includes a jacket-type cooler around the stirring tank.

In order to achieve the second object, a stirring device according to the present invention is characterized in that: the method comprises the following steps: a stirring tank having a treatment liquid supply port at the upper part and a treatment liquid take-out port at the bottom part and having a cylindrical circumference, a rotating shaft vertically provided inside the stirring tank, and a flat stirring blade attached to the rotating shaft; the flat stirring blade includes a bottom flat stirring blade portion extending in a lateral direction from a bottom of the rotating shaft, and an upper flat stirring blade portion extending upward from upper portions of both side ends of the bottom flat stirring blade portion and having a rectangular shape, a peripheral portion of the flat stirring blade is tapered by inclined surfaces formed on both front and rear surfaces, and a flow path for circulating a refrigerant is formed in the rotating shaft and the flat stirring blade.

Preferably, the peripheral edge of the flat stirring blade has a V-shaped end surface shape formed by the inclined surfaces, and an angle (θ 1) formed by each inclined surface and the flat surface of the flat stirring blade is in a range of 100 to 140 degrees.

Preferably, the bottom of the stirring tank has a conical or truncated conical shape with a narrow bottom, and the bottom of the flat stirring blade portion at the bottom is formed in a shape parallel to the bottom of the stirring tank with a predetermined gap therebetween.

Preferably, an angle (θ 2) formed by the bottom conical surface of the stirring tank and the horizontal plane has an inclination of 5 to 30 degrees.

Preferably, the ratio (e/b) of the width (e) of the upper flat stirring blade part to the blade diameter (b) of the lower flat stirring blade part is 0.05 to 0.2.

In order to achieve the third object, the present invention provides a circulation cleaning device, comprising: is a circulation cleaning device attached to a stirring device for stirring a pigment slurry, comprising: the stirring tank is provided with a cleaning liquid container for storing cleaning liquid, a first pump for sucking the liquid in the cleaning liquid container and supplying the liquid into the stirring tank, and a second pump for connecting a suction port to a discharge port provided at the bottom of the stirring tank and connecting a discharge port to a supply port of the cleaning liquid container through a pipe for circulating cleaning.

Preferably, the circulation cleaning device further includes a waste liquid container for receiving the cleaning waste liquid, and the first direction switching valve is provided in the middle of the circulation cleaning pipe for switching the liquid discharged from the second pump to the waste liquid container.

In order to achieve the fourth object of the present invention, a circulation dispersion system according to the present invention is characterized in that: the method comprises the following steps: the circulation cleaning device, the stirring device having a stirring blade and a stirring tank, and a dispersing device for dividing an aggregate of a pigment composed of secondary particles into primary particles and dispersing the primary particles in a pigment slurry; a second direction switching valve that is provided in the middle of the circulation cleaning pipe and switches the direction of the liquid discharged from the second pump to the dispersing device; the discharge port of the dispersing device and the supply port of the agitation tank are connected by a circulating dispersion pipe.

In the circulation dispersion system, it is preferable to have an article container that receives the pigment slurry whose dispersion processing is ended; a third direction switching valve for switching between the first direction switching valve and the second direction switching valve is provided in the middle of the circulation distribution pipe so as to discharge the liquid discharged from the second pump to the product container.

The dispersing device of the circulating dispersion system is preferably configured to: the dispersing apparatus is an annular particle blender comprising: a tank having a supply port for supplying a pigment slurry to be dispersed and a discharge port for discharging the dispersed pigment slurry, and a rotor having a cylindrical outer peripheral surface and disposed in the tank so as to form an annular gap between the rotor and an inner wall of the tank for dispersing; forming a flow path from the annular gap to the discharge port through the inside of the rotor; a centrifugal separator for centrifugally separating the dispersion medium from the pigment slurry is provided in the rotor at a position in the flow path; the rotor is provided with a circulation opening for discharging the centrifugally separated dispersion medium to the annular gap.

The centrifugal separation device includes a rotating body for performing centrifugal separation of a dispersion medium; preferably, the rotating body is an impeller.

The centrifugal separation device includes a rotating body for performing centrifugal separation of a dispersion medium; preferably, the rotating body is a rotating disc.

Preferably, the rotation driving shaft of the rotor is a hollow shaft, and a discharge opening communicating with the discharge port is formed in the hollow shaft.

Preferably, a supply port of the tank is disposed at one end of the tank; a substantially cylindrical stator disposed inside the rotor at the other end of the tank; a gap constituting a part of the flow path is formed between the stator and the rotor.

Preferably, a rotation driving shaft of the rotating body is inserted into the hollow shaft of the rotor; a flow path gap is formed between the inner peripheral wall of the hollow shaft of the rotor and the rotation drive shaft of the rotating body to the discharge opening.

Preferably, the rotation drive shaft of the rotor and the rotation drive shaft of the rotating body are arranged concentrically.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an embodiment of the stirring device of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view partially omitting the internal structure of the flat stirring blade as a structural element of the stirring device in fig. 1.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the stirring device of FIG. 1.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line a-a of fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B in fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a flat stirring blade as a structural element of the stirring device of the present invention, which corresponds to a cross-section taken along line B-B in fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is an explanatory view showing the operation of the flat stirring blade as a structural element of the stirring device in fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is a horizontal sectional view showing a state of use of a conventional flat stirring blade.

Fig. 9 is a system diagram showing an embodiment of the circulation cleaning device and the circulation distribution system having the circulation cleaning device according to the present invention.

Figure 10 shows a longitudinal section of the dispersion apparatus incorporated into the system of figure 9.

Fig. 11 is a sectional view taken along line a-a in fig. 10.

Description of the symbols:

1 stirring device

2 agitation tank

2a clad cooler

3 rotating shaft

4 flat stirring blade

4a bottom flat stirring blade

4b Upper Flat mixing blade

5 treatment liquid supply port

6 treated liquid take-out port

12 flow path

14 second pump

15 dispersing device

16 circulation dispersion piping

17 second direction switching valve

18 third direction switching valve

19 product container

20 container for cleaning liquid

21 cleaning nozzle

22 circulation cleaning piping

23 first direction switching valve

24 first pump

32 supply port

33 tank

34 rotor

36 flow path

37 centrifugal separator

38 impeller

39 circulation opening

60 stator

80 circulation cleaning device

100 circulation dispersion system

X annular gap

Detailed Description

Next, a first embodiment of the stirring device of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 1 to 3. Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing an internal structure of a stirring device, and fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view partly omitting the internal structure of the flat stirring blade portion shown in fig. 1.

The stirring device 1 includes: the stirring vessel 2, a rotating shaft 3 provided perpendicularly to the inner center of the stirring vessel 2, and a flat stirring blade 4 as a stirring blade attached to the rotating shaft 3.

The agitation tank 2 has a treatment liquid supply port 5 at the upper part and a treatment liquid take-out port 6 at the bottom part, and has a cylindrical circumferential side surface and a jacket-type cooler 2a at the circumference.

The clad cooler may have a known structure, and may be configured to circulate a refrigerant such as cooling water therein. The bottom of the stirring tank 2 is formed in a narrow truncated cone shape. The agitation tank 2 is provided with cleaning

liquid supply ports

7 and 7 at an upper portion thereof.

The flat stirring blade 4 includes a bottom flat stirring blade portion 4a extending from the bottom of the rotating shaft 3 to the side surface, and an upper flat stirring blade portion 4b extending upward from the upper portion of both side ends of the bottom flat stirring blade portion 4a and having a rectangular shape.

The bottom flat stirring blade part 4a is formed of an inclined side having a bottom side shape parallel to the bottom conical surface of the stirring tank 2, and has a predetermined gap from the bottom surface of the stirring tank 2.

The upper flat stirring paddle units 4b are arranged symmetrically with respect to the rotation shaft 3. The rotary shaft 3 is rotationally driven by a driving device 8 disposed outside the tank via a pulley 9, a belt 10, and a pulley 11, and the flat stirring blades 4 are rotated in the circumferential direction and pass through the vicinity of the cylindrical inner peripheral wall surface of the stirring tank 2 by the rotational driving of the rotary shaft 3.

A flow path 12 for introducing the refrigerant into the flat stirring blade 4 through the rotation shaft 3 is provided in the rotation shaft 3 and the flat stirring blade 4. The flow path 12 formed in the flat stirring blade 4 is preferably provided in the bottom flat stirring blade portion 4a and the upper flat stirring blade portion 4 b. As the cooling water as the refrigerant, water cooled to-10 ℃ to 10 ℃ by a cooling device other than the drawings can be used.

In the illustrated example, the inside of the rotary shaft 3 has a double-tube structure, and the refrigerant flows in the direction indicated by the arrow in fig. 2, passes through the flow path 12 formed by the inner tube 3a, flows through the flow path 12 formed inside the flat stirring blade 4, and is then discharged through the flow path 12 formed by the outer tube 3b of the double-tube. A double swivel joint 13 corresponding to a double pipe is attached to an upper end of the rotary shaft 3, and a refrigerant can be supplied and discharged from the upper end of the rotary shaft 3 even during rotation of the rotary shaft.

As shown in FIG. 3, the bottom flat stirring blade portion 4a is designed so that the size ratio (b/a) of the blade diameter b to the inner diameter a of the stirring tank 2 is 0.6 to 0.9, preferably 0.6 to 0.8. This is because if the dimension ratio (b/a) is less than 0.6, the blade diameter is too small compared with the inner diameter of the agitation tank 2, and the pigment slurry retained on the tank wall surface increases, while if the dimension ratio (b/a) exceeds 0.9, the blade diameter is too large compared with the inner diameter of the agitation tank 2, and short-circuiting of the pigment slurry is likely to occur.

The flat stirring vanes 4 are designed so that the ratio (d/c) of the height d of the upper flat stirring vane part 4b to the height c of the lower flat stirring vane part 4a is 1 to 4, preferably 1 to 3. This is because if the height dimension ratio (d/c) is less than 1, that is, if the height d of the upper flat stirring vane part 4b is excessively low compared with the height c of the lower flat stirring vane part 4a, there is a disadvantage in that: since the required power for stirring becomes large, the cost of the product becomes high or the product is accelerated to be aged by giving a mechanical load, and furthermore, the occurrence of short circuit of the pigment paste is easily caused; on the other hand, if the size ratio (d/c) exceeds 4, i.e., the height d of the upper flat stirring vane part 4b is excessively higher than the height c of the lower flat stirring vane part 4a, there is a disadvantage in that: the pigment slurry cannot be uniformly mixed in the tank.

The flat stirring vanes 4 are designed so that the dimension ratio (h/a) of the overall height h (d + c) of the flat stirring vanes 4 to the inner diameter a of the stirring tank 2 is 0.8 to 1.5, preferably 1.0 to 1.3. This is because: if the height dimension ratio (h/a) is less than 0.8, that is, if the overall height h of the flat stirring blade 4 is too short compared with the inner diameter a of the stirring tank 2, there is a disadvantage that short-circuiting of the pigment slurry is likely to occur; on the other hand, if the dimension ratio (h/a) exceeds 1.5, i.e., the overall height h of the flat stirring vanes 4 is too long compared to the inner diameter a of the stirring tank 2, there is a disadvantage that the pigment slurry cannot be uniformly mixed in the tank.

The upper flat stirring blade part 4b having a rectangular shape is a rectangular blade extending in the height direction, and the dimension ratio (e/b) between the width e and the blade diameter b of the bottom flat stirring blade part 4a is set to 0.05 to 0.2, preferably 0.06 to 0.15. This is because: if the size ratio (e/b) is less than 0.05, the effect of scraping off the pigment paste existing in the vicinity of the inner surface of the groove is reduced, while if it exceeds 0.2, short-circuiting of the pigment paste is likely to occur.

The ratio (c/b) of the height c of the bottom flat stirring blade 4a to the blade diameter b is preferably 0.4 to 1.0, more preferably 0.5 to 0.7. This is because: if the size ratio (c/b) is less than 0.4, the stirring effect is reduced, while if the size ratio (c/b) exceeds 1.0, the load on the apparatus is increased, and the deterioration is accelerated.

The flat stirring blades 4 are preferably constructed from one piece of material. The material constituting the flat stirring blade 4 is not limited, and a material used for a conventional stirring blade may be used, and particularly, stainless steel is preferable in terms of durability and strength, and mirror finishing, teflon coating, or enamel processing is preferably performed on the surface in terms of cleanability. Wherein, when the volume of the stirring tank 2 is 500L, the thickness of the flat stirring blade 4 is 10-30 mm. The capacity of the agitation tank 2 is not particularly limited, and is generally in the range of about 2L to about 10000L.

According to the second embodiment of the present invention, the flat stirring blade 4 has a tapered shape over the entire peripheral edge portion thereof with the

inclined surfaces

4c and 4c formed on both the front and rear surfaces, and has a V-shaped cross-sectional shape, as shown in the cross-sectional shapes of fig. 4 and 5. The

inclined surfaces

4c and 4c are flat surfaces in the examples shown in fig. 4 and 5, but may be curved surfaces as shown in the cross-sectional view of fig. 6. The tip of the tapered shape formed by the

inclined surfaces

4c and 4c is shown as a pointed shape in the examples shown in fig. 4 and 5, but may have a U-shaped cross section with rounded corners as shown in fig. 6, for example. Although fig. 4 to 6 only show the cross-sectional shape of the upper flat stirring vane portion 4b, the same applies to the lower flat stirring vane portion 4 a.

The stirring devices of the first and second embodiments are mainly used by being incorporated in a circulating dispersion system connected to a dispersion device.

Next, a preferred embodiment of such a circulation dispersion system will be described with reference to fig. 9 to 11. In fig. 9 to 11, the present embodiment will be described by taking, as an example, a circulatory dispersion system 100 including a stirring device 1, a circulatory cleaning device 80 connected to the stirring device 1 via a circulatory cleaning pipe, and a dispersion device 15 connected to the stirring device 1 via a circulatory dispersion pipe 16.

The circulation cleaning device 80 includes: a cleaning liquid container 20 for storing a cleaning liquid such as a solvent or water; a first pump 24 for sucking the cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid container 20 and supplying the cleaning liquid to the cleaning

liquid supply ports

21a and 21a of the agitation tank 2; and a second pump 14 having a suction port connected to a treatment liquid extraction port 6 provided in the bottom of the agitation vessel 2 and a discharge port connected to a cleaning liquid supply port 20a of the cleaning liquid container 20 via a circulation cleaning pipe 22.

The cleaning

liquid supply ports

21a and 21a of the agitation tank 2 are provided with cleaning nozzles 21, and the cleaning liquid pumped by the first pump 24 is sprayed into the agitation tank 2 and the flat agitation blade 4 as the agitation blade in a high-pressure shower shape through the cleaning nozzles 21.

The cleaning liquid accumulated in the agitation tank 2 is taken out from the treatment liquid take-out port 6 of the agitation tank 2 by the second pump 14, and returned to the cleaning liquid container 20 again through the circulation cleaning pipe 22.

The circulation cleaning device 80 further includes a waste liquid container 25 for receiving the cleaning waste liquid, and a first direction switching valve 23 for switching is provided in the middle of the circulation cleaning pipe 22 so that the liquid discharged from the second pump 14 is discharged into the waste liquid container 25.

A second direction switching valve 17 is further provided in the middle of the circulation cleaning pipe 22, and the second direction switching valve 17 can be switched so that the liquid discharged from the second pump 14 is supplied to the dispersion device 15. The discharge port of the dispersion device 15 is connected to the treatment liquid supply port 5 of the agitation tank 2 via a circulation dispersion pipe 16.

A third direction switching valve 18 is provided in the middle of the circulation and dispersion pipe 16, and the third direction switching valve 18 can be switched so that the liquid discharged from the second pump 14 is discharged to the product container 19, and the product container 19 receives the pigment slurry after the dispersion process is completed.

The dispersing device 15 is not particularly limited, and a conventionally known pigment dispersing device can be used, and in particular, a pellet mixer capable of handling a large flow rate is preferably used, and among them, a ring-shaped pellet mixer having a centrifugal separator built therein and capable of using a small-diameter dispersion medium as in the illustrated example is preferable.

As shown in the cross-sectional view of fig. 10, the dispersing device 15 incorporates a rotor 34 having a cylindrical outer peripheral surface into a tank (vessel)33 provided with a supply port 32. An annular gap X for dispersing the pigment is formed between the inner wall of the tank 33 and the outer peripheral wall of the rotor 34.

The rotation driving shaft 34a of the rotor 34 is a hollow shaft, and a discharge opening 35 is formed in the hollow shaft. The hollow portion 34x of the rotation drive shaft 34a passes through the inside of the rotor 34, and opens at the bottom of the rotor 34 to form a flow path 36.

The dispersion medium (not shown) is preliminarily charged into the tank 33, and the particle diameter thereof may be as small as 0.05 to 0.3mm, in addition to the conventionally used particle diameter exceeding 3 mm.

A centrifugal separator 37 for centrifugally separating the dispersion medium flowing from the pigment slurry through the flow path 36 is disposed inside the rotor 34. In the illustrated example, the centrifugal separator 37 is an impeller 38 disposed so as to cross the flow path 36. In order to feed the centrifugally separated dispersion medium to the annular gap X, the rotor 34 is provided with a circulation opening 39 that communicates the space around the impeller 38 with the annular gap X.

The impeller 38 may be a flat blade, an arrow blade, a twisted blade, or other blades, and has a function of sucking upward at the center of the blade and pressing it in the circumferential direction, that is, a function as a centrifugal pump. The rotation drive shaft 38a of the impeller 38 is inserted into the hollow portion 34x of the rotor 34 and protrudes from the rotation drive shaft 34a of the rotor 34. In the figure, 40, 41, and 42 are sealing members.

The impeller 38 has a ring-shaped flat plate 50 with a central opening on the top surface of the impeller 38, as shown in fig. 11. As shown in fig. 10, an annular mechanical seal 51 is provided in a gap between the annular flat plate 50 and the ceiling portion of the impeller housing space of the rotor 34 so that the dispersion medium is not discharged through the gap.

In the illustrated example, the

rotation drive shafts

34a and 38a are connected to a common drive source M via a transmission mechanism 45, but the drive sources of the

rotation drive shafts

34a and 38a may be connected to different drive sources. In the illustrated example, the transmission mechanism 45 is a transmission mechanism including pulleys 45a to 45d and

belts

45e and 45f wound around the pulleys 45a to 45d, but other well-known transmission mechanisms such as a gear transmission mechanism may be employed.

The flow path 36 communicates with a portion that performs a suction action from the bottom of the rotor 34 to the center of the impeller 38, that is, the impeller 38. The annular gap X, the flow path 36, and the circulation opening 39 constitute a circulation passage that communicates with the center of the impeller 38 from the annular gap X and reaches the annular gap X again through the outer periphery of the impeller 38.

The stator 60 may be fixed to a substantially central portion of the inner bottom of the tank 33, and a flow path may be formed by a gap formed between the stator 60 and the rotor 34. The stator 60 is shaped such that: the flow path is formed in the center portion where the suction effect by the rotation of the impeller 38 is the strongest, and thus, the circulation of the dispersion medium and the pigment slurry in the circulation path is further enhanced. The stator 60 is given a different speed by a gap between the inside of the rotor 34 and the outer wall of the stator 60, and also functions as a dispersing function as in the outer periphery of the rotor 34. In the illustrated example, the upper portion of the stator 60 is formed in a circular column with a truncated cone, and may have various shapes such as a conical shape.

Sleeves

61, 62 are provided on outer peripheries of the tank 33 and the stator 60, and cooling water is introduced into the

sleeves

61, 62 from a water supply port outside the figure and discharged from a water discharge port outside the figure, respectively, to prevent a temperature rise in the tank 33.

If the inner diameter of the tank 33 is set to 1, the geometric dimension ratio of the dispersing device 15 is preferably in the following range:

the height H1 of the inner space of the tank 33 is 1.0-2.0;

the outer diameter L1 of the stator 60 is 0.5-0.7;

the outer diameter L2 of the rotor 34 is 0.95-0.98;

the width X1 of the annular gap X is 0.02-0.05;

the gap X2 between the rotor 34 and the stator 60 is 0.02-0.05;

the diameter L3 of the flow path 36 in the part communicated with the impeller 38 is 0.1-0.3;

the diameter L4 of the impeller 38 is 0.6-0.8;

the width H2 of the impeller 38 is 0.2-0.3;

the inner diameter L5 of the rotation driving shaft 34a of the rotor 34 is 0.3-0.4;

the height H3 of the circulation opening part 39 is 0.25-0.35;

the width L6 of the circulation opening 39 is 0.05-0.1.

The number of rotations of the impeller 38 is preferably 1.5 to 2.0 times the number of rotations of the rotor 34.

The impeller 38 is shown as a single layer in the above embodiment, and may be provided as two or more layers, or stationary guide blades may be provided around the impeller 38 as turbine blades. In addition, as the centrifugal separator 37, a rotating disk (not shown) may be used instead of the impeller 38. In the case of a rotating disk, the action as a suction pump is smaller than that of an impeller, but the disk has a function of applying a centrifugal force to the dispersion medium. The dispersion medium is not limited to a disk shape, and various shapes of rotating bodies such as a sphere, an ellipsoid, and an umbrella that can centrifugally separate the dispersion medium by rotation may be used.

As the centrifugal separator, an impeller may be fixed to or integrated with the rotor 34, or a rotation drive shaft of the impeller may be omitted. In this case, the number of rotations (rotational speed) of the impeller is the same as the number of rotations of the rotor, and the number of parts can be reduced although the centrifugal separation effect is reduced.

Further, a plurality of projections such as pins may be provided on the outer peripheral surface of the rotor 34 to enhance the stirring effect.

The rotation driving shaft 38a of the impeller 38 may extend downward and protrude from the bottom of the tank 33.

In the cyclic dispersion system having the above-described configuration, cyclic dispersion is performed by repeating the following cycle: the second direction switching valve 17 is switched in advance so that the liquid discharged from the second pump 14 is supplied to the dispersing device side, the pigment slurry mixed and stirred by the stirring device 1 is taken out of the stirring tank 2 through the treated liquid outlet 6, is supplied to the dispersing device 15 through the circulating dispersion pipe 16 by driving the second pump 14, and the pigment slurry dispersed from the dispersing device 15 is supplied into the stirring tank 2 through the treated liquid supply port 5.

The feed amount of the pigment slurry pumped by the second pump 14 into the dispersing device 15 is appropriately controlled within a range not greatly exceeding the centrifugal separation capability of the impeller 38 constituting the centrifugal separation device.

The pigment slurry fed under pressure into the tank 33 is fed out below the annular gap X between the inner wall of the tank 33 and the outer wall of the rotor 34 while being stirred by the rotor 34 together with the dispersion medium, passes through the gap between the bottom of the rotor 34 and the bottom of the tank 33, and rises through the gap between the inner wall of the rotor 34 and the outer wall of the stator 60. Then, the air is sucked into the impeller 38 from the center of the rotor 34 by the centrifugal pump action of the impeller 38 disposed inside the rotor 34.

The mixture of the pigment slurry and the dispersion medium sucked into the impeller 38 is subjected to a centrifugal force generated by rotation of the impeller 38 and the rotor 34 outside the impeller, and is separated into the dispersion medium and the pigment slurry by a difference in specific gravity. The dispersion medium having a high specific gravity is discharged to the outer peripheral portion and returned to the annular gap X between the inner wall of the tank 33 and the outer wall of the rotor 34 through the plurality of circulation openings 39 formed in the rotor 34. Then, the slurry is mixed again, and the annular gap X between the inner wall of the tank 33 and the outer wall of the rotor 34 is lowered.

Thus, the dispersion medium repeats such a cycle: the slurry moves from the annular gap X to the flow path 36 inside the rotor by flowing, passes through the impeller 38, and returns to the original position through the circulation opening 39. During this period, the aggregated particles (secondary particles) of the pigment blended in the pigment slurry are dispersed into primary particles by a strong shearing action generated by collision with the dispersion medium in the annular gap X between the inner wall of the tank 33 and the outer wall of the rotor 34.

The pigment slurry separated from the dispersion medium by the impeller 38 rises through the gap between the hollow 34x of the rotation drive shaft 34a of the rotor 34 and the rotation drive shaft 38a of the impeller 38, and is discharged from the discharge port 33a through the discharge opening 35 formed in the rotation drive shaft 34a of the rotor 34. The discharged pigment slurry is returned to the stirring tank 2 through the circulating dispersion pipe 16. The cyclic dispersion is performed by this repeated cycle.

After the circulation dispersion is completed, the pigment slurry is discharged into the product container 19 by the third direction switching valve 18, and then the pigment slurry remaining in the agitation tank 2 or the dispersing device 15 is washed and removed.

Specifically, after discharging the pigment paste into the product container 19, the first pump 24 is driven to supply the cleaning liquid from the cleaning liquid container 20 to the agitation tank 2. At this time, the cleaning liquid is sprayed from the cleaning nozzle 21 in a shower shape at a high pressure to perform initial cleaning.

Even if the cleaning liquid is left in the agitation tank 2 to some extent, the first pump 24 is stopped, the second pump 14 is driven, and the cleaning liquid is circulated through the agitation tank 2, the dispersing device 15, and the circulation and dispersion piping 16, thereby performing the circulation cleaning of the circulation and dispersion system. At this time, the cleaning liquid is retained in the agitation vessel 2, and the flat agitation blade 4 constituting the agitation blade is rotated in the forward and reverse directions, whereby the flat agitation blade 4 and the inner wall of the agitation vessel 2 can be cleaned. By driving the dispersing device also during the circulation of the cleaning liquid in the above-mentioned circulating dispersion system, the dispersing device can be cleaned more efficiently.

In the case where the cleaning liquid gradually loses the desired cleaning ability due to the increase in the degree of contamination of the cleaning liquid by the circulation cleaning, the second direction switching valve 17 and the first direction switching valve 23 are switched, and once the cleaning liquid is discharged to the waste liquid tank 25, a new cleaning liquid is added to the cleaning liquid tank 20, and the circulation cleaning of the circulation dispersion system described above can be performed again.

After the cleaning of the circulation distribution system is completed, the second direction switching valve 17 is switched so that the liquid discharged from the second pump 14 is sent into the cleaning liquid container 20, and the cleaning liquid is circulated in the circulation cleaning system constituted by the agitation tank 2, the circulation cleaning pipe 22, and the cleaning liquid container 20, thereby performing the circulation cleaning of the circulation cleaning system. In this case, the cleaning liquid can be replaced with a new cleaning liquid in advance before the circulation cleaning of the circulation cleaning system. After the washing of the circulation cleaning system is completed, the first direction switching valve 23 is switched to discharge the cleaning waste liquid into the waste liquid container 25.

In the above description, the example in which the circulation cleaning system is performed after the circulation cleaning circulation distribution system is described, but the cleaning of the circulation cleaning system may be performed first.

The above-described circulation cleaning process can be automatically performed by sequence control. That is, the first to third

direction switching valves

23, 17, and 18 are solenoid valves, and the controller controls the opening and closing of the first to third

direction switching valves

23, 17, and 18, and the driving and stopping of the first pump 24 and the second pump 14, so that the cleaning process is automatically performed according to a preset sequence program.

At this time, the liquid level in the cleaning liquid container 20 and/or the agitation tank 2 may be detected by a liquid level sensor (not shown), and the detection signal may be input to the control system to circulate the cleaning liquid through the circulation cleaning line while controlling the driving and stopping of the first pump and the second pump 14. In this case, the circulation of the cleaning liquid may also be discontinuous, rather than intermittent.

The pigment slurry is preferably treated so that the viscosity is in the range of 0.01Pa sec to 100Pa sec, particularly 0.1Pa sec to 10Pa sec, and the Ti value is in the range of 1 to 10, particularly 1 to 5. The Ti value is an abbreviation for thixotropic (thixotropic) index and is the value: the values measured by the rotational viscosity method described in JIS K5101-6-2 (temperature 20 ℃, number of revolutions of rotor 6 and 60rpm) were converted into mPas, and the values were calculated from the apparent viscosity mPas at 6 rpm/the apparent viscosity mPas at 60 rpm.

Further, when the viscosity of the pigment paste is high or the Ti value is high, the inner wall surface of the stirring tank 2, the surface of the stirring blade 8, and the inner surface of the pipe or the like are preferably smoothed in advance by mirror finishing, teflon coating, enamel processing, or the like, because the adhesion of the pigment paste is strong.

According to the stirring apparatus having the structure of the first embodiment, even when the heat transfer rate (cooling rate) is insufficient only by the coating cooler, the heat transfer area is large and the stirring apparatus can be cooled by the flat stirring blade having a high frequency of contact with the treatment liquid by the pigment slurry having a high Ti value or the pigment slurry having a high viscosity, and thus the cooling efficiency can be improved and the mixing can be performed in a short time with respect to the residence time in the stirring tank 2. In this way, when the stirring device of the first embodiment is used in the above-described circulation dispersion system, the dispersion performance can be improved.

Further, as shown in the second embodiment, if the peripheral edge portion of the flat stirring blade 4 is tapered by the

inclined surfaces

4c, 4c formed on both the front and rear surfaces, the pigment slurry adhering to each inclined surface is pushed by the flow of the cleaning liquid and efficiently removed when the flat stirring blade 4 rotates in the forward direction and the reverse direction (only one direction is shown in fig. 7) along with the flow of the cleaning liquid (dotted arrows) as shown in the cross-sectional view of fig. 7.

In view of such efficiency, when the peripheral edge portion of the flat stirring blade 4 is formed into a V-shaped end surface shape by the inclined surfaces 4c, it is preferable that an angle θ 1 (see fig. 4) formed between each inclined surface 4c and the flat surface (front surface or rear surface) of the flat stirring blade 4 is in a range of 100 degrees to 140 degrees. This is because: if the inclination angle theta 1 is less than 100 degrees, the pigment paste is easy to adhere to the flat surface; if the inclination angle θ 1 exceeds 140 degrees, the strength of the flat stirring blade 4 is reduced, and if the coating is coated with a fluororesin or enamel, shrinkage stress remains in the coating layer, which tends to cause peeling.

Further, since the bottom of the agitation tank 2 has a truncated cone shape with a narrow bottom as described above, when the cleaning liquid circulates through the dispersion line, a laminar flow is formed along the inclined surface of the bottom, and as a result, the pigment slurry adhered to the bottom of the agitation tank 2 is efficiently removed.

From the viewpoint of such efficiency, it is preferable that the angle θ 2 (see fig. 1) formed by the bottom conical surface of the agitation vessel 2 and the horizontal plane has an inclination of 5 degrees to 30 degrees. This is because: if the inclination angle theta 2 is less than 5 degrees, the pigment slurry is easy to stay on the periphery of the joint part of the trunk part and the bottom part of the tank, and the pigment slurry is difficult to flow to the processing liquid extraction port 6 when the circulation cleaning is carried out; if the inclination angle θ 2 exceeds 30 degrees, short-circuiting of the pigment paste is likely to occur.

Claims

1. A stirring device is characterized in that:

the method comprises the following steps: a stirring tank having a treatment liquid supply port at the upper part and a treatment liquid take-out port at the bottom part and having a cylindrical circumference, a rotating shaft vertically provided inside the stirring tank, and a flat stirring blade attached to the rotating shaft; wherein,

the flat stirring blade includes a bottom flat stirring blade portion extending in a lateral direction from a bottom of the rotating shaft, and an upper flat stirring blade portion extending upward from upper portions of both side ends of the bottom flat stirring blade portion and having a rectangular shape, wherein a dimension ratio b/a of a blade diameter b of the bottom flat stirring blade portion to an inner diameter a of the stirring tank is 0.6 to 0.9, a dimension ratio d/c of a height d of the upper flat stirring blade portion to a height c of the bottom flat stirring blade portion is 1 to 4, and a flow path for flowing a refrigerant is formed in the rotating shaft and the flat stirring blade.

2. The mixing apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

and a cladding type cooler is arranged around the stirring tank.

3. The mixing apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the peripheral edge of the flat stirring blade is tapered by inclined surfaces formed on both the front and rear surfaces.

4. A mixing apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein:

the peripheral edge of the flat stirring blade has a V-shaped end face shape formed by the inclined faces, and the angle theta 1 formed by each inclined face and the flat face of the flat stirring blade is in the range of 100-140 degrees.

5. The mixing apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the ratio e/b of the width e of the upper flat stirring blade part to the blade diameter b of the lower flat stirring blade part is 0.05-0.2.

6. The mixing apparatus of claim 4, wherein:

the bottom of the stirring tank has a tapered or truncated cone shape with a narrow bottom, and the bottom of the flat stirring blade portion of the bottom is formed in a shape parallel to the bottom of the stirring tank with a predetermined gap therebetween.

7. The mixing apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

an angle theta 2 formed by the conical surface at the bottom of the stirring tank and the horizontal plane has an inclination of 5-30 degrees.

8. A circulation cleaning apparatus, characterized in that:

is a circulation cleaning device installed on the stirring device according to any one of claims 1 to 7;

the method comprises the following steps: a cleaning liquid container for storing cleaning liquid; a first pump for sucking the liquid in the cleaning liquid container and supplying the liquid into the agitation tank; and a second pump having a suction port connected to a discharge port provided in the bottom of the agitation tank and a discharge port connected to a supply port of the cleaning liquid container through a circulation cleaning pipe.

9. The circulation cleaning apparatus of claim 8, wherein:

a waste liquid container for receiving the cleaning waste liquid;

a first direction switching valve for switching between the first direction and the second direction is provided in the middle of the circulation cleaning pipe in order to discharge the liquid discharged from the second pump to the waste liquid tank.

10. A cyclical dispersion system, comprising:

the method comprises the following steps: the circulation cleaning device according to any one of claims 8 to 9, the stirring device having a stirring blade and a stirring tank, and a dispersing device for dividing an aggregate of a pigment composed of secondary particles into primary particles and dispersing it in a pigment slurry;

a second direction switching valve that is provided in the middle of the circulation cleaning pipe and switches the direction of the liquid discharged from the second pump to the dispersing device;

the discharge port of the dispersing device and the supply port of the agitation tank are connected by a circulating dispersion pipe.

11. The cyclical dispersion system of claim 10, wherein:

a product container for receiving the pigment slurry having finished the dispersion processing;

a third direction switching valve for switching between the first direction switching valve and the second direction switching valve is provided in the middle of the circulation distribution pipe so as to discharge the liquid discharged from the second pump to the product container.

12. The circulatory dispersion system as set forth in claim 10 or 11, wherein:

the dispersing apparatus is an annular particle blender comprising: a tank having a supply port for supplying a pigment slurry to be dispersed and a discharge port for discharging the dispersed pigment slurry, and a rotor having a cylindrical outer peripheral surface and disposed in the tank so as to form an annular gap between the rotor and an inner wall of the tank for dispersing;

a flow path that passes through the inside of the rotor from the annular gap and reaches the discharge port is formed;

a centrifugal separator for centrifugally separating the dispersion medium from the pigment slurry is provided in the rotor at a position in the flow path;

the rotor is provided with a circulation opening for discharging the centrifugally separated dispersion medium to the annular gap.

13. The cyclical dispersion system of claim 12, wherein:

the centrifugal separation device includes a rotating body for performing centrifugal separation of a dispersion medium;

the rotating body is an impeller.

14. The cyclical dispersion system of claim 12, wherein:

the rotating body is a rotating disk.

15. The cyclical dispersion system of claim 12, wherein:

the rotary driving shaft of the rotor is a hollow shaft;

the hollow shaft is provided with a discharge opening portion communicating with the discharge port.

16. The cyclical dispersion system of claim 12, wherein:

a supply port of the tank is disposed at one end of the tank;

a substantially cylindrical stator disposed inside the rotor at the other end of the tank;

a gap constituting a part of the flow path is formed between the stator and the rotor.

17. The cyclical dispersion system of claim 15, wherein:

a rotation driving shaft of the rotating body inserted into the hollow shaft of the rotor;

a flow path gap is formed between the inner peripheral wall of the hollow shaft of the rotor and the rotation drive shaft of the rotating body to the discharge opening.

18. The cyclical dispersion system of claim 17, wherein:

the rotation drive shaft of the rotor and the rotation drive shaft of the rotating body are arranged concentrically.