TY - JOUR
T1 - The effect of stator design on flowrate and velocity fields in a rotor-stator mixer
T2 - an experimental investigation
AU - Mortensen, Hans Henrik
AU - Innings, Fredrik
AU - Håkansson, Andreas
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Rotor-stator mixers (RSMs) are available in different designs, e.g. with different number of stator slots and slot dimensions. However, the relationship between stator design and the RSM hydrodynamics is not well understood. Consequently, manufacturers still base design and stator screen recommendations on trial-and-error.This study reports experimental measurements of how the flowrate through the stator slots, and velocity profiles in the region of relevance for mixing and breakup, is influenced by the stator slot width, using particle image velocimetry. It is concluded that the flowrate can be described by a design dependent flow number for all investigated geometries and that the flow number decreases with increasing slot width. Moreover, by studying the velocity profiles at different rotor speeds and designs, it is concluded that the velocity profile, its skewness and the proportion of back-flow (fluid re-entering the slot) scales with the flow number of the design. This suggests that the flow number, in addition to rotor speed, is a highly relevant parameter for describing the effect of design on batch RSM hydrodynamics.
AB - Rotor-stator mixers (RSMs) are available in different designs, e.g. with different number of stator slots and slot dimensions. However, the relationship between stator design and the RSM hydrodynamics is not well understood. Consequently, manufacturers still base design and stator screen recommendations on trial-and-error.This study reports experimental measurements of how the flowrate through the stator slots, and velocity profiles in the region of relevance for mixing and breakup, is influenced by the stator slot width, using particle image velocimetry. It is concluded that the flowrate can be described by a design dependent flow number for all investigated geometries and that the flow number decreases with increasing slot width. Moreover, by studying the velocity profiles at different rotor speeds and designs, it is concluded that the velocity profile, its skewness and the proportion of back-flow (fluid re-entering the slot) scales with the flow number of the design. This suggests that the flow number, in addition to rotor speed, is a highly relevant parameter for describing the effect of design on batch RSM hydrodynamics.
U2 - 10.1016/j.cherd.2017.03.016
DO - 10.1016/j.cherd.2017.03.016
M3 - Article
VL - 121
SP - 245
EP - 254
JO - Chemical engineering research & design
JF - Chemical engineering research & design
SN - 0263-8762
ER -