Mixers and Agitators 619 BOTTOM ‘SIDE FIGURE 16-1 Typical swirling condition of tank without baffles. (Source: LIGHTNIN Rochester, NY.) eoTToMMEw ‘SIDE view MAXIMUM SHEAR RATE FIGURE 16-2 Typical flow paste with axial flow impeller tank with wall baffles, (Source LIGHTNIN, Roeser, NY) over the length and width of the baffle. it is acceptable to assume that the torque operates in equal amounts at the location of the various impellers in the system, This concentrated load at the midpoint can be used to calculate the bafile thickness and the strength of the support arms required, Tank Shape Figure 16-3 depicts the nomenclature used in explaining mixer layout and design, Most tanks are cylindrical and typically have a ligukd helght over tank diameter (ZIT) ratio of about 1.0. On occasion, tanks have very low Z/T ratios of 0.2 to 0.4, which is typical of the large storage tanks in the petroleum industry. On the other hand, tanks can be very tall and slender. Multiple impellers must be used on large, tall tanks, while single impellers are used on tanks with Z/T ratios of less than approximately 0.8. While the least power is usually requited for tanks that have a Z/T ratio of 0.6, the specifying engineer must investigate some additional parameters in an effort to optimize the entire installation. He or she should be aware that tanks with a Z/T ratio of 0.6 are more costly to build than tanks having a Z/T ratio of 1.0, and this may offset the power savings. Square tanks are often used, as are rectangular tanks. Up to a power level of about I HP/1000 gallons, these tanks are selt-battling and do not require additional620 Process Plant Machinery FIGURE 16-3 Nomenclature employed in typical mixer applications. (Source: LIGHTNIN Rochester, NY.) baffles. Above that level, baffles are required, as shown in the drawing. Four baffles are typically used in square tanks and two batfles in rectangular tanks. There are also tanks with very complicated shapes, including elliptical heads, spherical heads, spherical tanks, and horizontal cylindrical tanks. Impellers ‘There are two basic kinds of impellers, radial flow and axial flow. Figure 16-4 shows a spectrum of flow and shear rates for different impeller types. It will be noted that axial flow impellers are typically high-flow, low-shear devices, compared with the radial flow impellers. The axial flow device shown in Figure 16-5 has historically been the most common impeller used for axial flow situations. Axial flow impellers incorporate blade angles of about 45° to the horizontal, although this angle can vary between 5* and 60°. An impeller diameter over tank diameter (D/T) ratio of 0.3 to RAKES. GATES. SPIRALS ANCHOR PADDLE PROPELLER AXIAL FLOW TURBINES, BARE uuaD STATOR (CLOSE CLEARANCE! (SHEAR) h CoLLoIO mLLS HOMOGENIZER FIGURE 16-4 Chart showing difference between flow and shear. (Source: LIGHTNIN Rochester, NY.)Mixers and Agitators 621 0.5 is quite common, and these ratios are particularly applied to areas where high flow is needed, such as blending and solids suspension Al impellers have a Reynolds number power curve, as shown in Figure 16-6. This allows the calculation of the Reynolds number when viscosity is known, the FIGURE 16.5 Typical avial flow turbine (Seurce: LIGHTNIN Rochester, NY.) 100) i iu 7 T —Pa_ eN3DS 10 FLAT BLADE TURBINE BAFFLED rok 4 PROPELLER SQUARE PITCH>—————_ BAFFLED Of OFF CENTERED ot 1 1 1 14 1 to 107 103 10 108 108 2 c= 1D DENS 2.7 D/T=1/3 2 IMPELLER DIAMETER N IMPELLER ROTATIONAL SPEED & BoWeRviScosiTY > eats Sense § GReViTy constanr FIGURE 16-6 Reynolds number-power number curve for ovo different impeller types, radial low and axial flow. (Source: LIGHTNIN, Rochester een622 Process Plant Machinery FIGURE 16-7 Typical flat blade turbine. (Source: LIGHTNIN, Rochester, NY.) FIGURE 16-8 Typical high-speed disc-tpe radial flow high-shear impeller. (Source: LIGHTNIN, Rochester, NY.)Mixers and Agitators 623 Reynolds number being the product of the impeller speed, the impeller diameter squared, and fluid density divided by the fluid viscosity. This has to be in consistent units. Having established the Reynolds number, Figure 16-6 can be used to obtain the power number, which is the power times z divided by density, speed cubed, and diameter to the fifth power. From this, the power can be calculated. These curves must be available for the particular geometry of the impeller, baffles and tank configuration, The flat portion of the curve depicts the turbulent region, which 1s commonly for low-viscosity materials. There is also a viscous region in which the slope is minus 1, with a transition area in between, Radial flow turbines are normally used where higher shear rates are required and where lower pumping capacity is needed. Radial flow turbines include the flat- blade turbine shown in Figure 16-7 and high epeed diso turbines for high opecd applications (Figure 16-8) ‘An axial flow airfoil impeller (Figure 16-9) has higher pumping capacity and lower shear rates than docs the axial flow turbine and is particularly suited 10 blending and solids suspension. It is also particularly suited for large tanks, where often very poor blending conditions exist compared with flow patterns in small tanks in the pilot plant, Axial flow airfoils are not particularly desirable for piolt plant oper- ation, since blend times can appear to be adequate whereas full-scale counterparts may not be. For viscous materials. normally with Reynolds numhers of less than 10, the helical impellers shown in Figure 6-10 and anchor impellers (Figure 6-11) are typical. Both are very effective in providing visual blending throughout large-scale systems in viscous fluids and typicelly operate at apceds as low as 5 to 15 RPM, This is considerably lower than the speed of radial mixing impellers. During the 1980s highly flow efficient impellers (Figure 16-10) were originally designed 10 maximize the outlet flow in terms of pumping capacity and axial flow direction. This was done to optimize their performance capability in processes such as low viscosity blending and solids suspension, Now there is a whole family of high efficiency impellers: one for gas-liquid applications, another for the paper stock industry, and a third for draft tube circulators Recently. additional advances have been made in fluidfoil impellers to extend the range of these impellers beyond the turbulent fluid regime to higher viscosi- ties, Measurements of fluid velocities performed using a dual channel laser doppler velocimeter (LDV) and blending studies have demonstrated equal blend times at ‘one-half of the power consumption compared to a pitched-blade turbine which has historically been used in these flow regimes. The results show that this axial impeller can be effectively used in the transitional flow regimes ‘A structural composite mixer with hydrodynamic design and proplet tips (Figure 16-11) represents another dramatic change in fluid mixing technology. This, vinyl ester resin axial impeller reinforced with graphite and glass fibers, is highly resistant {0 corrosives and abrasion. Its lightweight composition makes possible the ue of longer shafts and incrcascs its effectiveness in deep tanh applivativns Portable Mixers Portable mixers are often provided with suitable clamping devices that permit ‘mounting to the side of an open tank. Portable mixers range in horsepower up to about 3. Constant speed versions are usually either direct driven at 1150, 1450, ‘or 1750 RPM or operate at either 280 or 350 RPM with a gear drive. The gear driven portable mixer has a larger impeller and operates at slower speed that its direct-driven counterpart. It therefore develops more flow and less shear rate than the comparable direct-drive unit, which has a smaller impeller and higher speed.624 Process Plant Machinery FIGURE 16-9. Typicul uid foil impeller used 1 provdte maximum flow and minimum shear rates. (Source: LIGHTNIN, Rochester, NY.) B FIGURE 16.10 4320 high flow ficiency impeller with laser doppler velocimetes measurements. (Source: LIGHTNIN, Rochester, NY.)