Method of mixing pulverulent materials and device for practicing the same

Claim 1

A device for mixing pulverulent materials comprising: closed looplike material conveyor duct wherein the material is conveyed and mixed, said duct comprising a deaerating duct connecting a blower to an airtight hopper of a molding machine, said blower evacuating the hopper of air, a material conveyor duct connected to an inlet of said hopper, and an air duct connecting said blower to said material conveyor duct; a pulverized reclaimed material feed unit equipped with a rotary valve driven by a geared motor, said unit being disposed in said material conveyor duct, said pulverized reclaimed material feed unit having a movable pedestal and a material feed unit mounted on the pedestal, and which is adapted to be detachably connected to said closed looplike material conveyor duct by means of a pair of couplings; a virgin material feed unit equipped with a rotary valve driven by a geared motor, said unit being disposed in said material conveyor duct and being disposed in series with said pulverized reclaimed material feed unit, said virgin material feed unit having a movable pedestal and a material feed unit mounted on the pedestal and which is adapted to be detachably connected to said closed looplike material conveyor duct by means of a pair of couplings; a control means for driving said blower and the rotary valve of each of said pulverized reclaimed and virgin material feed units, said control means dividing the material to be conveyed into a plurality of batches each corresponding to a batch conveying time which is sectioned by a pause time during which said pulverized reclaimed material and said virgin material are not fed into said material conveyor duct for performing pre-blow and after-flow practice, and being adapted to continuously drive said blower and to continuously drive the rotary valve of said virgin material feed unit during one batch conveying time and to simultaneously drive the rotary valve of said pulverized reclaimed material feed unit intermittently so that said pulverized reclaimed material is supplied intermittently in a series of equal pulses such that the materials are supplied in a desired ratio, the control means (a) calculating an initial pulse size based on a control time T o corresponding to the maximum number of on-off switching cycles permitted by the geared motor of the pulverized reclaimed material feed unit, (b) driving the pulverized reclaimed material feed unit such that the size of each pulse is equal to the initial pulse size when the initial pulse size falls within an allowable range determined by the control time T 0 and a minimum control time t o between successive on and off states permitted by the geared motor of the pulverized reclaimed material feed unit, and (c) calculating a new pulse size that falls in the range using a pulse equilization method and driving the pulverized reclaimed material feed unit such that the size of each pulse is equal to the new pulse size when the initial pulse size is not in the range.

Claim 2

A device for mixing pulverulent materials comprising: closed looplike material conveyor duct wherein the material is conveyed and mixed, said duct comprising a deaerating duct connecting a blower to an airtight hopper of a molding machine, said deaerating duct evacuating the hopper of air, a material conveyor duct connected to an inlet of said hopper, and an air duct connecting said blower to said material conveyor duct; a pulverized reclaimed material feed unit equipped with a rotary valve driven by a geared motor, said unit being disposed in said material conveyor duct, said pulverized reclaimed material feed unit having a movable pedestal and a material feed unit mounted on the pedestal, and being adapted to be detachably connected to said closed looplike material conveyor duct by means of a pair of couplings; a virgin material feed unit equipped with a rotary valve driven by a geared motor, said unit being disposed in said material conveyor duct and being disposed in series with said pulverized reclaimed material feed unit, said virgin material feed unit having a movable pedestal and a material feed unit mounted on the pedestal, and being adapted to be detachably connected to said closed looplike material conveyor duct by means of a pair of couplings; a control means for driving said blower and the rotary valve of each of said pulverized reclaimed and virgin material feed units, said control means dividing the material to be conveyed into a plurality of batches each corresponding to a batch conveying time which is sectioned by pause time during which said pulverized reclaimed material and said virgin material are not fed into said material conveyor duct for performing preblow and after-blow practice, and being adapted to continuously drive said blower and to continuously drive the rotary valve of said virgin material feed unit during one batch conveying time to continuously feed said virgin material during one batch conveying time and to simultaneously drive the rotary valve of said pulverized reclaimed material feed unit intermittently so that said pulverized reclaimed material is supplied intermittently in a series of equal pulses such that the materials are supplied in a desired ratio, the control means (a) calculating an initial pulse size based on a control time T o corresponding to the maximum number of on-off switching cycles permitted by the geared motor of the pulverized reclaimed material feed unit, (b) driving the pulverized reclaimed material feed unit such that the size of each pulse is equal to the initial pulse size when the initial pulse size falls within an allowable range determined by the control time T o and a minimum control time t o between successive on and off states permitted by the geared motor of the pulverized reclaimed material feed unit, and (c) calculating a new pulse size that falls in the range using a pulse thinning method and driving the pulverized reclaimed material feed unit such that the size of each pulse is equal to the new pulse size when the initial pulse size is not in the range.