Attrition mill

Claim 2

An attrition mill apparatus comprising: a grinding chamber having at least one grinding stage; an axial impeller; said grinding chamber having a chamber inlet for admitting coarse particles; said grinding chamber having a chamber outlet through which fine particles exit from the chamber; a separator stage comprising a separator inlet and said chamber outlet through which fine particles exit from the chamber; a classification stage within the grinding chamber, said classification stage being upstream of the separator inlet for classifying between coarse and fine particles based on mass of the coarse and fine particles; wherein said classification stage comprises a classifier element defining a first surface driven in rotation about an axis, and a second surface spaced from and facing the first surface so as to define a radially extending separation passage therebetween, said first and second surfaces are substantially flat annular disks which are of substantially equal outer diameter; and wherein the separator stage is devoid of a separator screen or comprises a screen which has orifices of larger dimension in comparison with the dimensions of fine particles exiting the chamber at the outlet.

Claim 3

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said separator stage is devoid of said separator screen.

Claim 4

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the separator stage includes a separator rotor.

Claim 5

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the separator stage comprises a screen and wherein the maximum size of particles exiting from the mill is substantially independent of the minimum orifice dimension of the screen.

Claim 6

An attrition mill apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the minimum orifice dimension in the outlet is 20 mm.

Claim 7

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the minimum orifice dimension of the screen is at least twice the average maximum dimension of the particles which exit from the chamber.

Claim 8

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the minimum orifice dimension of the screen is at least ten times the average maximum dimension of the particles which exit from the chamber.

Claim 9

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the minimum orifice dimension of the screen is at least twenty times the average maximum dimension of the particles which exit the chamber.

Claim 10

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including at least two grinding elements spaced apart by a distance "g" along the axial impeller and a classification element upstream from the separator stage spaced along the impeller by a distance "c" from an adjacent grinding element, wherein "c" is less than "g".

Claim 11

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein "g" is selected to optimize grinding and wherein "c" is selected so as to classify the fine particles from a mixture of the coarse and the fine particles.

Claim 12

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein "g" is selected so as to permit the coarse and fine particles to circulate radially between the periphery of the grinding elements and the impeller shaft.

Claim 13

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein "c" is less than 0.75×"g".

Claim 14

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein "c" is less than 0.6×"g" and greater than 0.01×"g".

Claim 15

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein "c" is less than 0.6×"g" and greater than 0.4×"g".

Claim 16

An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said classification stage is a stage for classifying fine particles in a slurry of coarse and fine particles comprising: a classifier inlet for admitting slurry to the passage; a first classifier outlet spaced from the classifier inlet whereby the slurry exits from the passage; a second classifier outlet spaced radially outwardly of the classifier inlet; means for causing the slurry to flow from the classifier inlet to the first classifier outlet at a predetermined volumetric flow rate; and wherein the first surface is spaced sufficiently closely to the second and is rotated at sufficient speed so that a majority of particles in the passage having a mass of less than a predetermined mass remain entrained with slurry flowing to the first classifier outlet, and a majority of particles exceeding the predetermined mass are disentrained and move radially outwardly from the passage at the second classifier outlet.

Claim 17

An apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the classifier inlet passes through the first surface and the first classifier outlet passes through the second surface.

Claim 18

An apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the classifier inlet passes through one of the two members and the first classifier outlet passes through the other of said two members.

Claim 19

An apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein the second classifier outlet is the radially outer boundary of the passage.

Claim 20

An apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the second classifier outlet is the radially outer boundary of the passage.

Claim 21

An apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the passage is defined between two members having said first and said second faces respectively which may be rotated independently of the axial impeller and/or of each other.

Claim 22

An apparatus as claimed in claim 15, further including: a separator element, comprising said second surface, driven in rotation about said axis and spaced axially from an end plate to define a second radially extending separation passage therebetween, said first classifier outlet admitting slurry to the second radially extending separation passage at a radially inner region of the separator element; baffle means at or near the separation passage periphery to permit passage of the coarse particles traveling outwardly to beyond the separation passage periphery said baffle means being attached to the separator element; and a slurry outlet axially spaced from the second radially extending separation passage to permit passage of the fine particles out of the mill.

Claim 23

An apparatus as claimed in claim 21, wherein: said classifier element and said separator element are driven in rotation about said axis independently of one another.

Claim 24

An apparatus as claimed in claim 22, wherein said classifier element and said separator element are driven in rotation about said axis in opposite directions to one another.

Claim 25

An apparatus as claimed in claim 23, wherein said classifier element and said separator element are driven in rotation about said axis at different speeds.

Claim 26

An attrition mill apparatus of claim 1, said classification stage comprising a classification disc for exerting sufficient centrifugal force on said particles to classify between said coarse and said fine particles.

Claim 27

An attrition mill apparatus comprising: a grinding chamber having at least one grinding stage; an axial impeller; said grinding chamber having a chamber inlet for admitting coarse particles; said grinding chamber having a chamber outlet through which fine particles exit from the chamber; a separator stage comprising a separator inlet and said chamber outlet through which fine particles exit from the chamber; a classification stage within the grinding chamber, said classification stage being upstream of the separator inlet for classifying between coarse and fine particles based on mass of the coarse and fine particles; wherein said classification stage comprises a classifier element defining a first surface driven in rotation about an axis, and a second surface spaced from and facing the first surface so as to define a radially extending separation passage therebetween; and wherein the separator stage is devoid of a separator screen or comprises a screen which has orifices of larger dimension in comparison with the dimensions of fine particles exiting the chamber at the outlet, said chamber outlet being a separator outlet; wherein said impeller includes grinding elements; said grinding chamber at least partially filled with a slurry including grinding media which passes generally axially through the chamber; said separator stage comprising a separator element having one or more axial holes therethrough upstream of, and adjacent to, the separator outlet, said separator element mainly directing the grinding media radially outwardly from the impeller, upstream of the axial holes; wherein the separator element surrounds the separator outlet wherein at least some of the slurry flowing towards the separator outlet passes in an axial direction through the holes in the separator element.

Claim 28

An attrition mill apparatus comprising: a grinding chamber having at least one grinding stage; an axial impeller; said grinding chamber having a chamber inlet for admitting coarse particles; said grinding chamber having a chamber outlet through which fine particles exit from the chamber; a separator stage comprising a separator inlet and said chamber outlet through which fine particles exit from the chamber; a classification stage within the grinding chamber, said classification stage being upstream of the separator inlet for classifying between coarse and fine particles based on mass of the coarse and fine particles; wherein said classification stage comprises a classifier element defining a first surface driven in rotation about an axis, and a second surface spaced from and facing the first surface so as to define a radially extending separation passage therebetween; and wherein the separator stage is devoid of a separator screen or comprises a screen which has orifices of larger dimension in comparison with the dimensions of fine particles exiting the chamber at the outlet, said chamber outlet being a separator outlet; wherein said impeller includes grinding elements; said grinding chamber at least partially filled with a slurry including grinding media which passes generally axially through the chamber; said separator stage comprising a separator element having one or more axial holes therethrough upstream of, and adjacent to, the separator outlet, said separator element mainly directing the grinding media radially outwardly from the impeller, upstream of the axial holes; wherein the separator element surrounds the separator outlet wherein at least some of the slurry flowing towards the separator outlet passes in an axial direction through the holes in the separator element.

Claim 29

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 26, wherein the ratio between the outer diameter of the grinding elements and the inner diameter of the grinding chamber is in the range of 0.7 to 0.95.

Claim 30

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 26, wherein the difference between the inner diameter of the grinding chamber and the outer diameter of the grinding elements is approximately 0.4 to 0.6 of the difference between the outer diameter of the grinding elements and the outer diameter of the impeller.

Claim 31

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 26, wherein the ratio between the outer diameter of the separator element and the outer diameter of the grinding elements is between 0.8 and 1.2.

Claim 32

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 26, wherein the ratio between the axial distance between the separator element and the adjacent grinding element to the outer diameter of the grinding element is 0.15 to 0.20.

Claim 33

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 26, wherein the ratio between the axial distance between the separator element and the adjacent grinding element to the axial distance between all other grinding elements is between 0.4 to 0.6.

Claim 34

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 26, wherein the separator element includes a plurality of axial fingers positioned around the periphery extending towards the separator outlet.

Claim 35

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein the radial distance between the inner diameter of the fingers and the outer diameter of the separator outlet is 5 to 20 times as large as the average diameter of the grinding media.

Claim 36

An attrition mill apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein the axial distance between the separator outlet and the separator element being half the radial distance between the outer diameter of the separator element and the inner diameter of the fingers.

Claim 37

An attrition mill for grinding particles in a fluid as a slurry comprising: a mill chamber having an inlet and an outlet, a grinding chamber defined as a portion of said mill chamber, said inlet being in communication with said grinding chamber, an axial impeller located in said grinding chamber, rotatable grinding discs attached to said axial impeller; a rotatable classifier disc downstream, relative to flow of the slurry, of said grinding discs, a rotor downstream of said classifier disc; said mill outlet being downstream of said rotor; said classifier disc having a surface opposed to a surface of said rotor; said opposed surfaces being located sufficiently close to each other to centrifugally classify particles in said slurry by mass in a classification zone defined between said opposed surfaces, said opposed surfaces being substantially flat annular disks of substantially equal outer diameter.

Claim 38

An attrition mill for grinding particles in a fluid as a slurry comprising: a mill chamber having an inlet and an outlet, a grinding chamber defined as a portion of said mill chamber, said inlet being in communication with said grinding chamber, an axial impeller located in said grinding chamber, rotatable grinding discs attached to said axial impeller; a rotatable classifier disc downstream, relative to flow of the slurry, of said grinding discs, a rotor downstream of said classifier disc; said mill outlet being downstream of said rotor; said classifier disc having a surface opposed to a surface of said rotor; said opposed surfaces being located sufficiently close to each other to centrifugally classify particles in said slurry by mass in a classification zone defined between said opposed surfaces, said opposed surfaces being substantially flat annular disks of substantially equal outer diameter.

Claim 39

An attrition mill as claimed in claim 35, wherein the classification zone is devoid of a separator screen or comprises a screen which has orifices of larger dimension in comparison with the dimensions of fine particles exiting the chamber at the outlet.

Claim 40

An attrition mill as claimed in claim 35, wherein said classifier disc defines a classification zone inlet for axially admitting slurry to the classification zone; a radially inner region of said rotor defines a first classification zone outlet, spaced from the classifier inlet, for axially discharging the slurry containing fine particles from the classification zone; and a second classification zone outlet, is defined by said opposed surfaces of said classifier disk and said rotor and is spaced radially outwardly of the classification zone inlet, for radially discharging coarse particles centrifugally classified away from said slurry.

Claim 41

An attrition mill for grinding particles in a fluid as a slurry comprising: a mill chamber having an inlet and an outlet, a grinding chamber defined as a portion of said mill chamber, said inlet being in communication with said grinding chamber, an axial impeller located in said grinding chamber, rotatable grinding discs attached to said axial impeller; a rotatable classifier disc downstream, relative to flow of the slurry, of said grinding discs, a rotor downstream of said classifier disc; said mill outlet being downstream of said rotor; said classifier disc having a surface opposed to a surface of said rotor; said opposed surfaces being located sufficiently close to each other to centrifugally classify particles in said slurry by mass in a classification zone defined between said opposed surfaces, wherein the classification zone has an absence of screens for classification of said particles.

Claim 42

An attrition mill for grinding particles in a fluid as a slurry comprising: a mill chamber having an inlet and an outlet, a grinding chamber defined as a portion of said mill chamber, said inlet being in communication with said grinding chamber, an axial impeller located in said grinding chamber, rotatable grinding discs attached to said axial impeller; a rotatable classifier disc downstream, relative to flow of the slurry, of said grinding discs, a rotor downstream of said classifier disc; said mill outlet being downstream of said rotor; said classifier disc having a surface opposed to a surface of said rotor; said opposed surfaces being located sufficiently close to each other to centrifugally classify particles in said slurry by mass in a classification zone defined between said opposed surfaces, wherein the classification zone has an absence of screens for classification of said particles.