Vertical Disc Mixer

Equipment Introduction

A vertical disc mixer, also known as a vertical disc mixer or disc agitator, is a device that uses a vertical disc as a container and mixes materials through high-speed tumbling of mixing teeth/arms. The equipment consists of a mixing disc, discharge port, mixing arms, frame, gearbox, and transmission mechanism.

Vertical disc mixers are widely used raw material mixing machinery in industries such as organic fertilizer, compound fertilizer, chemicals, mining, and building materials. Their core advantages lie in their small footprint, compact structure, suitability for small to medium production capacity and high-moisture/viscous materials, and especially suitability for small to medium-sized production lines with limited space. This equipment boasts a long service life, energy efficiency, small size, fast mixing speed, and continuous operation.

Compared to horizontal mixers, vertical disc mixers, with their flexibility, compact size, low residue, and ease of cleaning, have become a highly cost-effective supplementary option to large horizontal mixers.

Equipment Structure

The entire machine can be divided into three core parts, each working collaboratively to ensure a stable and efficient mixing process:

1. Frame: The frame is the load-bearing foundation of the entire machine, typically constructed from high-quality carbon steel plates and channel steel, undergoing rigorous product certification and process inspection to ensure structural stability under high loads.

2. Transmission Connection: Composed of a motor, a cycloidal pinwheel reducer, and nylon pin couplings. The cycloidal pinwheel reducer offers advantages such as a large transmission ratio, compact structure, smooth operation, and low noise; the nylon pin couplings facilitate assembly and maintenance while also providing some cushioning and vibration damping.

3. Mixing Part: Includes a mixing disc, mixing shaft, mixing arms (or mixing teeth/blades), inlet, and outlet. Fixed mixing teeth are mounted on the mixing shaft, rotating to evenly tumble the material within the disc. The inner wall of the disc is typically lined with polypropylene or stainless steel plates, offering non-stick and wear-resistant properties, significantly reducing material residue. In addition, some models are equipped with atomizing nozzles at the top, which can evenly spray liquid bacterial agents or binders during the mixing process; the bottom discharge port is equipped with pneumatic or manual valves to achieve rapid unloading.

Working Principle of the Equipment

The working principle of the vertical disc mixer can be summarized as a combination of "centrifugal dispersion" and "gravity diffusion":

1. Power Transmission: After the motor starts, the speed is reduced and the torque increased by a cycloidal pinwheel reducer, and the power is transmitted to the vertical main shaft through a pin coupling.

2. Material Movement: The material falls into the rotating disc from the top feed inlet. The mixing main shaft drives the impeller/mixing teeth to rotate. Under the action of centrifugal force, the material is pushed against the disc wall, and at the same time, it is turned up from the bottom by the lifting plates, forming a continuous circulating flow of material that rises along the disc surface, is dispersed, and falls back to the center.

3. Homogeneous Mixing: In this process, high-frequency collisions, interpenetration, and diffusion occur between material particles, allowing components with large differences in specific gravity (such as light organic fertilizer powder and heavy chemical fertilizer granules) to be fully interwoven.

4. Discharge: The uniformly mixed material is discharged from the bottom discharge outlet under the action of gravity, entering the next process (such as granulation or packaging). By adjusting the disc tilt angle (usually 30°–60°) and the spindle speed, the residence time of the material in the disc (generally 3–5 minutes) can be controlled, thereby precisely controlling the mixing uniformity.

Applicable Raw Materials for the Equipment

The vertical disc mixer has extremely high adaptability to raw materials:

1. Organic Fertilizer Raw Materials

Composted livestock and poultry manure (chicken manure, pig manure, cow manure, sheep manure composting powder, etc.)

Straw powder, mushroom residue, peat moss

Urban sludge, biogas residue, kitchen waste, and other organic waste

2. Chemical Fertilizer Raw Materials

Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizer powder (urea, potassium chloride, monoammonium phosphate, etc.)

Compound fertilizer granules, blended fertilizer raw materials

Micronutrient powder and conditioners

3. Other Materials

Powdered, granular, and other dry powder materials

Dry materials to viscous materials with a moisture content of 30% are all acceptable

Especially suitable for processing organic fertilizer raw materials with a moisture content of 30%–40%

4. Raw material adaptability boundary: The initial moisture content of the material should be highly adaptable (from dry material to viscous material with 30% moisture content). However, coarse fibrous materials with a length >5cm should be crushed first. It is not advisable to mix materials with a large density difference (such as steel balls and light rice husks) or extremely sticky materials (such as pure manure slurry with a moisture content >40%) to avoid serious stratification or sticking to the wall.

Application scope of equipment

Vertical disc mixers are used across a variety of industries: