화학공학소재연구정보센터
Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.72, No.5, 782-791, 1994
Flow Characteristics of Hyperboloid Stirrers
The flows in a fully-baffled vessel with a diameter T=144 mm driven by hyperboloid stirrers of diameters D=T/3 and 2T/3 have been visualised and characterised by local measurements of velocity and turbulence and by power number. The results were obtained for a range of rotational speeds from 6 to 40 rev/s. The visualisation showed that the larger stirrer gave rise to a radial jet and that the smaller stirrer formed a jet inclined towards the base of the vessel so that there was a tendency for the system of two vortices, one above and one below the jet, to give way to a single vortex as the clearance between the stirrer and the base of the vessel was reduced. The velocity measurements revealed bulk-flow values an order of magnitude less than that of the maximum radial velocity in the jet, that the maximum radial velocity was 24% of the circumferential velocity of the tip of the stirrer, and that the radial velocities were proportional to the rotational speed. The flows generated by the hyperboloid stirrer were less vigorous than those of Rushton impellers of similar radius and were associated with power numbers 28 times less. The power number did not vary with rotational speed or with clearance within the measured range. The contrast with propeller and disc stirrers is less pronounced, but the hyperbolic profile is likely to find application and the present results provide a basis for choice.