Team 11: Ultrasonic Mixer

1. Team 11: Ultrasonic Mixer • Team Members: • Lihong Xu - Introduction • Katie Kaser - Concept Generation • Joanna Pirnot - Concept Selection • Moshe Solomon - Schedule Sponsor: Fraunhofer USA Advisor: Dr. Michael Keefe

3. Mechanical Mixers • Size • Cost • Wear • Contamination • Maintenance

4. Mission:Design a non-mechanical mixer for homogenizing powder injection molding feedstock by April 1999 • Approach: • Identify wants and constraints • Benchmark previous technology • Generate set of concepts • Select best concept • Execute design via best engineering methodology

5. Customers • Sponsor - Fraunhofer • Mixer suppliers • Misonix Inc. • Ultrasonic consulting companies • Advanced Sonic Processing Systems • Anyone involved in powder injection molding

6. Top 5 Wants Temperature Control Low Contamination Level Ease of cleaning Variety of materials Low Cost Constraints Completion by April 1999 Produce homogenous mixture Non-Mechanical Design Safety Wants & Constraints

7. System Benchmarking • Mechanical Mixers • High shear mixers • Static mixer • Pump/internal obstacle mixer (Sonolater) • Ultrasonic mixers • Probe-type • External sound source

8. Want Temperature control Low contamination level Handle variety of materials Metric Temperature control range Percentage contaminants Viscosity range Metrics

9. Functional & Ultrasonic Benchmarking • Functions • Heating • Mixing • Cooling • Ultrasonics • Ultrasonic generators • Transducers

10. Metric Temperature control range Viscosity range Ease of cleaning Target Value 0 to 200 degrees C Up to 1000 Pa*s Ability to Disassemble Target Values

11. Critical Functions • Feeding • Heating • Mixing • Cooling • Removal

12. Concept Generation • Probe Type Ultrasonic mixer • Opposing Sound Sources • Rotating Mixer • Separate heating/mixing chamber • Hexagonal tube mixer

13. Concept 3: Rotating Mixer

14. Working Model(Materials) • a high intensity ultrasonic processor • manufactured by Cole Palmer • power supply of 600 Watts • 1/2 inch diameter probe • capable of mixing large volumes • microtip • capable of more intense mixing, but a smaller volume • ultrasonic bath • beaker - mixing vessel • hot plate - heating source • Aluminum oxide, polyethylene, and paraffin wax

15. High Intensity Ultrasonic Processor

16. What did we learn? • Ultrasonic is a significant source of heat • Heating and mixing should be as concurrent as possible • The ultrasonic bath was not an effective method to transfer energy to the polymer resign and aluminum oxide. • A system incorporating a probe is subject to extensive contamination and wear on the probe. • Ultrasonics are capable of mixing solid powders in a polymer resin. • On the macroscopic level a homogenous mixture was achieved

17. Critical Functions (Review) • Feeding • Heating • Mixing • Cooling • Removal

18. Evaluation of Critical Functions Concept Concentration 1 (probe type mixer) Mixing 2 (opposing sound sources) Mixing 3 (rotating mixer) Heating and Mixing 4 (separate heating and mixing) Heating 5 (hexagonal tube mixer) ALL

19. Concept SelectionTop Ten Wants Wants Metrics 1 Suitable temperature control knobs temp of the material 2 avoid contamination due % contaminants in the to abrasion and outside sources product due to abrasion % contaminants in the product due to outside sources 3 Easy to clean ability to disassemble ability to clean by hand ability to keep material warm while cleaning

20. Wants Metrics 4 Variety of material viscosity 5 Reasonable cost cost significantly less than a mechanical mixer 6 Produce a measurable Output/hour quantity of material 7 Repeatable performance reliability 8 produce feedstock in geometry of the product a usable form 9 avoid waste material when cleaning % of material lost 10 Controlled feeding mechanism % of material lost

21. Concept SelectionEvaluation of Wants (Scale 1-5, 5 being the highest score) • Concepts • 1st (probe type mixer) - 35 pts • 2nd (opposing sound sources) - 47 pts • 3rd (rotating mixer) - 52 pts • 4th (separate heating and mixing) - 45 pts • 5th (hexagonal tube mixer) - 59 pts

22. Final Concept - hexagonal tube • Modular in Design - minimum of two modules • Enclosed Structure • reduces the possibility of contamination • Angle • adjustable depending on the flow of the material • Hexagonal on outside • flat surface allows transducers to easily be welded to the sides • Symmetrical shape allows for intense mixing in the center of the tube • Cylindrical in the inside • allows material to flow easily • allows for easy cleaning

25. Final Concept - Critical Functions • Introduction of Material - minimum of two funnels • polymer resin introduced into the first funnel • metal or ceramic powder introduced into the second funnel • this allows for the polymer to be melted prior to the introduction of the powder - to prevent settling of powder • funnels reduce the possibility of spills • Heating - heating strips on the outside of the tube • modular design allows for the possibility of temperature zones

26. Final Concept - Critical Functions • Mixing - transducers on three opposing outside walls • intense mixing in the center of the tube • reduces abrasion on walls of tube • Cooling and Removal of Material • material entersa sieve-like structure and falls to a collecting pan • material cools as it falls • this method of removal allows the material to form into a spherical shape - usable form

27. Budget Mechanical Mixers 20 K 75 K Ultrasonic Mixer: Target Budget $5000

28. Budget - Chosen Concept

29. Schedule

30. Schedule