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Mixing Barrels

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Mixing Barrels

The need for different types and styles of mixing in a drum can be found throughout the chemical, paint and coating industry. For these applications, an agitator is able to mix solid materials or liquids together inside of a metal container.

Since there are many ways to agitate fluids in a drum, it is important to get familiar with the different methods that can be used and the different types of drum agitators that exist.

What is a Drum Agitator?

- A machine that mixes chemicals in a container (usually metal), called a drum.

How to choose a Drum Agitator: Three Methods to Mix Chemicals in Drums. This is because it can impact efficiency, safety, and production.

Drum Mixer Types

- Spiral mixer: uses a helix spiral blade wrapped around the inside of the drum, slow slow mixing action but easy to clean.

- End cap agitators: create a torque movement on the drum for thorough mixing.

- Direct drive agitators: are attached to the drum's shaft to directly mix the chemical inside the drum.

Other Things to Consider Before Purchasing a Drum Agitator

- Maximum performance requires power

- Equipment total height

Container volume to be used

Bung mixing is used to mix materials within drums. However, they are not very effective, run at high speeds, and cause temperature issues. These mixers run at high speeds and quite often run a high shear rate due to high speed. They usually have a small, ineffective blade that turns the material.

Even if one replaces the bung mixer with an agitator, the material will still rotate at a high speed. This means that it is still essential to slow down the mixing process by using weight loads and chills.

Are there other ways to mix drums?

- Multi cone Agitators use multiple cones stacked on top of each other. The multi cone agitator works by rotating the container and having a spiral-shaped mixing screw rotate inside of a few cones to blend chemicals together.

- End Cap Agitators use a mixing screw that allows the chemicals being mixed to move from the center of the barrel outwards.

Side Press Agitator is designed for use in cylindrical drums. It uses a side press fitting rather than a bung. This allows for a positive seal, and can be attached easily with a mixer shaft.

- Pallet Agitator works similarly to an end cap agitator but has paddles instead of a mixing screw. To prevent any leakage, drum bungs require a positive seal.

- Direct drive agitators have the shaft that attaches the mixer directly attached to the drum's rotating axis, which can be helpful in reducing the amount of vibration there is in the system.

A vibratory drum mixer can be used to mix paint, liquid chemicals and other dry materials together. This drum mixer is made up of a rotating agitator, an eccentricweight, and a coupling device that reduce vibration transfer to the drum.

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