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Vertical Blender
How it Works
Gentle Blending and Drying.
Vertical Blenders are an excellent low-impact mixing solution for shear- or heat-sensitive materials, abrasive solids, and large processing volumes where plant floor space is limited. These blenders are also well-proven for controlled drying and efficient solvent recovery.
Benefits of Choosing a ROSS Vertical Blender
What does a ROSS Vertical Blender do?
The ROSS Vertical Blender provides slow and gentle agitation in a wide range of applications -- from slurries, wet cakes and pastes, to granules, pellets and powders. This blender can heat, cool, or dry materials under vacuum. It can also coat solid particles with small amounts of liquid.
How does a ROSS Vertical Blender work?
A Vertical Blender consists of a cone-shaped vessel and a screw auger agitator that rotates while orbiting around the vessel’s perimeter. The auger gently lifts batch material upward as it turns on its axis while the orbital arm slowly moves it around the vessel. Materials in the upper most level gradually cascade back down into the region opposite the moving screw. Because of the geometry of the cone, a Ross Vertical Blender can operate efficiently with batches as small as 10% of the maximum working capacity, and allows for complete discharge of the blended material.
Features at a Glance
Why Choose a ROSS Vertical Blender
Design – Requiring no bearings or packing glands in the product zone, the Ross “unsupported screw” design is especially efficient in discharge and easy to maintain while minimizing the risk of product contamination. Standard models are suitable for bulk densities up to around 55 lbs/cu.ft. A high speed chopper (lumpbreaker) can be installed on the vessel wall for breaking up agglomerates. Minor liquid ingredients may be introduced via spray nozzles mounted to the top cover. Other customizations include heating/cooling jacket, vacuum capability, sanitary finishes, all-stainless steel construction, pneumatic discharge valve, explosion-proof motor and controls.
Ease of use – Vertical Blenders utilize inverter-duty motors and variable frequency drives providing speed control for both the screw auger and orbital arm. Optional PLC recipe system is available for enhanced batch-to-batch consistency and data logging. The 1- and 3.5-cu.ft. models are typically supplied with a dual-post lift to raise the agitator out of the vessel, for easier access during cleaning and maintenance.
Scalability - Available in laboratory and production models from 1 to 500 cu.ft., Vertical Blenders are easily scalable and accommodate a wide range of capacity requirements.
Specifications
Photo Gallery
Additional Resources
Large-scale vacuum drying in a Vertical Blender
This bulletin discusses the benefits of large-scale drying in Vertical Blender/Dryers.
Asking the right questions about vertical blenders
When in the market for a new vertical blender, knowing what questions to ask will help you select the best equipment features that suit your specific application and properly compare offerings from different suppliers.
Vertical blender/dryers deliver high drying rates with negligible risk of product attrition.
Vertical blender/dryers designed for vacuum operation offer a better alternative to non-agitated dryers such as ovens and tray dryers, delivering significantly higher drying rates per unit heating area. Vertical blender/dryers can also handle a variety of feed forms including slurries and pastes which other types of agitated dryers cannot accommodate. Finally, the gentle mixing action supplied by a vertical blender/dryer minimizes product attrition which is a concern in some applications.
Benefits and techniques of vacuum mixing
Mixing under vacuum offers numerous benefits including elimination of unsightly voids in the finished product, improvement of dispersion quality, degassing, enhanced drying at lower temperatures and sub-surface addition of raw materials. Fine-tuning vacuum mixing techniques leads to the optimization of these benefits.
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Vacuum Blending and Drying Technology - A Second Look
Although often presupposed nowadays, one of the most important underlying processing variables in a mixing operation is vacuum. Vacuum technologywithin the context of mixing, as well as drying, has been a game-changer since it was originally pioneered in the 1970s. Blending and drying under vacuum pervades a wide range of solids processing. Here we review four fundamental blending and drying systems and the benefits they offer in conjunction with vacuum.