Comparative study of internal batch mixer such as cam, banbury and roller: Numerical simulation and experimental verification

The mixing in non-intermeshing counter rotating internal batch mixers using cam, banbury and roller rotor were evaluated experimentally using thermo scientific Haake and numerical FEM simulation using the commercial CFD package Polyflow. The Carreau–Yasuda flow model was used with mesh superposition technique to generate velocity profiles and particle trajectories for HDPE. Differences in velocity profile with respect to rotor angles were examined. Distributive mixing was evaluated experimentally, as well as numerically by particle tracking analysis. Flow stretching was evaluated using the length of stretch and mixing efficiency. Since material points stayed on their streamlines near to rotor wall in the cam and banbury mixer, roller mixer was found to be generally more effective and efficient, although there were still areas of poor mixing found in all.