Model LT™ (Non-Clogging Static Mixer)

Each Model LT™ Non-Clogging mixing element has three tapered finger-like blades protruding from the inside pipe wall into the flowing fluid at a 45° slope in the direction of process flow (as in a ski-jump). The mixing elements have no moving parts and no leading edges or crossing blades with pinch points that act as sites for material hang-up. Individual mixing elements have a length/diameter ratio of 1.0 and adjacent mixing elements are oriented 90°. These 45° slope finger-like mixing blades force the liquids and solids to continuously divide and recombine in a repeatable geometric sequence as material flows along the entire length of the mixing unit. The mixing performance is far greater and more predictable than that which can be achieved by empty pipes, baffled pipes, rotating shafts with blades welded to the shaft, sludge pumps, baffled tanks, mixing valves, ring injectors, tanks with mixing paddles, etc.

The Model LT™ mixing elements are fabricated with options of long, medium and short length middle fingers (Figure #2, #3 and #4). With a long middle finger (Figure #2), the smallest gap between adjacent mixing blades results which creates a high degree of mixing in a short length, but the structure is susceptibility to plugging with solids larger than the mixing blade gap. Alternatively, a short middle finger (Figure #4) results in the largest gap between adjacent mixing blades which allows very large solids to pass through the mixer without plugging but requires multiple mixing elements to create the mix quality of one long middle finger mixing element. Additional considerations for middle finger length include pipe size vs. size/shape of solids to be mixed, flow regime of the process fluid (laminar, transitional or turbulent flow), the degree of mixing required and maximum allowable pressure drop and length.