Research on horizontal, inclined, and vertical conveyance of powder by peristaltic conveyor for developing high-speed printing machine

Abstract

Powdered materials have been used in a wide range of fields, such as foods, pharmaceuticals, and industrial processing. Although a screw conveyor is used for conveying the powder handled by the printing machine, owing to the high shear force and heating of the motor, it exerts a significant impact on printing. Therefore, low shear force and high-speed conveyance at a low temperature are required. For this purpose, a delivery device that mimics the intestinal tract and can successfully transport highly viscous mixed solid-liquid fluids and powders was developed. In this study, a peristaltic conveyor was developed. It realized an amount of 22.5 g/s with a high-speed conveyance of powder and an amount of 81.5 g/s with a reduced unit length, which were approximately 2.2 and 8.1 times, respectively, the amounts realized by the screw conveyor of the same diameter in the horizontal conveyance. In addition, the powder conveyance in the current printing press was only in the horizontal direction and naturally falling, making it difficult to optimize for a high speed. Therefore, 45 degree inclined and vertical conveyance was conducted and the transport to a high position was examined.