Development of a Peristaltic Mixing Conveyor with a Radial Independently Deformable Closing Mechanism

This study introduces a peristaltic mixing conveyor designed for the continuous mixing and conveying of powdered materials and solid-liquid mixtures, commonly used in the production of food and pharmaceutical products. The proposed mixing conveyor employs asymmetric radial blockage within the pipe to generate complex, low-friction flows in both axial and radial directions. Unlike conventional mixing conveyors, where mixing primarily relies on liquid penetration into solids via axial squeeze flow—often limited under certain conditions-the proposed mechanism enhances mixing by incorporating a combination of axial and circumferential flows. A prototype of the proposed mixing conveyor was developed and evaluated through powder mixing experiments. These experiments compared the performance of traditional axial-flow mixing with the combined radial and circumferential flow mixing facilitated by the proposed design. As a result of the experiment, the mixing index (MI), which indicates the degree of mixing achieved, remained at 61.6 % after 5 minutes of mixing using the axial flow method. In contrast, the method that generated radial and circumferential flows achieved an MI of 94.6 % within the same 5-minute mixing period. These results demonstrate that the proposed mechanism, which creates radial and circumferential flows inside the tube, is effective in improving the mixing performance of the mixing conveyor.