Experimental comparison of energy efficiency of peristaltic mixing pump and propeller-type mixer in mixing under different viscosity conditions

The mixing process plays an important role in the food and chemical industries, and its efficiency has a significant impact on production costs and product quality. A peristaltic mixing pump that mimics an intestinal tube has been developed in the field of soft robotics as a new mixing method for highly viscous fluids and solid-liquid mixtures. The objective of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the energy efficiency of a peristaltic mixing pump in mixing viscous materials compared to a commonly used propeller-type mixer in mixing. Specifically, the work rates of the two systems were standardized for three base materials of different viscosities (2, 2.5, and 3 Pa-s), and the energies required to complete mixing were compared. As a result, it was confirmed that the energy efficiency of the peristaltic mixing pump exceeded that of the propeller-type mixer for the more viscous base material. The peristaltic mixing pump was found to be less susceptible to viscosity changes and more stable in terms of mixing completion time． This difference may be due to the fact that peristaltic mixing pumps primarily use squeeze flow for mixing and are more effective for highly viscous materials.