Posted by Ben Proudlove on Fri, Sep 04, 2009 @ 08:58 AM
From time to time we get a call from one of our customers who has an Autoclave Engineers stirred reactor in their lab to let us know that the system has started to make a weird squeaking noise.The first question we ask is “when did you last check the bearings?” – this is normally met by silence on the other end of the line… (so you’re not alone!!)
So let’s start off with a few basics, beginning with a photo of an example reactor, the mini reactor from AE (small scale stirred reactor rated to 200 bar and 315degC):
As you can hopefully see the arrangement is something like this:
- » Inline motor at the top, which is connected to the
- » Magnedrive magnets, these spin round at your required and specified rpm and through the cover (via the magnetic field coupling) accurately rotate the
- » Encapsulated inner magnet assembly which leads to the
- » Shaft and impeller
So the cover means that the reactor is a completely sealed environment and the use of the magnets allows accurate and positive control of the stirring of the product inside the reactor.(hope that makes sense!)This is the same throughout the range of reactors although sometimes the motor can be bigger and linked to the magnedrive via a belt. (more…)