Design of a Novel Quantitative Powder Feeding Apparatus

Abstract

To precisely feed powders or particles in an environmentally friendly manner, a novel apparatus for powder feeding is proposed. The kinematics and design principles of the mechanism were analyzed. To observe the flow characteristics of the powder in the apparatus, milk powder was selected as the study object. By considering the voidage and collision effect between particles, the dense discrete phase method-discrete element method collision model was established and investigated based on the commercial computational fluid dynamics software ANSYS Fluent. To observe the structural stability of the proposed apparatus under an extreme load condition, a series of finite-element-method-based structural simulations were implemented and the reliability of the design was verified. A prototype was made based on three-dimensional printing technology, and the feeding precision was compared with that of the traditional measuring spoon. The design was satisfactory in terms of flow characteristics, structural safety, and quantitative feeding. The design and investigation methods used in this study can provide an important theoretical reference for the design of a variety of apparatus.