Investigation of passive acoustic emissions during powder mixing in a V-blender

Powder mixing is a complex process and a critical step in production across various industries. Passive acoustic emissions provide a promising potential for inline powder mixing monitoring. Vibrations from these emissions were measured during rotations of a V-blender using glass beads as a model solid as well as starch granules. Vibration profiles were correlated to specific phases of particle motion within the revolving V-shells. The phase, labeled Feature #1b, associated with particle collisions of the V-shell lid with attached accelerometer provided the largest measured vibration amplitudes and most reliable and relevant information on particle movement. After wavelet filtering to remove large-scale vibrations of the V-shell, the optimal information extraction method was identified as the average of the 50 highest amplitudes within the Feature # lb phase. An example illustrating the mixing of two size ranges of granules shows the potential of this monitoring method for pharmaceutical powder mixing in V-blenders.

Automated summary

Powder mixing is a crucial and complex process in various industries. This study explores the potential of using passive acoustic emissions to monitor the mixing process. Vibration profiles correlated with specific phases of particle motion provide reliable information on particle movement.