SuperFlowTM –
High-Performance
Bead Mill.
Powerful true grinding and dispersing for
many different applications.
You start your TFT screen or your new laptop, or you use a mobile phone with colour display with
brilliant colours and a high resolution. There is a high probability that the color filter dispersion
for the displays was manufactured on a SuperFlowTM bead mill. A large number of state-of-the-art
automotive paints and brilliant color coatings also owe their outstanding quality to the unique
dispersing characteristics of a SuperFlowTM . Further examples of the numerous areas of appli-
cation: Paints and lacquers, Agroc hemical industry, Printing inks, Chemical industry, Paper and
Nanotechnology.
Nano- and microdispersions for high-tech • More economic efficiency due to increased color
products of e veryday life – better and more strength in the manufacture of high-quality tinting
economical by SuperFlowTM technology: p astes
• High-quality color filters of • More gloss and transparency for high-quality
TFT screens and LCD displays packaging and foil inks
• More gloss for automotive paints: • More quality for premium inkjet products
high solids and waterbased products
• More quality and economic efficiency in the develop-
• More resistance for heavy-duty coatings ment and manufacture of a wide range of products
with high demands in the area of dispersing and true
• More brilliance by nano-grinding of grinding
highly light-fast pigments
2 Bühler SuperFlow
Unique – Linear scale-up from lab through
pilot to production.
Fig. 4.1: Lab mill SuperFlowTM 4 with control package P REMIUM Fig. 4.2: SuperFlowTM 12 while lowering of grinding vessel.
and complete setup for recirculation operation.
High power densities in the order of P V ≥ 2–4 kW/l • Lab mill SuperFlowTM 4, development of formulat ions
(definition see below), as realized in the grinding with minimum product requirement (Fig. 4.1)
chamber of SuperFlowTM bead mills result in:
• H igher productivity from smaller grinding • Pilot bead mill SuperFlowTM 12, preparation of small
c hamber batches and samples (Fig. 4.2)
• Significantly increased quality level
• Production bead mill SuperFlowTM 85 with control
Due to the consistency of the main dimensions of the package COMFORT, speed-variable drive (Fig. 5.2)
rotor and stator geometry, which are decisive for the
grinding process, and due to the effective cooling inde- • High-performance production bead mill SuperFlowTM
pendent of the mill size, the same high power densities VCR 200 with rotor cooling (Fig. 3.1)
can be realized in all bead mills of the SuperFlowTM series
without overheating the product. • High-performance bead mill SuperFlowTM VCR 400
with up to 110 kW drive and mill chamber volume of
The comprehensive SuperFlowTM range 30 litres (Fig. 5.1)
The complete SuperFlowTM range consisting of six mill
sizes fulfills all requirements from the development lab
up to the large-scale production of high-tech products.
The unique high-performance mill concept permits a fully Definition of power density Pv
linear scale-up for all models, such as:
PV =
Ptotal – Pwithout media
Vgrinding chamber [ ] kW
litre
4 Bühler SuperFlow
Fig. 5.1: SuperFlowTM VCR 400 with special painting: High-performance recirculation bead mill for the manufacture of concentrates.
Fig. 5.2: SuperFlowTM 85: Production bead mill Fig. 5.3: SuperFlowTM VCR 200 with control package PREMIUM.
with speed-variable drive, control package COMFORT.
Bühler SuperFlow 5
The SuperFlowTM principle: Patented technology
for better product quality.
Rotor is deflected into the inner grinding chamber, where it
The rotor is designed as a double-jacketed hollow cylin- flows upwards from the bottom to the top. Here the
der closed on top. The outer rotor surface is equipped grinding media is activated between the stator pegs and
with a large number of agitator pegs. In the upper centri- the inner surface of the rotor.
fuge area, the rotor features largely dimensioned, slotted
openings around the periphery allowing the recirculation The turbulent motion of micro grinding
of the grinding media from inside to outside. media achieves an effective true grind
ing and dispersing to the submicron or
Stator housing down to the nanometer range, depen-
The active surfaces of the stator housing contacting the dent on the application.
product consist of an outer stator cylinder, a lower stator
bottom as well as an inner stator cylinder. In the area The defined flow through the outer and
of the active outer grinding chamber, the outer cylinder the following annular inner grinding chamber
is equipped with a large number of stator pegs. On the results in a particularly narrow residence time
inner stator the agitator pegs are helically arranged. distribution of the product in the mill and thus
Above the inner stator there is a large-surface cylindrical in generating a narrow particle size distribution.
protective screen, to which the central discharge pipe is
connected. Grinding media separation
Above the inner grinding chamber, the grinding
Grinding chambers media is accelerated to full peripheral speed
The rotor, which rotates centrally in the stator housing, by means of baffles. Because of the difference
divides the process chamber into an upper eddy current in density, the grinding media is separated by
inducing cylindrical gap area and a subsequent set-up in centrifugal force and returned through the slot-
series of an outer and inner grinding chamber. ted openings of the rotor to the cylindrical eddy
The grinding chambers can be filled up to the lower edge current inducing gap. With new product flowing
of the protective screen with grinding media of various into the mill, the separated grinding media is
materials, preferably of high density, media with dia- again transported to the outer rotor/stator grind-
meters ranging from 0.3 mm to 1.5 mm. The protective ing zone. In this way, a closed internal recir
screen is located above the grinding media filling level culation of the grinding media through the outer
during machine standstill. and inner grinding chamber is effected.
Operating principle Product discharge
The product to be ground is fed into the SuperFlowTM As a result of the pressure exerted by the feed
from the top by a pump and distributed rotation-symme pump, the product which has been separated
trically above the outer rotor. In the cylindrical gap bet- from the grinding media by centrifuging flows
ween the outer centrifuge area of the rotor and the stator, counter to the centrifugal effect through the cen-
the product is exposed to an intensive pretreatment. In trally arranged cylindrical protective screen and
the subsequent turbulent grinding zone, a high load on is discharged through the following discharge
the product is generated between the grinding media, pipe. The screwed assembly of discharge pipe
which is exposed to continuous impulse changes by the and protective screen can be removed easily.
interaction of the rotor and stator pegs. In the area of the
stator bottom, the mixture of product and grinding media
6 Bühler SuperFlow
Flow rate capability
Due to the effective centrifugal separation of grinding
media and the internal grinding media recirculation, a
SuperFlowTM can be operated with flow rates which are
up to more than 10 times higher compared to a con-
ventional large-volume mill.
Unsurpassed cooling concept
As both the rotor and the outer and inner stator
are cooled, all product contact surfaces of the
SuperFlowTM act as intensive cooling areas. During
its defined flow through the mill, the product passes
through many c ooling zones:
• Precooling of the product in the eddy current
inducing gap
• Effective stator and rotor cooling in the
outer grinding chamber
• Intermediate cooling in the deflecting area of
the stator bottom
• Effective stator cooling when product flows through
the inner grinding chamber
• Intensive cooling in the inner grinding chamber by
constant turbulent motion of the product at the inner
rotor surface
Convincing advantages of high-intensity cooling
Thermosensitive products can be processed safely in a
SuperFlowTM with quality-increasing high power densities
and low grinding temperatures.
In either pass or recirculation operation, there is no need
for external cooling. Cleaning-intensive heat exchangers
and cost-intensive cooled vessels are generally not
required.
Remark:
Selected SuperFlowTM mill sizes are available without
rotor cooling, while the high-intensity cooling of outer
stator, inner stator and deflecting bottom is maintained.
Fig. 7.1:
Schematic of SuperFlowTM VCR with cooled
rotor. Product flow through outer and inner
grinding chamber marked by red arrows ,
internal grinding media recirculation marked
by green arrows .
Bühler SuperFlow 7
Fig. 8.1: SuperFlowTM 12 pilot bead mill with control package PREMIUM and complete setup for recirculation operation.
Flexibility for pass and recirculation operation.
Bühler SuperFlowTM bead mills are ideally s uited In special cases it may be appropriate to provide for a
for: defined filling pass preceding the recirculation operation
• Defined single- or multiple-pass operation (Fig. 8.5). At conclusion of the recirculation operation,
(Fig. 8.2 and 8.3) the finished product may be taken out of the recircula-
• Economic recirculation operation with extra tion vessel directly, or the product may be supplied to a
ordinarily high flow rates (Fig. 8.4 to 8.6) finished product vessel in a defined transfer pass through
the mill (Fig. 8.6).
For an optimum recirculation operation, the content of
the mixing vessel should be recirculated at least five For the optimised solution of your specific application
times through the process chamber of the mill. For gene- Bühler offers tailor-made system components as well as
rating a narrow particle size distribution, it is particularly semi- and fully automatic plant concepts.
important that the product is thoroughly mixed in the
product vessel.
Pass operation and Single-pass operation Multi-pass pendular operation
recirculation operation
Fig. 8.2 Fig. 8.3
Recirculation operation Recirculation operation Recirculation operation
with filling pass with filling and transfer passes
Fig. 8.4 Fig. 8.5 Fig. 8.6
8 Bühler SuperFlow
User-friendly down to the smallest detail.
Fig. 9.1: Optimization of grinding media filling Fig. 9.2: SuperFlowTM VCR 200 – Fig. 9.3: Removal of protective screen from a
degree of a SuperFlowTM VCR 200. grinding vessel lowered and pivoted. SuperFlowTM VCR 200 filled with grinding media.
Quick and easy handling
The SuperFlowTM is designed for ease of operation. All
servicing can be done quickly and easily.
• Comfortable filling of grinding media through upper
filling aperture (Fig. 9.1)
• Minimum requirement of cleaning liquids in case of
product change
• Removal of protective screen from closed mill without
draining of product or grinding media (Fig. 9.3)
• Minimum time and cleaning requirement
for grinding media change
• Simple lowering of grinding vessel
by integral lifting device
(Fig. 9.2 and 9.4)
• Grinding vessel can be lowered
and pivoted for optimum
accessibility (Fig. 9.3)
Fig. 9.4: Foot-operated hydraulics for lifting of
grinding vessel of a SuperFlowTM VCR 200.
Bühler SuperFlow 9
Bühler automation: Consistent quality with
highest economic efficiency.
The advantages at a glance COMFORT package
For precisely controlling of the required power input, With the COMFORT control package, the power density
SuperFlowTM high-performance bead mills are equipped in a SuperFlowTM is exactly adjustable to the product-
with speed-variable drive with frequency inverter control specific requirements.
as a standard feature.
PREMIUM package
For user-specific requirements the control and automa The PREMIUM control package fulfills the highest de-
tion packages COMFORT and PREMIUM are alternatively mands with respect to user friendliness, automation
available. and control options as well as indication and storage of
operating parameters.
Fig. 10.1: COMFORT operator panel. Fig. 10.2: PREMIUM operator panel.
PREMIUM package • Free choice of different control algorithms, • O ptions:
• R otor speed control by frequency inverter resp. d ifferent possibilities of combination. – Interface printer
• P ump speed control by frequency inverter Choice of automated optimization strategies: – Interface superordinate systems
• P LC-based control, software control loops, a) Power rotor – Interface remote diagnosis
administration of setpoint data b) Product temperature
• C ontrol panel as graphics-capable VGA color c) Pressure COMFORT package
display or multi-line monochrome display, d) O ptimization according to concept of • R otor speed control by frequency inverter
each with sealed touchpad for input or indi- mass-specific energy input (E m = const.) • R elay control
cation of: e) Cleaning cycle • C ontrol panel with push buttons and
– Rotor speed nR [min -1] separate indications for:
– Pump speed n P [%] • C hoice of different display masks: – Speed adjustment faster/slower +/–
– Power rotor PR [kW] – Input mode – Digital indication of rotor speed n R [min -1]
– Pressure in product supply p Pr [bar] – Indication mode operating parameters – D igital indication of power
– Product discharge temp. T Pr [°C] – Visualization bead mill and peripherals consumption P R [kW]
– Mass flow rate (option) ṁ Pr [kg/h] – Trend diagram (development of process – Indication of product discharge
– Mass-specific energy input E m [kWh/t] parameters) temperature by pointer instrument T Pr [°C]
– Product quantity m Pr [kg] – Administration of setpoint data
– Required grinding time t Mahl [hh:mm]
– C onfiguration of the integrated software
control loops
10 Bühler SuperFlow
The solution for research and development –
lab mill PML 2 with SuperFlowTM 4 process unit.
Fig. 11.1: SuperFlowTM 4 with removed grinding vessel. Fig. 11.2: SuperFlowTM 4 with automation package PREMIUM.
Bühler lab mill PML 2 offers unmatched flexibility for of the process unit as well as filling of grinding beads.
lab-scaled process development. This ensures easy handling and reduces set-up times.
An optional stainless steel machine frame is available
The universal pivoting drive unit is the core part on which for high-tech applications in the clean room. The lab mill
established Bühler process units in several executions is offered with PLC control and graphic display touch-
can be operated. The effective grinding volume of the screen or basic execution with relay control.
process unit SuperFlowTM 4 is 0.275 litres.
The SuperFlowTM 4 is perfectly suited for fundamental
Dependent on the process unit, either a vertical or hori- trials with minimized test material requirement. The large-
zontal operating position is selected. The SuperFlowTM 4 scale production of the achieved qualities can be trans-
process unit is operating generally in a vertical position. ferred safely to all SuperFlowTM sizes while the defined
A service position allows the cleaning and maintenance limit temperature is kept.
Fig. 11.3: SuperFlowTM 4
in recirculation operation.
Bühler SuperFlow 11
GD 52029 en 1112 3000 DF
Bühler AG
CH-9240 Uzwil, Switzerland
T + 41 71 955 11 11
F + 41 71 955 31 49
[email protected]
www.buhlergroup.com
