Uniquely Lee Tri-Mix Turbo-Shear Mixing System

A Comprehensive System for High-Viscosity Mixing Applications

The Tri-Mix™ Turbo-Shear™ system integrates robust double-motion scraped-surface agitation with a unique and proprietary highshear mixing head to blend miscible and non-miscible ingredients commonly used in BioPharma, personal care, lubrication and other high-viscosity products. It is built to handle viscosities as high as 2,000,000 cps and provide particle size reduction.

A More Efficient and Cost-Effective Solution

Through its unique engineering, the Tri-Mix™ Turbo-Shear™ system overcomes the design limitations conventional dual-head mixing systems encounter with high-viscosity mixing. It is also significantly less expensive and more efficient than other systems designed for highviscosity products requiring high-shear:

Multiple vessel systems:

Multiple process vessels are often used to mix high-viscosity or difficult-to-wetout ingredients. Typically, a smaller vessel is used to pre-mix a small quantity of ingredients, which are then transferred to a main vessel for mixing with the balance of the batch for final processing. The Tri-Mix™ Turbo-Shear™ system replaces both the pre-mix vessel and related transfer pumps and lines, for a single mixing solution that is less expensive, faster and more efficient than multiple vessel processing.

Bottom-shear and recirculating mixing systems:

Expensive and complex high-shear recirculating mixing systems and bottomentry high-shear mixers are also used in high-viscosity applications where ingredients are reduced to very fine, submicron-level particle sizes. The Tri-Mix™ Turbo-Shear™ system is a more affordable alternative to these mixing systems and provides efficient processing of most highviscosity ingredients.

Lee Tri-Mix™ Turbo-Shear™ High-Viscosity Mixing System

Double-Motion Agitation for Powerful and Consistent Mixing Action

The Tri-Mix™ system utilizes a robust double-motion counter rotating scrape surface agitator powerful enough to direct high-viscosity ingredients down into its Turbo-Shear™ high-shear mixing head, located at the bottom of the vessel. The scrapers on the outer agitator arms clear product from the vessel walls with each revolution of the mixer, driving the product toward the middle and down the sides of the batch, where the inside counter-rotating agitator bars provide additional mixing power as the product is moved down to the high-shear mixing head.

Turbo-Shear™ Mixing Head for Fast, Efficient and Uniform Ingredient Distribution

The unique continuous pumping action of the Turbo-Shear™ mixing head, driven by a separate motor through the center agitator shaft, forces the highviscosity product to move from the top or the bottom of the vessel by expelling it radially, at high velocity, through slots in the high-shear head housing. This fast pumping velocity creates hydraulic and/or mechanical shear, depending on head and vessel configuration.

The result of this combined double-motion agitation and high-shear mixing action delivers very efficient blending of high-viscosity products, superior blending consistency, and uniform ingredient distribution. It also delivers efficient processing times compared to bottom-entry high-shear and recirculating mixers.

Lee Turbo-Shear™ Mixing Head Operation

The Turbo-Shear™ head operates at speeds up to 3,450 RPM to provide thorough homogenization of powder or liquid ingredients into the product batch, eliminating fisheyes and lumps of unmixed materials. The inner sawtooth blade of the Turbo-Shear™ head, rotating at high speed, creates mechanical shear, which forces the product through narrow slots in the housing to create hydraulic shear as the product is expelled at high speed through the head. The Turbo-Shear™ mixing head is available in a variety of blade and housing configurations to meet a wide range of material-processing requirements.

Different Operating Modes Provide Maximum Versatility Across a Wide Range of Process Requirements

Because the double-motion agitator and high-shear mixing head are each operated by their own independent drive motors, the Tri- Mix™ Turbo-Shear™ system can be operated in different modes to meet a wide range of unique mixing and processing requirements:

The Turbo-Shear™ high-shear mixing head can be run at the start of the process to uniformly pre-mix a smaller quantity of ingredients, which are then combined with the balance of the ingredients for the batch and mixed using double-motion agitation. In this mode, the Tri-Mix™ Turbo-Shear™ system replaces the use of an extra pre-mix vessel and transfer pumps and lines attached to the main vessel, for faster and more efficient processing with less equipment.

The high-shear and double-motion mixing units can be operated simultaneously throughout the batch process to ensure uniform product blending.

The heavy-duty, double-motion agitator can be configured with independent ‘piggy-back’ motors to provide customizable functionality and control. The independent motors allow for separate control of the scrapedsurface agitator as well as the inner agitator, giving more flexibility on agitator speed and direction to accommodate challenging products.