Agitators

An agitator is a machine for stirring liquids or solids, as is used in particular in the industrial production of food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, paints, varnishes, adhesives and other liquids and mixtures.

An agitator consists of a drive, an agitator shaft and an impeller. These are designed for the size of the stirring tank. The chemical and material-specific characteristics of the medium to be stirred and the stirring task also influence the properties of the agitator. These properties include:

• speed and torque of the drive,
• agitator shaft size,
• number, shape and size of the impellers,
• general choice of materials (ATEX protection, food safe, waterproof etc.).

Stirring tasks performed by an agitator are homogenisation, liquid-liquid dispersion, gas-liquid dispersion, heat transfer, suspension and solids mixing.

The impeller is selected according to the stirring task. The flow profiles and flow types of the different impellers play a role here. These must match the mixing task.

The agitator is attached to the stirring tank using a traverse or a lid. A tripod agitator with an automatic lifting mechanism for the agitator offers particular ease of use and makes work easier.

Agitators are often completed with upstream or downstream components. For example dosing pumps, pump nozzles, scales, etc. This is how complete systems are created from individual agitators.