BACKGROUND ART A typical emulsifying apparatus (hereinafter referred to as"emulsifier") comprises a large treatment tank containing emulsion materials and a descending and ascending impeller mounted at an upper potion of the tank. By the operation of a user, the impeller is descended to work in the tank.

Such conventional emulsifiers suffer from the disadvantages as follows.

First, they are poor in working efficiency. After emulsion materials are emulsified, the treatment tank must be in an empty state and cleaned to receive fresh materials for a new round of emulsification. That is, after the emulsion is transferred from the treatment to a storage tank, fresh materials are treated. Accordingly, the emulsification process is not proceeded continuously.

Next, the conventional emulsifiers cannot afford stable emulsion. In the conventional emulsifiers, emulsion materials are only mixed by the stirring action of the impellers. That is, the emulsion materials are dispersed to give a temporary emulsion. However, this emulsion is so unstable to frequently revert to its material elements if it is let to stand. Thus, emulsifying agents (surfactants) are usually used.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION With the above problems in mind, therefore, the present invention has an object of providing an emulsifier which can produce stable emulsions with high process efficiency.

In accordance with the present invention, the object of the present invention could be accomplished by a provision of an emulsifier, comprising: a housing having an inlet at one end, an outlet at the other end, and an emulsifying chamber therein; a mixing screw for propelling emulsion materials introduced into the emulsifying chamber toward the outlet; a driving motor for rotating the mixing screw; and a material dispersing means, provided to divide the emulsifying chamber into a first chamber at the side of the inlet and a second chamber at the side of the outlet, for finely dispersing the emulsion materials flowing from the first chamber and for sprouting the mixture into the second chamber, said material

dispersing means comprising: a driving disk, mounted so as to rotate with the mixing screw and to divide the emulsifying chamber into two parts, on the front side of which a plurality of square-shaped protrusions are positioned to form concentric circles with the mixing screw; a driven disk, rotatably mounted in parallel with the driving disk, having at its center a hole for introducing the emulsion materials between the driving disk and the driven disk, on which a plurality of square-shaped protrusions are positioned at such regular intervals to form virtual concentric circles, engaging with the protrusions of the driving disk; and a power transmitter for transmitting the power of the driving disk to rotate the driven disk in the direction reverse to the rotation direction of the driving disk, the emulsion materials being sheared by the engaging square-shaped protrusions formed on the driving disk and the driven disk.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the overall structure of an emulsifier according to the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a front side view of a driving disk of FIG. 1; FIG. 2B is a rear side view of the driving disk of FIG.

1; FIG. 3 is a front side view of a driven disk of FIG. 1; and FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view showing the flowing process of emulsion materials when the emulsifier of the present invention is operated.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described below, with reference to accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown the structure of the emulsifier according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the emulsifier of the present invention is largely divided into a housing 100 having emulsifying chambers 101 and 102 in which emulsion is achieved, and an emulsifying unit 200,300 for emulsifying emulsion materials.

The housing comprises, at its one end, an inlet 103 for introducing emulsion materials into the emulsifying chamber 101,102 and, at the other end, an outlet 104 for discharging the emulsion made by the emulsifying unit 200,300 out of the emulsifying chamber 101,102.

To the inlet 103 is provided a supplying pipe 51 branched

so as to feed two or more kinds of emulsion materials while the outlet 104 is connected to a transporting pipe 52 through which the emulsion is carried to a storage tank (not shown).

The emulsifying unit 200,300 is comprised of a material admixing means 200 for uniformly mixing the emulsion materials introduced through the inlet 103 into the emulsifying chamber 101,102 and for forcibly carrying the mixture toward the outlet 104, and a material dispersing means 300, provided to divide the emulsifying chamber 101, 102 into a first chamber 101 at the side of the inlet 103 and a second chamber 102 at the side of the outlet 104, for finely dispersing the emulsion materials flowing from the first chamber 101 by the combination of shearing, compressing and expanding actions and for sprouting the mixture into the second chamber 102.

The material mixing means 200 comprises a mixing screw 210 consisting of a screw axis 211 and a screw blade 212 spinally winding around the screw axis 211, and a driving motor 220 for providing power to the screw axis 211 to rotate the mixing screw 210.

Positioned outside the housing 100, the driving motor 220 is connected to the screw axis 211 of the mixing screw 210.

Together with FIG. 1, FIGS. 2 and 3 describe the material dispersing means 300 in more detail. The material dispersing means 300 comprises a driving disk 310 mounted so as to rotate with the screw axis 211 of the mixing screw 210 and to divide

the emulsifying chamber 101,102 into two parts, a driven disk 320, rotatably mounted in the first chamber 101 of the housing 100 in parallel with the driving disk 310, having at its center a hole 321 for introducing the emulsion materials between the driving disk 310 and the driven disk 320, a power transmitter 330 for transmitting the power of the driving disk 310 to rotate the driven disk 320 in the direction reverse to the rotation direction of the driving disk 310, and a material shearing means 340 for cutting the emulsion materials between the driving disk 310 and the driven disk 320 with resort to a pair of forces which respectively act in opposite directions by the power transmitter.

On its rear side facing the second chamber 102, the driving disk 310 has a guiding sill 311 which extends in curl from the circumference to the center to rapidly collect in the central part the emulsion material erupting from the material dispersing means 300 to the second chamber 102.

As for the power transmitter 330, it comprises a driving bevel gear 331 formed along the circumference of the driving disk 310, an idle bevel gear 332 mounted in the housing 100 to engage with the driving bevel gear 331, and a driven bevel gear 333 formed along the circumference of the driven disk 320 so as to engage with the idle bevel gear 332.

The material shearing means 340 has a plurality of square-shaped protrusions 341 positioned on the front side

(facing the driven disk) of the driving disk 310 at such regular intervals to form virtual concentric circles Cl with the screw axis 211, and a plurality of square-shaped protrusions 342, positioned on the driven disk 320 at such regular intervals to form virtual concentric circles C2, engaging with the protrusions 341.

When it is viewed from the front, each of the square- shaped protrusions 341 and 342 looks like an arc so that the gap between the virtual circles Cl and C2 takes a fine and uniform form.

Having a material compressing hole 342 whose diameter is gradually diminished from one end to the other end, each of the square-shaped protrusions 341 and 342 is perforated in such a way that its one end stands facing the rotating direction of the driving disk 310 or the driven disk 320 while the other end is directed externally.

By the way of the driving disk 310 and the driven disk 320, the emulsion materials are erupted into the second chamber 102. In this course, the emulsion materials are compressed when passing through the material compressing holes 343, and naturally expanded after the passage.

With reference to FIG. 4, the emulsification process of the emulsifier according to the present invention is explained.

If the driving motor 220 operates, the mixing screw 210

rotates at high speeds and the driving disk 310 mounted to the screw axis 211 of the mixing screw 210 also does at the same speeds in the same direction. Engaged with the driving bevel gear 331 of the driving disk 310, the idle bevel gear 332 rotates itself and the driven disk 320 on which the driven bevel gear 333 is formed, engaging with the idle bevel gear 332.

The rotation direction of the driven disk 320 is reverse to that of the driving disk 310.

Fed continuously through the supply pipe 51, the emulsion materials are introduced via the inlet 103 into the first chamber 101.

In the chamber, the emulsion materials are homogeneously mixed by the action of the mixing screw 210 and simultaneously transported along the screw blade 212 to the material dispersing means 300. Then, the mixture is introduced between the driving disk 310 and the driven disk 320 through the hole 321.

Thus, after being carried through the gap between the driving disk 310 and the driven disk 320 by the transporting action of the mixing screw, the emulsion materials are erupted into the second chamber 102.

In this course, emulsion materials are cut by the shearing action of the rotating square-shaped protrusions formed on the driving disk 310 and the driven disk 320 which

rotate in opposite directions, respectively. Additionally, the compression naturally generated during the passage through the material compressing holes 343 having gradually diminished diameters, and the expansion naturally generated after the passage through the material compressing holes 343 decrease the compactness of the materials.

Because being finely sheared by the square-shaped protrusions 341 and 342 and decreased in compactness by the material compressing holes 343, the emulsion materials are stably dispersed.

After being erupted, the emulsion materials are guided by the guiding sill 311 to gather in the central portion.

Thereafter, the mixing screw 210 finally blends the materials to produce an emulsion which is discharged through the outlet 104 from the housing 100 and transported through the transport pipe 52 into the storage tank.

INDUSTRIAL ABAILABILTY As described hereinbefore, the emulsifier of the present invention comprises a housing equipped with an inlet at one end and an outlet at the other end, an emulsifying chamber formed in the housing, and an emulsifying unit to emulsify emulsion materials. After being supplied through the inlet to the emulsifying chamber, emulsion materials are emulsified by

the emulsifying unit and then discharged through the outlet.

Thus, the emulsifier can continuously produce emulsion out of materials, thereby enjoying the advantage of efficient productivity.

Additionally, the emulsifying unit comprises a mixing screw for mixing and transporting emulsion materials, a driving disk, mounted to the mixing screw, dividing the emulsifying chamber into an inlet portion and an outlet portion, a driven disk rotating in the direction reverse to the rotation direction of the driving disk, and square-shaped protrusions, formed on the driving disk and the driven disk, for dispersing emulsion materials by shearing, compressing and expanding actions. In this structure, emulsion materials are processed in a three-step processing manner in which the materials are mixed by the mixing screw in the emulsifying chamber (first chamber) of the inlet side, finely dispersed by the square-shaped protrusions, and mixed by the mixing screw in the emulsifying chamber (second chamber) of the outlet side. After undergoing the treatment, the emulsion materials are ground into micro particles which are advantageous in producing stable emulsions.