Importance

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Abstract

A powder feeder for dispensing controlled amounts of powder into a gas stream in a supersonic plasma spraying environment utilizes a stir spindle and a feed impeller mounted on a rotatable first drive shaft at the bottom of a powder cannister to agitate and mix the powder and then dispense the powder in controlled amounts from an aperture in the bottom of the cannister as the first drive shaft is driven by a motor. The controlled amounts of powder dispensed through the aperture in the bottom of the cannister are directed by a conduit through an aperture in the upper end of a housing and into a plurality of slots circumferentially formed about the outer periphery of a feedwheel mounted within the housing to be rotatably driven by a second drive shaft which is also coupled to be driven by the motor. The slots which are uniform in size have bottom surfaces and opposite side surfaces formed by opposite vanes extending upwardly from the upper surface of the feedwheel between a first hollow tube mounted in a fixed location relative to the feedwheel so as to direct a gas flow through the slots and an opposite second hollow tube disposed to receive the gas flow and the powder loaded into the slots. The constant action of the stir spindle, the feed impeller and the feedwheel provides a relatively constant, uniform supply of the powder to the gas stream, even in the face of varying operating conditions.

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First Claim