System for manufacturing cementitious product with secondary discharge conduit having additive injection system

Abstract

An additive injection system can be a part of a cementitious slurry mixing and dispensing assembly. The additive injection system can be used to inject an additive into an auxiliary slurry discharge conduit carrying a secondary flow of cementitious slurry produced in the assembly such that the secondary slurry stream is different from a main slurry stream discharged from a main slurry discharge conduit.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for manufacturing a gypsum board, the system comprising:
 a mixer, the mixer including a housing and an agitator disposed within the housing, the housing has a first outlet and a second outlet, the agitator being configured to agitate water and calcined gypsum to form an aqueous gypsum slurry;   a main discharge conduit, the main discharge conduit is in fluid communication with the first outlet of the mixer;   a secondary discharge conduit, the secondary discharge conduit is in fluid communication with the second outlet of the mixer; and   an additive injection system having an injection body and a port member, the injection body defining a slurry passageway and a port passageway, the slurry passageway comprising a portion of the secondary discharge conduit such that the slurry passageway is in fluid communication with the second outlet of the mixer, the port passageway in fluid communication with the slurry passageway, the port member defining an additive passageway, the port member removably connected to the injection body such that the additive passageway is in fluid communication with the port passageway.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the port member includes a port insert body extending along a longitudinal axis between an additive supply end and a mounting end, the additive supply end defining an additive inlet opening, the mounting end defining an additive outlet opening, the additive passageway extending between, and in fluid communication with, the additive inlet opening and the additive outlet opening. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the mounting end of the port member is removably mounted to the injection body, the system further comprising:
 an additive supply conduit, the additive supply conduit being connected to the additive supply end of the port member such that the additive supply conduit is in fluid communication with the additive passageway.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the additive passageway has a tapered entry portion and a main portion, the tapered entry portion includes the additive inlet opening, the entry portion having a variable transition to the main portion of the additive passageway, the main portion having an orifice with an orifice size that is smaller than the additive inlet opening. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the entry portion is frusto-conical in longitudinal cross-section, and the main portion has a cross-sectional size corresponding to the orifice size of the outlet opening. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the port member comprises a first port member, the system further comprising:
 a second port member, the second port member defining an additive passageway that is different from the additive passageway of the first port member, the second port member removably connected to the injection body in place of the first port member such that the additive passageway of the second port member is in fluid communication with the port passageway.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the additive passageway of the first port member has a first orifice size, and the additive passageway of the second port member has a second orifice size, the first orifice size being larger than the second orifice size. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the injection body includes a slurry inlet end defining a slurry inlet opening and a slurry discharge end defining a slurry discharge opening, and the slurry passageway being in fluid communication with the slurry inlet opening and the slurry discharge opening, and wherein the secondary discharge conduit includes an upstream portion and a downstream portion, the slurry inlet opening of the injection body in fluid communication with the upstream portion of the secondary discharge conduit, and the slurry discharge opening of the injection body in fluid communication with the downstream portion of the secondary discharge conduit. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the slurry inlet end and the slurry discharge end of the injection body each has an external barbed surface. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the slurry discharge opening is larger than the slurry inlet opening. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the injection body defines a valve passageway in communication with the port passageway, and the port passageway includes a port opening, the system further comprising:
 a valve, the valve mounted to the injection body such that at least a portion of the valve is disposed in the valve passageway of the injection body, the valve adapted to selectively occlude the port opening.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the valve comprises a pneumatic valve including a reciprocally movable piston, the pneumatic valve adapted to be arranged with an air supply and to selectively reciprocally move the piston between an open position in which port opening is at least partially unobstructed to permit a flow of additive to move through the port passageway into the slurry passageway and a closed position in which the port opening is occluded by the piston. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the port passageway of the injection body comprises a first port passageway, the injection body defining a second port passageway in spaced relationship to the first port passageway, the second port passageway in fluid communication with the slurry passageway, and the port member comprises a first port member, the system further comprising:
 a second port member, the second port member defining a second additive passageway, the second port member removably connected to the injection body such that the second additive passageway is in fluid communication with the second port passageway.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the injection body includes a slurry inlet member, a slurry discharge member, and an injection block, the slurry inlet member and the slurry discharge member being removably connected to opposing ends of the injection block. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the additive injection system comprises at least a part of a mixer extractor, the mixer extractor mounted to the housing of the mixer. 
     
     
         16 . An additive injection system for use in preparing a cementitious product via a mixer, the mixer including a housing and an agitator disposed within the housing, the housing has a first outlet and a second outlet, the agitator being configured to agitate water and a cementitious material to form an aqueous cementitious slurry, the additive injection system comprising:
 an injection body, the injection body defining a slurry passageway and a port passageway, the slurry passageway adapted to comprise a portion of a mixer secondary discharge conduit adapted to be in fluid communication with the second outlet of the mixer such that the slurry passageway is in fluid communication with the second outlet of the mixer, the port passageway in fluid communication with the slurry passageway; and   a port member, the port member defining an additive passageway, the port member removably connected to the injection body such that the additive passageway is in fluid communication with the port passageway.   
     
     
         17 . The additive injection system of  claim 16 , wherein the port member comprises a first port member, the additive injection system further comprising:
 a second port member, the second port member defining an additive passageway that is different from the additive passageway of the first port member, the second port member removably connected to the injection body in place of the first port member such that the additive passageway of the second port member is in fluid communication with the port passageway;   wherein the additive passageway of the first port member has a first orifice size, and the additive passageway of the second port member has a second orifice size, the first orifice size being larger than the second orifice size.   
     
     
         18 . The additive injection system of  claim 16 , wherein the injection body defines a valve passageway in communication with the port passageway, and the port passageway includes a port opening, the additive injection system further comprising:
 a valve, the valve mounted to the injection body such that at least a portion of the valve is disposed in the valve passageway of the injection body, the valve adapted to selectively occlude the port opening.   
     
     
         19 . The additive injection system of  claim 16 , wherein the port member includes a port insert body extending along a longitudinal axis between an additive supply end and a mounting end, the additive supply end defining an additive inlet opening, the mounting end defining an additive outlet opening, the additive passageway extending between, and in fluid communication with, the additive inlet opening and the additive outlet opening. 
     
     
         20 . The additive injection system of  claim 19 , wherein the additive passageway has a tapered entry portion and a main portion, the tapered entry portion includes the additive inlet opening, the entry portion having a variable transition to the main portion of the additive passageway, the main portion having an orifice with an orifice size that is smaller than the additive inlet opening.