Refrigeration – Article moving means
Patent
1991-12-02
1993-07-13
Makay, Albert J.
Refrigeration
Article moving means
62266, 454193, F25D 1706, F24F 900
Patent
active
052262952
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to an air treatment plant comprising a housing; a conveyor adapted to feed food to be processed through an inlet opening in said housing, to and through an air treatment area, and to feed the processed food from said area to and through an outlet opening in said housing; a heat exchanger; and a circulation fan for generating a circulating air flow through the heat exchanger, the air treatment area, and the circulation fan in succession.
The invention also concerns a method for balancing pressure differences in such a plant.
It is the fan in such air treatment plants that generates the requisite pressure increase for driving the air flow through the heat exchanger and the air treatment area. Thus, there is, within this area, a pressure drop in the direction of the air flow, resulting in a high-pressure side and a low-pressure side. This pressure drop may, for instance, be in the order of 20-50 mm water column.
For optimum operation of an air treatment plant, it is desirable that the air exchange between the plant and the ambient atmosphere is minimised. This means that there should be about the same pressure difference across the inlet and outlet openings, regardless of whether the ambient pressure outwardly of the two openings is the same, which it usually is, or differs, for example because the plant extends through a partition or outer wall of a building where the pressure is different on the two sides of the wall.
Different pressure differences across the inlet and outlet openings give rise, in a greater or less degree, to air flows through these openings. Naturally enough, such air flows are undesirable since they entail energy losses resulting in that the plant does not function optimally. In a refrigerating plant, they further cause warm air to find its way into the plant and generate frost on the heat exchanger (cooler battery) as well as cold air to escape from the plant and discomfort the operating staff.
The pressure differences may be static or dynamic, or a combination of both. If the pressure difference is exclusively dynamic, an undesiredly strong air current towards the outlet opening may arise.
To avoid different pressure differences across the inlet and outlet openings, the path of the circulating air flow, especially through the air treatment area, has hitherto in the greatest possible degree been separate from these openings. Such an arrangement is, however, not entirely satisfactory. Also, the situation is aggravated when the pressure drop within the air treatment area is increased, which, for instance, may be the case when the capacity of the air treatment plant is augmented owing to an increase of the air flow.
The object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide an air treatment plant of the type stated in the introduction to this specification, which in all essentials eliminates air flows through the inlet and outlet openings of the plant.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method to be used in such plants for balancing pressure differences across the inlet and outlet openings of the housing, thus minimising the air flow through these openings.
According to the invention, these objects are achieved by an air treatment plant of the type stated in the introduction to this specification, which is characterised by a pressure regulating fan which is connected to a chamber adjacent to one of the inlet and outlet openings for generating a pressure difference across said one opening substantially equal to that across the other opening, thus minimising the air exchange between the interior and the exterior of the housing.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the above objects are achieved by means of an air treatment plant of the type stated in the introduction to this specification, which is characterised in that a tunnel surrounding a portion of the path of the conveyor is provided inwardly of a first of the openings of the housing, and that at least two air curtain ducts, which are directed substantially transversely of said po
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Derwent's abstract No. 822 09 B/45, SU 648 800, Publ. week 7945 (Air Gas Turbo Cool).
Doerrler William C.
Frigoscandia Food Process Systems Aktiebolag
Makay Albert J.
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