Fluid sprinkling – spraying – and diffusing – Miscellaneous
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-11
2004-11-09
Doerrler, William C. (Department: 3744)
Fluid sprinkling, spraying, and diffusing
Miscellaneous
C239S004000, C239S102100, C239S533140, C239S602000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06814317
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a quantitative discharge apparatus and a method of discharging powder material wherein the discharge amount of powder material stored in a tubular body can be easily controlled and powder material can be quantitatively and stably discharged.
BACKGROUND ART
The inventors of the present invention have already proposed a device for discharging a minute amount of powder having an elastic membrane with a penetrating port in JP-A-8-161553 as a quantitative discharge apparatus for discharging powder material quantitatively.
FIG. 39
diagrammatically shows a construction of a powder material spray apparatus applying such a device for discharging a minute amount of powder.
The powder material spray apparatus
211
has the device for discharging a minute amount of powder
201
and a pneumatic transport pipe T.
The discharge device
201
has a powder material storage hopper
202
for storing powder material and an elastic membrane Etc provided at a material discharge port
202
a
of the powder material storage hopper
202
so as to form a bottom of the powder material storage hopper
202
.
A cover
202
c
is attached detachably and airtightly at the material feed port
202
b
of the powder material storage hopper
202
.
The powder material spray apparatus
211
is constructed such that the material discharge port
202
a
of the powder material storage hopper
202
of the discharge device
201
is connected to the midstream of the pneumatic transport pipe T via the elastic membrane Etc.
The elastic membrane Etc has a penetrating aperture hc at the center thereof as shown in FIG.
40
.
One end Ta of the pneumatic transport pipe T is connected to a positive pulsating vibration air generation means
221
so that when the generation means
221
is driven, produced positive pulsating vibration air is supplied in the pneumatic transport pipe T from the end Ta.
Next, operations of the device for discharging a minute amount of powder
201
and the powder material spray apparatus
211
will be explained.
For spraying a fixed amount of powder material from the other end Tb of the pneumatic transport pipe T by means of the powder material spray apparatus
211
, at first powder material is stored in the powder material storage hopper
202
. Then the cover
202
c
is airtightly attached to the material feed port
202
b
of the storage hopper
202
.
Driving the positive pulsating vibration air generation means
221
, a positive pulsating vibration air is supplied in the pneumatic transport pipe T.
As a positive pulsating vibration air, a pulsating vibration air of which amplitude peak is higher than atmospheric pressure and of which amplitude valley is substantially at atmospheric pressure as shown in
FIG. 41
a
or a pulsating vibration air of which amplitude peak and amplitude valley are higher than atmospheric pressure as shown in
FIG. 41
b
may be used.
When a positive pulsating vibration air is supplied in the pneumatic transport pipe T of the device for discharging a minute amount of powder
201
, the pressure in the pneumatic transport pipe T is increased at the peak amplitude of the pulsating vibration air and the elastic membrane Etc is elastically deformed to be upwardly curved being a specific point as the center of the node of vibration.
At this time the penetrating aperture hc is shaped like a letter V in such a manner that the top is opened in section.
A part of powder material stored in the powder material storage hopper
202
drops in the V-shaped penetrating aperture hc (see
FIG. 42
a
).
Next, the positive pulsating vibration air supplied in the pneumatic transport pipe T becomes its valley, the pressure in the pneumatic pipe T is gradually reduced and the elastic membrane Etc returns its original position from the upwardly curved shape. The penetrating aperture hc is returned to its original shape from the V-shape with the top open. In this case the powder material dropped in the penetrating aperture hc when its top has been opened is caught in the aperture hc (see
FIG. 42
b
).
When the positive pulsating vibration air becomes its valley and the pressure in the pneumatic transport pipe T is reduced, the elastic membrane Etc is elastically deformed to be curved downwardly being a specific point as the center of vibration node. The penetrating aperture hc is shaped like a reverse V of which bottom is opened. The powder material caught in the aperture hc drops in the pneumatic transport pipe T when the aperture hc is formed like a reverse V (see
FIG. 42
c
).
The powder material dropped in the pneumatic transport pipe T is mixed with and dispersed in the positive pulsating vibration air supplied therein.
Then, the powder material dropped in the pneumatic transport pipe T is pneumatically transported to the end Tb of the pipe T to be sprayed therefrom together with the positive pulsating vibration air.
The vibration of the elastic membrane Etc, according to the powder material spray apparatus
211
, is only defined by the positive pulsating vibration air supplied in the pneumatic transport pipe T. The amount of powder material supplied in the pipe T via the penetrating aperture hc is defined by the vibration of the elastic membrane Etc. Therefore, as long as the positive pulsating vibration air supplied in the pipe T is constant, a fixed amount of powder material is discharge in the pipe T.
Therefore, almost all of the powder material supplied via the penetrating aperture hc of the elastic membrane Etc into the pneumatic transport pipe T can be sprayed from the other end Tb thereof.
In the powder material spray apparatus
211
, spray from the other end Tb of the pneumatic transport pipe T can be executed as long as the positive pulsating vibration air is supplied from the end Ta of the pipe T.
On the other hand, in order to increase the discharge amount of powder material in the pneumatic transport pipe T of the device for discharging a minute amount of powder
201
, the size of the penetrating aperture hc of the elastic membrane may be enlarged or the plural numbers of penetrating apertures hc may be provided.
However, if the size of the penetrating aperture hc of the elastic membrane Etc is enlarged more than a fixed size, there is a problem that the aperture hc is opened larger than an expected area because of the resilience of the elastic membrane Etc so that the discharge amount of powder material of the device for discharging a minute amount of powder
201
is difficult to be controlled at a desirable amount.
Further, there arise problems such that the tensile strength of the elastic membrane Etc lacks uniformity because of the large penetrating aperture hc formed on the elastic membrane Etc and when a positive pulsating vibration air is supplied to the membrane Etc, the membrane Etc doesn't vibrate in response to the positive pulsating vibration air or the quantitativeness of the discharge amount of powder material from the device for discharging a minute amount of powder
201
is damaged.
Therefore, the size of the penetrating aperture hc on the elastic membrane Etc can't be completely defined depending on the component of discharged powder material, the tensile strength of the elastic membrane Etc being stretched and the size and the thickness of the elastic membrane Etc. However, the size of the penetrating aperture hc of the membrane Etc has its upper limit.
On the other hand, the inventors of the present invention have found that even if an elastic membrane having plural penetrating apertures hr . . . like the one EtcA as shown in
FIG. 43
is attached to the device for discharging a minute amount of powder
201
and the device
201
is driven, the discharge amount of powder material in the pneumatic transport pipe T isn't increased at a rate of the number of the plural apertures hr . . . .
According to the elastic membrane EtcA having plural penetrating apertures hr at random as shown in
FIG. 43
, some parts of the elastic membrane EtcA have different tensile strengths so that the membrane Etca vibrates unev
Iwase Yuji
Morimoto Kiyoshi
Watanabe Yasushi
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