Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting – deodorizing – preser – Chemical reactor – With means applying electromagnetic wave energy or...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-24
2001-09-18
Gorgos, Kathryn (Department: 1741)
Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting, deodorizing, preser
Chemical reactor
With means applying electromagnetic wave energy or...
Reexamination Certificate
active
06290919
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention mainly relates to an electrostatic separating apparatus which separates supplied substances containing sheet-like substances into conductive substances (conductors) and insulating substances (insulators) by using electrostatic force (namely, Coulomb's force) and corona discharge together.
Conventionally, disclosure has been made about this kind of electrostatic separating apparatus in a paper (Owada, Electric Selection, “Source and Material”: Vol. 113, No. 12, pp. 920-923, 1997).
Such an electrostatic separating apparatus separates supplied substances (namely, substances to be separated) into conductive substances and insulating substances using electrostatic force and corona discharge together.
This electrostatic separating apparatus is basically provided with a roller type ground electrode and an opposite electrode having a corona electrode and an electrostatic charge electrode from a supply side of the substance, and further has a brush for removing the insulating substances attached to the ground electrode.
Meanwhile, another disclosure has been made about an electrostatic separating apparatus in which a steel belt conveyor is used as the ground electrode in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (JP-A) No. S50-60866.
In the above-mentioned electrostatic separating apparatus, the supplied substances are separated into the insulating substances and the conductive substances by using the electrostatic force and the corona discharge together.
Under this circumstance, separating efficiency is excessively reduced when the sheet-like substances are contained in the supplied substances.
More specifically, when the separation is carried out by the use of the electrostatic force and the corona discharge, the insulating substances are attached to the ground electrode by the electrostatic force in electrostatic field generated between the ground electrode and the opposite electrode.
In the meantime, the conductive substances are not attached to the ground electrode, and thereby, are separated from the insulating substances. This is because the conductive substances have the same potential as the ground electrode by contacting with the ground electrode.
In consequence, the supplied substances must be contacted with the ground electrode in the electrostatic field to perform the electrostatic separation.
Under such a circumstance, when the sheet-like substances are contained in the supplied substances, the sheet-like substances prevent the conductive substances from contacting with the ground electrode. Consequently, the separating efficiency is remarkably reduced.
In addition, when the sheet-like substances contain a plurality of insulating substances, the sheet-like substances are strongly attached to a surface of the ground electrode because a surface area thereof is large. As a result, the sheet-like substances can not be removed by the brush provided in the conventional electrostatic separating apparatus.
When the sheet-like substances are left or remained on the condition that the substances are attached to the ground electrode, they are prevented the conductive substances in successively supplied substances from contacting with the ground electrode. Further, attaching force for the insulating substances is weakened. In consequence, the separating efficiency is remarkably reduced.
Thus, it is difficult to electrostatically separate the supplied substances containing the sheet-like substances in the conventional electrostatic separating apparatus.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an electrostatic separating apparatus which is capable of efficiently separating supplied substances into conductive substances and insulating substances even when the supplied substances contains sheet-like substances.
An electrostatic separating apparatus according to this invention separates supplied substances containing sheet-like substances into conductive substances and insulating substances by using electrostatic force and corona discharge together.
With such a structure, the electrostatic separating apparatus comprises a ground electrode unit, an opposite electrode unit, and a removing unit.
In this case, the ground electrode unit has a carrier belt tensioned for a plurality of rotation rollers. Further, the opposite electrode unit is provided with a first electrostatic electrode, a corona electrode, and a second electrostatic electrode in this order from a supply side of the supplied substances. Moreover, the removing unit separates and removes the insulating substances attached to the ground electrode unit.
The rotation rollers comprise a pair of first and second rotation rollers. In this event, the first rotation roller is positioned at the supply side. The first rotation roller has a first radius while the second rotation roller has a second radius.
The first radius may be substantially equal to the second radius. Alternatively, the first radius may be smaller than the second radius.
Herein, it is to be noted that the carrier belt is conductive. Further, the carrier belt may be formed to a mesh shape.
Further, the removing unit is preferably arranged inside the carrier belt. The removing unit comprises an air flow spraying mechanism which sprays an air flow for the insulating substances attached to the ground electrode unit.
Alternatively, the removing unit may comprise an ion generating mechanism which generates at least one of positive ions and negative ions.
Instead, the removing unit may comprise an alternating electric field generating mechanism which generates decaying alternating electric field or an air suction mechanism which sucks air.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3581468 (1971-06-01), Gourdine
patent: 3653185 (1972-04-01), Scott et al.
patent: 4374727 (1983-02-01), Takahashi et al.
patent: 5704490 (1998-01-01), Reynard
Iji Masatoshi
Kiji Tokukazu
Shimoda Masao
Yokoyama Sadahiko
Foley & Lardner
Gorgos Kathryn
NEC Corporation
Tran Thao
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