Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting – deodorizing – preser – Control element responsive to a sensed operating condition – Control element responds proportionally to a variable signal...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-01
2001-02-20
Thornton, Krisanne (Department: 1744)
Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting, deodorizing, preser
Control element responsive to a sensed operating condition
Control element responds proportionally to a variable signal...
C241S023000, C241S065000, C241SDIG014, C422S004000, C422S005000, C422S109000, C422S307000, C422S308000, C422S309000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06190618
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus having a heating vessel for heating and drying garbage such as kitchen refuse in the heating vessel so as to reduce a volume of the garbage and more particularly to such an apparatus which also has a device for deodorizing a smell of a steam generated upon heating and drying of the garbage.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various apparatuses were proposed for processing garbage which contains a lot of moisture such as that disposed from a kitchen of a restaurant by heating and drying the garbage. For example, Japanese Patent Application, Laid-Open Publication No. 6-226237 published Aug. 16, 1994 discloses one of such apparatuses.
FIG. 22
of the accompanying drawings illustrates it. This conventional garbage processing apparatus
14
includes a vessel
1
equipped with an oil heater, a rotary cutter
2
provided in the vessel
1
, a motor
10
for actuation of the rotary cutter and a lid
3
for the vessel
1
which opens to form an inlet opening
11
for introduction of garbage into the vessel. The garbage thrown into the vessel
1
is crushed, stirred and heated simultaneously in the vessel
1
to vaporize a moisture included in the garbage. Removal of the moisture results in volume reduction of the garbage. The dried garbage having a smaller volume and weight is discharged from the vessel
1
. The garbage processing apparatus
14
also includes a compressor
4
, a steam separator
5
and a heat exchanger
7
connected in series. The steam generated in the vessel
1
upon the garbage drying/heating operation is drawn out of the vessel
1
by the compressor
4
and compressed before it is introduced to the steam/water separator
5
. The steam is then separated into a hot water W and a gas G. The gas G is expelled to the atmosphere and the hot water W is introduced to the heat exchanger
7
protruding into the vessel
1
through a hot water pipe
6
. Heat of the hot water W is utilized for heating of the garbage in the vessel
1
. The water W then flows out of the vessel
1
through a discharge pipe
8
and a constant pressure regulator
9
.
As mentioned earlier, the illustrated conventional garbage processing apparatus
14
employs the compressor
4
for taking the steam out of the vessel
1
. The steam generally contains various hot corrosive materials so that the compressor
4
is damaged by the steam and longevity of the compressor
4
is reduced. In addition, the motor
10
for driving the rotary pulverizer/stirrer
2
is situated under the vessel
1
so that the apparatus
14
has a considerable height. As a result, a position of the inlet opening
11
of the vessel
1
becomes high and introduction of the garbage into the inlet
11
becomes troublesome. Furthermore, the gas G generally contains smelly substances so that discharge of the gas G deteriorates the environment.
A conventional manner of operating the garbage processing apparatus also has several problems. For example, if a timer is used to automatically stop the operation of the apparatus
14
, an operator determines a time setting according to his experiences or by his guess. In general, the ending time is set to be considerably later than a theoretical time since a seriously worse situation would arise if the garbage processing apparatus stopped prior to completion of heating and drying of the garbage. Therefore, the garbage processing apparatus is wastefully operated for a certain period after the garbage has been heated and dried. This operation method is costly.
Other garbage processing apparatuses are disclosed, for instance, in Japanese Patent Application, Laid-Open Publication Nos. 5-24601 published Feb. 2, 1993 and 5-39972 published Feb. 19, 1993.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-described problems of the conventional apparatuses.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a garbage processing apparatus comprising a vessel for receiving garbage, means for crushing and stirring the garbage in the vessel, means for heating and drying the garbage in the vessel, and air compressing means for introducing a fresh air in a pressurized condition into the vessel to discharge a steam generated upon heating and drying of the garbage out of the vessel. The garbage processing apparatus preferably includes a steam separator for separating the steam into a water and a gas. The steam separator may be air cooled. Second heating means is preferably provided downstream of the steam separator for oxidizing the gas emanating from the steam separator so that a smell of the gas is reduced or removed. Downstream of the second heating means, a heat exchanger may be provided for heating the fresh air by the gas heated by the second heating means before the fresh air is introduced into the garbage vessel.
According to this garbage processing apparatus, the air compressing means for feeding the fresh air in a pressurized condition to the vessel is not subjected to the steam containing various corrosive substances since the steam containing hot and corrosive materials is forced out of the vessel by the high pressure ambient air supplied into the vessel. Therefore, the life of the air compressing means is not reduced by the steam. This air compressing means corresponds to the air compressor
4
of the conventional apparatus shown in FIG.
22
. If the steam separator is an air-cooled type one, then an installation cost of the apparatus as well as an operation cost is reduced. If the gas separated from the steam by the steam separator is heated and oxidized by the second heating means, the gas is deodorized before it is discharged to the atmosphere. The second heating means can be a small heater so that it is possible to design the apparatus in smaller dimensions. If the heat exchanger is provided downstream of the second heating means, a fresh air of elevated temperature is introduced into the vessel. Therefore, an expense needed for drying the garbage in the vessel is reduced.
A recirculation passage may also be provided for connecting an outlet of the heat exchanger to an inlet of the air compressing means. The gas deodorized in course of oxidization in the second heating means is cooled in the heat exchanger and then caused to flow into the recirculation passage and in turn into the air compressing means. The gas is fed into the vessel together with a fresh air to carry the steam out of the vessel, and the above mentioned process is repeated. Therefore, the smelly gas repeatedly undergoes the deodorizing step.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a garbage processing apparatus comprising a vessel having a garbage inlet opening at its top for receiving garbage, means rotatable about its longitudinal axis extending in a height direction of the vessel for crushing and stirring the garbage in the vessel upon rotation of itself, actuation means mounted on a lateral wall of the vessel for actuating the crushing means, means for connecting the stirring means with the actuation means, means for heating and drying the garbage in the vessel, and means for discharging a steam generated upon heating and drying of the garbage out of the vessel. Preferably, a deodorizing unit is also provided on the lateral wall of the vessel for deodorizing the smelly steam discharged from the vessel. The deodorizing unit may be a vertical type. The deodorizing unit may include a steam separator for separating the steam into a gas and a water and a cooling fan for cooling the steam separator using an external air. Preferably, the cooling fan causes the external air to flow along the lateral wall of the vessel.
According to this garbage processing apparatus, the total height of the apparatus can be reduced since the actuation means is not located below the vessel but next to the lateral wall of the vessel. The actuation means corresponds to the motor
10
of the conventional apparatus shown in FIG.
22
. The lower the apparatus
Fujita Sinichiro
Fukushima Kiyoshi
Hatayama Masami
Nakao Hirohide
Nekozuka Tadaaki
Jidosha Buhin Kogyo Co., Ltd
McCormick Paulding & Huber LLP
Thornton Krisanne
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