Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting – deodorizing – preser – Physical type apparatus – Apparatus for treating solid article or material with fluid...
Patent
1991-03-01
1992-12-22
Warden, Robert J.
Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting, deodorizing, preser
Physical type apparatus
Apparatus for treating solid article or material with fluid...
422 26, 422299, 422304, 198561, 198720, 34216, 34217, 34218, A61L 206
Patent
active
051732726
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns a heated conveyor and a process for disinfecting contaminated size-reduced hospital refuse. A familiar conveyor of this kind consists of 2 conveyor screws contrarotating in 2 open half shells, the walls of the half shells being heated with heat transfer oil. The twin screw conveyors are arranged inside a housing provided with an inlet opening, an outlet opening and an air vent (German Utility Model 87 02 503) The use of screw conveyors has proved to be disadvantageous in operation inasmuchas the throughput capacity of such disinfecting facilities does not come up to expectations. The material to be disinfected is displaced laterally by the rotating movement of the spirals, causing piling-up and rendering the contact surfaces of the heated walls of the half shells ineffective. Adequate disinfection can only be maintained if the transport velocity is kept so low that a sufficiently short period of dwell can be obtained. Furthermore, the use of heat transfer oil to heat the conveyor raises environmental issues, be it the problem of the disposal of waste oil, leakages or the formation of noxious vapours during overheating.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, thus, the object of the invention to provide a heated conveyor and a process for disinfecting contaminated size-reduced hospital refuse with an improved disinfection performance and throughput capacity.
This object is achieved according to the invention inasmuch as the conveyor consists of a so-called scrape conveyor with two endless link chains, to which flight attachments are secured, that the scrape conveyor is arranged in a housing whose base and long side walls can be heated by means of electric resistance heating and which is closed with the exception of an upper inlet opening, an exit opening and an air vent, that a drop shaft into which compressed, saturated steam can be injected is formed by two vertical sheet metal plates and that the sheet metal plate positioned downstream possesses an overflow opening.
The object is furthermore achieved by a process for disinfecting according to the invention.
The use of a scrape conveyor with rotating flight attachments, well-proven in the field of mechanical conveying and handling, eliminates the problem of the material to be handled piling up, which could lead to the heated contact surfaces becoming exposed. Heating the base and the long side walls of the housing with electric resistance heating is not only ecologically beneficial but also offers a possibility of adjusting and switching off filamanent energy quickly.
Separate regulation of the heating elements means, too, that the heat balance within the conveyor can also be kept constant in an advantageous manner.
The formation of a drop shaft, through which the material being fed in falls onto the base plate and the fact that the material is heated and moistened in the drop shaft already with compressed, saturated steam means that disinfection is begun or prepared in the drop shaft. The sheet metal plate with its overflow opening positioned down stream of the drop shaft causes that part of the material in the drop shaft which is stripped by the flight attachments of the lower belt of the link chains and sent in the direction of the conveyor to be rotated and fall down onto the heated base plate through the overflow opening.
In the inventive process, compressed, saturated steam, free of condensate, is used, preferably at a temperature of 140 degrees Celsius. The temperature of the base is adjusted in an embodiment so that it is below that of the compressed, saturated steam being employed; the temperature of the side walls is chosen in such a way that it is either at least equal to or in excess of that of the superheated steam.
The temperature at the base should preferably not exceed a range lying between 119 and 125 degrees Celsius. Preference is given to the use of steam at 140 degrees Celsius; the temperature of the side walls in this case is preferably 150 degrees Celsius.
The inventive process makes per
REFERENCES:
patent: 1324758 (1919-12-01), Baker
patent: 4058364 (1977-11-01), Terumoto
patent: 4142304 (1979-03-01), Ricci et al.
patent: 4816231 (1989-03-01), Stenstrom et al.
patent: 4979347 (1990-12-01), Shibauchi et al.
Collins Laura E.
Warden Robert J.
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