Drying and gas or vapor contact with solids – Process – By centrifugal force
Patent
1998-08-31
2000-12-19
Ferensic, Denise L.
Drying and gas or vapor contact with solids
Process
By centrifugal force
34327, 34425, 34449, 34552, 34 90, 34596, 34138, F26B 508
Patent
active
061613061
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for drying a load of moist fibrous material, particularly a load of laundry washed and placed in a washer/drier machine or a clothes drier.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In heretofore known clothes driers, various hot fluids have been used as drying means. In particular, hot air has been employed, blown inside a clothes drier, at a temperature of the order of 120.degree. C., but such a method of drying presents the drawback of being particularly long and of consuming a considerable amount of energy. To overcome this drawback, it has already been envisaged to use, for drying laundry, superheated steam placed in forced circulation through an enclosure containing the laundry to be dried.
Document WO No. 89/04392 discloses a method and an apparatus for drying, a load of laundry contained in an enclosure, by means of superheated steam. The superheated steam is made to circulate through the enclosure, in closed circuit, by means of a fan mounted upstream of the enclosure and downstream of a source of heat so as to deliver into the enclosure the steam evaporating from the laundry. At the beginning of a drying cycle, the air contained in the enclosure is delivered via a vent to which a condenser is connected in by-pass.
Document EP-A-0 026 707 discloses a method and an apparatus for drying, in which the drying cycle comprises a first spinning phase in which there is circulated through an enclosure, containing the material to be dried, steam produced by an independent steam generator, and a second phase in which there is circulated, by means of a fan connected upstream of the enclosure, the steam evaporated from the moist material, this steam passing through a superheater. A condenser is connected in by-pass at the outlet of the enclosure containing the moist material.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to improvements in the known methods and apparatus, making it possible in particular to reduce the overall time for drying a load of fibrous material and to considerably reduce the cost of the drying apparatus.
To that end, this method of drying a load of moist fibrous material, particularly a load of moist laundry after washing, in which there is passed through the load of fibrous material, in closed circuit, superheated steam at a temperature included between 102.degree. and 180.degree. C. and substantially at atmospheric pressure, characterized in that it comprises, prior to the superheated steam drying step, a previous phase of flushing the air present in the closed circuit by means of steam.
The invention also has for an object an apparatus for drying a load of moist fibrous material, particularly a load of moist laundry after washing, comprising an enclosure in which is housed the load of moist laundry, a steam generator, a superheater, a condenser, and a fan for circulating in a principal pipe in closed circuit, superheated steam at a temperature ranging from 102.degree. C. to 180.degree. C., through the enclosure and the load of moist fibrous material that it contains, characterized in that the fan provided to ensure circulation of the steam is constituted by an exhauster fan connected, on the principal pipe, downstream of the outlet of the enclosure, in order to create a slight depression in this enclosure, the condenser and the superheater are connected in series upstream of the enclosure, the principal pipe is connected, towards the delivery of the fan, on the one hand to a first electrovalve for communication with the open air, connected in by-pass, and on the other hand to a second electrovalve connected in series and the steam generator is connected to the principal pipe, downstream of the second electrovalve, via a third electrovalve.
The method and the apparatus for drying according to the invention offer the advantage of enabling the apparatus to be simplified. In effect, the prior rinsing of the closed circuit of its air, by means of the steam, before the drying phase proper, allows the appara
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A.R.M.I.N.E.S - Association pour la Recherche et le Development
Ferensic Denise L.
Joyce Andrea M.
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