Textiles: fluid treating apparatus – Machines – With gas – steam or mist treating
Patent
1993-02-04
1994-05-17
Coe, Philip R.
Textiles: fluid treating apparatus
Machines
With gas, steam or mist treating
D06B 312
Patent
active
053117549
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a steam-filled treatment chamber.
For quite some time, one has known of the problem posed by falling drops, that condense out of the steam atmosphere on the ceiling of a steam-filled treatment chamber. This problem occurs when solid-shade dyed textile webs are treated in a steam-filled treatment chamber. When a water droplet falls onto a web which has not yet undergone full fixation, the result is an excess of water at this spot, i.e., a variation in concentration. This causes the dye in the web to migrate into the more strongly diluted area. This migration is manifested in a variation in the depth of the color shade, i.e., in a spot which is clearly visible on the finished fabric and which makes this fabric unusable, or in any case causes it to deteriorate in quality. It is, therefore, customary to provide means to prevent the drops from falling.
The EP-A1 175 018 discloses a steam-filled treatment chamber of this type, in which the inner wall of the ceiling is made of metal, such as stainless steel or light metal. The means for preventing drops from falling from the ceiling consist of a heating system which employs heating tubes that are arranged outside of the inner wall. These heating tubes are charged, for example, with steam, hot air, or oil. The heating tubes are distributed in a gap situated between the inner walls and an outer insulation layer. The inner wall, which is made of sheet metal and which borders the treatment chamber is smooth. The heating system keeps the inner wall at the correct temperature, so that no liquid can condense from the steam and no drops will form. However, this entails a design of considerable complexity, because heating tubes are placed over the entire surface of the inner wall.
It is also known to prevent drops from forming without covering the ceiling area of the steam-filled treatment chamber with heating tubes, by providing saw tooth-shaped formations in a cross-section on the ceiling. The condensing liquid flows along the edges of the saw teeth down to their bottom peaks. In this case, additional measures must be provided to prevent dripping, whether in the form of collecting grooves or in the form of heating tubes that run along the peak as disclosed by the German Patent 20 33 527. Here, as well, the complexity of design required to prevent drops from forming is considerable; because of the saw-tooth-shaped formation of the ceiling of the treatment chamber, as well as the additional means required the bottom peaks of the saw teeth.
The object of the present invention is to develop a treatment chamber that prevents the formation of condensation drops which adversely affect the quality of the material being treated, without requiring an additional heating system and by using relatively simple means as described by the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The steam-filled treatment chamber of the present invention has means for preventing condensation drops from falling from the ceiling, wherein the means is a relief structure on the surface of the ceiling facing the treatment chamber. The relief structure has subdivisions that form peaks that face the treatment chamber, and the spacing between the peaks is smaller than the normal drop diameter.
The subdivision of the relief structure is characterized by the spacing between the elevation that form peaks. This spacing should be small compared to the size of the drops to be expected when the bottom side of the treatment chamber ceiling has a smooth formation. The diameter of these drops range from about 2 to 4 mm. The purpose of the relief structure is to prevent large condensation drops from forming and to cause the drops that do form to be removed before reaching a harmful size, which is the size at which the drops would be noticeable in the material to be treated. This present invention differs from the known specific embodiment of a saw-tooth-shaped formation of the ceiling, in that the spacing from "peak to peak", i.e., from one saw-tooth apex to the
REFERENCES:
patent: 2777750 (1957-01-01), Sprague et al.
patent: 3074261 (1963-01-01), Wilcox
patent: 3166923 (1965-01-01), Zacks
patent: 3477073 (1969-11-01), Blount et al.
patent: 4873846 (1989-10-01), Talbert, Jr.
Itgenshorst Dietrich
Otten Walter
Coe Philip R.
Eduard Kusters Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG
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