초록 ▼

Apparatus for high-efficiency drying of material includes a vacuum drying chamber (40) maintained at a low pressure by a vacuum pump (56). Material to be dried is introduced to the drying chamber through an air lock valve (36) and is transported through the drying chamber by an auger (45). In the pr

Apparatus for high-efficiency drying of material includes a vacuum drying chamber (40) maintained at a low pressure by a vacuum pump (56). Material to be dried is introduced to the drying chamber through an air lock valve (36) and is transported through the drying chamber by an auger (45). In the preferred embodiment a second interconnected drying chamber (50) includes a further auger (52), and material that has been dried is removed from the drying chamber by another air lock valve (55). Microwave energy sources (30) apply energy to vaporize liquid from the material, and air inlets (72, 73) are provided at the processed ends to introduce air for sweeping generally across the material to the outlet (55) to the vacuum pump. The sweep of cool air causes an aerosol mixture to form, which is removed by the vacuum pump. Heat is reclaimed by separating liquid and vapor, with the liquid being passed through hollow shafts (60, 51) of the augers to heat the material in the drying chamber, and the vapor being sent through a heat exchanger (15) in thermal contact with a preheat zone (13) so that heat from the vapor removed from the drying chamber, including latent heat of vaporization, is transferred to the material prior to introduction to the drying chamber.

대표청구항 ▼

Apparatus for drying material, comprising: a drying chamber for containing the material to be dried, said drying chamber having an outlet; means operatively connected to said outlet for removing gas from said chamber to lower the pressure within said drying chamber; means for applying microwave radi

Apparatus for drying material, comprising: a drying chamber for containing the material to be dried, said drying chamber having an outlet; means operatively connected to said outlet for removing gas from said chamber to lower the pressure within said drying chamber; means for applying microwave radiation energy to the material within the drying chamber to remove vaporizable liquid therefrom; means for admitting a limited amount of gas into said drying chamber at a location spaced from said outlet for establishing a flow of gas generally across the material to be dried to remove from the chamber liquid vaporized from the material; and heat reclaim means operatively connected to said gas removing means and including heat exchange means for recovering heat energy from the gas and removed liquid from said chamber and for applying said heat to the material to be dried.