Drying system

• US 7,624,514 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2004
• Issued: 12/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Green Seiju Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Green Seiju Company Limited
• Inventors: Kurobe, Isao, Konabe, Akihisa
• Primary Examiner(s): Gravini; Stephen M.
• Application Number:
  US10/548,953
• Publication Number:
  US 20060225298A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,086 Days
• Field of Search: 345/15, 34/90, 34/77, 34/78, 34/80, 34/86, 621/73, 621/78
• US Class Current: 34/86
• CPC Class Codes: F26B 21/086 by condensing the moisture in the drying medium, which may be recycled, e.g. using a heat pump cycle
• CPC Class Codes: F26B 23/005 using a closed cycle heat pump system with recycling of drying medium F26B21/086; using a heat pipe system
• CPC Class Codes: F26B 3/205 the materials to be dried covering or being mixed with heated inert particles which may be recycled
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 30/52 Heat recovery pumps, i.e. heat pump based systems or units able to transfer the thermal energy from one area of the premises or part of the facilities to a different one, improving the overall efficiency
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 70/10 Greenhouse gas [GHG] capture, material saving, heat recovery or other energy efficient measures, e.g. motor control, characterised by manufacturing processes, e.g. for rolling metal or metal working

Abstract

In a drying system using a compression refrigeration system, a condenser is divided into a regulating condenser and a heating condenser. The regulating condenser is capable of regulating the amount of exhaust heat discharged to outside the system. The heating condenser produces moist air by feeding heat to an aqueous object to be dried placed in a processing vessel to evaporate the moisture in the object. Heat of condensation of steam is recovered by an evaporator as heat of a refrigerant, and the recovered heat is discharged in the heating condenser to use it for the vaporization of the moisture in the object, and excess heat is discharged by the regulating condenser to outside the system.

Claims

1. A closed drying system, comprising:

a vessel that includes a moisture-containing object and an air circulator; and

a compression refrigeration cycle section that includes;

a compressor;

a heating condenser that supplies heat energy to the object through a bottom of the vessel to generate moisture-laden air, which contains moisture in water vapor removed from the object, by evaporation of the moisture of the object;

a regulating condenser that adjustably exhausts waste heat out of the system;

an evaporator that is located inside the vessel and removes the water vapor from the moisture-laden air by refrigeration;

an expansion valve connected after a circulating passage that delivers coolant from the compressor through the heating condenser to the regulating condenser; and

a sensor that detects a temperature of coolant immediately before the expansion valve, from which temperature information the regulating condenser keeps a coolant temperature before the expansion valve at a constant level,

wherein the air circulator circulates air between the object and the evaporator within the vessel whereby moisture-removed air with latent heat removed will contact with the object.

2. The closed drying system according to claim 1, further comprising;

a detector that detects humidity and temperature of the moisture-laden air immediately before flowing over the evaporator, and

a flow-rate controller that controls the flow-rate of the moisture-laden air flowing over the evaporator so as to maximize an amount of water to be condensed on the basis of information obtained by the detector on the humidity and the temperature.

3. The closed drying system according to claim 1, further comprising;

a second coolant supplying passage that supplies the coolant directly to the regulating condenser, the second coolant supplying passage being arranged in parallel with the coolant supplying passage that supplies the coolant from the compressor to the heating condenser,

a flow control valve provided in the second coolant supplying passage, and

a sensor that detects a temperature of the coolant flowing out from the compressor, whereby the divergence of a flow control valve is controlled based on the temperature information from the sensor,

wherein the expansion valve is disposed just downstream of the regulating condenser.

4. The closed drying system according to claim 1, further comprising;

a heat-amount controller that controls an amount of heat energy provided by the heating condenser by controlling revolution of the compressor to vary an amount of the coolant to be delivered to the heating condenser.

5. The closed drying system according to claim 1, further comprising;

a stirrer provided within the vessel that stirs the object.

6. The closed drying system according to claim 1, further comprising;

a stirrer that stirs, and

a pulverizer that pulverizes the object, both being provided within the vessel.

7. The closed drying system according to claim 1, wherein the object to be charged within the vessel includes a water-containing organic material.

8. The closed drying system accordingly claim 1, further comprising;

a reheater connected directly through the coolant circulating passage to the heating condenser and that reheats the air within the vessel,

a detector that detects a temperature of the coolant within a conduit from the compressor, and

a reheat-amount controller that controls an amount of heat energy provided by the reheater on the basis of the temperature detected by the detector.

9. The closed drying system according to claim 1, wherein cooling is effected either through direct cooling mode by flowing the coolant decompressed by the expansion valve into the evaporator, or through indirect refrigeration mode by circulating a first brine between the evaporator and a cooling element provided within the vessel and connected heat exchangeably to the evaporator, and a heating is effected either through direct heating mode by flowing the coolant pressurized by the compressor to the heating condenser provided under the bottom of the vessel to heat the object within the vessel or through indirect heating mode by circulating a second brine between the heating condenser and a heater connected heat exchangeably to the heating condenser and provided under the vessel to heat the object within the vessel.

10. The closed drying system according to claim 9, wherein the indirect cooling mode and the indirect heating mode are adopted to make it possible to separate a compression refrigeration cycle section of the closed drying system from a processing section including the vessel.

11. The processing section included in the closed drying system according to claim 10.

12. The closed drying system according to claim 9, wherein

the direct or indirect cooling mode and the indirect heating mode are adopted,

the vessel includes a vessel body and an air-flow passage both ends of which are separately connected with the vessel body, having the evaporator or the cooling element accommodated therein, and

the compression refrigeration cycle section and the air-flow passage are assembled separately with the processing section except for the air-flow passage to compose the closed drying system.

13. The processing section included in the closed drying system according to claim 12.

14. The closed drying system according to claim 1, wherein the coolant in the compression refrigeration cycle section is separate from air circulated in the vessel by the air circulator.