DK178822B1

DK178822B1 - Taner for drying

Info

Publication number: DK178822B1
Application number: DKPA201670023A
Authority: DK
Inventors: Kenneth Storgaard Zobbe; Poul Andkjær Bach; Kurt Pedersen
Original assignee: Eikon Tech Holding S À R L
Priority date: 2014-03-26
Filing date: 2016-01-15
Publication date: 2017-02-27
Also published as: DK201670049A1; DK178730B1; DK178522B1; DK201470152A1; DK201670023A1

Abstract

A pelt board comprising sensor means for detecting the relative humidity and the temperature of air inside the pelt board is disclosed. The pelt boards for drying of pelts may be used supported on a mobile drying manifold in a drying room, the drying room comprises an air conditioning system and a plurality of such pelt boards at various positions inside the room and providing a data output accordingly to control means, the control means being adapted to adjust a flow rate of air flow in response to the data output received from the sensor means.

Description

Drying pelt boards

The present invention relates to drying of mink pelts arranged on pelt boards which may be situated on drying manifolds for use in drying rooms as well as to such drying room.

Background

Pelts of fur animals need to be dried after the skinning of the animal prior to the pelt being stored and transported for further processing in order to preserve the pelt and prevent mould in the pelt. The drying of the pelts is preferably conducted with an air flow of a temperature around 20° C and a relative humidity of about 50%. A lower relative humidity will accelerate the drying process but may cause encapsulation of moisture in the middle of the layer of skin and a lower quality of the hair of the pelts.

One solution is disclosed in US patent No. 3, 526, 967 where a drying manifold for supporting a plurality of pelt boards with pelts arranged thereon is provided with air conditioning means for supplying a humidified air flow with controlled temperature and humidity to the drying manifolds and from there into the pelt boards where the air flow dries the pelts. A second air conditioning arrangement is provided for supplying a humidified airflow of controlled temperature to the exterior of the pelts.

An alternative solution is provided with the drying aggregate disclosed in international patent application No. WO 2005/026394 where a drying manifold is supported by wheels and is provided with a blower which ventilates air from the surroundings of the drying aggregate into the manifold and from that out through the pelt boards for drying of the pelts. The drying air flow is not humidified or heated at the drying aggregate itself; instead the drying aggregate is placed in a drying room of a preferred temperature and relative humidity, e.g. 18° C and 55%, respectively.

Such rooms are typically ventilated, i.e. provided with means for withdrawing humid air from the room, ventilation openings for allowing fresh air to enter into the room and heaters and humidifiers for maintaining the preferred temperature and relative humidity of the air inside the room.

Description of the invention

The present invention relates to a pelt board for drying of a pelt, the pelt board comprising an inlet for a flow of drying air connected to openings in a pelt support surface so as to provide said drying air to the skin side of the pelt arranged on the pelt board, the pelt board comprising sensor means for detecting the humidity of the flow of drying air and the temperature of the flow of drying air and provide a data output accordingly. A pelt board with sensor means arranged inside to measure the qualities of the drying air flowing out to dry the pelt arranged on the pelt board can be used with all known arrangements for drying of pelts to provide reliable data about the drying air to control means of e.g. a drying room or a system for supplying drying air to drying manifolds. The pelt boards may in use be distributed according to a system, e.g. one or two such pelt boards for each drying manifold where the remaining pelt boards are standard pelt boards without sensor means, or the pelt boards with sensor means may constitute a certain fraction of the total number of pelt boards, such as 2 to 4%, so that a satisfactory distribution of pelt boards with sensor means is sufficiently statistical ensured by random selection of pelt boards for e.g. filling drying manifolds.

The transmitter means are preferably arranged for wireless transmission of said data output, e.g. by a standard data exchange protocol, in particular such as short distances data exchange protocols using short-wavelength UHF radio waves in the ISM band from 2.4 to 2.485 GHz, e.g. the so-called Bluetooth protocol.

Furthermore, the pelt board according to the invention preferably comprises machine-readable identification means which can be read wirelessly, such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Alternatives could be barcodes, colour codes etc. that can be read by a machine to identify that a particular pelt board is situated on an identified drying manifold or another arrangement to support the pelt board.

It is also advantageous that the pelt board according to the invention comprises a chargeable electric battery for providing electric power to the sensor means and possibly transmitter and machine-readable identification means as well as means for receiving wireless charging of the electric battery, such as by inductive charging means.

The present invention relates also to the use of a plurality of pelt boards according to the invention in a drying room for drying of mink pelts, where mink pelt are arranged on said pelt boards supported by drying manifolds, where a flow rate of air withdrawn from inside the drying room, passed through a dehumidifying arrangement and supplied back to the inside of the room by means of an air conditioning system is controlled in response to the data output received from the sensor means of the pelt boards.

Furthermore, the present invention relates to such drying room in accordance with claim 6.

Drying room for drying of pelts arranged on pelt boards supported on a plurality of mobile drying manifolds, the drying room comprises an air conditioning system having a plurality of air withdrawal openings inside the room, a plurality of air supply openings inside the room, at least one air intake opening for environmental air from outside of the room, at least one waste air outlet opening arranged outside of the room, a dehumidifying arrangement for dehumidification of an air flow, heating means for heating of an air flow, ventilation means for driving a flow of air in the air conditioning system, and control means for controlling the operation of the air conditioning system so as to selectively adjust a rate of a first air flow from air withdrawal openings inside the room and through the dehumidifying arrangement, and direct said first air flow to the air supply openings, the drying room further comprising a plurality of pelt boards according to the present invention comprising sensor means for detecting the relative humidity and the temperature of air at various positions inside the room and providing a data output accordingly to the control means, the control means being adapted to adjust said flow rate of the first air flow in response to the data output received from the sensor means. By recirculating a part of the air from within the room after dehumidifying instead of replacing the air with environmental air substantial energy savings can be obtained as heating and humidifying of environmental air can be reduced. The flow rate of the recirculated air flow from the air withdrawal and supply openings via the dehumidifier and back to the room via the air supply openings is adjusted according to the quality of the air inside the pelt boards as detected by means of the sensors means arranged inside the boards in the drying room.

The output data from the plurality of sensor means distributed inside the drying room may be analysed to model the distribution of humidity inside the drying room and may be applied to control the flow through the individual air withdrawal opening.

The control means are preferably adapted to control the operation of the dehumidifying arrangement and the heating means so as to achieve a desired relative humidity and a desired temperature of the air flow through the air supply openings, i.e. prior to the air flow is being lead into the room through the air supply openings.

Description of preferred embodiments

In a preferred embodiment, a drying room according to the present invention comprises room for 10 to 40 mobile drying manifolds, i.e. equipped with wheels, wherein each drying manifold is provided with a blower unit for blowing air from the surroundings into a cavity of the drying manifold and out through the 200 board openings in the upright-facing support surface where pelt boards with pelts arranged thereon are supported. Each drying manifold has sensor means for detecting the relative humidity and the temperature of the drying air inside the cavity and transmitting these data to a central control unit of the drying room. In a particular embodiment, these data also comprises information about the physical location of the drying manifold to enable selective supply of air through the individual air supply openings of the drying room according to the requirements found by the central control unit from said data.

The air conditioning system of the drying room comprises a dedicated waste air system comprising a plurality of air withdrawal openings near a ceiling part of the drying room, wherein the degree of opening of each air withdrawal opening is controlled in accordance with temperature and relative humidity sensor means arranged adjacent to each of the air withdrawal openings in order to ensure that primarily air with the highest moisture content is removed from the drying room through these air withdrawal openings and out to the environment outside the drying room through a waste air outlet. A common waste air blower is arranged to drive the air flow through these air withdrawal openings and out through the waste air outlet. The operation of the waste air blower is controlled by the central control unit. A second set of air withdrawal openings are arranged in the walls of the drying room for withdrawal of air to be recycled to the drying room after passing a dehumidifying arrangement, being mixed with a flow of environmental air from the outside of the room and passing a heater for heating this flow of drying air, if necessary, before the air is entered into the drying room through a plurality of air supply openings, preferably arranged scattered throughout the room.

The central control unit utilises the data from the sensor means of the drying manifold, i.e. the data for the actual drying air, to control the quality of the air flow that is supplied into the room by means of the air supply openings as well as the operation of the waste air blower in order to achieve satisfactory air quality of the drying air inside the cavities of the drying manifolds, i.e. with a temperature about 20° C and a RF of about 50% while at the same time save energy by recycling air from the second set of the air withdrawal openings, which is warmer than the average air from the environment as well as more humid. In the alternative, where all air supplied to the drying room was obtained from the environment, the supply air would in general require heating as well as moistening, which requires evaporation of water, in order to obtain the required quality of the air supply flow to the drying room.

Claims

Tans for Drying Patent Claims

A fur-drying tan, which comprises an inlet for a flow of drying air associated with openings in a fur support surface to provide the drying air to the leather side of the fur, which comprises sensor means for detecting the moisture of the fur. the flow of drying air and the temperature of the flow of drying air and providing a data output accordingly.

The tane of claim 1, comprising transmitter means adapted to wirelessly transmit the data output.

The tane of claim 1 or 2, comprising wirelessly readable machine-readable identification means such as radio frequency identification (RFID).

The tane of any one of claims 1 to 3, comprising a rechargeable electric battery and means for receiving wireless charging of the electric battery such as by inductive charging means.

Use of a plurality of tans according to any one of claims 1 to 3 in a drying room for drying the mink fur, wherein the mink fur is arranged on the tans supported by drying manifolds, where a flow amount of air taken out from within the drying room is passed through a dehumidifying device and fed back into the room by means of an air conditioning system is controlled in response to the data output received from the sensing means of the tans.

A drying compartment for drying furs arranged on a plurality of tans supported by a plurality of drying manifolds, said drying room comprising an air conditioning system having a plurality of air outlet openings within said space, a plurality of air supply openings within said space, air inlet opening for ambient air outside the room, at least one waste air outlet opening disposed outside the room, a dehumidifying device for dehumidifying an air stream, heaters for heating an air stream, ventilating means for operating an air flow in the air conditioning system and control means for controlling the operation of the air, wherein the drying room comprises the plurality of tans, wherein at least one of the plurality of tans is a tane according to any one of claims 1-4, and comprises sensing means for detecting the relative humidity and air temperature at various positions within the space and providing a data output accordingly.to the control means, wherein the control means are adapted to individually control the air flow through at least some of the air outlet openings in response to data received from the sensor means.