GB2137670A

GB2137670A - High pressure steamers

Info

Publication number: GB2137670A
Application number: GB08403865A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Yoshikazu Sando; Hiroshi Ishidoshiro
Original assignee: Sando Iron Works Co Ltd
Current assignee: Sando Iron Works Co Ltd
Priority date: 1983-02-14
Filing date: 1984-02-14
Publication date: 1984-10-10
Also published as: GB2137670B; GB8403865D0; DE3404881A1; JPS59150161A

Abstract

A continuous wet-heat treatment of a broad cloth in a high pressure steamer (1) provided with inlet and outlet sealing mechanisms (5, 6) through which a broad cloth (4) is passed, comprises blowing a high temperature and pressure treating solution directly and repeatedly from a plurality of jet nozzles (8) onto the cloth passing through the steamer. The cloth can effectively be wet-heat treated even when the atmosphere in the steamer is at a relatively low pressure, and therefore the construction of the steamer body and particularly the sealing mechanisms (5, 6) thereof can be simplified. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements relating to high pressure steamers The present invention relates to a method for continuous wet-heat treatment of a cloth, particularly broad cloth, in a high pressure steamer. It is an object of the present invention to simplify the construction of the steamer body and the construction of heat energy can be greatly saved.

For continuous wet-heat treatment of a long cloth commerciallt produced under a high pressure atmosphere, it has been a common practice to use a high pressure steamer with its interior being maintained with an atmosphere of high temperature steam under pressure. The conventional high pressure steamer comprises a steamer body provided with a cloth inlet and a cloth outlet having respectively an inlet side sealing mechanism and an outlet side sealing mechanism through which a cloth to be treated is passed continuously while maintaining the interior of the steamer body with high temperature and pressure steam without leakage. While the sealing mechanisms comprise respectively a pair of sealing rubber rollers in contact with each other, these sealing rubber rollers are intended to transport a cloth to be treated under the condition that the whole width of the cloth is pressed thereby.Consequently the length of the sealing roller must be larger than the width of the cloth, usually 2m or longer.

In recent years, however, broad cloths with a width reaching to 4m have widely been produced. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a pair of sealing rubber rollers with a length of more than 4m for the sealing mechanisms of the steamer body. However, sealing rubber rollers of increased length are easily bent and in applying such long rollers for the sealing mechanisms of a steamer body, the rollers are bent further due to the internal pressure of the steamer body, thus reducing the sealing effect by half. A possible way of solving such a problem is to use sealing rollers with a large diameter which are therefore less likely to bend, but this causes such a drawback that the sealing mechanism become large-sized, thus increasing the construction cost.

Under such circumstances, the object of the present invention is to provide a method for continuous wet-heat treatment of a broad cloth in a high pressure steamer with a simplified construction, particularly in its sealing mechanisms.

Accordingly this invention provides a method for continuous wet-heat treatment of a broad cloth in a high pressure steamer provided with inlet side and outlet side sealing mechanisms through which a broad cloth is passed, and maintained under a constant pressure, comprising blowing a high temperature and high pressure treating solution from a plurality of jet nozzles directly and repeatedly onto the cloth passing continuously through the steamer body.

The technicai thought behind the present invention lies in that the bending of sealing rollers in the sealing mechanisms can be prevented by depressing the inner pressure of the steamer body on the one hand, and on the other hand that the wet-heat treatment can be performed effectively by blowing a high temperature and pressure treating solution directly onto the cloth to be treated in the steamer body. Accordingly, the essential point of the present invention comprises blowing a high temperature and pressure treating solution from a plurality of jet nozzles directly and repeatedly onto the cloth transported continuously through the steamer body.

The invention may be performed in various ways and a preferred embodiment thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a cross-section through a high pressure steamer.

In the drawing, a high pressure steamer body 1 for wet-heat treatment of a cloth, particularly broad cloth, has a cloth inlet 2 and a cloth outlet 3. An inlet side seal mechanism 5 and an outlet side seal mechanism 6 communicate with the cloth inlet 2 and the cloth outlet 3 respectively, each of which is capable of transporting a broad cloth, for instance with a width of 4m, continuously therethrough. The inlet side seal mechanism 5 comprises a nearly J-shaped liquid seal tank 51, and a pair of sealing rubber rollers 53, having a length somewhat longer than the width of the cloth 4 to be treated, for sealing the opening above the liquid seal tank 5,.The outlet side seal mechanism 6 comprises a slow cooling tank 6t, a cooling water supply pipe 63 and a pair of sealing rubber rollers 63 having a construction similar to the inlet side sealing rubber rollers 53. The temperature and amount of cooling water supplied from the cooling water supply pipe 62 can be controlled so that the temperature of the cooling water is controlled to about 50"C near the entrance to the slow cooling tank 61.

The interior of the steamer body 1 is provided with plurality of guide rollers 7 for transporting the cloth to be treated 4 continuously therethrough so as to form snakelike undulations. A plurality of jet nozzles 8 apply a high temperature treating solution of the cloth 4 as it is transported by means of the guide rollers 7, and saucers 9 receive the excess of treating solution which is not absorbed in the cloth. The treating solution recovered in the saucers 9 is to be taken out to the exterior of the steamer body 1 by means of a conduit 10, heated to 1 50 C, under pressure. The removed solution is altered, if necessary, to a suitable concentration and again blown onto the cloth 4 by means of the plurality of jet nozzles 8.

A filter 11 filters the waste liquid exhausted from the slow cooling tank 6,, and it is so designed that the filtrate (cleansed liquid) from the filter 11 is supplied successively to a prewashing tank 1 3 provided in the steamer body 1 by means of a pump 1 2. The filter 11 will be one which is suitable for separating such impurities as waste threads contained in the waste liquid exhausted from the slow cooling tank 6, from the liquid. A pressure controller 14 attached to the steamer body 1 controls the pressure in the interior of the steamer body to a prescribed value.

The construction of the apparatus in this example is described above. The method for continuous wet-heat treatment of a broad cloth in the high pressure steamer apparatus shown in the drawing and described above is as follows.

At first, the liquid seal tank 5, provided in the inlet side seal mechanism 5 of the steamer body 1 is filled with a treating solution. Cooling water is supplied from the cooling water supply pipe 62 in the slow cooling tank 6" and pressurized steam is blown into the steamer body 1 to maintain the interior of the steamer body to a prescribed saturated vapour pressure, for instance, of about 2kg/cm2 at high temperature. Then, the broad cloth 4 to be treated is supplied through the inlet side seal mechanism 5 in the steamer body 1 for continuous wet-heat treatment. In this example, however, since the vapour pressure in the steamer body is restricted, for instance, to 2kg/cm2, at which the long sealing rubber rollers 52 and 63 do not bend, the vapour pressure in the steamer body alone is insufficient for a satisfactory wet-heat treatment of the cloth.

In the present invention, therefore, to overcome this difficulty, the treating solution at a temperature, for instance, of 1 50 C under pressure is blown directly and repeatedly back onto the cloth running in a zigzag to form snakelike undulations through the steamer body by means of a plurality of jet nozzles 8.

By this means sufficient wet-heat treatment of the broad cloth can be performed effectively and speedily. Under suitable circumstances, the treating solution may be substituted with water or water vapour under the same operating conditions. The cloth thus wet-heat treated is passed through the prewashing tank 1 3 and the slow cooling tank 6,, and is taken out of the steamer body for the completion of the wet-heat treatment.

In the present invention, a high temperature and pressure treating solution is blown repeatedly onto the cloth passing through the steamer body. Even when the vapour pressure in the interior of the steamer body is not so high, for instance at 2kg/cm2, the wet-heat treatment of a cloth can be carried out as effectively as when the cloth is in an atmosphere of wet-heat under a pressure of 5kg/cm2. Therefore, the construction of the steamer body can be simplified, and particularly, since the vapour pressure of the interior of the steamer body acting on the sealing rubber rollers 52 and 63 of the sealing mechanisms is lowered, the sealing of the steamer body with the use of the sealing rubber rollers 52 and 63 can be done effectively without bending the rubber rollers even when the diameter of the rubber rollers is not very large.In the present invention, further, since the pressure controller 14 is provided in the steamer body 1, abnormal rise of the pressure in the steamer body and accordingly the bending of the sealing rubber rollers can effectively be prevented.

As described above, the present invention relates to a method for continuous wet heat treatment of a cloth in a high pressure steamer provided with inlet side and outlet side sealing mechanisms through which the cloth is passed and which is maintained under a constant pressure in the interior of the steamer body without leakage, which comprises blowing a high temperature and pressure treating solution from a plurality of jet nozzles onto the cloth passing continuously through the steamer body directly and repeatedly. Due to the effect of high temperature and maintaining the pressure treating solution at high temperature and pressure, the wetheat treatment of a cloth can be done effectively even when the interior of the steamer body is not filled with a sufficiently high temperature and pressure atmosphere.

Accordingly, it is not necessary to maintain the interior of the steamer body at a pressure, for instance, as high as 5kg/cm2, and so the resistance of the sealing mechanisms against the pressure of the steamer body can be lowered. Even when the sealing rubber rollers are of a length of as long as more than 4m for the treatment of a broad cloth, rollers with a small diameter can bear sufficiently against the inner pressure of the steamer body, usually 2kg/cm2, with no danger of the occurence of bending, thus, wet-heat treatment of a broad cloth can satisfactorily be performed by the present invention with the use of a high pressure steamer provided with relatively small diameter sealing rubber rollers for the sealing mechanisms thereof without causing the bending of the rollers. The present invention is effective to provide an economical apparatus and to save the waste of heat and energy.

Claims

1. A method for continuous wet-heat treatment of a broad cloth in a high pressure steamer provided with inlet side and outlet side sealing mechanisms through which a broad cloth is passed, and maintained under a constant pressure, comprising blowing a high temperature and high pressure treating solution from a plurality of jet nozzles directly and repeatedly onto the cloth passing continuously through the steamer body.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein excess treating solution drained from the cloth is collected and recycled to the jet nozzles.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the drained excess treating solution is heated and altered in concentration if necessary before being returned to the het nozzles.

4. A method according to claim 1 and substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.