JP2006105469A - Drying device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a drying device capable of efficiently drying a powder while effectively preventing coagulation of the powder. <P>SOLUTION: The drying device comprises a chamber 1, a mesh 2 arranged at the lower end of the chamber 1, a gas feeding chamber 3 provided on the opposite side to the chamber 1 across the mesh 2, and a gas feeding part 4 supplying a gas to the gas feeding chamber 3. The drying device 10 is adapted to supply the gas supplied to the gas feeding chamber 3 from the gas feeding part 4 into the chamber 1 through the mesh 2, and circulate the powder with circulation of the gas within the chamber 1 to dry the powder. The mesh 2 is arranged at the lower end of the chamber 1 and has a curved shape. The mesh 2 is bonded to the outer circumferential surface of the chamber 1 at its edges. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a drying apparatus.

Conventionally, a drying apparatus for drying a powder by supplying a heated gas to the powder is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).
As shown in FIG. 5, the drying apparatus 100 described in Patent Document 1 includes a cylindrical chamber 101 and a flat mesh 102 provided at the lower end of the chamber 101. The drying apparatus 100 is configured to supply a gas into the chamber 101 via the mesh 102, circulate the powder together with the gas in the chamber 101, and dry the powder.

  However, in this drying apparatus 100, since the corner is formed by the inner wall surface of the chamber 101 and the mesh 102, the circulation of the gas (powder) deteriorates at the corner, and the powder stays in the vicinity of the corner. There was a problem such as. When the powder stays in this way, various problems occur, such as insufficient drying and aggregation of the staying powder.

JP-A 63-302285

  An object of the present invention is to provide a drying apparatus capable of effectively preventing powder aggregation and drying powder efficiently.

Such an object is achieved by the present invention described below.
The drying device of the present invention is a drying device for flowing powder and drying,
A tubular part;
Having a mesh at the lower end of the cylindrical part;
The mesh has a curved shape and is joined to an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion at an edge thereof.
Thereby, aggregation of the powder can be effectively prevented and the powder can be efficiently dried.

The drying device of the present invention is a drying device for flowing powder and drying,
A tubular part;
A curved portion having a curved shape at the lower end of the cylindrical portion;
A mesh is formed in the curved portion, and
The cylindrical portion and the curved portion are formed integrally.
Thereby, aggregation of the powder can be effectively prevented and the powder can be efficiently dried.

In the drying apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable that a cross-sectional area of the cylindrical portion gradually decreases in the vicinity of the upper end portion.
Thereby, gas (powder) can be circulated (flowed) more smoothly in the cylindrical portion.
In the drying apparatus of this invention, it is preferable that the voltage application means for applying a voltage with respect to the internal peripheral surface of the said cylindrical part is provided.
Thereby, it can prevent effectively that powder adheres to the internal peripheral surface of a cylindrical part. As a result, it is possible to more effectively prevent the powder from agglomerating and improve the powder recovery efficiency.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a drying apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First, a first embodiment of the drying apparatus of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing a first embodiment of the configuration of the drying apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partial longitudinal sectional view in the vicinity of the mesh of the drying apparatus shown in FIG. In the following description, the upper side in FIG. 1 is referred to as “upper” or “upper”, and the lower side is referred to as “lower” or “lower”.

As shown in FIG. 1, the drying apparatus 10 includes a cylindrical chamber (cylindrical portion) 1, a mesh 2 at the lower end of the chamber 1, a gas supply chamber 3 on the opposite side of the mesh 2 from the chamber 1, A gas supply unit 4 that supplies gas to the gas supply chamber 3 is provided.
In the drying apparatus 10, the gas is supplied into the chamber 1 through the mesh 2 in a state where the powder is put into the chamber 1, and the powder is circulated (flowed) along with the circulation of the gas in the chamber 1. The powder is dried.

The mesh 2 is disposed at the lower end of the chamber 1 and has a curved shape.
As shown in FIG. 2, the mesh 2 is joined to the outer peripheral surface of the chamber 1 at the edge thereof.
By the way, in the conventional drying apparatus, since the corner is formed by the inner wall surface of the chamber and the mesh, the circulation of the powder is deteriorated at the corner, and the powder stays in the vicinity of the corner. Further, when the powder stays in this way, various problems such as insufficient drying and aggregation of the staying powder occur.

  The present invention is characterized in that the mesh has a curved shape and the mesh is joined to the outer peripheral surface of the chamber at the edge thereof. By having such characteristics, the corners as described above can be eliminated, and as a result, the gas can be circulated (flowed) smoothly. As a result, the retention of the powder can be effectively prevented, the powder can be prevented from agglomerating, and the powder can be efficiently dried. In addition, with such a configuration, maintenance is easy and mesh replacement is also easy.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the mesh 2 is formed with a plurality of fine through-holes 21 through which gas can pass but powder cannot pass.
The through hole 21 penetrates in the vertical direction. Thereby, the gas that has passed through the mesh 2 can be more reliably distributed throughout the chamber 1. As a result, it is possible to more reliably prevent powder aggregation and insufficient drying.

The gas supply unit 4 has a function of supplying gas to the gas supply chamber 3 via the pipe 41.
The gas supply unit 4 is provided with a heating device (not shown) for heating the gas. Thereby, the heated gas can be supplied and a powder can be dried more reliably.
The pipe 41 has a plurality of nozzles 42 that inject gas into the gas supply chamber 3. Thereby, gas can be uniformly supplied into the gas supply chamber 3.
When the gas is supplied to the gas supply chamber 3, the pressure inside the gas supply chamber 3 increases. As a result, a difference occurs between the pressure in the gas supply chamber 3 and the pressure in the chamber 1, and the gas is supplied into the chamber 1 through the through hole 21 due to this pressure difference.

  In addition, the speed of the gas supplied into the chamber 1 may be the same in each through hole 21 or may be different. For example, the gas circulation direction in the chamber 1 can be adjusted by making the supply speed near the center of the mesh 2 faster or slower than the supply speed near the edge of the mesh 2. it can. The supply speed can be adjusted, for example, by adjusting the diameter of the nozzle 42, or by providing a valve or the like in the nozzle 42 to adjust the amount to be ejected.

The chamber 1 is provided with a powder inlet / outlet port 11 for loading / unloading the powder to be dried in the chamber 1.
Further, the chamber 1 is provided with gas exhaust means 12 for exhausting the gas in the chamber 1. Thereby, the pressure in the chamber 1 can be adjusted. Further, the gas can be circulated more smoothly in the chamber 1.

The chamber 1 is connected with a voltage applying means 7 for applying a voltage. By applying a voltage having the same polarity as the powder to the inner peripheral surface side of the chamber 1 by the voltage applying means 7, for example, the following effects can be obtained.
For example, when using a highly chargeable powder (for example, toner), the powder adheres to the inner peripheral surface of the chamber 1 by applying a voltage having the same polarity as the powder to the inner surface of the chamber 1. Can be effectively prevented. As a result, it is possible to more effectively prevent the powder from agglomerating and improve the powder recovery efficiency.

Further, the inner peripheral surface of the chamber 1 may be subjected to processing such as mirror processing. Thereby, it is possible to effectively prevent the powder from adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the chamber 1. As a result, it is possible to more effectively prevent the powder from agglomerating and improve the powder recovery efficiency.
Next, a second embodiment of the drying apparatus of the present invention will be described. Hereinafter, the present embodiment will be described with a focus on differences from the above-described embodiments, and description of similar matters will be omitted.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing a second embodiment of the configuration of the drying apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a partial longitudinal sectional view in the vicinity of the mesh of the drying apparatus shown in FIG. In the following description, the upper side in FIG. 1 is referred to as “upper” or “upper”, and the lower side is referred to as “lower” or “lower”.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, in the drying apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, a chamber (tubular portion) 1 and a mesh 2 are integrally formed. As a result, the corners, which are one cause of aggregation and insufficient drying, can be eliminated, and the gas can be circulated smoothly. As a result, the retention of the powder can be effectively prevented, the powder can be prevented from agglomerating, and the powder can be efficiently dried.

As a method of integrally forming the chamber 1 and the mesh 2 in this way, for example, one end of a cylindrical body is closed, molded into a curved shape to form a curved portion, and a plurality of portions are formed on the curved portion. For example, a method of forming a through hole can be used.
Further, as shown in FIG. 3, in the present embodiment, the vicinity of the upper end portion of the chamber 1 is curved upward. That is, the chamber 1 has a gradually decreasing portion 13 in which the cross-sectional area gradually decreases upward near the upper end portion. By adopting such a shape, the gas can be circulated more smoothly in the chamber 1.
The present embodiment has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment described above, except for the one described above.
As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated based on suitable embodiment, this invention is not limited to this.

For example, the drying apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and each part constituting the apparatus is replaced with an arbitrary one that exhibits the same function, or other configuration is added. You can also.
In the above-described embodiment, the heated gas is supplied from the gas supply unit. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, normal temperature gas is supplied and heated in the gas supply chamber. May be. Moreover, the structure which heats the inside of a chamber and supplies normal temperature gas may be sufficient. Moreover, the structure which supplies the dry gas may be sufficient.

  In the above-described embodiment, the mesh through-hole is described as penetrating in the vertical direction, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the through hole may penetrate in a direction inclined toward the inner wall surface side of the chamber. Further, in the vicinity of the center of the mesh, it may be configured to be inclined in the vertical direction toward the inner wall surface of the chamber as it goes toward the edge. Thereby, circulation of the gas in a chamber can be made smoother.

It is the longitudinal cross-sectional view which showed typically 1st Embodiment of the drying apparatus of this invention. It is a fragmentary longitudinal cross-section which shows the mesh vicinity of the drying apparatus shown in FIG. It is the longitudinal cross-sectional view which showed typically 2nd Embodiment of the drying apparatus of this invention. It is a fragmentary longitudinal cross-section which shows the mesh vicinity of the drying apparatus shown in FIG. It is the longitudinal cross-sectional view which showed the conventional drying apparatus typically.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Chamber 2 ... Mesh 21 ... Through-hole 3 ... Gas supply chamber 4 ... Gas supply part 41 ... Piping 42 ... Nozzle 7 ... Voltage application means 10 ... Drying device 11 ... Powder inlet / outlet 12 …… Gas discharge means 12 …… Pressure adjustment means 13 …… gradual decreasing part 100 …… drying device 101 …… chamber 102 …… mesh

Claims (4)

A drying device for flowing powder and drying,
A tubular part;
Having a mesh at the lower end of the cylindrical part;
The drying device characterized in that the mesh has a curved shape and is joined to an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion at an edge thereof. A drying device for flowing powder and drying,
A tubular part;
A curved portion having a curved shape at the lower end of the cylindrical portion;
A mesh is formed in the curved portion, and
The drying device characterized in that the cylindrical portion and the bending portion are integrally molded.   The drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cylindrical portion gradually decreases in cross-sectional area upward near the upper end portion thereof. The drying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a voltage applying means for applying a voltage to the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion.

Images