Vortex tube dryer

Abstract

A vortex dryer for fibrous material utilizes a helical inlet to the base of a central vortex tube to separate fiber from debris by abruptly changing direction of the conveying air flow. The dryer combines the helical input with helical shaping of the air flow through the central vortex tube to induce greater drying for the fiber which is continued at the top of the vortex tube through a separate drying chamber.

Claims

1. A vortex dryer for a fluid conveyed fiber, wherein a tubular housing contains a vertical central tube, the vertical central tube defining an interior between a top end and a bottom end, the vertical central tube partially circumscribed by a spiraling inlet housing in fluid communication with the bottom end of the vertical central tube, the bottom end superjacent a discharge for heavier trash and debris, the vertical central tube comprising a plurality of helical vanes situated about the interior of the vertical central tube, wherein the plurality of helical vanes promotes helical flow of the fluid conveyed fiber, upward through the vertical central tube, wherein the tubular housing includes a head forming a diverter dish for directing fluid conveyed fiber outwardly and downwardly to a tangential fiber discharge outlet.

2. A dryer for a fiber entrained in an airstream, wherein a central vertical tube defines an air passage from a lower separating chamber to an upper drying chamber, the lower separating chamber including a spiraling intake guide, the spiraling intake guide delivering the fiber entrained in the airstream to an inlet to the central vertical tube, the central vertical tube including a plurality of helical vanes extending inwardly to promote helical flow of the fiber entrained in the airstream upwardly through the central vertical tube, the upper drying chamber including an upper deflector head, positioned above the central vertical tube, and a tangential fiber discharge outlet, positioned below the deflector head, such that airflow through the central vertical tube to the tangential fiber discharge outlet is directed downwardly toward the tangential fiber discharge outlet.

3. The dryer as claimed in claim 2, wherein the spiraling intake guide is defined by (1) an inner wall along the central vertical tube, (2) an outer wall of the separating chamber, (3) a downwardly spiraling lower wall, (4) a connecting wall extending tangentially from the central vertical tube, between the central vertical tube and the outer wall, and (5) a downwardly spiraling partition spaced above the downwardly spiraling lower wall, and separating the drying chamber from the separating chamber and defining a base of the tangential discharge outlet.

4. The dryer as claimed in claim 3, wherein the downwardly spiraling lower wall extends below the central vertical tube into the separating chamber.

5. The dryer as claimed in claim 3, wherein the central vertical tube extends below the downwardly spiraling lower wall into the separating chamber.

6. The dryer as claimed in claim 5, wherein a conic vortex breaker is disposed beneath the central vertical tube.

7. The dryer as claimed in claim 6, wherein the conic vortex breaker is mounted on an adjustable support to allow selective positioning of the vortex breaker in the separation chamber.

8. The dryer as claimed in claim 2, wherein an air lock communicates with the separating chamber and is positioned subjacent the separating chamber to remove matter dropped from the airstream.

9. The dryer as claimed in claim 2, wherein the upper deflector head includes a plurality of downwardly extending diverter vanes to direct the airstream from the outlet of the central vertical tube.

10. The dryer as claimed in claim 2, wherein a conic vortex breaker is disposed beneath the central vertical tube.

11. The dryer as claimed in claim 10, wherein the conic vortex breaker is mounted on an adjustable support to allow selective positioning of the vortex breaker in the separation chamber.

12. The dryer as claimed in claim 2, wherein the spiraling intake guide is an involute scroll positioned subjacent the central vertical tube and diminishing in radius towards the central vertical tube with the involute scroll affixed to a bottom wall with the bottom wall having a radially upward inclination increasing as the involute scroll radius diminishes.

13. The dryer as claimed in claim 12, wherein a tangential inlet for the airstream is defined by an inner wall of the involute scroll and a vertical wall spaced from the involute scroll and extending to a point immediately below the inner wall of the central vertical tube.

14. The dryer as claimed in claim 13, wherein the vertical wall extends below the central vertical tube as a conic section.

15. The dryer as claimed in claim 12, wherein the lower separating chamber and the upper drying chamber are separated by a downwardly spiraling partition with the central vertical tube passing through the downwardly spiraling partition and sealed to the downwardly spiraling partition.

16. The dryer as claimed in claim 12, wherein the upper drying chamber includes a floor inclined relative to the central vertical tube upwardly from the tangential fiber discharge outlet.

17. The dryer as claimed in claim 12, wherein the tangential fiber discharge outlet is formed by (1) an outer wall of the central vertical tube, (2) an outer wall of the upper drying chamber, (3) a floor spiraling downwardly about the central vertical tube, and (4) a connecting wall extending tangentially from the outer wall of the central vertical tube.

18. The dryer as claimed in claim 3, wherein the tangential fiber discharge outlet is formed by (1) the outer wall of the central vertical tube, (2) an outer wall of the upper drying chamber, (3) the downwardly spiraling partition forming a floor about the central vertical tube, and (4) a connecting wall extending tangentially from the outer wall of the vertical tube to the outer wall of the upper drying chamber.

19. A The dryer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vertical central tube defines an air passage from a lower separating chamber to an upper drying chamber, and wherein the spiraling inlet housing is defined by (1) an inner wall defining the vertical central tube, (2) an inner wall of the tubular housing, (3) an outer wall of the lower separating chamber, (4) a downwardly spiraling lower wall, (5) a connecting wall extending tangentially from the vertical central tube, the connecting wall located between the vertical central tube and the outer wall, and (6) a downwardly spiraling partition spaced above the downwardly spiraling lower wall, the downwardly spiraling lower wall separating the tubular housing into the upper drying chamber and the lower separating chamber.

20. The dryer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spiraling inlet housing is defined by an involute scroll positioned subjacent the vertical central tube and diminishing in radius towards the vertical central tube with the involute scroll affixed to a bottom wall with the bottom wall having a radially upward inclination increasing as the involute scroll radius diminishes and a vertical wall spaced from the involute scroll and extending tangentially from a point immediately below the wall of the vertical central tube to the wall of the tubular housing.

21. A vortex dryer for a fluid conveyed, fiber wherein a tubular housing contains a vertical central tube, the vertical central tube defining an interior between a top end and a bottom end, the vertical central tube including a plurality of helical vanes about its interior to promote helical flow of the fluid conveyed fiber, upward through the vertical central tube, wherein the tubular housing includes a head forming a diverter dish for directing fluid conveyed fiber outwardly and downwardly to a tangential fiber discharge outlet.

22. The vortex dryer as claimed in claim 21, wherein the tubular housing defines a drying chamber that includes a floor inclined relative to the vertical central tube upwardly from the tangential fiber discharge outlet.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Referring to the drawings which are appended hereto and which form a portion of this disclosure, it may be seen that:

(2) FIG. 1 is a side cross section view of a traditional prior art hopper-type rock and green boll trap;

(3) FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a traditional prior art conveyor-belt suction-duct-type rock and green boll trap;

(4) FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a traditional prior art shelf-type tower dryer;

(5) FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a hopper-type rock trap followed by a traditional open-cavity dryer;

(6) FIG. 5 is a front sectional showing the overall view of a first embodiment of present invention;

(7) FIG. 6 is an orthographic view of the tangential inlet outlet, and vortex tube of the embodiment of FIG. 5;

(8) FIG. 7 is an orthographic view showing the vortex tube with the diffuser nozzle removed of the first embodiment;

(9) FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a second embodiment of the inlet of the vortex tube, the lower end of the cylindrical body, and the cone above the air lock of the present invention;

(10) FIG. 9 is a bottom view of the dished head and splitter cone;

(11) FIG. 10 is a partial perspective view of the dryer;

(12) FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the separating chamber of the third embodiment;

(13) FIG. 12 is an upper perspective view of the separating chamber of the third embodiment showing the conic scroll extension of the inner wall;

(14) FIG. 13 is an upper perspective view of the separating chamber of the third embodiment;

(15) FIG. 14 is a partial sectional view of the drying chamber of the third embodiment; and

(16) FIG. 15 is a diagrammatic view of a fourth embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(17) One or more of the above objects can be achieved, at least in part, by providing a vortex tube dryer 50 including a cylindrical body 51 with a head 52 of dished or concave shape containing a suspended splitter cone 53. An inlet 54 allows seed cotton and air to enter the cylindrical body 51 in a tangential manner into a ductwork with a rectangular cross section defined by an upper wall 57, a lower wall 59, an inside wall 55a, and an outside wall 60, This ductwork causes the airflow and entrained seed cotton to follow a downward spiraling path. The inside vertical wall of this rectangular cross section wraps around a central vertical vortex tube 55. As the inlet path wraps downward around the vortex tube 55, the cross section enlarges thus reducing the velocity of the hot air and seed cotton. This enlargement can be achieved in more than one way. One means of enlargement by the upper wall 57 of said rectangular inlet duct leveling out to form the lower floor of the superjacent outlet 58, thereby increasing the vertical height of the rectangular inlet duct. Another means of enlargement by the introduction of a gradually tapered spiral opening 56 in the inner wall 55a coincident with the outer wall of the vortex tube 55. The tapered opening 56 or vortex tube inlet creates a sharp turn for the hot air and seed cotton. The lower wall 59 of the rectangular inlet duct continues downward in the same spiral fashion until terminating near the bottom of the cylindrical body 51. FIG. 6 further illustrates several of these components.

(18) The separation of rocks, green bolls, and heavy foreign matter takes place below the inlet 54 by virtue of two actions; first the heavier-than-seed-cotton material tends to follow the outer wall 60 of the tangential inlet and such that the inlet duct acts like a cyclone tending to sling the heavy material outward as the air follows a circular path, and secondly the difference in the mass of the individual locks of seed cotton and the basic momentum formula for an object of p=mv, where p represents momentum, m represents mass of the object and v represents velocity of the object. The smaller mass seed cotton has less momentum and tends to follow the air stream into the tapered spiral opening 56, thus, the seed cotton is peeled away from the trajectory of any more massive materials, such as rocks and green bolls, which are unable to make the sharp turn due to their higher momentum. The separation action of a cyclone is well understood by those familiar with the art.

(19) A cone 65 is attached to the bottom of the cylindrical body 51, and below the cone 65 is a round to rectangular transition 61. Below the transition is an air lock 12 either of a rotary design 13 or of a double-door design 14. The rocks and green bolls are then dropped out of the system into a barrel 43, some other suitable container, or some other means of conveyance.

(20) The velocity of the hot air and seed cotton entering the vortex tube 55 increases due to the decrease in cross sectional area. The inside of the vortex tube 55 can be seen in FIG. 7. The vortex tube 55 contains helical spinner vanes 62 extending inwardly and diagonally relative to the vortex tube, which will encourage the continued spiral path of the hot air and seed cotton. Above the vortex tube is a diffuser nozzle 63 designed to reduce the pressure drop as the hot air and seed cotton enter the relatively larger cross section created by the cylindrical body 51. As the rising column of seed cotton reaches the splitter cone 53 and dished head 52 it will spread around the perimeter wall of the cylindrical body prior to falling back down onto the spiral exit ramp floor 64 created by virtue of being the other side of the material used to make up the upper wall 57 of the rectangular inlet 54. The concomitant motion of the centrally rising column of conveying air and seed cotton exiting the vortex tube and the descending air moving toward the tangential outlet 58 create a cylindrically shaped pneumatic sheer zone where the air moving in opposite vertical directions pass each other, one inside the other as seen from above, thereby further increasing turbulence at the boundary between the two and furthering the encouragement of the continuation of a torus-shaped path of the descending seed cotton. The rectangular tangential outlet 58 is formed on the bottom by the spiral exit ramp floor 64, on the outside by the wall of the cylindrical body 51, and on the inside wall by the vortex tube 55. Optionally, a series of spinner vanes 75 can be affixed to the surface of the splitter cone 53 arranged in a spiral pattern, as seen in FIG. 9, thus encouraging the seed cotton to continue in spiraling path as it traverses the dished head 52. It is understood the head 52 can be dished, spherical, elliptical, or flat and still maintain the spirit thereof.

(21) A second embodiment of the present invention can best be seen in FIG. 8 where the inlet of the vortex tube 55 does not have a tapered spiral opening. The vortex tube inlet can optionally include an inlet nozzle 71. Directly below the vortex tube inlet is an optional vortex breaker 72 that can be conical, spherical, elliptical or flat in cross section. This vortex breaker 72 can be supported from beneath, and this support 73 can also be adjustable to place the vortex breaker 72 in an optimal position. It is to be understood that support 73 can include hydraulic or mechanical actuators to move the vortex breaker horizontally and vertically in a known manner. The vortex breaker 72 adjustment can include not only a change in elevation, but can include provision for a location change bringing the vortex breaker into a position no longer central to the cylindrical body 51 or the cone 65 or the vortex tube 55. This adjustment can also allow for a change in angular position of the central axis of the vortex breaker 72 relative to the cylindrical body 51 or the cone 65 or the vortex tube 55. It is understood all or some features unique to the second embodiment can be combined or included with features described in the first embodiment and still maintain the spirit thereof.

(22) It is understood the cylindrical body or housing 51 in any of the embodiments described herein can be made up of a multi-faceted wall with as few as four facets instead of having a smooth, curving surface wall and some components could also be faceted in a similar manner and still maintain the spirit thereof.

(23) A third embodiment of the present invention can be seen in FIG. 10 and FIG. 14 where the tangential inlet 54 and tangential outlet 58 are at significantly differing elevations. The inlet section 86 of this embodiment is separated from the outlet section 87 by a solid divider sheet 88 with a central hole of the same diameter as the vortex tube 55. This divider sheet 88 forms the roof of the inlet section 86 and serves as the origination of the inlet point of the vortex tube 55. A tangential inlet 54 enters the cylindrical body 51 near the bottom and the spiral inlet path points upward. As seen in FIG. 11 this upward directionality is achieved by combining an involute scroll-type vertical wall 80 and radially upward ramping floor 81 in order to encourage the seed cotton to begin the spiraling motion immediately prior to entry into the central vortex tube as shown in previous embodiments. By radially upward ramping, we mean that the portion of the floor closest to the involute scroll is higher than the distal portion closest to the axis of the vertical tube. Further the angle of inclination of the upwardly ramping floor increases as the involute spiral wall curves toward the vortex tube. Thus, the upward ramping floor 81 increases in angular pitch from the central axis of the vortex tube such that as the path of the involute wall 80 approaches completion of 180 degrees of rotation around the central axis, the floor angle becomes parallel to the wall forming a partial near-cylindrical area immediately beneath the vortex tube. In addition to inducing the spiraling motion of seed cotton, this shape creates a somewhat gradual transition in cross-sectional area between the tangential inlet of the cylindrical body and the inlet at the bottom of the vortex tube in order to accelerate the seed cotton in such a manner as to minimize the energy losses associated with abrupt pressure drops and undesirable eddy currents.

(24) While the seed cotton is carried immediately upward into the accelerating air stream entering the vortex tube, the relatively heavier items like rocks or green bolls tend to follow the outer wall of the involute scroll, in an ever-tightening path toward the center where it will tend to reduce in velocity, drop out of the conveying air stream, fall into a cone 82 attached to the floor at the bottom of the cylindrical body, drop into air lock 12, and exit the system as demonstrated in previously described embodiments.

(25) The vertical walls of the tangential inlet are defined on the outside by the involute scroll 80, and on the inside by a vertical wall 83 that ends near the point where the plane defined by this inside wall meets at or near the tangent point 89 of the downward imaginary cylindrical projection of the wall of the vortex tube immediately above. This inner wall 83 can stop abruptly at this tangent point 89 as best seen in FIG. 13, or can be fitted with a variety of scroll extensions as best seen in FIG. 12 so shaped to prevent the separated matter like rocks and green bolls from being reintroduced into the air stream entering the vortex tube. One such scroll extension could be described as a portion of a cylinder or as the continuation of the ever-tightening involute scroll. Another shape could be described as a portion of a cone whose defining axis runs parallel or nearly parallel with the vortex tube. A cone version of this scroll extension 84 could be designed pointing up or down. It is understood portions of the above described scroll extensions could be cut away or extended as required to obtain the desired results described herein.

(26) The outlet section 87 can best be understood as seen in FIG. 14 and is formed with the floor of the outlet being defined by a single or compound diagonal plane whose lower end terminates immediately prior to the rectangular tangential outlet 58, with said plane forming a singular canted disc 85 whose center is removed in such a way as to allow the cylindrical path of the vortex tube 55 to pass through this plane, and sealed both to the vortex tube and the inner walls of the cylindrical body 51 in order to maintain air pressure isolation between the inlet and outlet of the dryer.

(27) Alternatively for this third embodiment, the outlet section 87 could be replaced and rectangular tangential outlet 58 formed as best shown in FIG. 6. with the spiral exit ramp floor 64 as demonstrated in a previously described embodiment.

(28) A fourth embodiment of the present invention can be seen in FIG. 15 wherein the inlet 54 of the dryer is coincidental with the inlet point of the vortex tube 55. The spiral exit ramp floor 64 and dryer tangential outlet 58 remain as demonstrated in previously described embodiments and shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 14.

(29) Alternatively for this fourth embodiment, the outlet section could be formed with the floor of the outlet being defined by a single or compound diagonal plane whose lower end terminates immediately prior to the tangential outlet 58, with said plane forming a singular canted disc 85 whose center is removed in such a way as to allow the cylindrical path of the vortex tube 55 to pass through this plane as best shown in FIG. 14. While in the foregoing specification this invention has been described in relation to certain embodiments thereof, and many details have been put forth for the purpose of illustration, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention is susceptible to additional embodiments and that certain of the details described herein can be varied considerably without departing from the basic principles of the invention.