Abstract: An vertical dryer (10) is provided having a plurality of individual dryer decks (12-18) including alternating fan and heater decks (14, 16), an air circulation assembly (11), and an upright, common plenum chamber (26) in communication with the decks (12-18). The assembly (11) is operable to create a continuous drying air stream which passes upwardly in countercurrent flow relationship to product on the decks (12-18). Also, the assembly (11) serves to pass the drying air stream into, through and out of the plenum (26) at the level of each heater deck (16); in the plenum (26), the air stream velocity is decreased, causing particulate fines to fall out of the stream for collection. The use of the common plenum (26) also allows independent control of the decks (12-18) in terms of air flows therethrough and recirculation characteristics.

Abstract: An apparatus for the drying of particulate material in superheated steam in a closed vessel (1) has a number of upwardly open, elongated and substantially vertical processing cells (2) which are placed around a central part with a heat exchanger (3). The last of these processing cells (2) has a closed bottom and is the discharge cell (4), while the remainder (2) have bottoms (5) through which steam can permeate. The processing cells (2), which lie at the side of one another, stand in mutual connection through openings (11) at the lowermost ends of the cells, so that the particulate material which is dried by the superheated steam which is blown up from the heat exchanger (3) through the steam-permeable bottoms (5) can pass from one processing cell (2) to the next through the openings (11). The discharge cell (4) and/or the last of the processing cells (2) are provided with one or more substantially vertical plates for restraining and/or controlling the flow of particulate material.

Abstract: A multi-chamber fluidized bed classifying apparatus comprising; a main chamber having a fluidized bed arranged on wind boxes, through a perforated gas distributing plate is divided into a drying chamber and a classifying chamber by a partition plate, and a communication passage is defined under the plate. The wind boxes have respective lower ends connected to discharge devices respectively. The wind box is connected to a processing fluidization gas supply system for supplying the fluidization gas into the box, while the wind box is connected to a classifying fluidization gas supply system for supplying the fluidization gas into the box. The classifying fluidization gas supply system is provided with a flow control unit which adjusts the quantity of gas supplied into the classifying chamber to control the size of classified particles. The processing fluidization gas supply system is provided with a control unit, which adjusts the gas quantity and/or the temperature of gas supplied into the drying chamber.

Abstract: A spray dryer apparatus and method suitable for the production of detergents, cleaners and components thereof wherein the inner wall of the drying chamber is provided with an air-permeable textile material lining at a distance from the inner wall, and at least one outlet for compressed gas is provided between the inner wall and the textile material lining whereby adherence of sticky deposits on the inner wall of the drying chamber is avoided or reduced.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for drying grain in which a plurality of conveyors are mounted one above the other. The discharge end of one conveyor feeds the input end of the next lower conveyor. The conveyors have a porous top surface and are vibrated to move the grain. Warm air is conveyed beneath the top conveyor and every other conveyor thereafter. Cool air is conveyed beneath the conveyor beneath the top conveyor and every other conveyor thereafter. The warm and cool air passes through the porous top surfaces of the conveyors. Thus the conveyors alternately heat and cool the grain to remove moisture to the desired level. The apparatus can be free standing or mounted as part of a combine or harvester.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for disinfecting granular material using microwave energy in an applicator that mixes the material with air for consistent and effective insect mortality rates.

Abstract: A seed corn dryer capable of being switched between a single pass mode and a dual path mode of operation. The invention includes an air supply unit adapted to delivery drying air to only one dryer plenum in a dual path mode and to both dryer plenums in a single pass mode. One air supply unit includes a supply upper plenum and a supply lower plenum with a closable air passage therebetween. The dryer includes a center plenum partitioned into upper and lower plenums, with a series of corn bins on either side. Each bin has an upper inside air door, a lower inside air door, a lower outside air door and an upper inside air door. In one single pass mode, air is forced into both upper and lower dryer plenums, then either up or down in a single pass through an individual bin, exiting to the outside. In one dual path mode, air is forced only through the upper dryer plenum, then downward through a first bin, through the lower plenum, upward through a second bin, exiting through an upper outside air door.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for the removal of liquid from particulate material by evaporation through the supply of heat, said heat being transferred substantially by superheated vapours or steam of the liquids existing in the particulate material, and where said method is executed in a substantially closed system. The particulate material is supplied continuously to a process chamber which is configured as an annual or partly annular chamber (1) which lies in a substantially horizontal manner, where the superheated vapours are introduced from below and up through openings (11) in a bottom (10) in the annular chamber, so that the particulate material is brought into movement by the superheated vapours, and such that a transport of the particulate material takes place through the annular chamber (1).

Abstract: A method and apparatus for drying grain which includes a method and apparatus for unloading the grain from a grain dryer of a type including spaced apart first and second walls for defining a passageway or grain column for directing grain flowing downwardly by gravity between the first and second walls. A substantially horizontal shelf is disposed below the outlet port of the grain confinement walls for receiving grain thereon from the grain column. A channel is disposed below the shelf for receiving grain which is pushed off of the shelf. A discharge port is disposed in the channel. A strip of material is disposed for moving along above the shelf for metering grain from the shelf to the channel as the strip moves along the shelf. A paddle is disposed for movement in the channel for pushing grain from the channel into the discharge port. The dryer also has a central air passage from top to bottom, which lends itself to being used for three mode drying, if desired.

Abstract: Apparatus for the drying of particulate material in superheated steam in a closed vessel (1). The vessel consists of a number of upwardly open, elongated and substantially vertical processing cells (2) which are placed around a central part with a heat exchanger (3). The last of these processing cells (2) has a closed bottom and is the discharge cell (4), while the remainder (2) have bottoms (5) through which steam can permeate. The processing cells (2), which lie at the side of one another, stand in mutual connection through openings (11) at the lowermost ends of the cells, so that the particulate material which is dried by the superheated steam which is blown up from the heat exchanger (3) through the steam-permeable bottoms (5) can pass from one processing cell (2) to the next through said openings (11).

Abstract: The invention relates to a process for the operation of a regenerator, hot and cold gas being repeatedly passed through a bulk material 4 with a maximum particle diameter D.sub.max which is received in the annular space 1 between a substantially cylindrical hot grid 3 and a cold grid 4 [sic] surrounding the latter, and at least one discharge opening 16 being provided in the bottom B of the annular space 1 for discharging the bulk material 4. To increase the service life of the regenerator, it is proposed according to the invention that a predetermined amount of bulk material 4 is discharged during or after the passing-through of hot gas, so that a compressive stress exerted by the bulk material 4 on the hot grid 3 and cold grid 4 [sic] is reduced.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for drying small lots of product, for example ear corn. The method includes simultaneously directing air flow through the product while weighing the product from time to time to derive moisture content to the product. Air temperature and flow can be adjusted to desired levels for controlling the drying process. The apparatus includes an air permeable product bin and a docking station for receiving the bin. A scale is associated with the docking station to obtain weight measurements during the drying process. An air plenum supplies controlled air flow to the docking station. The structure allows monitoring of moisture content during drying and control of air flow. The temperature can also be controlled through control of an air gate from a main hot and cold air plenum.

Abstract: A grain turner (101)of the present invention is adapted for use with a grain dryer having an inner dryer wall (7) and an outer dryer wall (9) spaced therefrom and defining a vertically extending grain path (11) therebetween. A grain turner (101) of the present invention is disposed within the grain path for exchanging (turning) grain from the inner portion of the grain path to the outer portion of the grain path and vice versa and for exchanging grain widthwise within the grain path. The grain turner comprises a vertical wall (109) disposed between the inner and outer dryer walls. The grain turner further has at least one pair inclined plates (119, 125) with one of the plates (119) being on the inside of the vertical wall and with the other of the inclined plates (125) being on the outside of the vertical wall. Plate (119) is inclined downwardly in a first widthwise direction and the other of the inclined plates is inclined downwardly in the opposite widthwise direction.

Abstract: A grain moisture regulating system includes a grain bin with a perforated grain supporting floor and a fan for blowing outside ambient air into the grain bin through the grain mass set thereupon, and through an air outlet at the top of the grain bin. A humidistat fan control system measures ambient moisture in the air outside the grain bin and compares it to ambient moisture in the air inside the grain bin for controlling the fan. A fan operation control system includes a plurality of moisture content sensors which measure ambient moisture in the air outside the grain bin and ambient moisture in the air above the grain mass in the grain bin to produce a signal for the humidistat fan control system.

Abstract: There is disclosed an apparatus that provides an apparatus for continuously re-hydrating, cooking or blanching dried solid products. Specifically, the apparatus provides controlled high pressure and temperature to continuously re-hydrate, cook or blanch dried food products while maintaining food product integrity and quality.

Abstract: A continuous flow particulate material dryer includes a base and a heating chamber extending upwards from a central location of the base for providing heated air to the dryer. A perforated inner wall structure extends upwardly from the base and surrounds the heating chamber. A perforated outer wall structure is spaced apart from the inner wall and extends upwardly from the base surrounding the inner wall. A main drying chamber is defined by the space between the inner and outer wall structures. A perforated partition separates the main drying chamber into an inner and an outer chamber. The partition restricts the flow of particulate material from the inner chamber and the outer chamber. An upward facing conical protrusion mounts above the heating chamber for dispersing the particulate matter evenly into both inner and outer chambers. A circular chamber having a rotatable auger therein is used to collect the particulate material from the base of the dryer.

Abstract: A heater for a grain bin is attached to the inlet flange of a centrifugal inline blower and comprises a housing having a vertical front wall attached to the inlet flange of the blower and a parallel vertical rear wall. The front wall has an opening aligned with the opening into the blower. The rear wall has an opening aligned with the opening in the front wall so that the majority of the air entering the blower passes straight through the housing from the rear wall to the front wall. A sleeve surrounds the opening in the rear wall and induces some flow from the housing to mix with the flow into the blower. The combustion chamber is attached to the rear wall through an opening in the rear wall above the sleeve. The housing has two side walls converging to an open top through which air can escape. When heated air is required an air flow is induced from the combustion chamber to mix with the air flow through the housing to heat the total air flow.

Abstract: A dryer for drying dental models includes a solid base member, a top member, a variable plurality of modular drying units, each of which includes a frame and a slidable, foraminous tray, an air blower and an articulated support arm. In use, the modular drying units are positioned in an over-and-under stacked relation, such that the slidable trays therein form a column of trays. Each slidable tray contains a central aperture and a duct extending upward from the perimeter of the central aperture. The aperture and duct in the center of each tray collectively form a channel running through the center of the column of trays. The base member is fixedly connected to the articulated support arm, which supports the dryer. The top member, which is positioned on top of the uppermost modular drying unit, includes a central aperture with an inlet tube inserted therein and exhaust vents around the perimeter of its top surface for the release of air.

Abstract: The invention relates to a particulate conveying apparatus for evenly drying particulate material. The apparatus comprises a plurality of spatially separate, essentially parallel, vertically oriented proportioning plates, disposed between a first end and a discharge end of the conveying apparatus for flow of particulate material therebetween. An endless conveyor is positioned proximate to and below the bottom edge of the proportioning plates for receiving of particulate material flowing between the plates from the first end to the discharge end of the conveying apparatus. The plates each have side edges that vary a preset distance from one side edge to an opposing side edge of the plate.

Abstract: Apparatus of the present invention for batch drying crop in the shell comprises a bin having a generally cylindric bin wall, a conical upper drying floor carded by the bin wall, means floor for forming a substantially uniform layer of the crop to be dried on the upper surface of the upper drying floor, and selectively operable means for effecting the gravity discharge of the batch of crop from the upper drying floor. An inverted conical lower drying floor is carded by the bin below the upper drying floor for receiving the crop discharged from the upper drying floor. The lower drying floor has a hopper shaped crop supporting surface. Means is associated with the lower drying floor for forming a substantially uniform layer of crop on the lower drying floor upon the crop being gravity discharged from the upper drying floor. The lower drying floor further has a bottom outlet for the gravity discharge of the crop supported thereon.

Abstract: A metering unloader (29) of the present invention is for use in a tower grain dryer (T). The tower dryer has a grain drying path (11) and the latter has a grain outlet (27) at the lower end thereof, and the tower has at least one discharge outlet (15) in the lower portion thereof. The metering unloader is rotatably mounted within the lower portion (23) of the tower for rotation about a vertical axis (39) and the unloader is powered by a motor (41) for rotatably driving the metering unloader about the vertical axis. The metering unloader is in communication with the grain outlet of the grain drying path and it substantially uniformly removes dried grain from all regions of the lower portion of the dryer upon each revolution of the metering unloader and delivers the dried grain to the discharge outlet for the tower dryer. A method for metering the unloading of grain from the dryer is also disclosed.

Abstract: The specification relates to a gas distributor for an inlet gas plenum comprising a plurality of spatially separate gas deflectors, each deflector arranged and positioned to successively cut diagonally across a gas flow path in a gas flow direction from an inlet end of the distributor to a terminal end of the distributor. The deflectors configured to direct gas flow exiting the distributor in an essentially perpendicular direction to the direction of gas flow entering the distributor.

Abstract: A dryer apparatus and method for drying yard waste or other particulate matter is disclosed. The dryer has a generally vertical housing defining an internal drying chamber. An input device may be positioned adjacent the housing top for transferring the particulate matter into the dryer. A discharge apparatus is positioned adjacent the housing bottom for discharging dried material out of the dryer. A plurality of generally horizontal transfer devices are vertically spaced apart within the internal drying chamber, defining a plurality of drying zones associated therewith. The transfer devices are adapted to transfer the particulate matter from one drying zone to a next lower drying zone. Additionally, when filling and transferring material from one zone to another, they provide a support on which the particulate matter may.

Abstract: A grain drying apparatus of a type including, a pair of spaced apart air pervious walls for confining a column of grain to be dried. A plenum chamber is formed on one side of the innermost of the air pervious walls. A blower or the like is provided for causing heated air from said plenum chamber to pass through the spaced air pervious walls and therefore through said column of grain to be dried. A grain diverting plate is disposed between and spaced from the spaced air pervious walls. A first portion of the plate which is closest to the innermost air pervious wall is higher than a second portion of said plate which is closest to the outermost air pervious wall. This creates a void under the angled plate. The angle of the plate is steep enough to allow grain to flow against it on the bottom side, therefore grain will completely flow into and fill the void. The grain next to the outside skin of the dryer is restricted into a funnel with the outlet being smaller than the inlet.

Abstract: A device for separating undesired exhaust gas components from a fluid comprises a reactor with a reaction chamber and having a top and a bottom. The top has a device for introducing a granular adsorption medium. The bottom comprises first and second oppositely slanted sidewalls arranged parallel to one another and forming between them a gutter open in an upward direction. Sections of the gutter form removal funnels with a funnel mouth for removing the granular adsorption medium. The bottom further has fluid inflow openings for admitting the fluid into the reaction chamber, whereby the funnel mouths and the fluid inflow openings are arranged alternatingly in the gutters. The funnel mouths are arranged to form a grid structure. The bottom also has distributing elements for covering the fluid inflow openings. The distributing elements have a pyramid, a cone, a pyramid sector, or a cone sector shape.

Abstract: A method and arrangement for enforced heat transmission between a solid or liquid alimentary body and an ambient gas takes place in connection with cooling/freezing or when cooking, frying or drying the entire part or parts of the alimentary body. This method and arrangement uses a low-frequency standing sound wave. The apparatus uses a low-frequency sound generator having a pulsator part and a resonator part. The resonator part is acoustically virtually closed and is designed so that the alimentary body, which is to be exposed to enforced heat transmission, is located within a zone inside the resonator part where the standing sound wave has a particle velocity anti-node.

Abstract: A vertical dryer for granular materials the dryer having a substantially vertical chute into which granular material is deposited, the chute having walls that are at least in part air pervious for passing heated air through the chute, the chute having incline baffles for intercepting and redirecting the granular material during its descent in the chute.

Abstract: A grain column dryer and conditioner includes two-spaced air pervious walls that form a generally vertical column of grain to be heated and dried. A plenum chamber is formed between the innermost of the pervious walls and is divided into upper and lower air flow sections by a plenum divider mounted within the innermost of the walls. A blower and burner assembly having an inlet and outlet is mounted within the plenum chamber to force heated air into the upper heated section and out through the column of grain adjacent the upper section while simultaneously pulling cooler air into the lower section of the plenum chamber through the grain column adjacent the lower section.

Abstract: The grain moisture sensor of the present invention includes a plurality of conductors for communicating a variable voltage between two points. The conductors are mounted on the continuous flow dryer wall between the exterior and interior walls, in the heat plenum and oriented such that the grain flows between the conductors in response to the action of the variable discharge means. The sensor further includes electrical circuitry for measuring the capacitance of the conductor, calculating the percent moisture content of the grain and controlling the speed of a discharge means so as to control the discharge of grain from the dryer in response to the moisture content of the grain being lowered to a predetermined level.

Abstract: This invention refers to a dryer for sugar cane bagasse and/or medulla with vertical type, mobile bed with countercurrent waste combustion gases consisting of: a cylindrical body like a silo. The load is fed into the top of the cylindrical body and is then evenly distributed by spreading devices. Combustion gases from conventional boilers with a high energy content and normally considered as waste are fed countercurrently with the assistance of a ventilator into the bottom of the dryer through slots or holes. Once the gases have picked up humidity while going through the silo, they are expelled through the top by means of a conduct to the boiler's chimney.

Abstract: An on-line drying control method for powdered or granular materials and a related system to execute the method. A fixed amount of materials stored and dried in a drying means such as a hopper dryer is sampled, transported into a moisture measuring/operating station wherein the sampled materials are heated in a heat treatment chamber and the moisture content is calculated by an operation unit. The moisture content is sent to a temperature controller to control the temperature of the drying means so that the obtained moisture content corresponds to a predetermined moisture content while comparing both moisture contents.

Abstract: A process is provided for drying products in divided form, particularly cereals, and an apparatus for implementing this process. This process is based on the principle of placing the material to be dried (cereal grains, food grains . . . ) in suspension in a gaseous stream forming the hot drying fluid. In accordance with the invention, alternate steps are provided for drying and sweating the material during treatment, the sweating involving absence of drying fluid flow about the grains. An apparatus for implementing this process includes a casing with vertical axis in which is mounted at least one perforated horizontal plate supporting the fluidized bed, a blade being movable perpendicularly to the plate, two side hoppers with mobile bottoms being associated with each plate, a blade being mounted in each hopper.

Abstract: An improved disc dryer for aggregate material which operates by rotating and impacting a tilted pan which holds the material being dried. Increased capacity is attained by transverse stabilizers on the impactor assembly, adjustable pressure air shock mounts for variable amplitude control of the impactor assembly, sets of dual support wheels upon which the pan rotates a reinforced support tract on the underside of the pan, and an adjustable feed box for supplying material to the pan at varying locations.

Abstract: The application describes a drying process and a fully electric drying device consuming from 80 to 140 KWH of electricity per ton of water evaporated. One and the same drying fluid (air, gas or steam) saturated with steam at a temperature of .THETA.0 rises, gradually becoming laden with steam, after each of the numerous fluidized drying stages for granulous products descending in the opposite direction. Between each drying stage, the drying fluid is superheated by crossed tubes (14) maintained at a temperature .THETA.2 approximately 20.degree. C. greater than .THETA.0 by condensation (at 28) of the same steam compressed from .THETA.0 to .THETA.2, or by the condensation of auxiliary steam evaporated at .THETA.0-5.degree. C. by condensation of the vapors formed by the drying process.

Abstract: A hopper dryer for drying pelletized or granular resin material comprising a heat source at its center and double concentric cylinders which comprises an inner and an outer cylinder with many apertures to permit passing of heated gas respectively so as to form a doughnut-like material storing space therebetween. The gas is fed into the heat source to be heated, then passes through the apertures of the inner cylinder and discharged through the apertures of the outer cylinder so that the pelletized or granular resin material stored in the doughnut-like space formed between the inner and outer cylinder are preheated and dried.

Abstract: A grain bin structure having an inverted frusto-conical interior drying floor dividing the bin structure into a drying chamber and a storage chamber, and a transfer means comprising a rotating helical conveying system for transporting grain from the drying chamber to the storage chamber, said rotating helical conveying system having inlet means in communication with the drying chamber and outlet means in communication with the storage chamber. Preferably, the bin structure further comprises control means for sensing the moisture content of the grain in the drying chamber and for signaling activation of the transfer means when the moisture content reaches a predetermined level. The grain bin structure may also include improved diverter means for insuring complete transfer of the grain from the drying chamber to the storage chamber and deflector means for promoting even piling of the grain within the storage chamber.

Abstract: An apparatus is provided which is designed to be connected to a steam source for steaming materials therein. In particular, the apparatus is designed to steam treat raw soybeans with the hulls intact. The apparatus includes a chamber for receiving and passing the materials to be steamed therethrough which is partitioned to at least two substantially unobstructed vertical compartments. Steam pipes which are connected to the steam source are positioned adjacent the partition at spaced intervals between the top and the bottom of the chamber in order to deliver steam into each of the compartments within the chamber. In the preferred embodiment, the steam chamber includes an upper and lower chamber and the partition divides the upper chamber vertically into two side-by-side compartments. The upper chamber is twenty-thirty feet long or longer.

Abstract: A grain column dryer which includes two concentric, cylindrical pervious walls and a pervious cone on top of the inner pervious wall, utilizes an impervious, heat insulated, cylindrical outer wall spaced outwardly from the pervious walls. A heater/blower assembly is supported on a substantially airtight impervious bulkhead in the center of the dryer to force heated air into an upper heated plenum and out through the concentric pervious walls and the pervious top cone, and to thereby draw air through lower portions of the pervious walls. A hottest air recycle collar is attached to the outer pervious wall above the bulkhead baffle and extends, in spaced relation to the outer pervious wall and to the outer impervious wall, to position well below the bulkhead baffle.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for effecting treatment needed to regenerate spent hydrocarbon conversion catalyst. The invention may be termed a variable gas flow catalyst bed. Catalyst particles in a vertically-elongated movable bed are contacted with a hot oxygen-containing gas stream in order to remove, by means of combustion, coke which accumulated on the catalyst particles while they were used in a hydrocarbon conversion zone. The catalyst particles are confined in the bed by means of catalyst retention screens. The catalyst retention screens are configured such that gas flow through the bed varies from a maximum at the top of the bed to a minimum at the bottom of the bed. The variation in gas flow is accomplished by varying the size of gas flow apertures in the retention screens from a maximum at the top of the bed to a minimum at the bottom of the bed.

Abstract: A building for storage grain or other particulate material. Two side walls spaced laterally from each other provide lateral support for the base of a pile of such particulate material and lower support for a roof. A roof spanning and supported fixedly on the side walls so as to cover the building has a ridge extending longitudinally, two arrays of structural trusses with one array extending between each of the side walls and the ridge and two canopies with one canopy covering the array on each side. Each canopy slopes upwardly from one of the side walls at an angle more than the angle of repose of such particulate material. A plurality of panels extend longitudinally, each depending from and supported fixedly by one of the arrays. The panels are arranged in several pairs facing each other on opposite sides of the ridge with each pair in a different tier.

Abstract: A thermal dryer for drying granular resin immediately prior to its introduction into a molding machine or other resin processing apparatus comprises a vertically oriented cylindrical drying chamber with means to introduce granular resin at its top, the resin flowing down through the chamber and out into the processing apparatus; a rectangular tubular member defines an air passage around the drying chamber, with communication from the top of the drying chamber to the air passage. An enclosed electrical heater and a blower are mounted in a housing encompassing the tubular member and the drying chamber; the blower pulls air through an inlet port into the housing to pass over the blower and its motor, into the heater enclosure and out through an air discharge tube into the bottom part of the drying chamber, out the top of the drying chamber into the air passage, and then through the blower to an outlet port.

Abstract: A relatively compact, streamlined dryer for use in hopper-bottomed grain bins includes a foraminous, cylindrical casing surrounding a foraminous, cylindrical duct, which is coaxial with the casing, the openings of the casing and duct being directed downwardly to reduce the risk of clogging; triangular brackets extending outwardly and downwardly from the casing for pivotally supporting feet so that the dryer can readily be mounted on the sloping floor of a bin over the central discharge opening thereof without substantially impeding the unloading of grain; an inlet duct in the side of the casing for admitting air into the dryer; and a frusto-conical, annular cap on the top end of the dryer closing the top of the passage between the casing and the duct.

Abstract: A pulverulent, water-soluble material is agglomerated by projecting the material in a stream through a moistening zone. Means are provided for directing an aqueous gas towards the stream of particulate material in the moistening zone so that the stream of particulate material is surrounded by and confined throughout its path of travel through the moistening chamber as particles of the particulate material are moistened and fused, and means are provided for drying the material. Means are also provided for feeding a cooling gas and/or a stream of steam adjacent to and about the periphery of the stream of material.

Abstract: Apparatus for uniformly distributing a fluid such as a vapor or gas upwardly through a cylindrical bed of a particulate contact material such as a catalyst, without interfering with the catalyst flow, includes an annular chamber which is closed at its top and which surrounds the cylindrical bed. The annular chamber receives fluid near its top and distributes it evenly at its bottom where it passes the fluid downwardly into a region which contains catalyst particles which have descended from the cylindrical bed, said region being defined at its top by the catalyst at the bottom of the aforesaid cylindrical bed and the open bottom end of the annular chamber, at its bottom by the bottom of a vessel containing the apparatus, and at its sides by the sides of the vessel. The distance between the bottom of the cylindrical bed and the bottom of the vessel is preferably at least equal to the radius of the cylindrical bed.

Abstract: A gas-solids heat/exchanger apparatus particularly designed for cooling the particulate material such as calcined limestone or cement clinker, but may also be used as a dryer and/or material heater. The apparatus includes a casing having an upper particulate material inlet and a lower particulate material outlet. Upper and lower grates extend on an angle or a slant from the inlet to the outlet for holding a bed of material. Gas is supplied to an inlet plenum chamber on one side of the lower grate for passage through the grates and the bed of material to an outlet plenum chamber. The lower grate is perforated to permit gas to pass therethrough while supporting the bed of material. The upper grate includes a plurality of spaced apart, vertically oriented, perforated slats. Various parameters or gas flow rates, pressure drops and positioning of the upper grate slats are disclosed.

Abstract: A vertical maltdrying kiln is described whereby several flow zones for the drying air are provided within a vertical malt compartment. At least in the uppermost flow zone at least one airduct with perforated sidewalls is provided, which extends in the transverse direction through the malt compartment. In the uppermost flow zone, the drying air enters through this airduct and optionally through perforated sidewalls in the transverse direction, while it escapes in the upward direction. Preferrably, a lower malt discharge lock is perforated, so that drying air may enter into the lowermost flow zone. This drying air may escape through perforated sidewalls or through airducts with perforated sidewalls. Preferrably, the entire drying air of all flow zones may escape in the upward direction through the upper open end of the malt compartment.

Abstract: An elongated slot dryer is disclosed for drying wet solid particulate material. The slot dryer is constructed in the form of a trench with at least one aperture outlet at the bottom of the trench formed by two non-connecting walls. The wet particulate material (coal) enters through the top and exits through the bottom aperture while countercurrently contacting a drying fluid emitted through perforations situated in a drying fluid access means or conduit located substantially throughout the entire length of the slot dryer. The perforations in the fluid access means or conduit are limited to the bottom one half of the fluid access means relative to the aperture outlet to ensure that drying fluid is passed at first in a downward direction and then gently turns upward to countercurrent contact with the wet descending particles. An underlying conveyor will act to continuously remove the relatively dried particulate material passing through the aperture outlet.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a movable catalyst bed reactor provided with catalyst bed supporting and guiding means in the shape of one or more downwardly converging conical surfaces with one or more vertical outlet channels connected to the lower end(s) of the conical surface(s), the supporting and guiding means comprising one or more screen sections for withdrawal of reactor effluent from the catalyst, and separate outlet means for reactor effluent and catalyst, wherein the vessel is further provided with conduit means for forming a protecting layer of substantially spherical particles along the surface(s) of the screen section(s) facing catalyst, which layer is movable along the screen section(s).

Abstract: A combustion heater for oil shale heats particles of spent oil shale containing unburned char by burning the char. A delayed fall is produced by flowing the shale particles down through a stack of downwardly sloped overlapping baffles alternately extending from opposite sides of a vertical column. The delayed fall and flow reversal occurring in passing from each baffle to the next increase the residence time and increase the contact of the oil shale particles with combustion supporting gas flowed across the column to heat the shale to about 650.degree.-700.degree. C. for use as a process heat source.

Abstract: Apparatus for conditioning granules of plastic resin comprises a barrel having a hopper feed at its upper portion and a resin discharge at its lower portion to provide for gravitational flow of the granular resin through the barrel. The barrel periphery is perforated to permit passage of heated gases into the barrel and over the granular resin. A channel is defined centrally of the barrel and extends therealong to collect gases flowing over the resins and discharge such gases externally of the barrel.