Material drying apparatus

Claim 2

Apparatus for uniformly drying moist, moving material, comprising: an inner fixed tubular conduit having At least one row of apertures extending in a substantially axial direction along the conduit and having an inlet at least at one end for passing a hot gaseous medium into the conduit; a plurality of separate and individually rotatable outer sleeve members disposed around and spaced axially along the inner conduit, each of said outer sleeve members having at least one row of apertures for communication with respective inner conduit apertures upon selective rotation of the sleeve members; and means for rotating said outer sleeve members with respect to the tubular conduit and independently of one another, whereby hot gaseous medium passes out through sleeve members rotated into communication with the apertures in the inner conduit to dry the material in selected areas adjacent the sleeve members and to be excluded by sleeve members rotated out of communication with the apertures in the inner conduit.

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1, including at least two rows of apertures in the inner conduit and outer sleeve.

Claim 4

Drying apparatus as in claim 2 further including: means located adjacent said material for sensing the amount of moisture therein; said rotating means being coupled to said outer sleeve members and to said inner conduit for rotating said sleeve members about said inner conduit; and control means coupled between said sensing means and said rotating means for enabling said rotating means to position said outer sleeves in accordance with the moisture sensed by said sensing means whereby more heated gaseous medium is directed against those portions of the material containing more moisture and the material is dried uniformly.

Claim 5

Drying apparatus as in claim 3 wherein said inner conduit apertures and said outer sleeve apertures are circular and wherein said outer sleeve apertures are larger than said inner conduit apertures.

Claim 6

Drying apparatus as in claim 4 further including a housing located in fixed position around a portion of said inner conduit and enclosing said rotating means.

Claim 7

Drying apparatus as in claim 2 further including: a baffle located within the conduit and dividing the conduit into separate axially extending supply and exhaust chambers; said conduit inlet communicating with said supply chamber and said conduit having an outlet at one end communicating with said exhaust chamber; said conduit further having at least two additional rows of apertures with the apertures in a first pair of said rows communicating with said supply chamber for passing the heated gaseous medium outwardly from the supply chamber and with the apertures in a second pair of said rows communicating with said exhaust chamber for passing moisture-laden gaseous medium into said exhaust chamber; and each of said outer sleeve members having at least two additional rows of apertures with a first pair of said sleeve member rows of apertures located for selective movement into communication with said supply chamber through said apertures in said first pair of inner conduit aperture rows and a second pair of said sleeve member rows of apertures located for simultaneous movement into communication with said exhaust chamber through said apertures in said second pair of inner conduit rows.

Claim 8

Drying apparatus as in claim 6 further including: means located adjacent said material for sensing the amount of moisture therein; said rotating means being coupled to said outer sleeve members and to said inner conduit for rotating said sleeve members about said inner conduit; and control means coupled between said sensing means and said rotating means for enabling said rotating means to position said outer sleeves in accordance with the moisture sensed by said sensing means whereby more heated gaseous medium is directed against those portions of the material containing more moisture and the material is dried uniformly.

Claim 9

In a drying mechanism for a paper machine having at least upper and lower tiers of drying cylinders for feeding a papEr web therethrough wherein the paper web forms pockets between the drying cylinders containing moisture evaporated from the paper web, the improvement comprising: apparatus located within each of said pockets for uniformly drying the paper web wherein each apparatus includes; an inner fixed tubular conduit, a baffle located within the conduit and dividing the conduit into separate axially extending supply and exhaust chambers, the conduit having an inlet at an end communicating with said supply chamber and an outlet at one end communicating with said exhaust chamber, and having at least two linear rows of apertures communicating with said supply chamber for passing a heated gaseous medium directly from the supply chamber onto said paper web and at least two linear rows of apertures communicating with said exhaust chamber for passing moisture-laden gaseous medium directly from said pocket into said exhaust chamber, and a plurality of separate and individually rotatable outer sleeve members disposed around and spaced axially along the inner conduit, each of said outer sleeve members having at least two linear rows of apertures for movement into communication with said supply chamber or through first predetermined ones of said inner conduit apertures and having at least two additional linear rows of apertures for simultaneous movement into communication with said exhaust chamber through second predetermined ones of said inner conduit apertures.

Claim 10

In a drying mechanism for a paper machine having at least upper and lower tiers of drying cylinders for feeding a papEr web therethrough wherein the paper web forms pockets between the drying cylinders containing moisture evaporated from the paper web, the improvement comprising: apparatus located within each of said pockets for uniformly drying the paper web wherein each apparatus includes; an inner fixed tubular conduit, a baffle located within the conduit and dividing the conduit into separate axially extending supply and exhaust chambers, the conduit having an inlet at an end communicating with said supply chamber and an outlet at one end communicating with said exhaust chamber, and having at least two linear rows of apertures communicating with said supply chamber for passing a heated gaseous medium directly from the supply chamber onto said paper web and at least two linear rows of apertures communicating with said exhaust chamber for passing moisture-laden gaseous medium directly from said pocket into said exhaust chamber, and a plurality of separate and individually rotatable outer sleeve members disposed around and spaced axially along the inner conduit, each of said outer sleeve members having at least two linear rows of apertures for movement into communication with said supply chamber or through first predetermined ones of said inner conduit apertures and having at least two additional linear rows of apertures for simultaneous movement into communication with said exhaust chamber through second predetermined ones of said inner conduit apertures.

Claim 11

The drying mechanism of claim 8 further including: means located adjacent said paper web for sensing the amount of moisture therein; means coupled to said outer sleeve members for rotating said sleeve members about said inner conduit; and control means coupled between said sensing means and said rotating means for enabling said rotating means to position said outer sleeves in accordance with the moisture sensed by said sensing means whereby more heated gaseous medium is directed against those portions of the paper web containing more moisture and the paper web is dried uniformly.

Claim 12

The drying mechanism of claim 9 wherein a single one of said sensing means is located immediately ahead of a predetermined number of said sleeve members and is coupled through said control means to said predetermined number of said sleeve members for adjusting the amount of heated gaseous medium that is directed against a predetermined transverse and longitudinal portion of said paper web.

Claim 13

The drying mechanism of claim 10 wherein said inner conduit is positioned across the paper web and substantially equidistant therefrom.

Claim 14

The drying mechanism of claim 11 further including: means communicating with said supply chamber for introducing into said supply chamber said heated gaseous medium; and means communicating with said exhaust chamber for removing from said exhaust chamber moisture-laden gaseous medium.

Claim 15

The drying mechanism of claim 11 further including a housing located in fixed position around a portion of said inner conduit and enclosing said rotating means.