US3847714A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and apparatus for heat treating liqueform materials
Assignee: Parmalat Techhold Corp
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Filing: 1972-06-15
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Granted: 1974-11-12
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Expires: 1992-06-15
Abstract
Abstract This invention relates to a method and apparatus for heat treating liqueform materials in which a continuous downwardly falling curtain, preferably circular in transverse cross section of the liqueform material to be heat treated, is formed within and is surrounded in spaced relation by a vertically-disposed vessel. A suitable burner is mounted at the upper portion of the vessel and discharges its products of combustion slightly below the upper end of said curtain and downwardly throughout the height of said curtain, at relatively low pressures and at relatively high temperatures, means being provided to prevent the flame from said burner entering the confines of said curtain. The heat of the products of combustion emanating from the burner vaporize the volatile constituents of said curtain which pass upwardly of the vessel through the space existing between the outer surface of said curtain and the inner wall of the surrounding vessel and are discharged through an outlet opening or openings located at or near the closed top of said vessel, the non-volatile constituents of the liqueform material, if any, i.e. the concentrate therefrom, if any, passing to the bottom of the vessel and being discharged through a discharge opening leading from the bottom of said vessel, a relatively small amount of said concentrate, if any, being retained above said discharge opening to form a liquid seal thereabove. Depending upon the particular liqueform material undergoing heat treatment and the use to be made of the volatile constituents driven off from the said curtain and to be made of the non-volatile constituents which are not driven off from the said curtain, said volatile and nonvolatile constituents withdrawn from the vessel are available for utilization or may be subjected to further processing to render them suitable for their intended purpose or purposes. The relationship between the height of the surrounding vessel, the height and thickness of the curtain of liqueform material, and the pressure and temperature of the products of combustion passing downwardly throughout the height of said curtain are such that by the time said curtain reaches the bottom of said vessel substantially all of the volatile constituents thereof have been removed therefrom and the pressure and temperature of the products of combustion have been spent, i.e. have performed their intended purpose and have been utilized to their full extent. Suitable means and controls of any desired or preferred construction, either manually or automatically operated, are provided for forming the continuous downwardly falling curtain of the desired thickness; for converting the flame from the burner into its products of combustion and preventing said flame from entering the confines of said curtain; for regulating the relatively low pressure and relatively high temperature of the products of combustion emanating from said buRner; and for maintaining a sufficient amount or body of the non-volatile constituents or concentrate, if any, above the discharge outlet at the bottom of the vessel to form a liquid seal above said discharge outlet. Means are also provided for preventing the incrustation of material on the inner wall of the vessel during the heat treating operation.
Inventors
- 👤 E Davies
- 👤 M Edwards
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 13:40
CPC Classifications
F; F28; F28C; F28C3/00; F28C3/06; A; A23; A23B; A23B2/00; A23B2/40; A23B2/42; A23B2/90; B; B01; B01D; B01D1/00; B01D1/16; F28F; F28F19/00; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S159/00; Y10S159/10
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 7
Claim 1
Independent Claim
332 words
A method of heat treating liqueform materials to vaporize therefrom volatile constituents thereof which includes the steps of a. forming without preheating a relatively thin, annular downwardly flowing curtain or predetermined height of said liqueform material within and surrounded by a verticallypositioned vessel having its inner wall spaced outwardly from the outer surface of said curtain to provide a space therebetween, and providing said vessel with a discharge opening at the upper portion thereof in communication with said space, and with a discharge opening at the bottom of said vessel; b. projecting downwardly within the confines of the lower portion of said curtain and laterally through said curtain throughout the height thereof, the products of combustion from a burner and combustion chamber assembly mounted in the upper portion of said vessel coextensive with the upper portion of said curtain, and discharging the combustion products downwardly below the upper end of the curtain and substantially above the lower end thereof, at a relatively High temperature sufficient to vaporize the volatile constituents of said curtain and at a relatively low pressure just sufficient to cause said products of combustion to traverse the height of said curtain but not to impinge with any substantial velocity upon non-volatile constituents in the bottom of the vessel; c. discharging the vapors formed from the volatile constituents of said curtain from the space surrounding said curtain and through the discharge opening at the upper portion of said vessel and discharging the non-vaporized remainder of said curtain of said liqueform material through the discharge opening at the bottom of said vessel; d. retaining a relatively small amount of the unvaporized remainder of said liqueform material in the bottom portion of said vessel above said bottom discharge opening to form a liquid seal above said bottom discharge opening; and e. insulating the burner and combustion chamber and concentrically spacing the burner and combustion chamber from the curtain to prevent preheating of the liqueform material before it is formed into a curtain.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
332 words
A method of heat treating liqueform materials to vaporize therefrom volatile constituents thereof which includes the steps of a. forming without preheating a relatively thin, annular downwardly flowing curtain or predetermined height of said liqueform material within and surrounded by a verticallypositioned vessel having its inner wall spaced outwardly from the outer surface of said curtain to provide a space therebetween, and providing said vessel with a discharge opening at the upper portion thereof in communication with said space, and with a discharge opening at the bottom of said vessel; b. projecting downwardly within the confines of the lower portion of said curtain and laterally through said curtain throughout the height thereof, the products of combustion from a burner and combustion chamber assembly mounted in the upper portion of said vessel coextensive with the upper portion of said curtain, and discharging the combustion products downwardly below the upper end of the curtain and substantially above the lower end thereof, at a relatively High temperature sufficient to vaporize the volatile constituents of said curtain and at a relatively low pressure just sufficient to cause said products of combustion to traverse the height of said curtain but not to impinge with any substantial velocity upon non-volatile constituents in the bottom of the vessel; c. discharging the vapors formed from the volatile constituents of said curtain from the space surrounding said curtain and through the discharge opening at the upper portion of said vessel and discharging the non-vaporized remainder of said curtain of said liqueform material through the discharge opening at the bottom of said vessel; d. retaining a relatively small amount of the unvaporized remainder of said liqueform material in the bottom portion of said vessel above said bottom discharge opening to form a liquid seal above said bottom discharge opening; and e. insulating the burner and combustion chamber and concentrically spacing the burner and combustion chamber from the curtain to prevent preheating of the liqueform material before it is formed into a curtain.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
121 words
A method as defined in claim 1 including the steps of discharging a flame from the burner at the upper portion of said vessel downwardly into a combustion chamber which depends from the upper portion of said vessel and is provided with a lower discharge opening which terminates below and within the upper portion of the downwardly flowing curtain of liqueform material, and impinging the flame onto a refractory baffle within the lower portion of said combustion chamber extending transversely across a part of the interior of said combustion chamber and above said lower discharge opening thereof to break up said flame into its products of combustion and prevent said flame from projecting into said downwardly flowing curtain of liqueform material.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
172 words
A method as defined in claim 2 including the step of covering the surface of the inner wall of said vessel with a lining material which is immune to the action of acids or other chemicals in liquid or gaseous form and which is not affected by the relatively high temperatures employed in carrying out the vaporization within said vessel of the volatile constituents of the fluent material undergoing heat treatment within said vessel, and supplying along the surface of the lining material on said lower portion of the inner wall of said vessel a downwardly flowing liquid chemical composition which is immune to reaction with the liqueform material undergoing heat treatment within said vessel and which is not affected by acid or other chemicals in liquid or gaseous form or by the high temperatures employed in carrying out the vaporization of the volatile constituents of the liqueform material undergoing heat treatment within said vessel, said downwardly flowing liquid chemical composition preventing encrustation of solids on the surface covered by the same.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
421 words
An apparatus for heat treating liqueform materials to vaporize volatile constituents therefrom which comprises a. a vertically-disposed outer vessel of a predetermined height having a top closure and a bottom closure, said vessel having a gas vapor discharge opening in the upper portion thereof and the bottom closure having a concentrate discharge opening therein; b. means in the upper portion of said vessel for forming a downwardly flowing annular curtain of said liqueform material of a predetermined height with the outer surface of said curtain spaced inwardly from the inner wall of said vessel to provide a space therebetween; c. a burner centrally spaced from said curtain and mounted on the top closure of said vessel and projecting its products of combustion downwardly within the confines of the lower portion of said curtain of liqueform material and laterally therethrough throughout the height thereof to vaporize the volatile constituents of said curtain and force the vapors resulting from said vaporization into the space between the outer surface of said curtain and the inner wall of said vessel to be discharged through the discharge opening at the upper portion of said vessel, the remainder of said curtain consisting of the material not vaporized during the travel of said downwardly flowing curtain from the top portion of the vessel to the bottom thereof, accumulating in the lower portion of said vessel and all but a small portion thereof passing through said discharge opening in the bottom closure of said vessel, the small portion of said unvaporized liqueform material being retained in the lower portion of said vessel and above said discharge opening in the bottom closure of said vessel to form a liquid seal above said discharge opening in said bottom closure, a combustion chamber containing said burner depending from the central portion of the top closure of said vessel, said combustion chamber having a discharge opening at the bottom thereof substantially below the top of said downwardly flowing curtain, and said combustion chamber including a wall surrounding the flame from said burner guiding the products of combustion from said flame downwardly through the discharge opening of said combustion chamber and laterally into and throughout the height of the downwardly flowing curtain of liqueform material, the wall defining said combustion chamber being provided with heat insulating material to prevent the radiation of heat from said burner and combustion chamber into the upper portion of the vessel surrounding said combustion chamber thereby preventing preheating of the liqueform material before it is formed into a curtain.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
421 words
An apparatus for heat treating liqueform materials to vaporize volatile constituents therefrom which comprises a. a vertically-disposed outer vessel of a predetermined height having a top closure and a bottom closure, said vessel having a gas vapor discharge opening in the upper portion thereof and the bottom closure having a concentrate discharge opening therein; b. means in the upper portion of said vessel for forming a downwardly flowing annular curtain of said liqueform material of a predetermined height with the outer surface of said curtain spaced inwardly from the inner wall of said vessel to provide a space therebetween; c. a burner centrally spaced from said curtain and mounted on the top closure of said vessel and projecting its products of combustion downwardly within the confines of the lower portion of said curtain of liqueform material and laterally therethrough throughout the height thereof to vaporize the volatile constituents of said curtain and force the vapors resulting from said vaporization into the space between the outer surface of said curtain and the inner wall of said vessel to be discharged through the discharge opening at the upper portion of said vessel, the remainder of said curtain consisting of the material not vaporized during the travel of said downwardly flowing curtain from the top portion of the vessel to the bottom thereof, accumulating in the lower portion of said vessel and all but a small portion thereof passing through said discharge opening in the bottom closure of said vessel, the small portion of said unvaporized liqueform material being retained in the lower portion of said vessel and above said discharge opening in the bottom closure of said vessel to form a liquid seal above said discharge opening in said bottom closure, a combustion chamber containing said burner depending from the central portion of the top closure of said vessel, said combustion chamber having a discharge opening at the bottom thereof substantially below the top of said downwardly flowing curtain, and said combustion chamber including a wall surrounding the flame from said burner guiding the products of combustion from said flame downwardly through the discharge opening of said combustion chamber and laterally into and throughout the height of the downwardly flowing curtain of liqueform material, the wall defining said combustion chamber being provided with heat insulating material to prevent the radiation of heat from said burner and combustion chamber into the upper portion of the vessel surrounding said combustion chamber thereby preventing preheating of the liqueform material before it is formed into a curtain.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
166 words
An apparatus as defined in claim 4 in which said combustion chamber has a refractory baffle disposed transversely across a portion thereof and above the discharge opening at the lower end of said combustion chamber upon which baffle the flame from said burner impinges to break up said flame into its products of combustion and to prevent passage of said flame into said downwardly flowing curtain of fluent material, means lining the lower portion of the vessel and means covering the lining on the inner wall of said vessel below the top of said downwardly flowing curtain of liqueform material with an impervious liquid to prevent encrustation of solids on said inner wall, said liquid not being affected by the high temperature employed in carrying out the vaporization of the volatile constituents of the liqueform material undergoing heat treatment within said vessel and being immune to reaction with said fluent material and which is not affected by acids or other chemicals in liquid or gaseous form.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1977-11-11 | 1978-05-13 | 1978-11-12 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1981-11-11 | 1982-05-13 | 1982-11-12 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1985-11-11 | 1986-05-13 | 1986-11-12 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |