Sequenced modular bed carousel dehumidifier

Claim 1

In a dehumidifying apparatus in which a desiccant medium is cyclically shifted between an operating active process condition and a regenerating condition, the improvement including: (1) A carousel ring having a plurality of essentially identical modular desiccant beds being disposed substantially parallel to, and perpendicular to the ring axis, each of said beds being physically separate from the others and containing a desiccant medium and having a pair of air permeable sides which permit the flow of air in a radial direction with respect to the ring from one side of the bed to another side through the desiccant, said modular beds being disposed essentially radially in the ring between the outer circumference of the ring and an inner circumference of the ring; (2) Divider means for operatively separating the modular beds of the ring from each other; said divider means disposed with respect to the inner and outer circumference of the ring in a relationship with respect to the beds so that one permeable side of each bed is operatively disposed towards the outer circumference of the carousel and the other permeable side of the bed is operatively disposed towards the inner circumference; (4) Fixed isolation means cooperatively engageable with the dessicant beds on the ring for operatively segregating a predetermined number of modular beds on the ring from the other beds on the ring, to provide a first isolated class of air process beds upon the ring in which the bed desiccant is active and a second isolated class of beds upon the ring in which the bed desiccant is in a regenerating condition, said isolation means; (A) being operatively disposed with respect to positions of the carousel at the inner circumference thereof and the outer circumference thereof to define separate operating sections in the apparatus for the radial flow of air through the beds in each respective class; and (B) being further operatively disposed with respect to gradually engageable longitudinally extending sealing means which are axially disposed between the beds on the carousel ring and said isolation means in a correspondence with the separate operating sections; and (5) Activator means for intermittently rotating the carousel ring with respect to the fixed isolation means about a predetermined angular segment around the axis of the carousel at a predetermined time interval, to shift a bed in the first class of active air process beds to the regenerating condition, and to shift a bed in the class of beds in the regenerating condition to the active condition.