The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 01, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 30, 1999
Satoru Satake, Tokyo, JP;
Hou Qing Liu, Hiroshima, JP;
Makoto Kuninobu, Hiroshima, JP;
Keisuke Orihashi, Hiroshima, JP;
Satake Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An apparatus for drying granular objects comprises, from the top of the apparatus, a holding section; a heating section for heating the granular objects flowing down from the holding section, the heating section being provided beneath the holding section and having a plurality of air ducts to which heated air is introduced; a drying air producing section connected to the air ducts, in which the heated air from the air ducts is mixed with air taken-in from the outside of the apparatus to produce a drying air; and a drying section for drying the granular objects by directly exposing the granular objects to the drying air. The dried granular objects are taken out from a taking-out section and returned to the holding section through a bucket elevator. The apparatus further comprises a detector for detecting the temperature of the drying air. Based on the detected temperature, a control device controls the temperature of the heated air so as to keep the temperature of the drying air to a predetermined temperature. The temperature of the drying air can be set to a desirable temperature while the heated air for the heating is kept at a high temperature. The drying operation is performed speedily and safely.