COATING APPARATUS

Abstract: A granule coating apparatus using jet air stream, wherein a spray nozzle (2) of the coating apparatus includes: a granule blow-out path (4) provided in an axially central portion of the main body (3) of the nozzle; a coating liquid blow-out path (5) annularly formed on the outer periphery of the granular blow-out path (4); and a compressed air blow-out path (6) having a taper-shaped outlet portion and annularly formed on the outer periphery of the coating liquid blow-out path (5).

Description: This invention relates to a granulating and coating apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus effective for use in granulating, coating and drying of powdery material of which each particle has a comparatively minute diameter. In general, among the granulating and coating techniques for powdery material, such a type of apparatus is known from JP-A-02 090 957 that respective spray nozzles for supplying powdery material as articles to be coated and for supplying a coating liquid as coating material are disposed to be opposed to each other in a diametral direction of a vertical coating cylinder and dry air stream such as hot air is supplied from thereunder. Furthermore, there is also known another type where two spray nozzles are provided in erected postures and generally in parallel to each other. However, according to the spray nozzle technique of the above-described opposedly disposed type, it is difficult to maintain equal blow-out force between these spray nozzles, when the articles to be coated and the coating material should collide with each other from opposite directions. When, for example, the blow-out force of the coating liquid is stronger, such disadvantages occurs that the coating material adheres to an opposed inner wall surface of the coating apparatus to be solidified thereon, or, before solidifying of the coating material, the articles to be coated adhere onto the coating material on the wall to be agglomerated there. Furthermore, due to the unbalance in the blow-out forces or in the blown-out rate, there may be disadvantage that the coating liquid becomes particles by itself through the so-called spray dry phenomenon without adhering to and forming coat on the articles to be coated. Furthermore, according to the above-described technique of parallelly disposed spray nozzles, the powdery material and the coating liquid are supplied from the substantially same direction, so that the efficiency of contact therebetween may be in low level. It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for performing coating on powdery material by jet air streams wherein the probabilities of contact between the powdery material and the coating liquid is raised so that coating is performed efficiently. It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus of the kind referred to above wherein reliable coating can be performed by use of one spray nozzle. According to the present invention there is provided a coating apparatus as set out in claim 1. Preferred embodiments of the present invention are subject matters of claims 2 to 5. In the coating apparatus according to the present invention, the coating liquid blown out of the coating liquid blow-out path is atomized by the compressed air blown out of the compressed air blow-out path disposed on the outer periphery of the coating liquid blow-out path, converges once, and thereafter, is diffused, so that the probability of contact between the droplets of the coating liquid and the powdery material becomes high level, thus enabling to perform efficient coating. Brief Description of Drawings Fig. 1 is an enlarged partially sectional view showing one embodiment of the spray nozzle used in the coating apparatus according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a schematic explanatory view showing one embodiment of the coating apparatus according to the present invention; Fig. 3 is a schematic enlarged horizontal sectional view showing a coating chamber thereof; and Fig. 4 is a schematic explanatory view showing the essential portion of another embodiment of the coating apparatus according to the present invention. Embodiment 1 Fig. 1 is an enlarged partially sectional view showing an embodiment of the spray nozzle used in a coating apparatus according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a schematic explanatory view showing an embodiment of a coating apparatus according to the present invention; and Fig. 3 is a schematic enlarged horizontal sectional view showing a coating chamber thereof. In the coating apparatus of this Embodiment 1, the vertical processing tube, i.e., a coating chamber 1, as being a main element of the apparatus, for performing granulating, coating, drying and the like of powdery material by jet streams in its interior, has a cylindrical shape of stepped construction having horizontal cross-section as shown in Fig. 3 for example, with a lower portion of a smaller diameter and an upper portion of a larger diameter. On the bottom wall of the coating chamber 1, there is provided a spray nozzle 2 in the axial and upward direction of the interior of the coating chamber 1, for supplying both of the powdery material and the coating liquid. As shown in Fig. 1, this spray nozzle 2 has a triple nozzle construction. That is, the spray nozzle 2 comprises: a powder blow-out path 4 formed in the axially central portion of a main body 3 of the spray nozzle 2; a coating liquid blow-out path 5 formed to provide an annular shape in cross-section on the outer periphery of the powder blow-out path 4; and a compressed air blow-out path 6 formed to provide an annular shape in cross-section on the outer periphery of the coating liquid blow-out path 5. The powder blow-out path 4 has a circular shape in cross-section and includes a tapered portion 4a and a straight-lined throat portion 4b near the forward end portion thereof, and a reversely tapered portion 4c at the outlet portion thereof. A powder supply path 8 for supplying the powdery material out of a powder supply source 7 is communicated with the intermediate portion of the powder blow-out path 4 in the crossing direction. With this arrangement, the powdery material in the powder supply source 7 is sucked by the compressed air stream from a compressed air source 9 (Refer to Fig. 2) through the powder supply path 8, dispersed into the compressed air stream and accompanyingly blown out. On the other hand, the coating liquid blow-out path 5 has a tapered portion 5a as its outlet portion, through which the coating liquid from a coating liquid source 10 is blown out, by use of a pump not shown, in an annular and tapered shape at the outside of the blow-out stream of the powdery material. Further, the compressed air blow-out path 6 is positioned at the outermost peripheral portion of the spray nozzle 2 and has a tapered portion 6a as its outlet portion, through which the compressed air from a compressed air source 11 is blown out in an annular and tapered shape. Accordingly, a compressed air stream from the compressed air blow-out path 6 can atomize the coating liquid from the coating liquid blow-out path 5, and moreover, as shown in Fig. 1, converges once at a converging point C and then is diffused. Thus, the droplets of the coating liquid from the coating liquid blow-out path 5 and the powdery material from the powder blow-out path 4 can reliably come into contact with each other particularly at the above-described converging point C, thereby attaining very high probability of contact therebetween. Furthermore, an annular cold air supply opening (cold air supply means) 12 is provided in the bottom wall of the coating chamber 1 on the outer peripheral side of the spray nozzle 2. This cold air supply opening 12 is formed of a screen member or porous member for example, and, as the porous member, a porous metal plate, a plate of sintered material and the like may be used. The cold air brought into the coating chamber 1 through this cold air supply opening 12 is introduced to a region where the powdery material and the coating liquid from the spray nozzle 2 collide with each other. On the other hand, an annular hot air supply opening (hot air supply means) 13 is formed in a stepped portion between the small diameter portion and the large diameter portion of the coating chamber 1. The diameter of the annular shape of this hot air supply opening 13 is larger than the diameter of the annular shape of the cold air supply opening 12. Furthermore, the hot air supply opening 13 is disposed at a position spaced more apart from the spray nozzle 2 than the cold air supply opening 12. Accordingly, the hot air through the hot air supply opening 13 is supplied to a region which is more distant from the spray nozzle 2 than the region where the powdery material and the coating liquid from the spray nozzle 2 collide with each other, and the cold air from the cold air supply opening 12 is introduced. Further, a collecting path 14 is opened at the top of the coating chamber 1, and coated products 15, on which processing such as granulating, coating, drying and the like have completed in the coating chamber 1, are sucked from the interior of the coating chamber 1 to its exterior by means of a blower 16 or the like. That is, it is constructed so that the coated products 15 which have been sucked to the outside of the coating chamber 1 through the collecting path 14 descend in a cyclone 17, pass through a rotary valve 18 and are collected into a recovery container 19, while very small powders and dust, which cannot be used as the intended products, are collected and removed into a bag filter 20, without descending in the cyclone 17. Operation of this embodiment will be described hereunder. The powder material to be treated and the coating liquid are blown out from the powder blow-out path 4 and the coating liquid blow-out path 5 of the spray nozzle 2 respectively, into the coating chamber 1 together with the compressed air from the compressed air blow-out path 6. At this time, blow-out forces from the respective blow-out paths 4, 5 and 6 are controlled independently through the respective adjustments of pneumatic pressures of the compressed air sources 9 and 11, and blow-out pressure of the coating liquid. Then, at this time of blow-out, the coating liquid from the coating liquid blow-out path 5 is atomized by the compressed air stream from the compressed air blow-out path 6 disposed on the outer periphery of the coating liquid blow-out path 5, being accompanied by the compressed air stream. Moreover, the compressed air stream is blown out in an annular and tapered shape by the tapered portion 6a, converges once, and then diffuses. Accordingly, the powdery material from the powder blow-out path 4 passes through a flow course of the coating liquid from the coating liquid blow-out path 5, particularly at the converging point C, whereby both the powdery material and the coating liquid are reliably brought into contact with each other, so that the coating liquid is coated around the surface of the powdery material uniformly, thus enabling to perform granulating and coating reliably and efficiently. In that operation, the coating liquid and the powdery material are not blown out in directions opposite to each other, so that it is suppressed that the coating liquid and the powdery material adhere to the inner wall surface of the coating chamber 1 even if there is some unbalance in the blow-out forces of the coating liquid and the powdery material. Furthermore, agglomerating and solidifying of the coating liquid itself, i.e., the so-called spray dry phenomenon is suppressed. It is to be noted that the cold air from the cold air supply opening 12 is supplied to the region where the powdery material and the coating liquid from the spray nozzle 2 collide with each other, so that the coating liquid and the powdery material can be prevented from adhering to the inner wall surface of the coating chamber 1. In addition, the cold air, not hot air, is supplied to the colliding region, so that it can be prevented that the spray dry phenomenon, in which the coating liquid is evaporated and solidified before colliding with the powdery material, never occurs. On the other hand, the hot air is supplied through the hot air supply opening 13 to a portion above the colliding region to which the cold air is supplied, of the coating chamber 1, so that the coating liquid coated on the powdery material can be efficiently dried by this hot air. Furthermore, because of this hot air also, the powdery material can be prevented from adhering to the inner wall surface of the coating chamber 1. By the above-described cold air and hot air, mainly by the hot air from the hot air supply opening 13, the articles to be coated, i.e., the powdery material, which has been coated with the coating liquid, is dried to desirable extent. Particularly, in this embodiment, supplying the cold air to the colliding region and supplying the hot air to the region upwardly thereof, the efficient and reliable coating can be performed without the spray dry phenomenon and adhering to the wall surface. The coated products 15 are sucked by means of the blower 16 from the coating chamber 1 through the collecting path 14 to the cyclone 17. In the cyclone 17, the coated products 15 descend in the cyclone 17, pass through the rotary valve 18 and are collected into the recovery container 19. On the other hand, the very small powders and dust which have been sucked into the cyclone 17 are sucked toward the bag filter 20 through the sucking force of the blower 16 from the top of the cyclone 17, collected into the bag filter 20 and removed to the outside of the system. Incidentally, in this embodiment, as indicated by a two-dot chain line in Fig. 2, a hot air inlet opening 21 as being another hot air supply means for supplying hot air from a tangential direction of the coating chamber 1 may be provided in the substantially intermediate portion of the large diameter portion of the coating chamber 1. In this construction, the hot air from the hot air inlet opening 21 is introduced in the tangential direction, so that the time of contact between the coated products and the hot air becomes longer. Furthermore, a substantially spiral air stream is produced, so that the coating liquid and the powdery material can be effectively prevented from adhering to the inner wall surface of the coating chamber 1. Embodiment 2 Fig. 4 is a schematic explanatory view showing an essential portion of another embodiment of the granulating and coating apparatus according to the present invention. In this Embodiment 2, the spray nozzle 2 and the cold air supply opening 12 are provided on the top ceiling wall of the coating chamber 1, being directed downwardly in the axial direction, but not on the bottom wall. Further, the hot air supply opening 13 is disposed at a position below the cold air supply opening 12. Furthermore, in this Embodiment 2, in accordance with the spray nozzle 2 directed downwardly, the collecting path 14 is provided on the bottom of the coating chamber 1. In this construction of Embodiment 2, the spray nozzle 2, the cold air supply opening 12, the hot air supply opening 13 and the collecting path 14 are provided in a direction reverse to Embodiment 1. However, the coating, drying, collecting and the like of the powdery material, the coating liquid and the coated powdery material are performed in the same order, so that such functional effects as the prevention of the coating liquid from adhering to the inner wall surface of the coating chamber 1 and from being agglomerated can be achieved similarly to Embodiment 1. The invention made by the present inventors has been described above in detail with reference to the embodiments. However, the present invention should not be limited to the above embodiments, and many variants can be made. For example, the installing positions and directions of the spray nozzle 2, the cold air supply opening 12, the hot air supply opening 13 and the collecting path 14 may be those other than that in the above embodiments. The constructions of the cold air supply opening 12 and the hot air supply opening 13 may be those other than the annular porous one. Furthermore, the number of the hot air inlet opening 21 may be one or plural. Further, the sectional shape of the coating chamber 1 is not limited to the above embodiments. In the above description, the invention made by the present inventors may be applied to the fields of utilization including granulating, coating and drying of pharmaceuticals, foods, cosmetics and chemicals, however, the invention is not limited to these, and is applicable to granulating, coating, drying and the like of, for example, other powdery materials. The following is the brief description of the effects obtained by the typical one out of the inventions disclosed in the present application. That is, the coating liquid blown out of the coating liquid blow-out path is atomized by the compressed air blown out of the compressed air blow-out path disposed on the outer periphery thereof, and moreover, the coating liquid converges once after blow-out and is diffused, whereby the powdery material passes the flow course of the coating liquid at the converging point without fail, so that both the powdery material and the coating liquid are reliably brought into contact with each other, thereby attaining high probabilities of contact therebetween. Accordingly, in the present invention, the efficient coating can be reliably performed with only one spray nozzle.

Claims: A coating apparatus for performing coating on powdery material by jet air streams blown out of a spray nozzle (2), wherein said spray nozzle (2) comprises: a first path (4) connected to a powder supply source (7) and a compressed air source (9) for blowing out the powdery material by an air stream from an axially central portion of a main body (3) of the nozzle (2); a second path (5) having an annular shape in cross-section, and being connected to a coating liquid source (10) for blowing out a coating liquid from an outer periphery of said first path, and a third path (6) connected to a compressed air source (11) having a circular shape in cross-section and being tapered at least in an outlet portion thereof, for blowing out compressed air from an outer periphery of said second path (5). The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first path (4) is formed in the axially central portion of the main body (3) of said spray nozzle (2), and a further path (8) from said powder supply source (7) is communicated with an intermediate portion of said first path (4). The coating apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said second path (5) is tapered at least in the outlet portion thereof. The coating apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the outlet portion (4c) of said first path (4) has a circular shape in cross-section and is reversely tapered toward an outlet. The coating apparatus according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein said spray nozzle (2) is directed upwardly or downwardly in an axial direction in a coating chamber (1) formed as a vertical tubular member.

Inventors: KURITA KAORU, TAKEI NARIMICHI, TANAKA NAGAHIKO, KURITA, KAORU, TAKEI, NARIMICHI, TANAKA, NAGAHIKO, KURITA, KAORU, FREUND INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD., TAKEI, NARIMICHI, FREUND INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD., TANAKA, NAGAHIKO, FREUND INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
Applicants: FREUNT IND CO LTD, FREUND INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
Application year: 1992
Main classification: B01J2
IPC codes: B01J2