Abstract:
The method is for drying a material. A drying device is provided that has a heater disposed above a movable carrier and a fan device. The movable carrier carries the material to be dried. The material has a first temperature. A fluid, such as air is blown across the material by the fan device. The material is heated by the heater.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a method for effectively drying polymeric and other materials. 
       BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Before a material, such as a polymeric material, is processed, it is important to remove contaminants and moisture from the material to prevent defects such as warping, uneven shrinkage and undesirable discoloration. Many devices have been developed in the past that remove such contaminants and moisture. However, such conventional devices are often very expensive to manufacture, unreliable, energy waste and require long production cycles. It often takes a very long time to dry thermoplastics such as nylon. It is not unusual to have to dry nylon granules for many hours before the nylon granules are sufficiently dry. There is a need for an inexpensive and reliable device for heating and drying a material to remove moisture before it is further processed. 
         [0003]    The method of the here presented invention provides a solution to the above outlined problems. A drying device is provided that has an infrared heater or any source of radiation or other heating device disposed above a movable carrier, such as a rotatable disc. The movable carrier movably carries the material to be dried or heated. The material has a first temperature. A fluid, such as air is blown across the material by a fan device. The infrared heater or any source of radiation or other heating device induces a release of water molecules from the material. The fluid removes the water molecules disposed between the material and the infrared source or any source of radiation or other heating device. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0004]      FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional side view of the drying device of the present invention; 
           [0005]      FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional front view of the drying device of the present invention; and 
           [0006]      FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional top view of the drying device of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0007]    The method of the present invention relates to an effective and quick way of drying or heating hydroscopic and non hydroscopic materials.  FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional side view of the drying device  100  of the present invention. The device  100  has a feeder  102  where the material pellets, granulates or granules  104 , drop or fall down by gravity through a first tube  106  onto a first rotatable disc  108  driven by a rotatable axle  110 . The disc  108  has a peripheral upwardly extending sidewall  109 . Preferably, the disc  108  rotates slowly such as one rotation per minute. The tube  106  has an end  114  that terminates at a gap  116  above the top surface  118  of the disc  108 . The gap  116  is, preferably, set based on the size of the granules  104  so there is only room for one layer  120  of the pellet material  104  on the disc  108 . The layer  120  is preferably not higher than or slightly higher than a maximum height of the granules  104  so there is no room for a granule to sit on top of another granule. In other words, the gap  116  is less than the thickness of two granules placed on top of one another but more than the thickness of one granule lying on the disc  108 . A set of heaters  112 , such as infrared heaters, or any source of radiation or other heating device are disposed above the disc  108  and the layer  120  of the granules  104 . The infrared heaters activate or vibrate water molecules  137  on the surface and inside of the granules  104  to release the water molecules from the granules so the water molecules are disposed between the heaters  112  and the top surfaces of the granules  104  and thus be exposed to the radially outwardly flowing fluid  139  that remove the water molecules  137 . The heaters  112  may cover or extend around about half of the disc surface  108 , as best shown in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0008]    A temperature sensor  127  is disposed at the end of the heaters  112  that measures the temperature of the surface of the granules  104  disposed on the rotating disc  108  without touching the granules and sends signals back to a temperature-regulator that then controls the heaters  112  to make sure the heaters are heating the granules to the correct or desirable temperature. 
         [0009]    A fan device  122  is disposed at one end of the device  100  that sucks in an outside gas or air  124  so that the air flows into a cavity  133  of a housing  135  and in through a central opening  123  at the axle  110 . The gas may be nitrogen gas or especially clean air or any other suitable fluid. In this way, the fan device  122  creates an over-pressure inside the housing  135  that forces the air  124  through the opening  123  and radially outwardly above the granules  104 . The central opening  123  guides the air to flow radially outwardly across the layer  120  of the granules  104  towards the peripheral sidewall  109  of the disc  108  to cool the granules  104  and to drive away moisture or water molecules  137  released from the granules  104  as the granules are being warmed or heated by the infrared heaters or any source of radiation or other heating device  112 . The warm granules have a first temperature that is higher than a temperature of the air  124 . The above components may be said to form a first module  125 . The cooler air  124  may also be used to cool a gearbox and motor of the first module. 
         [0010]    The disc  108  has a scraper  126  that scrapes the granules  104  towards a center opening  123  of the disc and into a second tube  128  so that the granules  104  fall by gravity onto a second rotatable disc  130  of a second module  132  disposed below the first disc  108 . As the granules tumble down the second tube  128  they are preferably turned so that the granules land upside down compared to the way the laid on the first disc  108 . The second module  132  has heaters  134 , such as infrared heaters, or any source of radiation or other heating device disposed above the one layer  136  and a scraper  138  so that the second module  132  is substantially similar to the first module  125 . 
         [0011]    The scraper  138  scrapes the granules into a third tube  140  so that the granules fall onto a third rotatable disc  142  of a third module  144  disposed below the first module  125  and the second module  132 . The third module  144  is preferably identical to the second module  132 . The use of many modules and repeating the process many times makes the granules  104  drier. It may also be possible run the granule material many times through the same module to make the material drier. The use of modules makes it very easy to clean the cleaning device  100  when it is time to dry a different material. 
         [0012]    While the present invention has been described in accordance with preferred compositions and embodiments, it is to be understood that certain substitutions and alterations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims.