Patent ID: 7861437

Claim:
A system for drying a traveling web of goods comprising: a) a dryer receiving air through an intake and expelling system air through an exhaust; b) a single air conduit in circuitous communication with the exhaust and the intake, the air conduit receiving the system air and directing it to the intake; c) an injection chamber disposed in fluid communication with the single air conduit, the injection chamber adapted for injecting a stream of hot air from an external heat source into the single air conduit; d) an external heat source coupled to the injection chamber and external to the system and e) a mixing chamber disposed in fluid communication with the single air conduit, wherein: i) the mixing chamber receives heated air from a burner and mixes the heated air with the system air to form mixed air, ii) the mixing chamber includes a first passage directing combustion product from the burner and a second passage directing the system air, the first passage and second passage in fluid communication such that the system air is heated by the combustion product, iii) the mixing chamber is disposed serially relative to the injection chamber such that air processed through the mixing chamber is directed through the injection chamber, iv) the injection chamber comprises a portion of the single air conduit and one or more injectors for injecting hot air from an external source into the portion of the single air conduit for mixing with the mixed air, v) the injector comprises a projection projecting into the single air conduit such that the projection disrupts the airflow of the mixed air thereby creating a uniform temperature profile of air directed into the dryer intake, and vi) the projection is oriented substantially orthogonal to the flow of the system air.