Dedusting apparatus having air knives and ionizing wires

In a dedusting apparatus for cleaning particulate material, said dedusting apparatus having a housing;

• a product infeed located at an upper portion of said housing for the introduction of particulate material to be cleaned into said housing;
• a wash deck supported in said housing below said product infeed to receive a flow of said particulate material from said product infeed onto said wash deck;
• and an air inlet opening in said housing to introduce a flow of air beneath said wash deck, the improvement comprising:
• said wash deck being formed as a unitary formed device bent from a flat pattern into a shape having a plurality of generally vertical steps separated by planar cleaning surfaces with said plurality of cleaning surfaces being located between respective vertical steps, each said cleaning surface having a plurality of cleaning holes formed therein for the passage of air therethrough to pass through said particulate material flowing over said cleaning surfaces, each said vertical step including air knife openings for the passage of air therethrough creating an air knife to engage particulate material falling from an upper cleaning surface to a lower cleaning surface, and
• an ionizing wire positioned behind each vertical step with respect to the direction of air flow through said air knife openings in alignment with said air knife openings such that the flow of air through said air knife openings carries negative ions through said air knife openings into said particulate material falling in front of the corresponding said vertical step.

A dedusting apparatus for cleaning dirt and debris from particulate material, comprising:

• a housing;
• a product infeed located at an upper portion of said housing for the introduction of particulate material to be cleaned into said housing;
• a wash deck supported in said housing below said product infeed to receive a flow of said particulate material from said product infeed onto said wash deck, said wash deck being formed as a unitary formed device bent from a flat pattern into a shape having a plurality of generally vertical steps and a plurality of cleaning surfaces between successive vertical steps, each said cleaning portion having a plurality of cleaning holes therethrough and each said vertical step including a plurality of air knife openings;
• an air inlet opening in said housing to introduce a first air flow beneath said primary wash deck to provide an air flow through said cleaning holes in each said cleaning portion and through said air knife openings to accelerate particulate material flow along said wash deck;
• and
• an ionizing wire positioned behind each vertical step with respect to the direction of air flow through said air knife openings, said ionizing wire being in alignment with said air knife openings such that the flow of air through said air knife openings carries negative ions through said air knife openings into said particulate material falling in front of the corresponding said vertical step.