Vapor pressure control system for drying and curing products
OwnerDavid Sandelmaninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system to control the conditions of an aging room, also known as a conditioned space, for products in which independent feedback loops control the dry bulb temperature and the dew point while controlling the difference between the vapor pressure in the room and the vapor pressure of the products being dried, thereby controlling the amount of and rate of water or water vapor loss of the products and, therefore controlling its quality, the system also including target controls, a thermoelectric cooler and lighting controls.
Claims17
A system for controlling the drying of a product, said product having a specific vapor pressure, said product located within a conditioned space, said system comprising:
- a first sensor to determine the temperature in said conditioned space,
- a second sensor to determine the vapor pressure in said conditioned space, and
- a controller responsive to the vapor pressure or dew point in said conditioned space with respect to the vapor pressure of the product to control the drying of said product, wherein said controller comprises two independent PID control loops, one of said two PID control loops controls the temperature in said conditioned space to maintain a user-provided setpoint provided by a user and the other of said two PID control loops controls said vapor pressure or dew point of said conditioned space to maintain a user-provided setpoint provided by the user, wherein said controller removes water vapor from said conditioned space to relieve the vapor pressure of said conditioned space, wherein said controller controls the amount and rate water is removed from said conditioned space and said product, wherein said system comprises cooling coils in contact with air in said conditioned space, and wherein said controller controls the temperature of said cooling coils responsive to the vapor pressure to remove water from said conditioned space.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.