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US 3,989,935 AGranted
Method and apparatus for controlling a material treater
AssigneeFormica Corporation
InventorCharles Robert Fay
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An improved process and apparatus are disclosed wherein the resin treatment of a web on a material treater is conducted at optimal throughput with exacting, self-adaptive, feed forward, feedback control.
Claims12
A method of controlling the drying of a fibrous host material which has been treated with a resinous solution which comprises:
- 1. measuring the weight of said host material before treating and providing a signal (A) representative of said weight before treating,
- 2. measuring the weight of the treated material before drying and providing a signal (B) representative of said weight before drying,
- 3. measuring the weight of the dried, treated material and providing a signal (C) representative of said weight after drying,
- 4. providing a signal (D) representative of the resin solids fraction of said resinous solution,
- 5. determining the actual percent volatiles of said dried, treated material from said signals (A), (B), (C) and (D) and providing a signal (E) representative of said percent volatiles,
- 6. providing a signal (F) representative of the specification percent volatiles of said dried, treated material,
- 7. providing a signal (G) representative of the solvent component percentages and a signal (H) representative of the latent heat of vaporization of each solvent component of said resinous solution,
- 8. measuring the line speed of said host material and providing a signal (I) representative of said line speed,
- 9. providing a signal (J) representative of the length of the dryer,
- 10. measuring the dryer temperature and providing a signal (K) representative of said temperature,
- 11. providing a signal (L) representative of the heat capacity of the host material,
- 12. measuring the temperature of said host material before treating and providing a signal (M) representative of said temperature before treating,
- 13. computing the actual film coefficient (h.sub.A) of the material undergoing drying using said signals (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), (G), (H), (I), (J), (K), (L) and (M) and providing a signal (N) representative of said actual film coefficient,
- 14. providing a signal (O) representative of the specification line speed of said host material,
- 15. computing the temperature needed in the dryer to achieve said specification percent volatiles at said specification line speed using said signals (A), (B), (D), (F), (G), (H), (J), (L), (M), (N) and (O) and providing a signal (P) representative of said needed temperature,
- 16. controlling said dryer temperature in accordance with said signal (P),
- 17. computing the line speed necessary to achieve said specification percent volatiles in accordance with said signal (K) using said signals (A), (B), (D), (F), (G), (H), (J), (K), (L), (M) and (N) and providing signal (Q) representative of said necessary line speed and
- 18. controlling said line speed in accordance with said signal (Q).
15 more elements
In a fibrous host material treating process wherein said material is treated with a resinous solution in a treater and dried in a dryer, apparatus for controlling the drying of said treated material comprising
- 1. first gauge means adjacent to said material for measuring the weight of said material before treating and providing a signal (A) representative of said weight before treating,
- 2. second gauge means mounted before said dryer and adjacent to said material for measuring the treated, undried weight of said material and providing a signal (B) representative of said treated, undried weight,
- 3. third gauge means mounted after said dryer and adjacent to said material for measuring the dried weight of said material and providing a signal (C) representative of said dried weight,
- 4. means for providing a signal (D) representative of the resin solids fraction of said resinous solution,
- 5. means responsive to said signals (A), (B), (C) and (D) for computing the actual percent volatiles of the dried, treated material and providing a signal (E) representative of said percent volatiles,
- 6. means for providing a signal (F) representative of the specification percent volatiles of said dried, treated material,
- 7. means for providing a signal (G) representative of the solvent component percentages and a signal (H) representative of heat of vaporization of each solvent component of said resinous solution,
- 8. means for measuring the line speed of said material and providing a signal (I) representative of said line speed,
- 9. means for providing a signal (J) representative of the dryer length,
- 10. means for measuring the temperature of said dryer and providing a signal (K) representative of said temperature,
- 11. means for providing a signal (L) representative of the heat capacity of the host material,
- 12. means for measuring the temperature of said host material before treating and providing a signal (M) representative of said temperature before treating,
- 13. means responsive to said signals (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), (G), (H), (I), (J), (K), (L) and (M) for computing the actual film coefficient of the material undergoing drying and providing a signal (N) representative of the actual film coefficient,
- 14. means for providing a signal (O) representative of the specification line speed of said host material,
- 15. means responsive to said signals (A), (B), (D), (F), (G), (H), (J), (L), (M), (N) and (O) for computing the temperature needed in the dryer to achieve said specification percent volatiles at said specification line speed and providing a signal (P) representative of said needed temperature,
- 16. means responsive to said signal (P) for controlling the dryer temperature,
- 17. means responsive to said signals (A), (B), (D), (F), (G), (H), (J), (K), (L), (M) and (N) for computing the line speed necessary to achieve said specification percent volatiles in accordance with said signal (K) and providing a signal (Q) representative of said necessary line speed and
- 18. means responsive to said signal (Q) for controlling said line speed.
15 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.