Spray mist cooling arrangement
AssigneeMidland-Ross Corporation
InventorsKlaus H. Hemsath, Frank J. Vereecke
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Abstract
A cooling arrangement is provided for cooling a moving stream, of heated workpieces without thermal deformation. The arrangement includes a plurality of nozzles circumscribing the work which direct a spray mist of atomized water particles toward the work. The spray mist vaporizes at or near the surface of the work to produce a water vapor. By orientating the nozzle spray mist pattern in a predetermined manner and providing a plurality of axially spaced mist arrays, the water mist developed completely envelops the workpiece in a controlled manner to produce a uniform rate of cooling of the pieces.
Claims6
Apparatus for cooling a workpiece continuously moving from a heat source into and through said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:
- a framework downstream from said heat source;
- a plurality of spray mist units incrementally spaced along a longitudinal axis generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of said workpiece and carried by said framework;
- each mist unit including a plurality of atomizing spray nozzles spaced in generally equal increments about an imaginary boundary surrounding said workpiece at equal distances therefrom;
- each nozzle being orientated within each unit to develop overlapping sprays between one another and the nozzles' spray patterns being of the type of develop overlapping sprays between adjacent mist units;
- means operable to supply water and air under sufficient pressures to said nozzles
- a. to produce a spray mist of atomizing water particles of size sufficient to float in air;
- b. to cause turbulent flow of spray mist by said overlapping patterns prior to contacting said article and expand said mist sprays into an envelop completely surrounding that portion of the workpiece between said mist units;
- and
- c. to evaporate said water mist particles into a water vapor before actual contact of said spray mist with the surface of said workpiece.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.