US 4,230,947 AGranted

Apparatus for treating flowable material

AssigneeHigh Voltage Engineering Corporation

InventorRobert D. Cram

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Abstract

An apparatus for treating flowable material falling through an irradiation zone in the form of a thin, substantially nonturbulent, cohesive layer including in combination an outlet reservoir adapted to catch the falling material after it is irradiated; a source of radiation adapted to direct radiation against the layer as it falls through the irradiation zone; and means for forming flowable material flowing through a pipe or similar material transfer means into a thin, substantially nonturbulent, cohesive layer and directing the layer so formed through the irradiation zone, said means having an inlet orifice adapted to receive material from the transfer means and convey it to an upwardly extending transition zone wherein the flow is gradually widened prior to its entry into a gradually upwardly sloped approach zone which terminates at a forward edge over which the material passes in the appropriate form for treatment in the irradiation zone.

Claims9

Dependent claims

An apparatus for treating flowable material by the irradiation thereof comprising in combination:

(a) a container for holding a quantity of such material including
(1) a base portion having front, rear, left, and right edges, a rear section, and a front section, said rear section including front and rear end walls and convergent side walls defining an open substantially wedge-shaped cavity, and said front section including a flat substantially rectangular ramp extending on an upward slant from the top of said front end wall to the front edge of said base;
and
(2) vertical side walls rising from the left, right, and rear edges of said base, said side walls being appropriately connected to each other along the left-rear and right-rear corners thereby defined;
(b) inlet conduit means connecting the interior of said container with a source of material to be irradiated through the lower portion of said rear end wall;
(c) material delivery means associated with said inlet conduit means for delivering material to be irradiated through said inlet conduit means and into the interior of said container at a predetermined rate selected so as to cause the material filling said container to flow over the front edge of said base portion as a thin, nonturbulent, cohesive layer without overflowing said vertical side walls;
(d) irradiation means disposed for directing at least one beam of radiation substantially perpendicularly onto the layer of material falling from the front edge of the base portion under the influence of gravity, said beam being moved back and forth across said layer at a speed much faster than that at which the material contained in said layer falls such that all material falling through the irradiation zone wherein the beam impinges upon the layer is substantially uniformly treated;
and
(e) outlet reservoir means disposed to catch the material falling from the irradiation zone.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.