Apparatus for crystallizing an amorphous particulate material

A device for homogeneously crystallizing a continuous flow of an amorphorous gravity fed substance which is in particle form, such as granular polyester and the like, by directly subjecting the substance to a counterflow of hot gas and thereby heating the substance to a transition temperature at which the substance undergoes a transformation to a crystalline state in a crystallizing zone in which clumps are formed, and by grinding such clumps after their formation to produce a continuous flow of crystallized substance in ground-up form, comprising:

• a vertically elongated hollow housing with a top, a bottom, a feed port, an outlet port, a hot gas intake, a cool gas intake, a gas exhaust, and an interior, the feed port being located at the top of the housing to permit an amorphorous substance to enter the interior of the housing under the influence of gravity, the outlet port being located at the bottom of the housing to permit the substance to be withdrawn from the interior of the housing under the influence of gravity after crystallization, with the path traversed between the ports by the substance defining a processing flow path extending downwardly through the interior of the housing and passing through a zone thereof which is a crystallization zone having an upper boundry and a lower boundry, which is located intermediate the ports, the hot gas intake being attached to the housing intermediate the crystallization zone and the outlet port, the cool gas intake being attached to the housing intermediate the crystallization zone and the feed port, and the gas exhaust being located on the top of the housing adjacent the feed port, whereby a hot gas flow path and a cool gas flow path are defined, the hot gas flow path passing entirely through the crystallization zone from the hot gas intake to the gas exhaust and the cool gas flow path passing from the cool gas intake to the exhaust entirely above the crystallization zone, the gas flow paths extending upwardly through the interior of the housing in a direction opposed to the direction of the processing flow path and in directly subjected counterflow thereto;
• a cool gas distributor communicating with the cool gas intake and located within the housing intermediate the crystallization zone and the feed port, the cool gas distributor operating in a manner that cool gas entering the cool gas intake is distributed uniformly within the interior of the housing;
• and grinding means located within the housing above the hot gas distributor and adjoining only the lower boundry of the crystallization zone and operating in such a manner as to grind clumps formed therein and wherein the grinding means includes at least one perforated plate transversely intersecting the entire flow path and wherein the grinding means includes two horizontal perforated plates which are parallel to each other in vertically separated planes and movable with respect to one another and wherein one plate is fixed and another plate is moveable in its plane and wherein the housing extending outwardly and downwardly intermediate the feed port and the grinding means, and has a maximal cross-sectional area at the location of the grinding means.