Method and apparatus for conducting a process in a pulsating environment

An improved pulsating processing system, comprising:

• an acoustically excited processing chamber for processing material;
• means for introducing material to be processed into said processing chamber;
• means operatively associated with said processing chamber for introducing a flow of heated gases into said processing chamber to process material introduced into said processing chamber;
• means for exciting at least one natural longitudinal acoustic mode in said processing chamber;
• and
• selectively variable tuning means operatively associated with said longitudinal mode exciting means for changing the excited frequency to optimize processing of the material introduced into said processing chamber,
• whereby material introducing into said processing chamber is subjected to selectable tunable longitudinal acoustic pulsations while the material is being processed in said processing chamber.

A method of processing material by subjecting the material to a pulsating processing environment, comprising the steps of:

• (1) providing a processing chamber for processing material;
• (2) introducing material to be processed into a first predetermined region of the processing chamber;
• (3) providing a flow of heated gases to a second predetermined region of said processing chamber to process material introduced into the processing chamber;
• (4) providing an acoustic exciter operative at about the frequency of a transverse or three dimensional acoustic mode in the processing chamber;
• and
• (5) tuning the acoustic exciter to a frequency about said transverse or three dimensional acoustic mode of the processing chamber.
• whereby material introduced into the processing chamber is subjected to acoustic pulsations about the frequency of a transverse or three dimensional acoustic mode of the processing chamber while the material is being processed in the processing chamber.

An improved dryer for drying material in a pulsating environment, comprising:

• a generally cylindrical drying chamber;
• means mounted inside said drying chamber for introducing material downwardly into said drying chamber;
• at least one pulse combustor connected to exhaust a pulsating stream of heated gases at a selected frequency along an interior tangential path inside a predetermined first region of said drying chamber;
• said frequency of said pulse combustor being selected to excite at least one transverse or three dimensional acoustic mode in said drying chamber for agitating and drying material passing downwardly through said drying chamber;
• tuning means operatively associated with said drying chamber for selectively exciting said transverse or three dimensional acoustic mode:
• means for collecting dried material in a second region of said drying chamber beneath said material introducing means after passage of said material through said stream of heated gases;
• and
• means for removing dried material from said second region,
• whereby material introduced into said drying chamber is subjected to acoustic pulsations produced by the excited transverse or three dimensional acoustic mode while being dried by the stream of heated gases.