Apparatus and method for exchanging an atmosphere of spherical object
AssigneesMitsui High-Tec, Inc., Nippon Pneumatics/Fluidics System Co., Ltd.
InventorsKatsumi Amano, Tashiro Arai
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A spherical object transport apparatus of the invention brings a spiral stream into contact with a first atmosphere containing a spherical object, selectively sucks the first atmosphere outward so as to engulf in the spiral stream for diffusing the first atmosphere outward, guides the spherical object so that the spherical object passes through the center of the transport apparatus, supplies a second atmosphere to the spherical object, and sends the spherical object together with the second atmosphere to the following step.
Claims7
A method of exchanging an atmosphere of spherical object, comprising:
- a spiral stream formation step of allowing a carrier fluid to flow in from a tangent direction of a tubular flow passage and forming a spiral stream of the carrier fluid;
- a spherical object-containing fluid supply step of supplying a spherical object together with a fluid for forming a first atmosphere along a center axis in the spiral of the spiral stream;
- a first atmosphere suction and discharge step of bringing the spherical object-containing fluid into contact with the spiral stream for guiding the spherical object so that the spherical object passes through a center and selectively sucking the first atmosphere together with the spiral stream outward for discharging the first atmosphere;
- and
- a second atmosphere supply step of spouting a second fluid for forming a second atmosphere to the spherical object with the first atmosphere discharged in said suction and discharge step, accelerating the spherical object, and sending out the spherical object together with the second fluid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.