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AssigneeLinatex Rubber Products SDN BHD
InventorsRobert Michael Stewart, Chan Pak Kuen, Ralph Nicholas Spearman, Norhisham MD Sanusi, David William Fountain
Estimating the term…
A process for the continuous coagulation and drying of rubber latex includes feeding the latex onto an endless conveyor belt which feeds the latex through a coagulator. A combination of microwave energy and hot air raises the temperature of the latex causing it to coagulate in a coagulation time of less than five minutes. The coagulated rubber from the coagulator is fed into a conveyor belt of a stretch unit which stretches the rubber by increasing its speed of travel. The stretched rubber is then conveyed onto the upper belt of a drying unit. The drying rubber is passed from the upper belt onto an intermediate belt and then on to a lower belt before leaving the drying unit. A combination of microwave energy and hot air in the drying unit is used to dry the rubber to a moisture content of less than 1.5%.
A process for continuous coagulation and drying of rubber latex, comprising passing a stream of the latex through a coagulator to form a coagulated rubber stream, wherein a coagulation temperature in the coagulator is in the range from 30° C. to 90° C., introducing the coagulated rubber stream from the coagulator into a dryer downstream of the coagulator, and passing the coagulated rubber stream through the dryer to dry the rubber, in which the latex stream in the coagulator is heated by a combination of microwave energy and hot air.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.