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US 7,445,170 B2Granted
Process and apparatus for manufacturing crumb and powder rubber
AssigneeLehigh Technologies, Inc.
InventorsAnthony M. Cialone, Peter J. Waznys, George W. Meckert
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A process and apparatus for manufacturing crumb and powder rubber. The process and apparatus include a cooling step, effectuated by cooling means, wherein the temperature of cryogenically cooled preprocessed rubber particles is controlled. The process and apparatus also include a grinding step, effectuated by grinding means, in which the degree of grinding, and thus the product particle size range, is controlled.
Claims39
A process of making crumb and powder rubber comprising:
- (a) removing ferrous metal from a stream of granulated used rubber particles;
- (b) screening and removing fiber from said stream of granulated used rubber particles;
- (c) chilling said stream of screened granulated used rubber particles having a predetermined particle size range with a stream of a cryogenic liquid spray and a stream of a cryogenic gas flowing concurrently with said stream of said granulated used rubber particles wherein the final chilled temperature of said rubber particles is controlled with the proviso that said ferrous metal and fiber are removed from said screened granulated used rubber particles subsequent to said step (b) but prior to said step (c);
- (d) grinding said stream of chilled granulated used rubber particles by varying impact speed wherein said particle size distribution of said ground rubber particles is controlled;
- and
- (e) screening said ground rubber particle stream into desired crumb and/or powder rubber particle size ranges.
3 more elements
An apparatus for making crumb and powder rubber comprising:
- (a) ferrous metal removal means for removing ferrous metal from a stream of granulated used rubber particles;
- (b) fiber removal means for removing fiber from said stream of granulated used rubber particles;
- (c) chilling means for initially cooling said stream of granulated used rubber particles having a predetermined particle size range provided with means for introducing said stream of granulated used rubber particles, a cryogenic liquid sprqay and a cryogenic gaseous stream whereby said granulated used rubber particles are cooled to a predetermined temperature, wherein said ferrous metal removal means (a) and said fiber removal means (b) are disposed upstream of said chilling means (c);
- (d) grinding means comprising means for introducing said cooled granulated used rubber particle stream between a controlled speed impact surface and an outer inverted surface wherein said cooled granulated used rubber particles are ground at said predetermined temperature to a predetermined particle sized size range;
- and
- (e) screening means for separating said ground rubber particles into desired crumb and/or powder rubber particle size ranges.
3 more elements
An apparatus for making crumb and rubber comprising:
- (a) ferrous metal removal means for removing ferrous metal from a stream of granulated used rubber particles;
- (b) fiber removal means for removing fiber from said stream of granulated used rubber particles;
- (c) an off-specfication supersack feeding hopper for introduction of used rubber particles preprocessed to screen out particles larger than sizes within the range of crumb and powder rubber and from which ferrous metal and fiber have been removed;
- (d) chilling means for cooling said stream of granulated used rubber particles having a predetermined particle size range and/or a stream of said used rubber particles introduced through said off-specification supersack feeding hopper, said chilling means provided with means for introducing said stream of granulated used rubber particulars and/or said stream of said used rubber particles introduced through said off-specification supersack feeding hopper, a cryogenic liquid spray and a cryogenic gaseous stream whereby said rubber particles of one or both of said rubber particles streams are cooled to a predetermined temperature, wherein said ferrous metal removal means (a), said fiber removal means (b) and said off-specification supersack feeding hopper (c) are disposed upstream of said cooling means (c);
- (e) grinding means for grinding said cooled rubber particles at said predetermined temperature to a predetermined particle size range;
- and
- (f) screening means for separating said ground rubber particles into desired crumb and/or powder rubber particle size ranges.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.