Method of drying roving products
AssigneeJohns Manville
InventorsDaniel Pinkham, Jr., Gerard Joseph Demott, Gary Groner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method of drying wet items including roving packages, cakes and bobbins of wound wet glass fibers and/or wet glass fiber strand(s) by first preheating the wet items using waste hot gases coming from any source including a glass furnace, a dryer or a heat engine operating to generate electrical power prior to removing much, most or all of the moisture in the wet roving packages, cakes and bobbins using a dielectric or microwave oven, to save energy, reduce drying costs and to increase the capacity of dielectric or microwave dryers.
Claims20
A system for drying wet items including wet roving packages, wet cakes and bobbins of wound wet fiber glass fibers or wet fiber strands comprising a microwave or dielectric oven for subjecting the wet roving packages, cakes and/or bobbins to dielectric waves or microwaves until the moisture content of the roving packages, cakes and bobbins is less than about 10 wt. percent, the improvement comprising;
- a preheating chamber for preheating the wet roving packages, cakes and/or bobbins to at least about 55 degrees C., but below the boiling point of water at the location of the preheating chamber, a duct for transporting waste hot gases exhausted from a source selected from a group consisting of a glass furnace, a dryer, and a heat engine operating to generate electrical power, into the preheating chamber and a fan for causing the waste hot gases to enter the preheating chamber and to exit the preheat chamber, the preheating chamber being located upstream of the microwave or dielectric oven.
A method of drying wet roving packages, cakes and/or bobbins of wound wet glass fibers or wet strands of glass fibers by placing the wet roving packages, cakes and bobbins into a microwave or dielectric oven and subjecting the wet roving packages, cakes and bobbins to dielectric waves or microwaves until the moisture content of the roving packages, cakes and bobbins is less than about 10 wt. percent, the improvement comprising;
- first preheating the wet roving packages, cakes or bobbins to at least about 55 degrees C., but below the boiling point of water at the preheating location, using waste hot gases waste hot gases exhausted from a heat engine operating to generate electrical power, a glass furnace or a dryer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.