Cylindrical dedusting apparatus for particulate material

A dedusting apparatus for cleaning contaminates from particulate material, comprising:

• a cylindrical housing;
• a feed hopper supported on said housing and terminating in a product inlet opening;
• an air supply apparatus supported by said housing at a lower portion to provide a flow of air into said housing;
• an inverted conical wash deck and having an apex positioned centrally within said product inlet opening, said wash deck including a top surface formed with a plurality of apertures for the passage of air through said wash deck;
• and
• an air discharge collector mounted above said conical wash deck for collecting air passing through said wash deck apertures, said air discharge collector including an annular chamber surrounding a central opening in said air discharge collector, said annular chamber being defined by an interior wall defining said central opening and an exterior wall to collect air moving upwardly from said wash deck into said central opening, said air discharge collector including a radially extending air discharge conduit in flow communication with said annular chamber, said annular chamber including a baffle in a distal portion thereof opposite said air discharge conduit and extending between said exterior and interior walls to restrict the cross-sectional area of said annular chamber to increase the velocity of said air within said distal portion.

A dedusting apparatus for cleaning contaminates from particulate material, comprising:

• a cylindrical housing;
• a feed hopper supported on said housing and terminating in a product inlet opening, said feed hopper being operably supported on linear actuators that can be remotely powered to cause vertical movement of said feed hopper relative to said housing;
• an air supply apparatus supported by said housing at a lower portion to provide a flow of air into said housing;
• an inverted conical wash deck mounted on said housing and having an apex positioned centrally within said product inlet opening to receive particulate material therefrom, said wash deck including a top surface formed with a plurality of apertures for the passage of air through said wash deck, the vertical movement of said feed hopper changing the dimensions of a gap separating said product inlet opening from said conical wash deck such that the rate of flow of particulate material over said conical wash deck can be selectively controlled;
• and
• an air discharge collector mounted above said conical wash deck for collecting air passing through said wash deck apertures, said air discharge collector including an annular chamber surrounding a central opening in said air discharge collector to collect air moving upwardly from said wash deck into said central opening.

A dedusting apparatus for cleaning contaminates from particulate material, comprising:

• a cylindrical housing;
• a feed hopper supported on said housing and terminating in a product inlet opening;
• an air supply apparatus supported by said housing at a lower portion to provide a flow of air into said housing;
• an inverted conical wash deck and having an apex positioned centrally within said product inlet opening, said wash deck including a top surface formed with a plurality of uniformly spaced apertures for the passage of air through said wash deck to remove contaminates from said particulate material flowing over said wash deck, said top surface sloping from said apex at a slope angle in the range of 35 to 45 degrees measured from a horizontal plane passing through said conical wash deck to provide flow of particulate material by gravity over said wash deck at an appropriate velocity to allow the passage of air through said apertures to remove contaminates from said particulate material;
• and
• an air discharge collector mounted above said conical wash deck for collecting air passing through said wash deck apertures.

A dedusting apparatus for cleaning contaminates from particulate material, comprising:

• a cylindrical housing defining a clean air inlet port, a dirty air discharge port and a cleaned product discharge opening;
• a feed hopper supported on said housing and terminating in a product inlet opening;
• a closed loop air supply apparatus supported by said housing at a lower portion thereof to provide a flow of air into said housing, said closed loop air supply apparatus including:
• a fan providing a flow of air;
• a cleaning apparatus for removing contaminates from said contaminate-laden air discharged from said dirty air discharge port, said clean apparatus being positioned between said dirty air discharge port and said fan to remove said contaminates before said flow of air reaches said fan;
• a first conduit interconnecting said dirty air discharge port and said fan;
• a second conduit interconnecting said fan and said clean air inlet port;
• and
• a bleed air module connected to said second conduit to bleed off a portion of the flow of air provided by said fan before reaching said clean air inlet port;
• an inverted conical wash deck having an apex positioned centrally within said product inlet opening, said wash deck including a top surface formed with a plurality of apertures for the passage of air through said wash deck, said conical wash deck being centrally supported within said cylindrical housing to define a Venturi zone circumferentially surrounding said conical wash deck between said conical wash deck and said cylindrical housing;
• and
• an air discharge collector mounted above said conical wash deck for collecting air passing through said wash deck apertures, said air discharge collector terminating in said dirty air discharge port.