Claims
- 1. A process for refrigerating material, comprising the steps of: introducing the material into a drum having an interior configuration which will transport the material through the drum upon rotation of the drum; rotating said drum so that said material is transported through said drum; and simultaneously introducing a refrigerant into said drum so as to refrigerate said material, said refrigerant being introduced in the form of a low temperature gas and causing said gas to flow in a direction counter to the direction of travel of said material through said drum by withdrawing some of the gas and re-introducing it at and through the end of the drum which is downstream when viewed in the direction of travel of material through said drum.
- 2. The invention of claim 1 with the additional steps of providing a chamber about the discharge end of said drum and ejecting said some of the gas in such a way as to cause the air and gas in said chamber to be ejected therewith into said drum.
- 3. A method of cryogenically cooling scrap materials prior to crushing, comprising the steps of:
- (a) feeding the materials to be cooled into a cooling zone defined by the interior of a drum;
- (b) transporting said materials through said drum while:
- (i) exposing said materials to a liquid refrigerant which becomes a gas within said drum,
- (ii) producng a recirculating flow of said gas counter-current to the direction of movement of material within said drum,
- (iii) rotating said drum at a speed which determines the rate of movement of material within said drum, and
- (iv) tumbling said materials within said drum to re-expose the surfaces thereof to said refrigerant within the drum.
- 4. The invention of claim 3, wherein said gases precool said materials prior to the introduction of said materials into said cooling zone.
- 5. The invention of claim 3, wherein said materials are loosely shaken into said cooling zone at a controlled rate.
Parent Case Info
This is a division of U.S. Ser. No. 587,546, filed June 17, 1975 entitled, "Apparatus And Process For Refrigerating Materials," now U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,142, which in turn is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 365,117, filed May 30, 1973, which is also entitled, "Apparatus and Process For Refrigerating Materials," now U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,743, dated Sept. 23, 1975, each of which applications are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
587546 |
Jun 1975 |
|
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
365117 |
May 1973 |
|