Claims
- 1. In a method for thermal/vacuum drying a wet web of material, said method comprising the steps of sandwiching a part of said wet web with a porous web between a pair of moving heat conductive layers, heating the layer adjacent said wet web, and cooling the layer adjacent said porous web to thereby cause the particles of liquid of said wet web to be vaporized by said heated layer and be condensed back to particles of liquid by said cooled layer while said layers and said webs are moving together in a sandwiched relation, the improvement comprising the step of imposing an electrostatic field means at least through part of said moving sandwich of said webs by charging at least one of said layers to augment said thermal/vacuum drying of said wet web while said part is disposed between said layers.
- 2. A method as set forth in claim 1 and including the step of forming at least said one of said layers to have at least a portion thereof defining an electrode means that comprises the part thereof that is being charged for imposing said electrostatic field means.
- 3. A method as set forth in claim 2 and including the step of forming the other of said layers to have at least a portion thereof defining an electrode means that cooperates with said electrode means of said one layer to form said electrostatic field means therebetween.
- 4. A method as set forth in claim 3 wherein said step of imposing comprises the step of charging said electrode means of said other layer with a different potential than the potential on said electrode means of said one layer.
- 5. A method as set forth in claim 4 wherein said steps of forming comprise the step of forming said electrostatic field means to comprise a plurality of non-uniform electrostatic fields extending between said electrode means.
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a Continuation-in-Part patent application of its copending parent patent application, Ser. No. 174,886, filed Aug. 4, 1980, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,407, which, in turn, is a divisional patent application of its copending parent application, Ser. No. 085,216, filed Oct. 16, 1979, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,317, which, in turn is a Continuation-in-Part application of its copending parent application, Ser. No. 849,097, filed Nov. 7, 1977, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,845, which, in turn, is a Continuation-in-Part application of its copending parent application, Ser. No. 809,945, filed June 24, 1977, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,307, which, in turn, is a divisional patent application of its copending parent application, Ser. No. 695,092, filed June 11, 1976, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,162, which, in turn, is a Continuation-in-Part application of its copending parent application, Ser. No. 541,218, filed Jan. 15, 1975, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,937, which, in turn, is a Continuation-in-Part application of its copending parent application, Ser. No. 405,023, filed Oct. 10, 1973, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,449.
US Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
3404462 |
Hanson et al. |
Oct 1968 |
|
4359826 |
Rounsley |
Nov 1982 |
|
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
36632 |
Sep 1981 |
EPX |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
"Review of IPC Research in High-Intensity and Thermal/Vacuum Drying Processes" at pp. 38 and 39 of the Oct. 15, 1981, Paper Trade Journal. |
Divisions (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
85216 |
Oct 1979 |
|
Parent |
695092 |
Jun 1976 |
|
Continuation in Parts (5)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
174886 |
Aug 1980 |
|
Parent |
849097 |
Nov 1977 |
|
Parent |
809945 |
Jun 1977 |
|
Parent |
541218 |
Jan 1975 |
|
Parent |
405023 |
Oct 1973 |
|