US3134652A - Dry cleaning apparatus with solvent recovery - Google Patents

Description

May 25, 1964 v. DANGELO ETAL 3,134,652

DRY CLEANING APPARATUS WITH soLvENT RECOVERY 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 'VITO D'ANGELO F|G NORMAN L. GORDON JACK BLAUFARB BY 090%, 714. 5m Arf/l.

May 26, 1954 v. D'ANGELO ETAL 3,134,652

DRY CLEANING APPARATUS WITH SOLVENT RECOVERY Filed Aug. 22, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORSI VITO D'ANGELO NORMAN L. GORDON JACK BLAUFARB BY 021 M FIG, 2

May 26 1954 v. DANGl-:Lo ETAL. 3,134,652

DRY CLEANING APPARATUS WITH soLvENT RECOVERY Filed Aug. 22, 19e@ 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 conm-:usen

7G WATER sE PARAToR INVENTORS.' VITO D'ANGELO NORMAN L. GORDON JACK BLAUFARB United States Patent O York Filed Ang. 22, ldt), Ser. No. 56,983 1 Claim. (Ci. 3477) rThis invention relates in general to dry cleaning apparatus for clothing and, more particularly, to a combination dryer and dry cleaning solvent vapor recovery unit.

An object of this invention is to provide a dryer of a given capacity which operates more eiectively so that its production is greatly increased.

Another object of this invention is to provide a dry cleaning apparatus which will rapidly pay for itself with savings which result from the reclamation of otherwise unrecovered dry cleaning l'luids.

A further object or this invention is to provide a dry cleaning apparatus which may be more safely` used without any possibility of the dangerous concentration of dry cleaning solvent fumes.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a recovery unit for dry cleaning solvent vapors which is easy to install and which requires little or no additional floor space.

A still further object of this invention is to use a blower of a vapor recovery unit to reduce the time required for deodorizing during the drying cycle of a dryer.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a vapor recovery unit having an adsorbing bed which cannot become overloaded and thus fail to function.

Yet a further object of this invention is to provide a vapor adsorbing bed which is stripped of adsorbed solvent in accordance with the cyclic operation of the dry cleaning apparatus.

An additional `object of this invention is to provide a dryer which will safely more rapidly heat and dry garments.

Yet an additional object of this invention is to `provide a dryer and a diy cleaning solvent vapor recovery unit which may be used as an integral dry cleaning system with existing washers.

Many other objects, advantages and features of invention reside in the construction, arrangement and combination of parts involved in the embodiment of the invention and its practice as will be understood from the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. l is a front view of a combination dryer and dry cleaning solvent vapor recovery unit with portions of the door, the front cover plate and a duct broken away to show interior construction;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section taken on line 2-2 of FIGJ;

FIG. 3 is a front View of a washer-extractor and a dryer-vapor recovery unit connected according to this invention;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a vapor pick-up with the lower portion broken away in vertical section to show interior construction;

FIG. .5 is a vfront View of a lint trap with the lower portion brolten away in vertical section to show interior construction;

FG. 6 is a vertical section through a water separator;

FiG. 7 is a horizontal section thorugh a vapor recovery adsorption bed; and

FlG. 8 is a wiring diagram of a combination dryer and vapor recovery unit.

ICC

Referring to FIGS. l and 2, the dryer of this invention has a casing generally designated by the numeral 10. This casing has a front wall 11, side walls l2 and 13, a back plate 14 and a rounded top cover 15 which is formed integrally with the side walls 12 and 13. A basket 16 is rotatably mounted within casing iti by means of shaft i7. Basket 16 contains a large circular opening i8 in its forward end and its sides 19 contain a large number of closely spaced perforations 20d. A gear head motor Ztl is mounted in back of casing 1i) to rotate basket 16 by means of the pulleys 2l and 22 and the belt 23. Pulley 21 is mounted on motor 2t) and pulley 22 is mounted on shaft Il?.

A door 24, containing the central glass viewport 2S, is piovtally mounted by means of the hinges 27 over the aperture 2d formed in front wall 11. The door 24 may be secured in a closed position by means of the latch 28'. Within one side of casing l? there is mounted a lint trap 2d, Extending down from one side of lint trap 29 is a vertical wall Sil. Beneath the rear portion of lint trap 29 is the blower housing 3d. containing the aperture 32. A fan 33 is driven by motor 3d to draw air downward from about basket 16 through lint trap 29 and through aperture 32. Lint trap 29 is of a conventional type which may be cleaned by having a filter element withdrawn through a slot in front wall 11.

Referring now to PEG. 1, air is expelled from blower housing 32 through the duct to pass through the cooling coil 36. As shown in FG. 2, water flows into cooling coil 36 through pipe 37 and out through pipe Sb?. A solenoid valve 39 shuts oif the supply of water to cooling coil 36 when it is not being used.

A duct 40 leads from cooling coil 36 past damper 41 to the heating coil 42. As shown in FIG. 2, a steam line 43 leads through throttling valve d4 past gauge 45 into the heating .or steam coils 42. Pipe 46 leads steam from .the heating coils 42. A solenoid valve 47 is connected to directly bypass the throttling Vvalve 44.

lReferring now to FIG. l, damper dl is mounted on shaft Si? to which there is connected the damper control arm 51. At the rear of the dryer a crank arm S2 is fixed to shaft 50. Fixed over an aperture 53 in wall 13 is an aeration damper 54 which is pivotally mounted by means of shaft 55. A connecting rod 5'7 extends from crank arm 5d to crank arrn 52 so that when the deodorizing damper di is opened by means of the damper control arm 5l, the aeration damper 5d is also opened. When the dampers S4 and i1 are in the closed position, damper control arm 5l is in front of door 25.1 so that it cannot be opened. r'lhis results in a safety factor in that door 24 cannot be opened unless vapors are being expelled from casing it? by blower 5l. This prevents vapors from .rushing `out of door 24 into an operators face as blower 31 then draws air in past the open door 24.

Mounted on the front of casing 10 is the switch box S8 from which there projects the two toggle switches 59 and et?. Toggle switch 59 may control motor 2d while toggle switch 6d controls motor 34. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a microswitch 61 is mounted in switch box 58 so that it will only be closed when door 2d is closed. A microswitch 62 is also mounted on sidewall 13 to be momentarily Closed when damper Sd is closed.

This improved dryer operates in the following manner. Damper control lever 51 is thrown to the left and door 24 is opened. A charge of clothing from a washer-extractor 64, as shown in FIG. 3, is then placed in basket i6. in one case a forty pound experimental dryer was built and used with a forty pound washer-extractor. Door 24 is then closed and the damper control lever 5l is thrown to the right in front of door 24. Switches S9 and 6d are turned ou which starts the rotation of basket 16 and starts drawing air through lint trap 29. As air is circulated downward through blower housing 31 and forced past cooling coil 36 and then heating coil 42, dry cleaning solvent vapors from the charge of clothing pass with this air through cooling coil 36 where they are condensed. As is standard practice, this condensate may be directly piped to a dry cleaning fluid reservoir within a washer-extractor 64. Air is then reheated by the heating coil 42 to pick up more vapors from. the charge of clothing.

After a given length of time, damper control lever 51 is thrown to the left opening dampers 41 and 54. This starts the deodorizing cycle during which fresh air is drawn through aperture 53 past the clothing in basket 16, the cooling coil 36, and then out of the dryer through duct 65.

In a dry cleaning establishment, steam pressure is normally maintained at about 70 to 90 pounds pressure. Steam from such a source is led into this dryer through pipe 43. By passing through the throttling valve 44, this steam is reduced to about l pounds pressure and 140 to 160 degrees. It is within this temperature range that the ordinarily used cleaning solvents, such as perchlorethylene or trichlorethylene, are best and most safely removed in a dryer. After the deodorizing cycle has been completed and substantially the last vestiges of dry cleaning solvent vapors have been removed from. the garments, door 24 is opened. Referring now to FIG. 8, the opening of door 24. opens switch 61. A line voltage is impressed on terminals 66 and 67. Thus the opening of switch 61 stops motor 20 and basket 16 ceases to rotate. So that fumes within container will not flow from aperture 26 in front wall 11 to be breathed with harmful effects by an operator, blower 31 continues to operate to draw air in through aperture 26 and prevent any fumes from flowing outward toward the operator.

Referring further to FIG. 8, a second switch element 61A is mounted in switch 61 to be closed with it. Thus when door 24 is opened, switch 61A closes to open sclenoid valve 47. Since solenoid valve 47 by-passes throttling valve 44, steam at full line pressure and at a temperature of over 220 degrees Fahrenheit rushes from ipe 43 through heating coil 42. While door 24 is opened, damper control lever 51 is thrown to the left so that damper 41 closes duct 40 and no air passes heating coil 42. Thus the high temperature steam within heating coil 42 only heats the coil 42 and cannot heat clothing within basket 16 to an undesirable or dangerous extent. The dried batch of clothing is removed from basket 16 and a fresh charge from washer-extractor 64 is placed within basket 16. When door 24 is again closed, it closes switch 61 to start motor 20 turning basket 16 and it opens switch 61A to close solenoid valve 47. Therefore, as soon as the second batch of clothing starts to dry, throttled steam at a lower pressure and temperature enters heating coils 42. However, since coils 42 had been heated to a higher temperature, their latent heat will be transferred to the cool air which was dawn into the dryer while the first batch of clothing was being removed and a fresh batch was being placed in basket 16. Therefore, when damper control lever 51 is moved to the right and cold air again circulates through heating coil 42, this latent heat will more rapidly raise the temperature of the cold air within container 11 to its best drying temperature range. It has been found by experiment that a 40 pound heating coil used in this manner in a 40 pound capacity dryer may safely and efficiently shorten the drying time by as much as one-third.

Referring now to FIGS. l, 2 and 7, a vapor reclaiming unit may be disposed below bottom wall 68 of the dryer. A second blower 70 draws air from duct 65 and is driven by motor 71. Ducting 72 leads to a damper box 7 3 and enters it through aperture 74. A damper 75 is mounted on rod 76 which extends through a wall of damper box 73. A reversible motor 77 with integral limit switches is set to drive damper rod 76 and thereby damper 75 from an open to a closed position or from a closed to an open position.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, a generally rectangular container 80 has a removable end cover 81 held in place by wing nuts 48. Positioned by the flanges 82 within the rectangular container 80 is a stainless steel adsorption cartridge 63 containing an adsorption material 84 such as carbon granules or pellets of activated carbon. Small apertures 85 are formed in the sides of adsorption cartridge S3. At the other end and at the other side of the rectangular container 80 there is another damper box S5 containing a damper 86 operated by a motor 87. An exhaust duct 88 leads from damper box 85.

Referring now to FIGS. l, 7 and 8, the vapor reclaiming portion of the dryer operates as follows. Each time a batch of clothes is dried and deodorized in the dryer, damper handle S1 is moved once to the left opening dampers 54 and 41. Thus once during each drying cycle damper 54 closes the momentary switch 62 to advance stepper switch 39. Such a stepper switch is manufactured by Guardian Electric and carries their part No. #IR- MER 11S-115 v. A.C. Therefore, according to the setting of stepper switch 89, after a given number of batches of clothing have passed through the dryer, an impulse will be passed to interlocking relay 90. Relay 90 will then move its contacts from the position shown in FIG. 8 and it will be held in this position by the latching relay 91. Relays 90 and 91 may be purchased as a unit from Guardian Electric. The serial number of this unit is #IRlZOO/IZOO GG 115-115 v. A.C.

When the contacts of relay 90 reach their new position and are so held by latching relay 91, timer 92 starts. At the same time, blower motor 71 is turned off and the damper activating motors 77 and 87 are activated to close dampers 75 and S6.

Referring now to FIG. 2, it may be seen that steamv from line 43 passes through a solenoid valve 94, a throttling valve 95 and past a gauge 96 through pipe 97 to enter one side of container 80 beyond a perforated side wall of adsorption cartridge S3. This steam in pipe 97 is throttled to enter container 80 at a pressure of about 10 pounds. As seen in FIG. 8, the closing of the contacts of relay 90 also opens valve 94 to allow steam to ilow through the adsorption material 84.

Referring now to FIG. 7, another pipe 98 leads from the other side and the other end of container 80 through a motor activated gate valve 99 into a condenser 100. Cooling water flows into condenser 100 through pipe 101 and out pipe 102. A normally closed solenoid valve 103 is connected across pipe 101. Referring again to FIG. 8, it may be seen that relay 90 opens these valves 103 and 99. Condensate within condenser 100 flows from it through pipe 104 into the water separator 105. A water pipe 106 and a solvent pipe 107 lead from water separator 105.

When relay 90 closes dampers 75 and S6 and opens the valve 94 to introduce steam through pipe 97 into container 80, steam passes through the adsorption material 84 within cartridge 83 and removes and carries along adsorbed solvent with it. This steam and solvent mixture passes through pipe 98 and the now opened valve 99 into condenser 100. Water flowing through pipes 101 and 102 cools and condenses the steam and solvent mixture within condenser 100 so that a water and solvent mixture flow into the water separator 105. As shown in FIG. 6, the solvent 108 is considerably more dense and heavier than the water 109 and so the solvent runs from pipe 107 while the water drains from pipe 106. Referring now to FIG. 3, solvent thus recovered in the water separator may be drained directly to a solvent reservoir in a washer-extractor 64. Timer 92 continues to run for a pre-set period which is long enough to allow steam to remove the adsorbed solvent from the container 80. After this pre-set interval has passed,

timer 92 momentarily closes timer switch 110 which activates latching relay 91 and allows the contacts of interlocking relay 90 tol return tothe position shown in FIG. 8.` In this position valves 94 and 103 close and motor '71 is turned on to drive blower 70. At the same time valve 99 closesV and motorsA 77 and 847 are activated in reverse to open dampers 75 and 86. If it is desired, the opening of damper S6 and the closing of valve 99 may be delayed for a short period of time after the opening of damper 75 and the closing of valve 94 so that any solvent laden steam remaining in the carbon bed will pass through the condenser 100 and not be exhausted to the atmosphere. This delay may be accomplished by such suitable means as time delay switches or the like.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a duct 112 is connected to duct 65 so that blower 70 draws air through duct 112 when damper 41 is closed and to some extent when damper 41 is open. Immediately above duct 112 is located lint trap 113. Lint trap 113, as shown in FIG. 5, consists of a larger cylindrical casing 114 containing a clean-out door 115 through which the cloth lint trap bag 116 may be reached to be emptied.

Duct 117 extends upward from lint trap 113 to the larger cross duct 118. Washer 64 contains a blower which is activated to draw air in through the door 119 when it is opened to charge the washer 64. This blower within washer 64 prevents fumes from escaping through door 119 into the face of an operator. The blower within washer 64 exhausts through duct 120 into cross duct 118. Extending downward from cross duct 118 are a number of ducts 121 which terminate near the oor in the air intakes 122. As shown in FIG. 4, the bottom of the air intakes 122 is protected by a screen 123. A light swinging door 125 is hinged within each air intake 122 so that a llow of air through screen 123 into duct 121 will open door 125. However, should a back pressure develop as when doors 119 or 24 are opened, or when damper 75 closes and blower 32 shuts olf, the doors 125 will close to prevent heavy fumes from escaping from within ducts 121 and 118. These air intakes pick up any heavy vapors which Will settle to the floor.

In use, this invention enjoys many advantages. Heretofore, most dryers have merely been vented to the atmosphere. Since the fumes from dry cleaning solvents are heavier than air, they tend to congregate in low places and may contaminate near-by basements or lower premises with fumes which form a denite health hazard. Larger vapor reclaimers, which accumulate vapors throughout the day and have the vapors reclaimed at night after the dry cleaning operation has ceased, must be very large. But after a particularly busy day they may have their adsorption beds saturated so that dangerous fumes escape to the atmosphere. Since the smaller adsorption bed of this invention is purged automatically as the dryer is used, it has been found that a carbon bed between 25 to 40 pounds which has the dry cleaning solvent reclaimed from it between one to l0 cycles of operation of the dryer will not allow any fumes to escape into the atmosphere because the carbon bed of this invention can be automatically operated with a large safety factor for its adsorption capacity. In addition, up to two gallons per day of dry cleaning iluid may be reclaimed from a combination of 40 pound Washer-extractor and a dryer using this invention. This amounts to a money saving up to $4.00 per day of operation.

If a single large carbon bed is used to adsorb` dry cleaning solvent fumes from an entire days production, the portion of the reclamation cycle which requires the introduction of steam will be so long that the steam pressure in the dry cleaning establishments boilers will drop so that the pressers and other equipment cannot be operated satisfactorily. Since the reclamation cycle of this invention takes place for a comparatively short period after every three to five batches of clothing are cleaned, the steam pressure from the boilers of the average small G dry cleaning establishment will not drop to so low a pressure that pressers and other equipment cannot be simultaneously operated.

After a considerable period of operation, it may be necessary, depending on atmospheric and other conditions, to replace the carbon bed. Since a single stainless steel adsorption cartridge 83 is thrust within container 3@ through the cover 81, the changing of the adsorption material is extremely simple and requires no special skills.

When a washer-extractor and a dryer are hooked up in combination as shown in FIG. 3, almost double the normal production may be obtained with given machines of given capacity. Normally, dry cleaning operations are conducted on a batch principle. A 40 pound washer 64 will be used in conjunction with a 40 pound dryer 10. It has been found in practice that a washing-extracting cycle of 10 minutes is suicient to adequately dry clean garments. However, since the small operator linds it easy to take a given batch from one machine to the other and thus keep track of his production, the average operator will wash his garments in a washer-extractor for the 2O minutes or so which is required to adequately dry and deodorize garments in his dryer. As has been pointed out, the drying time required by this invention is drastically reduced by superheating heating coils 42 and then using this latent heat to rapidly heat the cool air and more rapidly start the drying of the clothes within the basket 16. This may shorten the actual drying cycle by as much as one-third. Normally, using only blower 32, the time required to deodorize a batch of clothes may be as much as 5 or 6 minutes. However, in the practice of this invention, the amount of air drawn through aperture 53 by blower 32 is supplemented by the additional suction of blower 7i) which must have at least the capacity of blower 32. rThis almost doubles the volurne of air drawn through the aperture 53 so that the deodorizing cycle may be reduced by almost one-half. This may cut from 2 to 3 minutes from the time required for the deodorizing cycle of the dryer. These time savings enabled the complete drying cycle of one experimental machine to be reduced from about 2O minutes down to l2 minutes. This almost doubled the production of a combined washer 64 and a dryer 16 connected as shown in FIG. 3.

While three motors are shown operating the dampers and 86 and the valve 99, a single motor with suitable mechanical linkages could be made to operate both dampers 75 and 86 and the Valve 99. Momentary switch 62 could be closed by other elements which must be activated during the operation of the dryer.

While we have disclosed our invention in the best form known to us, it will nevertheless be understood that this is purely exemplary and that modiiications in the construction, arrangemcnt and combination of parts, substitution of materials and substitution of equivalents mechanically and otherwise may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention except as it may be more limited in the appended claim wherein we claim:

A dry cleaning dryer comprising, in combination, a casing, a basket having a perforated outer surface within said casing, a door in said casing through which said basket may be charged with clothing to be dried, means to rotate said basket to tumble clothing, a blower drawing air and vapors from about said basket, a cooling coil through which air and vapors drawn from about said basket are passed, a damper disposed beyond said cooling coil, a heating coil disposed beyond said damper, a source of high pressure steam, a throttling valve connected between said source of high pressure steam and said heating coil, a by-pass Valve by-passing said throttling valve and being connected between said source of high pressure steam and said heating coil, a duct, said damper being opened to deflect air from said heating coil into said duct, and means responsive to the opening of UNITED STATES PATENTS Hetzer July 18, 1939 8 Davis Mar. 26, Browning et al. Aug. 28, Rosenthal Dec. 31, Victor Oct. 27, Hoyt Nov. 3,

Smith Oct. 3,

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