Rotary reactor with drum for deposition of films onto particles

1 . A reactor for coating particles, comprising:

a rotatable reactor assembly including a reactor drum configured to hold a plurality of particles to be coated, an inlet tube, and an outlet tube, wherein the drum includes a cylindrical tube, and an inlet-side endplate secured to cover an inlet-side opening of the cylindrical tube and/or an outlet-side endplate secured to cover an outlet-side opening of the cylindrical tube, wherein the cylindrical tube provides an exposed featureless cylindrical interior surface extending from the inlet-side endplate to the outlet-side endplate for contact with the particles;

a stationary gas inlet line coupled to the inlet tube by a rotary inlet seal;

a stationary gas outlet line coupled to the outlet tube by a rotary outlet seal; and

a motor to rotate the rotatable reactor assembly;

wherein the inlet tube is releasably mechanically secured to the inlet-side endplate and the outlet tube is releasably mechanically secured to the outlet-side endplate.

2 . The reactor of claim 1 , wherein the inlet tube comprises an outwardly extending annular inlet tube flange and the outlet tube comprises an outwardly extending annular outlet tube flange.

3 . The reactor of claim 2 , wherein the inlet tube flange is releasably mechanically secured to the inlet-side endplate and the outlet tube flange is releasably mechanically secured to the outlet-side endplate.

4 . The reactor of claim 3 , wherein the inlet tube flange is screwed onto the inlet-side endplate and the outlet tube flange is screwed onto the outlet-side endplate.

5 . The reactor of claim 1 , comprising one or more gaskets, each gasket clamped between one of the tubes and a respective one of the endplates.

6 . The reactor of claim 1 , further comprising a heater to radiatively heat at least the reactor drum.

7 . The reactor of claim 6 , further comprising controller configured to cause the heater to control a temperature within the drum to be within a range between 20 to 80 degrees Celsius.

8 . The reactor of claim 6 , wherein the heater comprises a lower half-cylinder and an upper half-cylinder that is liftable away from the lower half-cylinder, and a heating element to heat the lower half-cylinder and upper half-cylinder.

9 . The reactor of claim 8 , wherein the upper half-cylinder and lower-half cylinder are connected along one edge to open in a clam-shell manner.

10 . The reactor of claim 8 , wherein each of the lower half-cylinder and upper half-cylinder extend across the drum, inlet tube, and rotary inlet seal.

11 . The reactor of claim 10 , wherein each of the lower half-cylinder and upper half-cylinder do not extend across and rotary outlet seal.

12 . The reactor of claim 11 , comprising a drive wheel coupled to the outlet tube, and wherein an outlet-side edge of the heater is between the drive wheel and the reactor drum.

13 . The reactor of claim 8 , wherein the heating element comprises one or more resistive heaters embedded in or attached to the lower half-cylinder and upper half-cylinder.

14 . The reactor of claim 8 , wherein the lower half-cylinder and upper half-cylinder comprise solid metal bodies.

15 . The reactor of claim 14 , wherein the lower half-cylinder and upper half-cylinder comprise aluminum.

16 . The reactor of claim 8 , wherein the lower half-cylinder and upper half-cylinder have an inner surface shaped to not contact the rotatable reactor assembly.

17 . The reactor of claim 16 , wherein the inner surface is shaped to conform to the rotatable reactor assembly.

18 . The reactor of claim 17 , wherein the inner surface is shaped to provide a uniform distance between the inner surface and an outer surface of rotatable reactor assembly along an axis of rotation of the drum.