Through-air dryer shower assembly
Disclosed is a through-air dryer shower assembly disposed within the through-air dryer and enables efficient cleaning of the through-air dryer without having an operator enter the dryer. The shower may comprise an elongated shower conduit having a plurality of nozzles disposed thereon and may be affixed to a baffle disposed within the through-air dryer cylinder. The shower assembly is generally positioned to spray a pressurized stream of wash fluid against the interior surface of the dryer causing debris accumulated within the deck to flow through the structure to the outer surface for discharge.
1. A through-air drying apparatus having radial, axial and tangential directions, the drying apparatus comprising:
a. a drying cylinder rotatable about a central axis, the dryer cylinder comprising a porous cylindrical deck, a pair of spaced apart headers and a journal supporting the pair of spaced apart headers;
b. a baffle disposed within the drying cylinder, the baffle comprising a baffle support shaft that is axially aligned with the journal, a cylindrical shell and a dead plate wherein the dead plate is attached to the baffle support shaft by a plurality of spokes and has a leading edge and a trailing edge relative to the direction of rotation of the rotatable cylinder; and
c. a shower assembly attached to the leading or the trailing edge of the dead plate, the shower assembly comprising a wash fluid supply conduit extending radially outward from the baffle support shaft, a spray conduit extending substantially parallel to the baffle support shaft and in fluid communication with the wash fluid supply conduit and a plurality of nozzles disposed on the spray conduit.
2. The through-air drying apparatus of claim 1 wherein the shower assembly is disposed radially outward from the baffle cylindrical shell.
3. The through-air drying apparatus of claim 1 wherein the baffle support shaft comprises an axially extending central portion and at least a portion of the wash fluid supply conduit is disposed within the axially extending central portion.
4. The through-air drying apparatus of claim 1 wherein the baffle support shaft and the journal comprise axially extending central portions and at least a portion of the wash fluid supply conduit is disposed within the axially extending central portions.
5. The through-air drying apparatus of claim 1 wherein the porous cylindrical deck comprises a honeycomb structure and when the rotatable cylinder is rotated the nozzles spray a wash fluid onto the inner surface of the porous cylindrical deck causing debris accumulated within the honeycomb structure to flow through the structure to the outer surface of the porous cylindrical deck for discharge.
6. The through-air drying apparatus of claim 1 wherein the plurality of nozzles are inclined at an angle relative to one another to direct wash fluid onto the inner surface of the porous cylindrical deck at different angles.
7. The through-air drying apparatus of claim 1 wherein the plurality of nozzles are arranged in sets and the sets are inclined at an angle from about 10 to about 20 degrees relative to each other.
8. The through-air drying apparatus of claim 1 wherein the plurality of nozzles are spaced apart from one another from about 12 to about 18 cm and successive nozzles are inclined relative to one another from about 10 to about 20 degrees.
9. The through-air drying apparatus of claim 1 wherein the plurality of nozzles are selected from the group consisting of jet spray, cone spray, fan spray and dual angle spray nozzles.