U.S. patent application number 12/451417 was filed with the patent office on 2010-05-20 for hot air generating tool.
Invention is credited to Oscar Cozza.
Application Number | 20100122541 12/451417 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39591204 |
Filed Date | 2010-05-20 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100122541 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Cozza; Oscar |
May 20, 2010 |
HOT AIR GENERATING TOOL
Abstract
A hot air generating tool, comprising a tubular body for
aspirating and discharging drying air, with which elements for
heating the air and a handle are associated. The air heating
elements are constituted by a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube device
supplied with compressed air.
Inventors: |
Cozza; Oscar; (Montecchio
Maggiore, IT) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Modiano & Associati
Via Meravigli 16
20123 Milan
IT
|
Family ID: |
39591204 |
Appl. No.: |
12/451417 |
Filed: |
May 13, 2008 |
PCT Filed: |
May 13, 2008 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2008/055824 |
371 Date: |
November 12, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
62/5 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F24H 3/04 20130101; F24H
3/0423 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
62/5 |
International
Class: |
F25B 9/04 20060101
F25B009/04 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
May 23, 2007 |
IT |
PD2007A000182 |
Claims
1-5. (canceled)
6. A hot air generating tool, comprising a tubular body for
aspirating and discharging drying air, with which means for heating
said air and a handle are associated, said air heating means being
constituted by a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube device supplied with
compressed air, wherein said Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube device is
integrated in said handle.
7. The tool according to claim 6, wherein said vortex tube device
comprises a cylindrical chamber, in which compressed air is
injected in a radial direction from a lateral port, a first
cylindrical tubular element for feeding hot air protruding from
said chamber coaxially thereto on one side, a second tubular
element which is shorter than the first tubular element, for
emitting cold air, protruding coaxially from said chamber coaxially
thereto at the other side, a valve for adjusting the flow-rate of
pressurized hot air being provided at the end of said first
tube.
8. The tool according to claim 7, wherein said first tubular
element passes through said handle and leads into said tubular body
for aspirating and discharging air.
9. The tool according to claim 6, wherein said tubular body
comprises a first central part, with which the handle is jointly
connected, a second intake part, with a frustum-shaped internal
surface which tapers toward the inside of the tubular body, and a
third discharge part, with an outer portion which diverges to
provide a Venturi effect.
10. The tool according to claim 9, wherein said third part is
screwed to said first part by means of two corresponding threaded
portions, an internal thread being provided on said first central
part and a complementary external thread being provided on said
third discharge part, to adjust the temperature by increasing or
decreasing the Venturi effect.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] Drying machines, for example of the infrared type, are
currently known for the industrial drying of one or more painted
bodies, for example a component of a vehicle body or an entire
vehicle body, for example of a car, and are inherently expensive in
themselves and also in terms of management and maintenance.
[0002] For hobby work, these industrial solutions are inherently
unfeasible, and a person who has painted one or more bodies or
surfaces, for example by means of an airbrush or a paint gun to be
associated with an air compressor, must allow the painted bodies to
dry in the air by natural convection, or use an ordinary hairdryer,
improperly consuming electric power and risking desiccation of the
painted surface.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The aim of the present invention is to provide a tool which
generates hot air by using compressed air and can be connected
easily to a compressor of a known type.
[0004] Within this aim, an object of the present invention is to
provide a tool which is easy to provide and use and is also
cheap.
[0005] Another object of the present invention is to provide a hot
air generating tool which can be manufactured with known systems
and technologies.
[0006] This aim and these and other objects, which will become
better apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a hot air generating
tool, comprising a tubular body for aspirating and discharging
drying air, with which means for heating said air and a handle are
associated, characterized in that said air heating means are
constituted by a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube device supplied with
compressed air.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will
become better apparent from the following detailed description of a
preferred but not exclusive embodiment thereof, illustrated by way
of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:
[0008] FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a tool according to the
invention;
[0009] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a use of the tool according
to the invention;
[0010] FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of the operation of the
vortex tube device which is a part of the tool according to the
invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0011] With reference to the figures, a hot air generating tool
according to the invention is generally designated by the reference
numeral 10.
[0012] The hot air generating tool 10 comprises a tubular body 11
for aspirating and discharging drying air, with which means for
heating the air and a handle 12 are associated.
[0013] The air heating means are constituted by a Ranque-Hilsch
vortex tube device 13, which is supplied with compressed air.
[0014] The Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube device 13, which is of a per
se known type, is integrated in the handle 12.
[0015] The vortex tube device 13 comprises a cylindrical chamber 14
in which compressed air is injected in a radial direction from a
lateral port 15, such air arriving from a compressor of a known
type, which is not illustrated for the sake of simplicity.
[0016] A first tubular cylindrical element 16 for feeding hot air
toward the tubular body 11 protrudes from the chamber 14, coaxially
thereto, at one end, and a second tubular element 17, which is
shorter than the first element 16, for discharging cold air
protrudes from the opposite side.
[0017] A valve 18 for adjusting the flow-rate of compressed hot air
is provided at the end of the first tube 16.
[0018] The first tube 16 passes through the handle 12 and leads
into the tubular body 11 for aspirating and discharging air, while
the second tube 17 expels the cold air into the environment, or as
an alternative into a disposal tube designed to move the cold air
flow away from the user.
[0019] The handle 12 is also designed to protect the user against
the cold that exits from the second tube 17 and from the heat
emitted by the first tube 16.
[0020] The tubular body 11 comprises: a first central part 20, with
which the handle 12 is rigidly coupled; a second intake part 21,
with a frustum-shaped internal surface 22 which tapers toward the
inside of the tubular body 11 and a debris retention grille 23; a
third emission part 24, with an outer diverging portion 25 to
provide a Venturi effect.
[0021] The third part 24 is screwed to the first part 20 by means
of two corresponding threaded portions, an internal thread 26 on
the first part 20 and a complementary external thread 27 on the
third part 24, in order to adjust the temperature by increasing or
decreasing the Venturi effect.
[0022] By turning the third part 24 in one direction or in the
opposite direction, the pressurized hot air stream that exits from
the first tube 16 is throttled, thereby modifying the temperature
of the air that exits from the tubular body 11, as shown by way of
example in FIG. 3.
[0023] The vortex tube device 13, as mentioned, is of a per se
known type, and is used generally in a wide range of applications
in the localized cooling of machines, assembly lines and industrial
processes.
[0024] In the present invention, the generated hot air of the tube
device 13 is used instead of the cold air.
[0025] The operating principle of the tube device 13 is as
follows.
[0026] The compressed air is injected radially into the chamber 14,
where a vortex is generated; such vortex produces the dynamic
separation or extraction of molecules with high kinetic energy
(i.e., at high temperature) from molecules with lower kinetic
energy (and therefore at a lower temperature).
[0027] In this manner, two separate air streams, a hot one and a
very cold one, are generated starting from a flow of compressed
air.
[0028] Part of the hot air (which therefore moves at a higher speed
than the cold air) is made to exit from the first tube by means of
a conical end nozzle, shown schematically in FIG. 3 and designated
therein by the reference numeral 30, and an adjustment valve 18;
the conical nozzle 30 allows the outflow of the hot outer stream 31
and diverts in the opposite direction the cold inner stream 32.
[0029] The cold inner stream 32 is thus forced in countercurrent at
the opposite end toward the chamber 14 and from there toward the
second tube 17.
[0030] The pressurized hot air that exits from the first tube 16
can reach 110.degree. C.
[0031] The control valve 18 located in the end of the first tube 16
allows to adjust the temperature and quantity of the air.
[0032] In practice it has been found that the invention thus
described solves the intended aim and objects.
[0033] In particular, the present invention provides a tool for
generating hot air by using compressed air which can be connected
easily to known types of compressor, so as to utilize the
characteristics of the Ranque-Hilsch tube device.
[0034] Further, the present invention provides a tool which is easy
to provide and use, as well as cheap, also in that it does not use
electric power directly, except for the power needed to run the
compressor.
[0035] Further, the tool is lightweight and has no moving parts,
and is therefore scarcely demanding to handle for a user who has to
hold it for a long period of time.
[0036] Further, the invention provides a drying tool which can be
purchased and managed easily even by a private individual for
hobby-related purposes and can also be used at an industrial level
by appropriately adapting its dimensions.
[0037] Moreover, the present invention provides a tool for
generating hot air which can be manufactured with known systems and
technologies.
[0038] The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous
modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of
the appended claims; all the details may further be replaced with
other technically equivalent elements.
[0039] In practice, the materials employed, so long as they are
compatible with the specific use, as well as the dimensions, may be
any according to requirements and to the state of the art.
[0040] The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No.
PD2007A000182 from which this application claims priority are
incorporated herein by reference.
[0041] Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed
by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for
the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims
and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting
effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of
example by such reference signs.
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