US 7,614,359 B2
Coating apparatus
Koji Hasegawa, Itami (Japan); Hiroshi Matsuura, Itami (Japan); Tetsuya Murakami, Amagasaki (Japan); and Takashi Sakamoto, Toyonaka (Japan)
Assigned to Kabushiki Kaisha Powrex, Osaka-Fu (Japan)
Appl. No. 10/526,787
PCT Filed Jul. 01, 2003, PCT No. PCT/JP03/08348
§ 371(c)(1), (2), (4) Date Dec. 12, 2005,
PCT Pub. No. WO2004/022246, PCT Pub. Date Mar. 18, 2004.
Claims priority of application No. 2002-259098 (JP), filed on Sep. 04, 2002.
Prior Publication US 2006/0096527 A1, May 11, 2006
Int. Cl. B05C 3/08 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 118—13  [118/19; 118/20; 118/303; 118/418; 99/494] 27 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A coating apparatus including a ventilated rotating drum in which granules to be processed are accommodated and which is driven to rotate around its axial line, a ventilation mechanism, and a casing accommodating said rotating drum and said ventilation mechanism therein,
wherein said rotating drum comprises one end and the other end along the direction of the axial line and a peripheral wall that connects said one end and said other end, said other end being located on the side of a rotary drive mechanism for driving said rotating drum,
wherein said one end, said other end, and said peripheral wall as a whole configure a vessel for accommodating said granules to be processed, said peripheral wall has no air passage and is bare inside said casing, said one end and said other end are respectively provided with an air vent, one of which constitutes an air inlet for supplying a process gas from outside into said rotating drum, and the other one of which constitutes an air outlet for exhausting the process gas from inside said rotating drum to the outside, when coating the granules, said ventilation mechanism is provided at the other end of said rotating drum communicating with the air vent at said other end to an air duct at a first location where the air vent at said other end overlaps a layer of the granules inside said rotating drum,
wherein the process gas supplied into said rotating drum through said air inlet passes through said layer of the granules inside said rotating drum and is exhausted from said air outlet,
wherein said ventilation mechanism includes a first disc plate constituting the other end of said rotating drum and having an air vent consisting of porous parts arranged in a ring shape around the axial line of said rotating drum.