Pedestal for supporting an adhesive melter and related systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10202246-B2
Application number	US-201615338430-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 30, 2016
Priority date	Oct 26, 2012
Publication date	Feb 12, 2019
Grant date	Feb 12, 2019

Abstract

A method of supplying adhesive particulates from a hopper to an adhesive melter is described. Initially, a flow tube is fluidly coupled between the adhesive melter and the hopper. Next, forced air is supplied through the flow tube to move the adhesive particulates from the hopper into the adhesive melter for melting the adhesive particulates into a fluid adhesive.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of supplying adhesive particulates from a hopper to an adhesive melter, the method comprising:
providing a pedestal including a support structure supporting said adhesive melter and the hopper;
providing said adhesive melter and said hopper, the hopper being adjacent to and contacting said adhesive melter;
fluidly coupling a flow tube between the adhesive melter and the hopper, wherein said flow tube includes a first end portion and a second end portion, wherein said first end portion is fluidly coupled to an outlet of said hopper and said second end portion is fluidly coupled to an inlet of said adhesive melter;
supplying forced air through the flow tube to move the adhesive particulates from the hopper into the adhesive melter; and
after moving the adhesive particulates from the hopper and the flow tube into the adhesive melter, melting the adhesive particulates into a fluid adhesive.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing said adhesive melter and said hopper comprises supporting the adhesive melter generally above the hopper.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein providing said adhesive melter and said hopper comprises supporting the hopper within the support structure generally below the pedestal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein supplying the forced air through the flow tube to move the adhesive particulates from the hopper into the adhesive melter comprises pumping ambient air through the flow tube to move the adhesive particulates from the hopper into the adhesive melter.

5. A method of supplying adhesive particulates from a hopper to an adhesive melter, the method comprising:
providing a pedestal including a support structure supporting said adhesive melter and the hopper;
providing said adhesive melter and said hopper, the hopper being adjacent to and contacting said adhesive melter;
fluidly coupling a flow tube between the adhesive melter and the hopper, wherein said flow tube includes a first end portion and a second end portion, wherein said first end portion is fluidly coupled to an outlet of said hopper and said second end portion is fluidly coupled to an inlet of said adhesive melter;
operating a venturi pump to pump ambient air through the flow tube to move the adhesive particulates from the hopper into the adhesive melter; and
melting the adhesive particulates in the adhesive melter into a fluid adhesive.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein supplying the forced air through the flow tube to move the adhesive particulates from the hopper into the adhesive melter comprises supplying pressurized gas through the flow tube to move the adhesive particulates from the hopper into the adhesive melter.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hopper includes a generally transparent window through which the adhesive particulates stored within the hopper are visible.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flow tube includes a generally transparent portion through which the adhesive particulates moving within the flow tube are visible.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
moving a cover of the hopper to an open position to open the hopper; and
refilling the hopper with additional adhesive particulates.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the cover of the hopper is outside of the support structure supporting the adhesive melter.

11. A method of supplying adhesive particulates from a hopper to an adhesive melter, the method comprising:
providing a pedestal including a support structure supporting said adhesive melter and the hopper;
providing said adhesive melter and said hopper, the hopper being adjacent to and contacting said adhesive melter;
fluidly coupling a flow tube between the adhesive melter and the hopper, wherein said flow tube includes a first end portion and a second end portion, wherein said first end portion is fluidly coupled to an outlet of said hopper and said second end portion is fluidly coupled to an inlet of said adhesive melter;
suctioning the adhesive particulates from the hopper into the flow tube with a suction wand in fluid communication with the flow tube to move the adhesive particulates from the hopper into the adhesive melter; and
melting the adhesive particulates in the adhesive melter into a fluid adhesive.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising vibrating the suction wand to loosen the adhesive particulates suctioned from the hopper into the flow tube.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein adhesive particulates are moved from the hopper into a tank of the adhesive melter for melting the adhesive particulates into the fluid adhesive.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising filtering the supplied forced air that exhausts from the adhesive melter.

15. A method of supplying adhesive particulates from a hopper to an adhesive melter, the method comprising:
providing a pedestal including a support structure supporting said adhesive melter and the hopper;
providing said adhesive melter and said hopper, the hopper being adjacent to and contacting said adhesive melter, the hopper including a generally transparent window, said generally transparent window comprising a major axis and a minor axis, said major axis being longer than said minor axis, said major axis extending vertically along said hopper and traverse to a bottom of said adhesive melter for viewing the level of adhesive particulates contained therein;
fluidly coupling a flow tube between the adhesive melter and the hopper, wherein said flow tube includes a first end portion and a second end portion, wherein said first end portion is fluidly coupled to an outlet of said hopper and said second end portion is fluidly coupled to an inlet of said adhesive melter;
supplying forced air through the flow tube to move the adhesive particulates from the hopper into the adhesive melter; and
melting the adhesive particulates in the adhesive melter into a fluid adhesive.

16. A method of supplying adhesive particulates from a hopper to an adhesive melter, the method comprising:
providing a pedestal including a support structure supporting said adhesive melter and the hopper;
providing said adhesive melter and said hopper, the hopper being adjacent to and contacting said adhesive melter;
fluidly coupling a flow tube between the adhesive melter and the hopper, wherein said flow tube includes a first end portion and a second end portion, wherein said first end portion is fluidly coupled to an outlet of said hopper and said second end portion is fluidly coupled to an inlet of said adhesive melter, said outlet of said hopper being below said pedestal;
supplying forced air through the flow tube to move the adhesive particulates from the hopper into the adhesive melter; and
melting the adhesive particulates in the adhesive melter into a fluid adhesive.

17. A method of supplying adhesive particulates from a hopper to an adhesive melter, the method comprising:
providing a pedestal including a support structure supporting said adhesive melter and the hopper;
providing said adhesive melter and said hopper, the hopper being adjacent to and contacting said adhesive melter;
fluidly coupling a flow tube between the adhesive melter and the hopper, wherein said flow tube includes a first end portion and a second end portion, wherein said first end portion is fluidly coupled to an outlet of said hopper and said second end portion is fluidly coupled to a lid of a tank of said adhesive melter;
supplying forced air through the flow tube to move the adhesive particulates from the hopper into the adhesive melter; and
melting the adhesive

Assignees

• Nordson Corp

Inventors

• Jeter David R

Classifications

• B65G53/06 Primary

  Gas pressure systems operating without fluidisation of the materials · CPC title

• B05C11/1042 Primary

  provided with means for heating or cooling the liquid or other fluent material in the supplying means upstream of the applying apparatus · CPC title