Equipment protecting enclosures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016232999-A1
Application number	US-201615136343-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 22, 2016
Priority date	Oct 10, 2012
Publication date	Aug 11, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Biomass (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, and municipal waste biomass) is processed to produce useful intermediates and products, such as energy, fuels, foods or materials. For example, systems and methods are described that can be used to treat feedstock materials, such as cellulosic and/or lignocellulosic materials, in a vault in which the equipment is protected from radiation and hazardous gases by equipment enclosures. The equipment enclosures may be purged with gas.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of protecting material processing equipment, the method comprising;
conveying a biomass material under an electron beam on a conveyor; and enclosing motor components in a radiation opaque equipment enclosure.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the radiation opaque equipment enclosure is purged with gas.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising exchanging the gas in the equipment enclosure at an exchange rate of less than once every 10 minutes.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the gas is selected from the group consisting of air, oxygen reduced air, nitrogen, argon, helium, carbon dioxide, and mixtures thereof.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the conveyor is disposed within a vault.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the vault also contains irradiating equipment.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the gas is provided from within the vault and the method further comprises filtering the gas prior to purging the equipment enclosure with the gas.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the gas has been filtered to remove ozone.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further includes moving the equipment enclosure to access the motor components.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the equipment enclosure is configured to be movable.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the equipment enclosure includes lead.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the exposure of the motor components to radiation is reduced by at least 10% as compared to the radiation exposure that would occur without the equipment enclosure.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the conveyor is a vibratory conveyor.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising providing a gap between the equipment enclosure and the vibratory conveyor to accommodate movement of components of the vibratory conveyor during use.

15 . A system for protecting a motor and other motor components of a vibratory conveyor, the system comprising:
a vibratory conveyor having motor components mounted on a structure; and a substantially radiation opaque equipment enclosure configured to be positioned over the motor and having an open end that is dimensioned so as to provide a gap between the equipment enclosure and the structure when the equipment enclosure is in place.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the gap is maintained by fixing the equipment enclosure relative to the conveyor using a stop, a groove, a spacer and/or a fastener.

17 . The system of claim 15 , further including a conduit configured for flowing a purging gas into the equipment enclosure.

18 . The system of claim 15 , further comprising equipment for moving the equipment enclosure into and out of position over the conveyor components.

19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the equipment is selected from wheels attached to the equipment enclosure, tracks for sliding the equipment enclosure, wheels disposed below the equipment enclosure, sliders, linear guides and combinations thereof.

20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the exposure of the motor components to radiation is reduced by at least 20% as compared to the radiation exposure that would occur without the equipment enclosure.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the exposure of the motor components to radiation is reduced by at least 30% as compared to the radiation exposure that would occur without the equipment enclosure.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the exposure of the motor components to radiation is reduced by at least 50% as compared to the radiation exposure that would occur without the equipment enclosure.

23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the exposure of the motor components to radiation is reduced by at least 70% as compared to the radiation exposure that would occur without the equipment enclosure.

24 . The method of claim 23 , wherein the exposure of the motor components to radiation is reduced by at least 90% as compared to the radiation exposure that would occur without the equipment enclosure.

25 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the gas comprises air.

26 . A method of protecting material processing equipment, the method comprising;
conveying a biomass material under an electron beam on a conveyor, and enclosing components in a radiation opaque equipment enclosure.

27 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the components comprise the conveyor and the ancillary conveyor parts.

Assignees

• Xyleco Inc

Inventors

• Medoff Marshall
• Masterman Thomas Craig
• Paradis Robert

Classifications

• C10L2200/0469

  Renewables or materials of biological origin · CPC title

• C10L2290/24

  Mixing, stirring of fuel components · CPC title

• Y02P20/145

  the feedstock being materials of biological origin · CPC title

• C13K1/02

  obtained by saccharification of cellulosic materials (manufacture of fodder A23K10/32) · CPC title

• C10L5/442

  Wood or forestry waste · CPC title