| 摘要 |
<p>A thermoplastic material melting unit (10) including various grid and reservoir configurations designed, for example, to optimize flow rate, melt rate and residence time within a melting unit. A main embodiment includes a supply hopper (12) connected with a liquid reservoir (18) having a plurality of heat exchanging elements, such as fins (50) extending upward from its bottom wall. A melting grid (16) is generally disposed between the supply hopper (12) and the reservoir (18) and includes both upwardly and downwardly extending heated fins (52, 60). The downwardly extending fins (52) intermesh with the upwardly extending fins (50) of the reservoir (18). Additional embodiments of melting grids and heat exchange devices for melting solid thermoplastic material include bare element configurations, angled fin configurations and slotted fin configurations.</p> |
