	US 12,245,626 B2
	Apparatus and method for use in a flue-cured barn
Daniel Augusto Ritt, Cachoeirinha (BR); Jeronimo Scremin, Cachoeirinha (BR); Valdir Milak, Cachoeirinha (BR); Irving Joseph Berger, Cachoeirinha (BR); Paula Fabiane Martins, Rio de Janeiro (BR); and Vando Braz de Oliveira, Cachoeirinha (BR)
Assigned to BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO (INVESTMENTS) LIMITED, London (GB)
Appl. No. 16/300,312
Filed by BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO (INVESTMENTS) LIMITED, London (GB)
PCT Filed May 4, 2017, PCT No. PCT/GB2017/051242 § 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 9, 2018, PCT Pub. No. WO2017/194914, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 16, 2017.
Claims priority of application No. 1608317 (GB), filed on May 12, 2016.
Prior Publication US 2019/0110515 A1, Apr. 18, 2019
Int. Cl. A24B 1/02 (2006.01); F26B 21/00 (2006.01); F26B 21/02 (2006.01); F26B 23/02 (2006.01)

CPC A24B 1/02 (2013.01) [F26B 21/002 (2013.01); F26B 21/02 (2013.01); F26B 23/02 (2013.01); F26B 2200/22 (2013.01)]

23 Claims

1. Apparatus for use in a flue-cured barn comprising:

a combustion chamber for burning fuel;

an exhaust pipe for allowing combustion gases to leave the combustion chamber;

a fan for drawing the combustion gases along the exhaust pipe away from the combustion chamber and for generating a negative pressure within the combustion chamber and exhaust pipe compared with the pressure outside the apparatus;

a controllable air inlet valve for providing an air supply into the combustion chamber, said controllable air inlet valve configured to selectively vary a flow rate of the air supply into the combustion chamber; and

a control system for controlling the combustion rate in the combustion chamber by adjusting (i) the fan for drawing the combustion gases along the exhaust pipe and (ii) the air supply through the controllable air inlet valve;

wherein the control system is configured to shut the air inlet valve once the combustion chamber or a drying chamber of the flue cured barn have reached a desired temperature and to continue to operate the fan at a reduced rate.