MACHINE

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a machine for bleaching, tinting, changing, and fixing the colour of natural stones without cracking them by homogeneous heating.

PRIOR ART

The use of natural stone in architecture, art and design dates back thousands of years. As a material, natural stone has a tactile and strong structure that is intertwined with both human emotion and culture. The historical texture of natural stone, with its customer base consisting of contemporary designers and design conscious consumers, emerges as the most trendy material of every period. In addition to being an architectural building material, natural stone has gained a different added value with the demand for different forms and the change in technology and industry. Accordingly, we now see natural stone together with glassware as a lighting element, in accessories, sanitary ware, and industrial product designs, in short, in every part of our living space.

With the technological development of the natural stone industry, we see the use of ultra-thin stone (granite, marble) as a facade cladding material in all architectural structures. Mono-block appearance has gained priority on facades. In interiors, we see luxury natural stones, uncut materials, flooring, and wall coverings in bathrooms, kitchens, and circulation areas. One of the biggest factors in this acceleration that natural stone and derivative materials have gained in terms of design and use is their high durability. When examined in terms of the preferences of consumers and designers, white and light colours are preferred, which add a fresh and bright atmosphere to living spaces. At this point, the extraction of light-coloured and smooth, homogeneous in terms of structure, texture, colour and pattern distribution, clean- coloured, i.e. without any different coloured veins or pollution, from marble quarries throughout our country is limited when the world reserve is taken into consideration. Demands for stones with light-coloured and clean colour options can only be met by bleaching processes with the use of some chemical substances such as dyes and derivatives on the stone surface. In addition to these operations, similar operations should be repeated at certain time intervals depending on the place they are used. Because these processes are applied to the surface and wear occurs over time. In this case, the stones lose their colour, shine, and spacious and well-lighted and airy effect. In addition, another problem created by these processes is that the chemical bleaching processes destroy the natural structure of the stone, make it lose its naturalness, cause extra costs due to the need for colour renewal processes over time, and threaten human health due to the use of chemical products in its content. If these processes are not applied, they can only be sold at much lower prices by the manufacturers as gray, veined, or dirty coloured natural stones are not preferred. However, when this colour bleaching is applied, the square meter prices of the stone can rise significantly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a machine for bleaching, changing, tinting, fixing, of the colour of the natural stone, which increases the hardness and wear resistance of the stone, while transforming the colours of dark coloured natural stone materials with colour problems into lighter colours. The process is carried out by heating every part of the natural stone homogeneously by a heat/light source and keeping this temperature constant.

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Assembled Overview Figure 2. A Detail View Figure 3. Close View

Figure 4. Heat/Light Source and Reflector Mounting Kit View Figure 5. Heat/Light Source and Reflector Mounting Kit View Figure 6. Heat/Light Source and Reflector Mounting Kit View Figure 7. B Detail View

Figure 8. Heat/Light Source and Reflector Mounting Kit View The equivalents of the numbers given in the figures:

1 . Body

2. Conveyor Belt

3. Reflector

4. Heat/Light Source

5. Cover DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention consists of a conveyor belt (2) that enables the movement of the natural stone to be processed, positioned on the body (1 ), at least one reflector (3) that homogeneously transmits the heat/light energy coming from the heat/light source (4) on the natural stone, the heat/light source (4) that provide the heat/light energy that enables the bleaching, changing, tinting, fixing the colour of the natural stone, and the cover (5).

The system is formed by placing the parabolic reflectors (3) on at least one of the top, bottom, and lateral regions of the natural stone on the conveyor belt (2) positioned on the body (1 ), allowing the movement of the natural stone to be processed, so that the intersection points of the parabolic reflectors are on the stone, and by placing at least one heat/light source (4) inside these reflectors (3) according to the size of the stone. In the event of placing more than one heat/light source (4) inside the reflectors (3), cross placement is made in order not to disturb the homogeneous heating.

UV, IR, resistance, serpentine, rod, glass, infrared fluorescent, copper, carbon, medium wave, short wave, long wave, porcelain, ceramic, lamp type resistance, and similar heating types, and at least one of the solid, liquid, gas, solar energy heating types can be used as the heat/light source (4) in the system. These different heat/light sources (4) used can reach temperatures between 30 ^° C - 600 ^° C, thus enabling the colour of the natural stones to be bleached, tinted, changed, and its strength to be enhanced according to the type and structure of the natural stone. Equal transmission of the energy coming from the heat/light source (4) to every point of the natural stone and remaining the same throughout the process is the most important aspect for the process to be carried out without cracking the stone. This is achieved by reflectors (3) that homogeneously transfer the energy of the heat/light source (4) to at least one of the top, bottom, and lateral regions of the natural stone. The reflectors (3) are in the form of a concave parabola and are placed on at least one of the top, bottom, and lateral regions of the natural stone, with the concave face facing the natural stone. The gap between the placement of the concave parabola-shaped reflectors (3), the inner surface of which is mirror-bright, is formed by positioning the parabolas so that they intersect on the stone surface. At least one heat/light source (4) is placed inside the reflector (3), depending on the size of the stone. As the stone size increases, the number of heat/light sources (4) is increased and placed diagonally to each other. With the help of the placement of heat/light sources (4) of different resistance and heating types on the reflectors (3), which are the subject of the invention, thermal dissipation is ensured to be at the most efficient level. Thus, the heat/light energy transferred to the stone at the junction points remains homogen.

When the working performances of the machine are examined, the changing of the colour of the natural stones is achieved at the above-mentioned temperature values within 1-10 minutes, and the colour change is permanent. In addition, it brightens the polish on the natural stone by extra 10% - 15%. Furthermore, it was determined that there was an increase in the surface hardness values between 15% and 25% thanks to the heat treatments we applied to stones of different sizes.

The regulated control and use of the heat transferred to the natural stone ensure that colour change occurs without damaging the stone. This process lightens the colour of the stone quickly, even if the temperature values rise, the angle settings are controlled manually or by automation, while the stone changes colour without suffering any crack, break or damage.

It has been explained in detail in the prior art section that natural stone bleaching methods in the known techniques are made by applying chemical processes and the harms of this process to nature and human health. The machine, which is the subject of the invention, whitens the stone in a short time like 10 minutes, without using any chemical additives, and increases its hardness and brightness with only heat treatments. The colour formed as a result of this process is permanent and its cost is reduced. Thanks to the invention, natural stones with no or low economic value are processed and transformed into value-added products without harming nature and human health.