Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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flLE. F~l TH~S ~F~
~)~F TFIANSLATION
"Sorting Installation"
The invention relates to a sorting installation
in accordance with the preamble of claim 1.
A sorting installation for sorting useful pro-
ducts from dry refuse such as paper, glass, cardboard,plastics or the like has been disclosed in
US-PS 3 595 389. In this in~tallation, the mixture of
useful products to be sorted is passed via conveying
! deviceq to a manual selection belt, where manual sorting
workplaces having drop shafts are provided. At these
workplaces, the useful products to be sorted are taken
manually by the employees from the manual selection belt
and placed in drop shafts arranged to the side of the
operative. The drop shafts as~igned to a particular
useful product fraction then lead to the useful product
bunkers situated below, from which the useful products
can be disposed of as an individual fraction.
The device according to said US-PS makes provi-
sion for different drop shafts to be assigned, in each
case, to the operatives standing by the manual selection
belt so that the operatives are each required to concen-
trate only on certain useful products. In general,
however, it i8 envisaged that each operative will be
required to sort out a large number of individual useful
products from the manual selection station.
, This type of sorting of useful products has the
disadvantage that, firstly, a large number of drop shafts
have to be present in each operative's section in order
to dispose of the large number of useful products aris-
ing, such as paper, glass, metal, material, board,
plastics, etc. This results in a high space requirement
and a high mechanical effort, since the drop shafts have
to be guided to corresponding bunkers with complex guide
devices.
Furthermore, the sorting of a large number of
~ useful products creates difficulties for the operative
-' insofar as a constant process of thought is necessary in
order to assign each useful product picked up by hand to
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a particular drop shaft.
In addition, the arrangement of the drop shafts
can in some cases be disadvantageous, that is to say
~' ergonomically unsatisfactory, since each operative has to
i 5 service a plurality of drop shafts.
A remedy for this can be provided by a sorting
! system in which each operative sorts out only a single
useful product fraction from a useful product mi~ture and
passes this to a nearby drop shaft. Such a treatment, is,
however, somewhat impracticable with a running manual
`,, selection conveyor belt, since the useful product mixture
;, passes the operative too rapidly.
` A further sorting device has been disclosed by
EP-0 123 825 A2. In this sorting installation, the useful
15 products to be sorted out are guided on a circular
conveying path, beside which are arranged both manual and
automatic sorting workplaces with drop shafts. With such
a system, the material to be sorted can be kept in a
cycle until the individual useful product fractions are
20 sorted out. With this installation, also, the various
use~ul products are passed by an operative into various
drop shafts.
; The core concept of the sorting-out of useful
products is the reuse of the raw materials contained in
25 valuable packaging material. For this purpose, the "Dual
System' was established in Germany, guaranteeing that
;~ industry would take back packaging materials of all
types. For this purpose, the packaging which are intended
,~ to be passed to a recycling process for reuse are pro-
9 30 vided with the so-called ~Green Dot~. This relates to
packagings of all types such as glass, tinplate,
aluminum, board/cardboard, paper, plastics and laminates.
The objective is to collect on a large scale the~e
packaging materials which are produced, to sort them and
35 to return the recovered individual fractions to a recyc-
ling process. The problem arising here is that, in the
future, huge quantities of packaging material will be
ii~ produced in an unsorted state and will have to be treated
accordingly.
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The object of the invention is to optimize the
known sorting installations with a view to being able to
achieve a higher throughput. This applies in particular
to manual sorting workplaces.
5This object is achieved, starting from a sorting
installation of the type described initially, by the
characterizing features of claim 1. Further developments
and embodiments of the sorting installation according to
the invention are described in the subclaims. The core
concept on which the invention is based is that the
effectiveness of manual sorting-out is much greater if
the operative standing at the sorting workplace sorts
out, in each case, only one particular useful product
fraction. It is expedient here if a large number of
operatives stand by a particular stretch of a manual
~election belt, all of them simultaneously removing a
particular useful product fraction from the sorting belt
which is, if possible, stationary and passing it to a
nearby collection device. The collection device must then
be switched so that, during thi~ working interval or
working cycle, the collected useful product fraction is
passed to a collection bunker which is entirely specific
to that fraction. When a particular useful product
fraction is sorted out from the sorting belt or manual
selection belt within this working cycle, then, in a
subsequent working cycle, another useful product frac-
tion, again over a particular period for all operatives
simultaneously, is passed to the collection device and
from there, in turn, to another particular useful product
bunker.
In this manner, the consecutive sorting-out of
the individual useful products from the manual selection
belt can be carried out at very high speed and with very
high effectiveness, the collection device being required
to receive only one particular useful product fraction in
each working cycle and passing thi~ continuously or
intermittently to a particular useful product bunker.
From this useful product bunker, the sorted-out
fractions are then each brought to a conveyor device from
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where they are passed, for example, to a baling press.
The collection device assigned to the sorting
belt or manual selection belt in order to receive a
particular useful product fraction in a particular
5 working cycle can be of widely varied design. In the
simplest form, this collection device can be, for
example, a conveyor belt connected in parallel to the
manual selection belt and serving as an interim store.
This interim store is then charged, in the respective
10 working cycle, with a particular useful product fraction.
In this arrangement the working cycle is generally
designed to last until the particular useful product
ffraction has been very largely sorted off the manual
selection belt. Thereafter, this interim store, for
15 example designed as a conveyor belt, is emptied by the
passing of the material to an associated bunker. This can
expediently be achieved in that a conveyor belt which can
be driven in both directions is located above a large
number of bunkers, arranged side by side, and the
20 conveyor belt is arranged to be longitudinally
displaceable in both longitudinal directions, in a manner
~uch that one of the two dropping ends is located above
the associated useful product bunker.
~It has proven very expedient if an additional
,l25 preliminary storage device i8 assigned to the collection
`fdevice, and especially to the collector belt, to receive
3a certain useful product fraction from the operative, on
~fwhich preliminary storage device the useful product u
f'fraction which has been sorted out i~ initially placed.
This charging of the preliminary storage device
takes place at least over a period such as is required by
`ff the actual collection device, that is to say the collec-
tor belt, in order to pass the useful product fraction
ff resting on it to a particular useful product bunker.
During this period, the operating perso,nnel can
~'f already, in a subsequent working cycle, introduce the new
useful product fraction into the preliminary storage
device, without any loss of time occurring. When the
~ collection device has been emptied of a particular useful
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product fraction, the content of the preliminary storage
device with the subsequent useful product fraction can be
placed on the collector belt.
The preliminary storage device can be designed in
a wide variety of ways. In general, the useful product
fraction sorted out in each working cycle has to be
- received in an interim store in order to bridge the
period of emptying of the collection device, that is to
~ay of the collector conveyor belt. If no such time-lag
exist~ becau~e of the set-up of the system, it is poss-
ible wholly or largely to dispen~e with such a prelimin-
ary storage device.
For example, the collection device can also be
de~igned as a pneumatic conveyor line to the individual
;15 useful product bunkers, in which case the flow conveyed
to the associated useful product bunker must be regulated
accordingly. In this case, the preliminary storage device
~'can be designed, for example, as a bucket wheel or drum
magazine, in order to a feed a particular useful product
`20 fraction to the pneumatic conveyor line at a particular
point in time.
If conventional collector conveyor belts are used
~,as the collection device, the preliminary storage device
`~can, for example, con~ist of a useful product collector
channel, having a deflector flap, which releases the
u~eful product fraction at a given time to be fed onto
the collector belt.
It is also possible, for example, to provide two
collector belts lying side by side which are assigned to
a manual selection belt or sorting belt. By means of
appropriate deflector flaps, one of these collector belts
~i~qin each case is then charged with a particular useful
;~product fraction, during which the other collector belt
undertakes the operation of emptying into the associated
uaeful product bunker.
The critical feature is the avoidance of inter-
~;vals in which the operating personnel are no longer able
to carry out the sorting operation because of the
emptying operation of the collection device or of the
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collector belt. This has to be avoided with suitable
preliminary storage devices, which receive the u~eful
~, product fraction to be sorted out for at least suffici-
ently long for the collector belt to be freed again in
order to receive a new useful product fraction.
The sorting installation according to the inven-
` tion provides, in its basic embodLment, a sorting belt or
a manual selection belt to which are assigned a collector
belt as a collection device and useful product bunkers
which, in turn, correspond to the latter. It is of course
also possible for a plurality of sorting belts to beconnected in parallel, each of them having associated
collector belts. Various useful product mixtures can then
be moved on the parallel sorting belts past the sorting
workplaces, upstream sorting devices being responsible
for preliminary separation of the packaging material or
; useful products delivered.
Further details of the invention are shown in the
drawings. An illustrative embodiment of the invention is
explained in detail, with reference to these drawings, in
the description which follows, further advantages being
i indicated.
~; In the drawings:
Fig. 1 shows a lateral view and
Fig. 2 a plan view of a sorting installation
according to the invention, in an overall
representation,
Figs. 3a and 3b show a plan view of three manual selec-
tion or sorting belts, connected in
parallel, with associated collection devices
2~ and useful product bunkers lying below the
J latter, in various working positions, and
~ Figs. 4a-4g show individual representations of the
3 arrangement between sorting belt and collec-
; 35 tor belt, with a preliminary storage or
interim storage device, which may or may not
~ be present, lying between them.
id Description of an illustrative embodiment:
f The illustrative embodiment which follows is
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de~cribed with reference to a sorting operation for a
useful product mixture such as can be used, for example,
in the ~Dual System" to dispose of packaging material
bearing the "Green Dot". The packaging occurring here may
consist of glass, tin plate, aluminum, board/cardboard,
paper, plastic, laminate3 or the like.
j Fig. 1 shows a lateral view and Fig. 2 a plan
view of the sorting installation 1 with various sorting
sections. ~he bags which are delivered containing the
~10 mixture of useful packaging product are introduced into
;a bunker conveyor 2 which is only shown diagrammatically,
and fed to a bag opening system 3. In the bag opening
system 3, the bags are opened and completely emptied. The
loose useful product material is transported onwards by
a conveyor belt 4. This conveyor belt thins out the
material, and the ferrous materials are lifted out from
the flow of material by an FE separator 5. The material
mixture, freed of ferrous materials, is then placed on a
downstream screening machine 6 and divided into three
~,20 part-streams, these being a residual fraction 7, a middle
fraction 8 and an overflow fraction 9. These useful
product streams are shown by corre~ponding arrow~ in
Fig. 2. The fundamental structure of the screening
machine 6 is described in the applicant's
EP 0 168 495 Bl. Reference is hereby expressly made to
~', this printed publication.
; The residual fraction 7 can be withdrawn from the
~Ij material mixture in the first region of the screening
machine 6. It passes over the conveyor belt 10 to a
residue bunker 11.
The middle fraction 8 is discharged onto the
conveyor belt 12 via the screening machine 6. Similarly,
the overflow fraction 9 is discharged onto the conveyor
,! belt 13.
The conveyor belt 12 passes the middle fraction
8 onto a downstream inclined sorting machine 14. The
structural form of such an inclined sorting machine 14 is
described in the applicant~s EP-PS 0 123 825. Reference
is also hereby expressly made to this printed publication.
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The material mixture 8 passed onto the inclined
sorting machine 14 is separated, because of the struc-
tural form of the inclined sorting machine 14, into
"flat" and "rolling" constituents. The "flat" mixed
fraction 15 is transported via a conveyor belt 16 to an
NF separator 17. Aluminum-containing materials are
separated out here and re-sorted on the downstream con-
veyor belt 18. One drop shaft 19 receives aluminum and
another drop shaft 20 receives additional aluminum
laminates. The residue passes via a drop shaft 21 to a
further residue bunker.
The flat mixed fraction 15 treated by the NF
separator 17 passes as a flat mixed fraction 22 onto a
conveyor belt 23 which leads to a first manual sorting
section 24 or to the first sorting belt 24.
~ The "rolling~ fraction 25 from the inclined
Y sorting machine 14 is transported via a conveyor belt 2~
to a second manual sorting section or sorting conveyor
belt 27.
20The overflow fraction 9 of the screening machine
6 passes via the conveyor belt 13 to a third manual
sorting section 28 or to a third sorting conveyor belt
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In Figs. 3a and 3b, the sorting section of the
sorting installation with these three manual sorting
sections 24, 27, 28 iæ again shown diagrammatically and
enlargedO Beside these three manual selection sections or
manual selection conveyor belts 24, 27, 28 there stand,
depending on the length of this section, a large number
of operatives who undertake manual sorting of the
incoming mixed fractions 22, 25, 9. This is further
described below.
i For all manual sorting sections 24, 25, 28, the
possibility fundamentally exists of dropping the material
to be sorted out directly, via variable drop shafts, into
boxes lying below. Such a drop shaft 29, which is option-
ally present, can for example be arranged at any desired
point of any manual sorting section 24, 27, 28 and be
; connected to a conveyor belt 30 lying below the latter.
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This is diagrammatically shown in Fig. 2.
The essential sorting task, however, is performed
by means of the collector conveyor belts 31 to 33,
assigned to each of the manual sorting sections 24, 27,
5 28 and lying next to the respective manual sorting
sections. These belts 31 to 33 may also, for reasons of
space, lie below the sorting belts 24, 27, 28, in which
case suitable baffle plates are to be provided- These
collector conveyor belts 31 to 33 serve to receive a very
, 10 specific individual fraction, which is sorted out by the
operatives from the respective manual sorting section
during a particular working cycle. The starting position
; for such sorting is shown in Fig. 3a. For example, five
! to ten people stand by the sorting belt or the manual
15 sorting section 24 and sort out, from the flat mixed
~`i fraction 22 arriving from the conveyor belt 23, the
packaging material consisting of flat board or cardboard,
throwing this onto the collector conveyor belt 31. This
~l operation i8 also shown in Fig. 4a, taking the example of
20 a single user 34. In this case, it is to be noted that a
large number of users 34 undertake the same working
operation, that is to say they remove, in the respective
3 working cycle, only a single fraction from the mixed
fraction 22 during a working cycle, for example flat
25 cardboard or board as a monofraction 35. Consequently,
there is exclusively a single monofraction 35 to be found
on the nearby collector conveyor belt 33. In this
arrangement, this working process is carried out
batchwise, that is to say that the manual sorting section
30 24 and the collector belt 31 are stationary during the
, given working cycle.
Similarly, for example, 5 to 10 operatives 34
stand by the second manual sorting section 27, select a
single monofraction 36, for example plastic cups ~yoghurt
35 CUp8), from the rolling mixed fraction 25 arriving from
the conveyor belt 26, and throw this monofraction onto
the assigned collector conveyor belt 32. Finally, another
5 to 10 operatives 34 likewise stand by the third manual
sorting section 28, select, from the stationary sorting
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belt 28, a further monofraction 37 from the overflow
fraction 9 coming from the conveyor belt 13 and throw it
onto the stationary collector conveyor belt 33. This
monofraction 37 can, for example, relate to mixed
plastics.
ThP length of the working cycle of these indi-
vidual sorting operations at the three manual sorting
sections 24, 27, 28 is designed to be sufficiently long
for it to be possible, substantially, to remove from the
respective sorting belt all the monofractions which are
to be sorted out. This means that the consecutive working
cycles can also be of varying lengths, in order thus to
be correctly adapted to the respective monofractions to
be sorted in terms of the volume thereof that occurs. The
current working cycle can be displayed for the operating
personnel on an optical display.
I Below the manual sorting sections 24, 27, 28,
¦ there are, according to the illustrative em~odiment,
seven bunkers which are designated in the illustrative
embodiment 101 to 107. In this arrangement, the bunker
101 contains mixed plastics, the bunker 102 board/
~ cardboard, the bunker 103 cups, the bunker 104 foils, the
j bunker 105 beverage cartons, the bunker 106 foams and the
bunker 107 aluminum and Al laminates. A drop shaft 38 is
assigned to each individual bunker, as shown in Figures
3a and 3b.
The dropping operation into these drop shafts 38,
forming part of the sorting-out described above, is shown
in Fig. 3b. For this purpose, the collector conveyor
belts 31 to 33 are displaceable in both directions in
their axial longitudinal direction and can be reversed in
their conveying direction.
For example, the collector conveyor belt 31 must
- if necessary - be moved, with the monofraction 35
(board/cardboard) placed on it, with its drop region 39
to the drop shaft 38 of the associated bunker 102 and
provided with a correspondingly leftward oriented con-
veyor belt drive 40. As shown in Fig. 3b, the mono-
fraction 35 then falls into the drop shaft 38 of the
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bunker 102 intended for board/cardboard.
Similarly, the monofraction 36, for example CUp8,
placed on the collector conveyor belt 32 is introduced by
a longitudinal displacement of the collector conveyor
, 5belt 32 into the bunker 103. As can be seen from Fig. 3b,
-1 the collector conveyor belt 32 nas shifted to the right
for this purpose, so that the drop region 39 comes to
rest above the collection bunker 103 for this mono-
fraction.
10Finally, the monofraction 37 (eg. mixed plastics)
discharged from the mixed fraction g is also introduced
by the collector conveyor belt 33 into the bunker 101,
the collector conveyor belt 33 adopting the left-hand end
position shown in Fig. 3b in order to position the drop
15region 39 above the drop shaft 38 of the bunker 101.
The same operation takes place on each occasion
with the further individual fractions or monofractions to
l be sorted out, which are to be introduced into the
`; remaining bunkers 104 to 107. In this proceRs, however,
according to the illustration in Fig. 2, the middle
t~ bunker 104, for example for receiving foils/ can be
filled by charging it via the drop shafts 29, a conveyor
9l belt 30 being able to transport this fraction away
separately.
25During the sorting-out of the monofractions from
the manual sorting belts 24, 27, 28, these belts are
cu~tomarily stationary. However, a customary advance may
also take place.
! An alternative application, according to the
illustration in Fig. 2, provides for the sorting belts
24, 27, 28 to have a separation point 41 in the region of
the last collection bunker 101, in order to permit the
~J dropping of the residual fraction from these sorting
'9 belts 24, 27, 28 into, for example, the bunker 101. This
35is shown in Fiq. 2 for the sorting belts 24, 27 with an
aperture at the separation point 41, so that the residual
mixture remaining on these belts falls into the bunker
101. The upper third sorting section 28 shown in Fig. 2
has a closed separation point 41, so that the residual ~-
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fraction remaining on this belt is guided to a downstream
conveyor belt 42. Naturally, the separation points 41 of
3 the sorting sections 24, 27 can also be closed, so that
the belt section which follows likewise runs out on the
~ 5 conveyor belt 42 or other belts.
3 The collection bunkers 101 to 107 have a width
i and height which make it possible for a motor vehicle to
be driven into these bunkers and to push the respectively
collected monoproduct onto a downstream conveyor belt 43.
10 The respective monofraction is passed by this conveyor
belt 43 to a baling press which is not shown in detail.
A working cycle on the respective manual sorting
sections 24, 27, 28 comprises picking up a monofraction
and dropping it onto a collector conveyor belt 31 to 33
Uj 15 connected in parallel. This collector conveyor belt then
q has to be emptied during this working stroke, one of the
two ends being moved with its drop region above the
respectively assigned bunker. When this position is
~ reached, the conveyor belt drive 40 must be switched on
,.3 20 and the entire collector conveyor belt emptied. During
this period, no new fraction can be brought from the
3 re~pective manual sorting sections onto the respective
~! colîector conveyor belts. Therefore, provision is made,
according to the illustrations in Figs. 4b to 4g, for a
`I 25 preliminary storage unit 46 to ensure that this period
for the emptying of the collector conveyor belts 31 to 33
does not pass unutilized.
The initial position of the sorting operation is
shown in Fig. 4a. This corresponds to the mode of oper-
30 ation described earlier.
In Fig. 4b, the collector conveyor belt 31 to 33
is associated with a collector conveyor belt 31' to 33',
, arranged parallel to it, in a manner such that the
operative 34 can in each case charge one of the collector
35 conveyor belts with a monofraction while the other
collector conveyor belt is being emptied into the
respective bunker. In order to reach the respectively
empty collector conveyor belt, the embodiment according
to Fig. 4b has a deflector flap 44, which extends over
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~` the entire length of the collector conveyor belts and can
be turned over into two positions. In the position shown
in Fig. 4b, the deflector flap 44 is shown in the right-
i hand position, so that the left-hand collector conveyor
belt 31 to 33 can be charged with the monofraction. When
this sorting-out operation is concluded, the deflector
flap can be swung over into the position 44' (arrow 45),
3 so that the parallel collector conveyor belt 31' to 33'
~;~s can already be charged with the next monofraction in
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sequence while the left-hand collector conveyor belt i8
, being emptied into the respectively assigned bunker. As
'! a re~ult, no idle times arise for the operatives.
The two collector conveyor belts can also be
~- arranged one above the other as indicated in Fig. 4a, the
~ 15 upper belt 31, 32, 33 being stationary and the lower belt
;~ 31', 32', 33~ being longitudinally displaceable. As a
result, the upper belt 31, 32, 33 can be emptied onto the
lower belt 31~, 32~, 33~. ~his saves the time taken by
the lower belt 31~, 32~, 33~ to move to the associated
bunker.
i According to the illustration in Fig. 4c, only
one collector conveyor belt 31 to 33 is again present. In
this case, the monofraction 35 to 37 is introduced into
~' a preliminary storage unit 46, which is designed as a
star conveyor 47 in a corresponding housing 48, according
to the illustrative embodiment in Fig. 4c. The mono-
fraction 35 to 37 sorted into a chamber 49 of the star
Ss conveyor 47 i8 held in this position at least until the
i collector conveyor belt 31 to 33 is emptied of the
-- 30 preceding monofraction and is returned into the working
position. The preliminary storage unit 46 in Fig. 4c is
designed similarly to a bucket-wheel sluice with a
horizontal axis of rotation 50, it being possible for the
individual chambers to be charged with the respective
monofraction. For example, the operative 34 can, option-
ally, also charge a second chamber (upper chamber 51)
with another fraction if this is necessary.
Figures 4d, 4e likewise show a preliminary
storage unit 46 in the form of a three-vane star conveyor
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2~L38~48
-- 14 --
q 52, which is fixed in a housing 48 resembling a bucket-
wheel sluice. In this arrangement, the star conveyor 52
is arranged in a Y shape in the charging position, with
an upper V-shaped charging chamber 49 for the
monofraction 35 to 37. When the lower collector conveyor
q belt 31 to 33 (Fig. 4d) is emptied, the star conveyor can
already be brought slowly into a droppinq position for
the loaded monofraction.
In Fig. 4e, a pneumatic line 53 is provided
instead of the collector conveyor belt 31 to 33, and
passes the monofraction introduced in o the line to the
associated bunker 101 to 107. In this case, the prelimin-
j ary storage unit 46 with the star conveyor 52 serves as
; bucket-wheel sluice to seal the lower pneumatic line 53,
which is subjected to the action of préssure, against the
environment.
The star conveyor 52 is therefore sealingly
mounted in the bucket-wheel housing 48.
Fig. 4f shows a further alternative embodiment of
q 20 a preliminary storage unit 46. In contrast to the illus-
tration in Figs. 4c to 4e, a preliminary storage unit 46
with a vertical axis of rotation 50 is provided in the
illustrative embodiment according to 4f, four individual
chambers 49, for example, being provided according to the
~i 25 lower illustration in Fig. 4f, into which the respective
monofraction is introduced. In the illustrative embodi-
ment, the individual chambers 49 are of cylindrical
design, three chambers being closed at their bottom
surfaces and the fourth chamber 49' being open toward the
bottom in order to pass the monofraction introduced into
the chambers on to the collector conveyor belt 31 to 33.
The preliminary storage unit 46 is, accordingly,
designed similarly to a turret with individual drums. It
` can, however, also be designed similarly to a bucket-
3 35 wheel sluice with V-shaped individual chambers, only one
;~ chamber in each case being open toward the bottom and the
collector conveyor belt. Instead of the collector con-
veyor belt 31 to 33, the embodiment according to Fig. 4f
can, of course, also have a pneumatic line as is shown in
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- 15 -
Fig. 4e.
The illustration of the embodiment according to
~ Fig. 4g initially corresponds to the embodiment according
; to Fig. 4a, with a manual sorting section 24, 27, 28,
designed as a conveyor belt, from which the operative 34
~' processes, for example, a mixed fraction 15, 22, 25 and
sorts out from it, in each case, a monofractio~ 35, 36,
37 onto the collector conveyor belt 31, 32, 33 situated
J below. This ~normal~ case is described in Fig. 4a.
'3~ 1 0 In practice, it has proven that the mixed frac-
tion 15, 22, 25, etc., is obtained on the manual sorting
fi ~ection 24, 27, 28 in widely varying amounts. For
example, so-called hollow bodies and CUp5 occur in much
higher proportions than is the case for, for example,
beverage cartona, aluminum and other products.
The embodiment according to Fig. 4g, then,
envisages that each operative 34 is assigned a number "n"
of buffer boxes 108 to 110 or storage boxes in the
immediate area of operation, of length "a", into which
monofractions occurring to a lesser extent or in lesser
quantity are sorted for interim storage. As can be seen
~1 from Fig. 4g, upper picture and lower picture, three
buffer boxes 108 to 110 lie, for example, immediately in
front of the operative 34 and somewhat above the manual
sorting section 24, 27, 28, so that the operative can
very easily place an individual fraction into one of
these buffer boxes. For example, the buffer box 108 takes
beverage cartons 1~5, the buffer box 109 aluminum pro-
ducts 107, and the buffer box 110 other residues 111. The
30 installation according to the invention can, then, be
controlled so that the collector conveyor belt 31 to 33
is charged, consecutively over time, with a respective
monofraction which occurs in relatively large quantities
on the manual sorting section. For example, initially
35 only hollow-body fractions are thrown onto the collector
conveyor belt 31 to 33, and these are cleared off the
collector conveyor belt after a certain processing time.
During this clearance period or belt emptying period of
athe collector -conveyor belt 31 to 33, the operative 34
213~Sg8
- 16 -
can easily place one or more of the monofractions 105,
~Ij 107, 111 which occur to a lesser extent into the
hl individual buffer boxes 108 to 110 and, in this manner,
make profitable use of the emptying period of the
~ 5 collector conveyor belt. After this operation, for
i example, the second monofraction which occurs to a large
~ extent, for example cups, can likewise be placed on the
i collector conveyor belt 31 to 33, and the subsequent
j emptying period of the collector conveyor belt is again
10 used to charge the buffer boxes 108 to 110. This sorting
operation of the buffer boxes, too, can, in each period
of time, take place always into one of the boxes only, or
simultaneously into a plurality of boxes. The operative
can, consequently, charge only the buffer box 108 with
the fraction 105 (for example, beverage cartons) in the
-` belt emptying interval.
In Fig. 4g, upper picture, the emptying, for
example, of the tilted buffer box 108 is shown in broken
lines, the fraction 105 being tipped laterally out of
~, 20 this buffer box and falling onto the collector belt 31 to
33. During this phase and the belt emptying phase, the
operative 34 can of course charge one of the other two
buffer boxes 109, 110 with the monofraction 107, 111. The
buffer boxes 108 to 110 can, consequently, be emptied in
a particular working rhythm. Only after a plurality of
~ cycles of monofractions occurring to a large extent have
;~^ been processed and disposed of can one individual buffer
box in each case, which has now become full, be tilted
for interim disposal and conveyed onto the conveyor belt
31 to 33. As a result of this measure, optimum utiliz~
ation of the emptying periods of the collector conveyor
belts 31 to 33 is possible.
~ The invention is not restricted to the illustra-
;~ tive embodiment which has been illustrated and described,
i 35 but also encompasses all technical further developments
within the scope of the concept of the invention. In
~i particular, a further advantage of the installation
according to the invention lies in the fact that the air
conditioning and thermal economy can be decisively
::~
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~a8~48
- 17 -
improved. As a result of the fact that only a few sorting
cabin apertures are necessary, because of the inward and
outward movement of the various material flows, the
quantities of air required for dust removal, disinfection
5 and air conditioning can be significantly reduced as
compared with conventional solutions using the drop
~ shaft. The air/volume ratio corresponds to the ratio of
r the free apertures.
With thermal outputs of, for example, 13.6 Wh/m3
10 of incoming air and a temperature difference of
s 38 degrees (- 20 degrees outside temperature to +18
degrees sorting cabin temperature), the reduction in the
volume of air i8 related in a linear manner both to the
reduction of thermal output and to the reduction of the
15 air output.
A further advantage of the installation lies in
the fact that the latter can be adapted to virtually any
desired sorting task by means of an appropriate control
unit. The ~orting cycles for each conveyor belt, and
20 hence for each fraction, can be influenced by a "belt
foreman" posted at the start of the conveyor belt, using
a foot or knee switch.
~; The total cycle time, in other words the pro-
grammed idle time for the sorting-out of 1, 2 or more
25 fractions, can be set or influenced by the machine
minder.
For new cor.trol systems, provision is made for
the basic functions for the operation of the installation
to be set to a plurality of typical packaging mixtures
30 via a keyboard or similar operating elements. In this
case, the installation can also be switched over to
continuous operation.
In a further embodiment of the invention, it is
also possible for a longitudinal division of the sorting
belt 24, 27, 28 to be provided. In this case, provision
is made for the sorting belt to be divided longitudinally
into 2 or more chambers by an undulating edge or the
like, for the purpose of interim storage and, if appro-
` priate, onward transportation of low-volume fractions,
.
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- 18 -
i~ for which it is not worthwhile to switch over the collec-
3 tor belts and the distributor chutes.
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1 Sorting installation 32 Collector conveyor belt
with sorting section 33 Collector conveyor belt
2 Bunker conveyor 34 Operative
-,3 Bag opening ~ystem User
;~5 4 Conveyor belt 35 Monofraction
-,5 FE separator 36 Monofraction
;6 Screening machine 37 Monofraction
,7 Residual fraction 38 Drop shaft
8 Middle fraction 39 Drop region
10 9 Overflow fraction 40 Conveyor belt drive
310 Conveyor belt 41 Separation point
'.11 Residue bunker 42 Conveyor belt
12 Conveyor belt 43 Conveyor belt
13 Conveyor belt 44 Deflector flap
15 14 Inclined sorting 45 Arrow
i.' machine 46 Preliminary storage
15 Flat mixed fraction unit
16 Conveyor belt 47 Star conveyor
17 NF separator 48 Housing
~'20 18 Conveyor belt 49 Chamber
19 Drop shaft 50 Axis of rotation
20 Drop shaft 51 Chamber
21 Drop shaft 52 Star conveyor
22 Flat mixed fraction 53 Pneumatic line :~
23 Conveyor belt101 Mixed plastics
~3 24 First manual sorting 102 Board/cardboard
~- section/sorting belt 103 Cups ::
25 Rolling mixed frac- 104 Foils ~i
tion 105 Beverage cartons
26 Conveyor belt 106 Foams
27 Second manual sorting 107 Al laminates
. section/sorting belt 108 Buffer boxes ~:
28 Third manual sorting 109 Buffer boxes
section/sorting belt 110 Buffer boxes
29 Drop shaft111 Other residues :~
30 Conveyor belt
31 Collector conveyor ~ :
` belt
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