Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
7 ~
CA 02209641 1997-07-04
~pparatus for the treatment of mixture~ of
useful materials"
The invention relates to an apparatus for the
treatment of mixtures of useful materials according to
the pre~mhle of claim 1.
Prior art:
The el;m;n~tion of garbage, particularly also of
household garbage, compels municipalities to resort
cont;n~ ly to the latest measures. Although the inciner-
ation of garbage is a workable alternative to garbageelimination, useful raw materials are simply destroyed as
a result.
Many garbage utilization systems, in which useful
raw materials are recovered from the mixture of useful
materials, have become known in recent years. For this
purpose, for example, the "Dual System", in which indus-
try gives a guarantee to take back packaging materials of
all types, was established in Gel~al~y. With this in view,
packaging is provided with the so-called "Green Spotn.
This involves packaging of all types, such as glass,
tinplate, al~lm;nll~, paperboard, cardboard, paper,
plastics, composite materials, etc. The aim is to collect
on a large scale these packaging materials which ensue,
sort them and deliver the recovered individual fractions
to a recycling process. However, in this case, there is
the problem that, in future, enormous quantities of
packaging material will be produced which are unsorted
and which have to be a~ ~liately treated.
In a particular method of collecting such packag-
ing of all types, it is collected, mixed, in a plasticbag by the ~nsumer. These plastic bags cont~; n i ng
packaging of all types are then picked up from the
individual households by the municipalities and delivered
to a sorting plant. In this case, there is the problem,
at the commencement of the sorting plant, as to-the way
in which the p~ck~ging can be extracted from the plastic
bag automatically.
. _
_ CA 02209641 1997-07-04
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Advantages of the invention:
The invention is aimed at a particular field of
use here, the object on which the invention is based
being to provide an apparatus for the treatment of such
mixtures of useful materials, which, in particular, makes
it possible, for example, also to tear open plastic bags
with packaging of all types contA;ne~ therein and to
allow the plastic bags to be separated and consequently
the individual fractions of useful materials to be
extracted from the bags. However, the object of the
invention is also to provide an apparatus which is
generally suitable for tearing up garbage, in which case
the operation has to be carried out econn~;cally and
effectively.
This object is achieved by means of the features
of claim 1. The sub~l~im~ specify- advantageous and
expedient developments and ref;n~m~nts of the apparatus
according to the invention.
The invention is based on the central idea that
large quantities of garbage can be proce~sed economically
only in an apparatus working automatically and in plants
arranged correspon~;ngly downstream. The apparatus
according to the invention therefore has the advantage
that, for example, garbage bags which occur, together
with the useful materials cont~;ne~ therein, can easily
be separated into the plastic bag and the bag content as
constituents, so that the mixture of useful materials
from the plastic bag can subsequently be treated further.
A particular difficulty, in this case, i8 to achieve a
separation of these constituents, since the large-area
plastic bags would generally clog a conventional screen-
ing device.
To achieve this object, the present invention is
based on the central idea that the garbage bags intro-
duced into an apparatus are treated in such a way thattear-open knives having different se~uences of ,o~_cnt
on the garbage bag positively cause the garbage bag to be
torn open. So-called tear-open blades arranged next to
one another provide a transport device which extends over
~ =
CA 02209641 1997-07-04
-- 3
a plurality of meters and on which the garbage bag is
transported further and is torn open during this trans-
port operation. On the one hand, therefore, the apparatu~
according to the invention transports the introduced
garbage bags over a transport stage, on which they are
simultaneously torn open, so that the garbage constitu-
ents fall out of the garbage bag between the tear-open
blades and can be disposed. The treatment apparatus
therefore constitutes a kind of transport screen, at the
same time with a bag tear-open device and a singling-out
device.
The garbage bags are torn open in a particularly
expedient way in that the tear-open blades have a rotat-
ing chain equipped with tear-open knives or tear-open
spikes, different speeds of the tear-open knives of the
respective tear-open blades l~; ng to a mutual relative
movement of said tear-open knives which causes the
garbage bags re~ting on them to be torn open reliably.
In a ref;n~m~nt of the invention, the tear-open
knives of the respective tear-open blades can move at
different relative speeds in the same direction or in
opposite directions. It has proved particularly advan-
tageous that an equidirectional ~v~-_nt of tear-open
blades arranged parallel to one another leads to a
transport ~.ov_~cnt of the garbage bags which are
deposited on one side of the apparatus and which are torn
open during transport over the tear-open blades, so that
the garbage contained in them. falls through between the
tear-open blades over the stage of travel and the bag
resting on them can be stripped off or ~.oved at the end
of the tear-open blades. As a result, clogging of the
installation caused by empty garbage bags resting on it
is ruled out and the garbage constituents are simult-
aneously singled out from the bag.
The tear-open blades located next to one another
and having drive ch~;n~ rotating on them may be oriented
in parallel and horizontally. ~owever, in a modification
of the invention, they may also be designed to fan open
in the direction of transport, so that the distance
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. , ~ CA 02209641 1997-07-04
.
between the tear-open blades increases constantly in the
direction of transport of the garbage bags supplied. As
a result, in particular, the distance at the start of the
transport stage for the garbage bags can be kept rela-
tively small, so that a plurality of tear-open blades
located next to one another grasp the respective garbage
bag and tear it apart. When the garbage bag has been torn
open, the garbage can then fall through between the
wi~n;ng tear-open blades.
The advantage of a slightly asc~n~;ng arrangement
of the transport blades in the direction of transport of
the garbage bags is that the dwell time of the latter on
the transport device of the rotating transport ch~;n~ is
longer. The duration of treatment on the garbage bags is
thereby increased, without the transport stage being
length~n~.
The ch~; nc rotate on the tear-open blades in the
manner of known chain saws, that is to say a drive wheel,
via which the rotating chain is guided and driven, is
located on one end face of the tear-open blades. Accord-
ing to the invention, different rotational~speeds of
adjacent tear-open blades may be achieved by m~nc of
different-sized diameters of such drive wheels and/or by
m~n.~ of different revolutions of the respective drive
shafts. In this case, it is expedient if each next-but-
one drive wheel for an associated tear-open blade is
arranged on a common shaft as a common drive, the dia-
meters of the drive wheels of the two drive shafts
located parallel to one another being varied. This
ensures that, in each case, adjacent drive blades run at
different transport speeds of the rotating c~;n~ and
consequently of the tear-open knives arranged on them.
The apparatus according to the invention is
advantageously designed with a chain tensioner for each
rotating chain, the chain tensioner having a regulating
device with an automatic cutoff means which cuts off the
transport of the chain completely or intermittently as
soon as any appreciable jamming of the chain takes place.
Furthermore, the invention is advantageously
CA 02.09641 1997 - 07 - 04
bro~ene~ by a plurality of, for example, parallel
holdi~g-down means which are, for example, in each case
located above the tear-open blades in an obliquely
inclined arrangement. The deposited garbage bags are
therefore grasped by the transport device of the tear-
open blades and are drawn in a wedge-like manner under
the obliquely exten~; n~ holding-down means which, them-
selves, may be equipped on their undersides with tear-
open knives. In this case, the holding-down means may be
mounted rotatably or pivotably at a front end via a
common axis of rotation, so that the region located at
the rear in the direction of transport can be pivoted up
and down. This prevents the garbage constituents from
becoming jammed.
Further details of the invention emerge from the
exemplary embodiment which is described below and which
is explained with reference to the drawings in which:
Figure 1 shows a perspecti~e illustration of the
apparatus according to the invention,
Figure 2 shows a side view of the apparatus in longi-
tll~;n~l section,
Figure 3 shows a top view of the apparatus according to
Figures 1 and 2,
Figure 4 shows an end view of the apparatus in the
region of the drive,
Figure 5 shows an enlarged illustration of the free end
of a tear-open blade, and
Figure 6 shows an alternative embodiment with differ-
ently arranged tear-open blades in fanned-open
form.
Description of the exemplary embsA;m~nt:
The apparatus 1 according to the invention,
illustrated diay r d~atically in Figures 1 to 4, serves
for the treatment of mixtures 2 of useful materials,
particularly of household garbage or the like, which is
initially located in a closed plastic garbage bag 3. In
this case, the apparatus 1 serves particularly for
opening the initially closed plastic garbage bag 3 and
, ~ CA 02209641 1997-07-04
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subsequently for singling out and distributing the
mixture of useful materials along the apparatus. The
apparatus 1 comprises a trough-shaped receiving cont~;n~r
4 with an obli~ue end wall 5 designed as an entry shoot
and with two side walls 6, 7 for limiting the working
apparatus laterally. The side 8 located opposite the end
wall 5 is designed to be open.
Located in the bottom region 9 of the receiving
cont~;ne~ 4, in the exemplary ~bodiment, are five so-
called tear-open blades 10 to 14 which are arranged next
to one another and which extend over a length 1~
being 2 to 3 m. The tear-open blades 10 to 14 are
designed in the ~-nn~ or on the principle of a known
chain saw, that is to say a rotating chain 16 runs into
corresponA; ng guide slots 17 on the respective flat and
on-edge blade body 15 having the height hl, the chain 16
being designed as a round link chain 16. In such an
arrangement, horizontally oriented chain links 18 alter-
nate with vertically oriented chain links 19, the hori-
zontal chain links 18 resting on the top edge 20 of theguide slot 17 and the lower vertical part 19' of the
vertically oriented chain link 19 being held and guided
on both ~ides in the guide slot 17. To that extent, the
round link chain 16 rotates in the blade body 15 in a
fully guided manner (see also Figure 5). In Figure 2, the
upper strand of the chain 16 iS designated by 16' and the
lower strand of the chain by 16''.
The round link chain carries so-called tear-open
knives 21 which stand vertically upward on the upper
strand 16', in each case at a mutual distance 12 of
400 =, and which, for example, project above the chain
16 at a height h2 ~f 5 to 40 =. The tear-open knives 21
may also be of bolt-shaped design and, for example, are
mounted on the respective vertically oriented chain link
19 via a welded joint 22.
The chain 16 is transported via a drive 23, 24
which is described in more detail with reference to
Figure 4.
The tear-open blades 10 to 14, oriented approxi-
CA 02209641 1997-07-04
-- 7
mately horizontally, lie next to one another at a mutual
~ distance a1, the distance being a~ Gximately 120 to
180 mm. This lateral distance between the tear-open
blades next to one another must, in any event, be dimen-
sioned in such a way that even garbage bags 3 filled onlya little cannot fall through an interspace 31 between the
tear-open blades.
The drive of the chain 16 is shown in more detail
in the illustration according to Figures 2 and 4.
As is evident from the top view in Figures 1 and
3, the ch~;n~ 16 of the tear-open blades 10 to 14 should
have different speeds v1, v2. In particular, the ch~in.c
16 of the tear-open blades 10, 12, 14 have a first speed
vl and the ~h~;nc 16 of the tear-open blades 11, 13 have
a second speed v2, whereby v2 ~ v1. According to the
illustration in Figure 4, this is achieved in that the
drive wheels 25 for the c~;nc 16 of the tear-open blades
10, 12, 14 have a smaller diameter d1 than the drive
wheels 26 for the ch~;n~ 16 of the tear-open blades 11,
13 having a diameter d2 (d2 ~ dl). In addition, the drive
wheels 25 are located on a first drive shaft 27 having
the associated drive motor 24 and the drive wheels 26 are
located on a second drive shaft 28 having the associated
drive motor 23.
~ 25 In light of the different sizes or diameters of
the drive wheels 25, 26 and/or of the different
rotational speeds of the drive shafts 27, 28, the speeds
v1, v2 of the ~h~;n~ 16 of the tear-open blades 10 to 14
may be varied sharply, so that the tear-open knives or
tear-open bolts 21 arranged on the ~;nc 16 and belong-
ing to adjacent tear-open blades execute different
m~v~ ts. Conse~uently, according to the illustration in
Figures 1 and 2, a plastic bag 3 deposited on the entry
shoot 5 slides onto the front portion 29 (dumping region)
of the tear-open blades 10 to 14 and is transported in
the direction of transport 30, that is to say to the left
in Figure 2. In this case, as illustrated in the Figures,
the closed and filled plastic gar~age bag 3 rests on the
plurality of tear-open blades 10 to 14 arranged parallel
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CA 02209641 1997-07-04
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to one another and is grasped by the transport chain 16
having the upwardly directed tear-open knives 21. Since
the transport rh~;n~ 16 of adjacent tear-open blades 10
to 14 move differently at the speeds ~1~ v2, this results
in a relative ~.~v~ent of the adjacent tear-open blades
and consequently in the pla~tic garbage bag being torn
open during the transport ...~v ~-t on the tear-open
blades 10 over the transport length which corresponds
approximately to the length l1. The garbage bag thus torn
open gradually releases its content of the mixture of
useful materials, so that this content falls downward
through the interspace 31 between the respective tear-
open blades 10 to 14 and impinges onto a co-L~yor belt 32
arranged below the receiving cont~; ne~ 4. This mixture 2
of useful materials falling downward onto the co-ve~or
band 32 is illustrated dia~ .atically in Figures 1
and 2.
The apparatus 1 may additionally be equipped with
a number of parallel holding-down means 33 which are
located in a rod-shaped ~-nn~r over virtually the entire
transport stage l1 of the tear-open blades ~above the
respective interspace 31 (see Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4). For
greater clarity, only two holding-down means 33 are shown
in each case in Figures 1, 3, 4 and 6. They are located
in all the interspaces 31 between or above the tear-open
blades 10 to 14. The holding-down means 33, having a
~ length 12, are fastened pivotably on one side on a
horizontal axle 35 in the region of the bag feed 34 and
form a kind of entry orifice 36 for the plastic bag 3.
The axle 35 is therefore arranged at a height h3
above the upper strand 16' of the chain 16, said height
allowing the bag 3 to come to rest below the holding-down
means 33. Starting from this axle 35, the holding-down
means 33 slopes approximately as far a~ the end region 36
of the respective tear-open blade located next to it,
that is to say a decreasing wedge-like entry gap 37
having the angle a = 15~ is formed. The free end 38 Of
the holding-down means 33 is consequently mounted so.as
to be freely pivotable upward and downward (see arrow 39)
~ ~ CA 02209641 1997-07-04
g
and i~ limited in its lowest position by a suspension
chain 40 at the rear end 38.
The holding-down means 33 may itself have, in its
lower region, tear-open knives 41 which may likewise
extend over the entire length 12. The plastic bag 3 may
thereby be shredded from below by the tear-open knives 21
and from above by the tear-open ~nives 41.
The garbage material co~Lv~yed in the direction of
transport 30 via the transport device of the chain 16
therefore falls through the interspace 31 between the
individual tear-open blades after the bag has been
opened, the empty bag 3 being stripped off at the end 36
of the tear-open blades 10 to 14. This stripped-off bag
3 can be collected in a separate garbage bag collecting
contA; n~r 42.
The upper strand 16' of the rotating transport
chain 16 is braced by means of a chain ten~ioner 43, this
being illustrated by the deflection of the upper strand
16' in Figure 2 near the chain tensioner 43. In parti-
cular, the chain tensioner 43 may be e~uipped with a
chain tension measuring device which ;mm~;at'ely recog-
nizes a blockage of the chain 16 caused by material
resting on it and carries out a regulation of the chain
tension and a regulation of the chain drive.
The illustration of the invention in Figure 6
shows a further exemplary ~hodiment with tear-open
knives 10 to 14 which are fanned open, that is to say are
not arranged parallel to one another. Like parts are
designated by the same reference symbols as previously
described. The distance between the tear-open knives 10
to 14 in the bag feed region 34 is designated by a1 and
in the end region by a2, whereby a2 ~ a1. As a result,
there can be a high bag coverage density of tear-open
knives 21 in the bag dumping region 34, in order to
ensure that the garbage bag is torn open ~uickly and
completely. When this has taken place, the distance
between the tear-open blades may be increased gr~ A-ly,
so that the bag content can fall through the interspace
31 between the tear-open blades lO to 14. The holding-
, _ CA 02209641 1997-07-04
- -- 10
down means 33 arranged in the interspace between the
tear-open blades 10 to 14 likewise extend rearward in a
fanned-open manner. Figure 6 likewise illustrates, by way
of example, only two holding-down means 33 for greater
clarity.
The invention is not restricted to the exemplary
embo~;m~nt illustrated and described. On the contrary, it
also embraces all developments open to the average person
skilled in the art within the scope of the patent claims.
, ~ CA 02209641 1997-07-04
1 Apparatus
2 Mixtures of useful materials
3 Plastic garbage bag
4 Receiving cont~; n~
Entry shoot
6 Side wall
7 Side wall
8 Side
9 Bottom region
Tear-open blade
11 Tear-open blade
12 Tear-open blade.
13 Tear-open blade
14 Tear-open blade
Blade body
16 Chain/round link chain
17 Guide slots
18 Chain link
19 Chain link
Top edge
21 Tear-open knife
22 Welded joint
23 Drive
24 Drive
Drive wheel
26 Drive wheel
27 Drive shaft
28 Drive shaft
29 Front portion
Direction of transport
31 Interspace
32. Co~Lveyor band
33 Holding-down means
34 Bag dumping region
Horizontal shaft
36 End region
37 Entry gap
38 End
39 Arrow
CA 02209641 1997-07-04
~ . ~ ~ .
- . - 12 -
Chain
41 Tear-open kni~e
42 Collecting cont~;ner
43 Ch~in tensioner
