Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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CENTRIFUGAL PULVERIZING MILL
Field of the Invention
[0001] The present invention relates to a refuse treatment machine and more
particularly to a
centrifugal pulverizing mill for treatment of materials, for example refuse
for use in managing
waste and recycling or other materials, including pulverizing, aerating,
homogenizing and/or
separating.
Background of the Invention
[0002] Solid materials such as garbage, rubbish or other solid materials have
been collected by
trucks and transported for disposal or recycling, or repurposing for many
years.
[0003] Burkett developed a centrifugal mill sometime around in the mid-1970s
and ended up
with U.S. Patent No. 3,987,970 and others.
[0004] The applicant's predecessor-in-interest filed Canadian Patent
Application Nos. 2,125,797
and 2,147,666 for use with various equipment and methods for pulverizing rock
and remediating
soil utilizing an improved pulverizer configuration.
[0005] Still others have commercialized an embodiment of the Burkett mill and
are trying to sell
that design in the marketplace today. However, when attempting to build a
Burkett mill with
improvements, the applicant discovered there were components of that basic
design which could
be improved.
Summary of the Invention
[0006] It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved
centrifugal mill also
known as a vertical gyroscopic mill or pulverizer.
[0007] It is another object of many embodiments of the present invention to
provide an
improved pulverizer having a mechanical fuse or at least an improvement
designed to allow an
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arm to move out of the way rather than being ripped off and/or seriously
damaged as a result of
striking a particularly unyielding object. Sometimes unyielding materials are
placed in
pulverizers like fire hydrants or other items that are unyielding when they
contact surfaces.
[0008] It is another object' of many embodiments of the present invention to
provide an
improved pulverizer having arms constructed and designed to preferentially
absorb impact
and/or move out of the way rather than fail in the event of striking too
resistant of an object.
[0009] It is another object of many embodiments of the present invention to
provide an
antiwrapping arm construction which preferentially sheds objects which
otherwise might become
fouled on the arm.
[00010] It is another object of many embodiments of the present invention to
provide an
improved raked arm configuration which is believed to assist in preventing
fouling of the arm.
[00011] It is another object of many embodiments of the present invention to
provide an
improved arm pad which preferentially reduces the likelihood of material
wrapping about the
arm and/or arm pad.
[00012] It is another object of many embodiments of the present invention to
provide an
improved arm/arm pad combination which preferentially reduces a likelihood of
wrapping.
[00013] It is another object of many embodiments of the present invention to
provide an
improved hub/arm interface which provides a more cost effective way to connect
arms to hubs
while still allowing the arms to provide a fail-safe style connection for many
embodiments while
also providing a way to reduce manufacturing costs.
[00014] One or more adjustable shelves can be provided for many embodiments to
increase the
residence time of material treated inside the pulverizer of many embodiments.
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[00015] Adjustment of shelf location(s) affects material reduction and/or
residence time for
many embodiments.
[00016] Changing the speed of the arm rotation with shelf height has been
found to increase
efficiency for at least some processes.
[00017] Accordingly, in accordance with at least some presently preferred
embodiments of the
present invention, an improved pulverizer construction is provided in which
the arms take on
new constructions not previously provided in pulverizers.
[00018] Specifically, the arms are designed so that upon striking a
particularly difficult object
(the applicant has had an arm strike a brake rotor before which sheared off
some of the pads), the
arms preferably move out of the way before being broken (or hopefully before
being seriously
damaged). Arms or arm pads breaking in pulverizers before can create a
significant hazard as
the tips of the arms are normally moving through the pulverizer at over 200
miles per hour. If a
broken arm were to breach the cylindrical housing, that could create a
significant safety concern
around the pulverizer. Accordingly, the applicant has designed a system
whereby the arms can
preferentially rotate out of the way before reaching a breaking point upon
contacting a
sufficiently immovable or resistant object. This can be performed with a
mechanical fuse
mechanism or other mechanism, to allow the arm to rotate out of the way before
an arm and/or
arm pad fails such as upon reaching a predetermined force before failure force
to "fail safe." A
safety margin of V2 of failure force for the predetermined force may be used
or other factor.
[00019] In addition to a "fail safe" feature arms of the presently preferred
embodiment of the
present invention, some preferred embodiments may also and/or alternatively
provide an ability
to provide raked arms and/or otherwise provide anti-wrapping tendencies.
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[00020] Specifically, with a raked arm, instead of extending radially along
radial axes from the
shaft (i.e., radial axes), the arms are preferably angled relative to those
axes at least about 5
degrees if not up to about 90 degrees, but more preferably in a range of about
5 to about 20
degrees if not at about 15 degrees. By allowing the arm to be raked (off of
radial axes) in this
manner, material tends to shed off the end of the arms through centrifugal
force rather than
becoming an entanglement thereabout (plastic fibers, straps, hose, wires and
textiles have been
found to have a tendency to wrap as well as other items on the Burkett arm
configuration).
Additionally, if one looks at the prior art, such as Canadian Patent
Application No. 2,147,666 or
even some of the really old technology such as U.S. Patent No. 1,636,033, one
will see that the
pads are bolted to a front face of the radially extended arms which provides a
catch point at the
radially inwardly facing surface of the arm pads.
[00021] Instead of providing this construction, the applicant has found that
for many
embodiments recessing the pads into the arms can be desirable relative to the
front face of the
arms or at least providing them flush so that material at the front faces to
shed material
contacting the arm. In the event contact occurs, material tends to shed off
the arm rather than be
entrapped there against. In a similar non-wrapping effort, the arm pads may
also have angled
radially interior upper and lower edges to assist in this endeavor. Notches
may also be utilized
internal to the arms so as to be able to accept portions of the arm pad and/or
relieve stress.
[00022] The hub where the arms connect to the shaft can also be improved upon
over prior
designs. In prior art designs, a cylindrical piece of metal as a hub was
machined to effectively
permit recessed placement of the arms internal to a said cylindrical piece so
the upper surface of
the arm was flush with the upper surface of the hub. This was a particularly
expensive way to
construct the hub and arm construction.
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[00023] Accordingly, instead of that style construction, a sandwich style
construction is
provided where the arms are disposed between two plates and then preferably
retained
therebetween. In addition, a spacing plate can then provide to space over the
pin heads holding
the arms to the plates. A cover plate can then cover the spacer plates. The
spacer plates
preferably provide a semi-circular jigsaw style construction so that they can
connect together to
provide a rigid ring connection when installed, but also be able to be
assembled in a relatively
easy manner about the rotating shaft drive of the pulverizer.
[00024] One or more adjustable shelves can be provided for many embodiments
which can be
mechanized for adjusting height relative to the arms. The adjustable shelf
feature, if utilized, can
be coupled with a variable drive frequency of the variable speed motor for
additional effects.
[00025] Still other embodiments may incorporate some, or even all, of the
features described
above.
Brief Description of the Drawings
[00026] The particular features and advantages of the invention as well as
other objects will
become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the
accompanying
drawings in which:
Figure I is a sectional view of a pulverizer constructed in accordance with a
presently
preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a front perspective view of a portion of the pulverizer shown in
Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a detailed view of one of the arms with the arm pads installed as
shown in
Figures I and 2;
Figure 4 is a top perspective exploded view of a portion of the arm retainer
system
removed from the arms and shaft for clarity;
Figure 5 is a top plan view taken along the line A-A of Figure 1;
Figure 6 is a cross sectional view taken along the line B-B of Figure 3;
Figure 7 is a cross-sectional detailed exploded view of detail A shown in
Figure 1;
Figure 8 is a plan view of the adjustable shelf of a portion of the mechanism
shown in
Figure 2 from outside the housing of the pulverizer; and
Figure 9 is a top plan view of an alternatively preferred embodiment of a
portion of the arm
retainer system shown in Figure 4 above.
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments
1000271 Figure 1 shows a pulverizer 10 of the presently preferred embodiment
of the present
invention. Specifically, a rotating shaft 12 is shown extending along a
vertical axis 14. The shaft
12 can be driven by a motor 16 such as being belt driven, chain driven, gear
or belt driven such as
by belt 18 to driver 20 (such as a shaft pulley being the "driver" pulley)
which could be a gear,
pulley or other cooperating system. Of course, the motor 16 may be directly
coupled to shaft 12 as
would be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art as well.
1000281 Pulverizer 10 typically has a drum or cylindrical housing 22 which can
be constructed in
various ways. The housing 22 preferably has a head section 24 with an input
port 26 which
permits the introduction of material to be ground inside the housing 22 as
will be described
below.
1000291 The shaft 12 is preferably rotated about the axis 14 by the motor 16
and is suspended by
bearings 28 for rotation such as is shown. Bearing 28 may be supported in a
variety of ways as
would be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art. Output is
discharged via discharger
port 25.
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F000301 As the material, illustrated as particulate 30, although it could be
virtually any material
including, but not limited to, railway ties, concrete, shingles, organic
waste, municipal waste,
glass, tree portions, and/or other waste or even other non-waste materials, is
directed into the inlet
26, the rotors 32,34 and 36, each of which having arms as described below
extending from hubs,
rotate such as up to 1,050 rpm to generate vortices inside the pulverizer 10
with deflectors 38
along with the shelves 40,41,42 to direct the vortices so that the vortices
create a rather crushing
environment inside, of the pulverizer 10. The illustrated design provides six
counter rotating
vortices. Other designs may have other air flow characteristics.
1000311 Accordingly, the particulate 30 generally becomes smaller and smaller
principally due to
the particulate contacting itself inside the pulverizer 10. Of course, some
particulate 30 does
contact the arms 32,34,36 as well as deflectors 38 as well as shelves 40,42
and interior walls 44
of the housing 22 from time to time, but it is believed that the majority of
the diminution in size
is the result of the particulate 30 contacting itself. The speed at the end of
the arms 46 can
approach roughly 200 meters per second (or more) and thus separate vortices
are created.
Material contacting where the vortices intersect is quite a significant
experience.
1000321 In the prior art, the arms were countersunk into a solid hub which was
connected to the
shaft to provide a planar upper surface. The applicant discovered that in this
design, the arms did
not have any way to give when contacting a virtually immovable object. In
fact, the applicant
had the misfortune of having pads stripped off of the arms 32,34,36 (which
were extremely high
quality metal) to then rotate at extremely high speeds through the pulverizer,
thus damaging the
internal surface of the housing as well as deflectors 38 and arms and other
arm pads and also the
arms.
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[000331 Arms such as arm 48,49,50,51,52 and 53 are shown in detail in Figure 2
and others of the
presently preferred design. The basic arm construction can be the same or
different amongst the
various arms 48-53. Figure 2 shows the arms 48-53 connected to a hub such as
hub 32 in a different
manner than prior art hubs. Specifically, hub 32 connects to shaft 12 with top
and bottom plates
54,56. The top and bottom plates 54,56 effectively sandwich the arms 48-53
therebetween. The
arms 48-53 connect to the top and bottom plates such as with first and second
pins 58,60. This
connection secures the arms 48-53 in a desired position relative to the plates
54,56. Other
connections could be used with other embodiments.
1000341 As illustrated in Figure 2, the arms 48-53 can extend radially away
from shaft 12 as
occurs with the prior art. Alternatively, Figure 5 shows an alternatively
preferred configuration
in which the arms 48-53 are oriented slightly differently, namely, with the
second pin 60 being
located in outer bore 62 instead of in an inner bore 60 as illustrated in
Figure 2 whereby the arms
48-53 are now raked (i.e., backwardly angled relative to radial axis such as
about 5 to about 90
degrees and more particularly, about 5 to about 30 degrees such as at about 15
degrees as
illustrated in Figure 5 with angle a at about 15 degrees relative to a radial
axis 64 as would occur
if the second pin 60 is located in the outer bore 62). Other ways to rake the
arms 48-53 also
could be employed with other embodiments. 1000351 Raking has an advantage in
that when the
arms 48-53 are rotating when material which might otherwise become entangled
about the arm
48-53 encounters the angular nature of the rake, then the material tends to be
directed off an end
of the arms 48-53 rather than tangling about the affected arm 48-53.
1000361 By providing the configuration shown in Figure 2, the applicant can
select at least one of
two different angular positions of the arms 48-53 relative to the radial axis
64. Other
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embodiments may have even more angular relationship choices and/or other
angular relationship
selection capability depending on which how the arms 48-53 and/or plates 54,56
attach.
[00037] In addition to raked arms 48-53, the applicant has provided first and
second pins 58,60
in different diameters whereby the second pin 60 is designed to be a shear pin
(i.e., a mechanical
fuse) so that should any of the arms 48-53 strike an object which is not
likely to be broken by
contact, the arms 48-53 can at least partially rotate out of the way to reduce
the likelihood of
serious damage and/or breakage of the arms 48-53 or pads 66,68 or housing wall
44 or deflectors
38 or shelves 40,41,42 which are likely to be made of a relatively high
strength steel and/or other
materials), and therefore, when rotating at 100 meters per second or more
could create a
significant hazard particularly if they might puncture through the housing
wall 44. Pads such as
pads 66,68 may also be broken off and then by contacting such structure be
more likely to inflict
internal damage to the components of the pulverizer 10. Accordingly,
pulverizer 10 of some
embodiments has "fail safe" arms which preferably rotate out of the way when
encountering a
force which exceeds a predetermined amount (some fraction of an anticipated
breakage force,
such as V2, 1/3, etc.).
[00038] Also, while other prior art designs use arm pads, such as Canadian
Patent Application
No. 2,147,666, these arm pads extend forward of a front face such as face 70
so that a radially
inwardly directed surface 72 of the arm pad 74 would tend to catch material as
it might be being
shed off of front face 70 as the material passed radially outward due to the
radial spinning nature
of the device. This proved to be a problem as a way to wrap some items like
textiles.
[00039] Accordingly, the applicant has provided two embodiments shown in
Figure 3, namely, a
first embodiment with the arm 52 having a front face 70 from which a front
face 74 of the arm
pad 66 is recessed relative thereto such as spaced by toe 80 or otherwise with
the radially
9
inwardly directed face 72 possibly being received at least partially within
recess 82 to assist in
preventing the hang up of materials on the arm pad 74. Recess 82 may assist in
relieving stresses
and/or provide other benefits.
1000401 With arm 51, the front face 70 of the pad 68 is shown being coplanar
with the front face 76
with the arm 51. This design feature, if implemented, also reduces the
likelihood of hang up or
wrapping. In addition, the radially inward face 84 of the arm pad 78 is shown
as being angled in
nature (at the top and bottom) so that should material contact those surfaces,
the material can then
go up and away from the angled portion 84 and down and away from the downward
angled portion
86. These angles are shown at approximately 45 degrees but other angles could
be utilized with
other embodiments.
1000411 Additionally, arm pads 66.68 are shown with a vertical groove 88 which
is received on
shoulder 90 shown in Figure 2 along with posts 92 and 94 which are received in
the corresponding
bores which are not shown on the rear side of arm pads 74,70 as well as
connector shown as screws
96,98 which are shown as being directed through bores 100,102 in arm 52 to
then connect into the
reverse side of arm pad 74,78 as would be understood by those of ordinary
skill in the art. This
design can also reduce a likelihood of material being hung up on arm pads as
can happen with prior
art construction.
1000421 The pin design of first and second pins 58,60 can be used with many
embodiments. The
second pin 60 can be manufactured to shear before the first pin 58 and before
the possibility of
damaging arm 48-53 and/or pads 74,78 such as by having a small diameter and
also having
circumferential grooves 104,106. Figure 6 shows a presently preferred
embodiment of the
present invention of the second pin 60 which could take on other
constructions. This
configuration is somewhat akin to a mechanical fuse in that first and second
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circumferential grooves 104,106 can provide a failure location of the second
pin 60 so that if the
second pin 60 is sheared at either of those locations and/or other locations
through shaft 108 of
the pin 60, the arm 51 can then rotate about first pin 58, which defines an
axis of rotation, out of
the way of a difficult object which might otherwise create extreme issues
internal to the
pulverizer 10 such as breaking off at least portions of the arms 48-53 and/or
arm pads 66,68. The
second pin 60 is thus designed to fail at a predetermined force (stress)
value. There are other
mechanical fuse and/or friction systems which could be utilized other than
this so that the arms
rotating at roughly 200 miles per hour and with the pads 68,70 possibly
rotating at roughly 300
miles per hour do not create any significant damage to the pulverizer 10 when
contacting a
particularly difficult object to pulverize. The second pin 60 can shear
through at a predetermined
force which is designed to be less than a failure force on the arms 48-53 or
arm pads 68,70, such
as about V2 or less.
1000431 It is not the arms 48-53 or even the pads 68,70 which preferentially
contact most of the
material to be ground, but the vortices themselves which are created with air
flow coming off of
the arms 48-53 and/or pads 68,70 as directed at least partially by deflectors
38 and shelves
40,41,42 which create the airflow within the pulverizer 10 for many
embodiments.
1000441 Additionally, the arm pads 66,68 are also shown having a predetermined
height
110,112 above and below the upper surface 114 and the lower surface 116 of the
arm 52. This
additional thickness above and below the arm 52 is believed to provide larger
vortices for at
least some embodiments while reducing wind resistance of having the arm 48-53
have a larger
cross section. The heights 110,112 with the height of the arm 52 is preferably
at least about
150% of the height of the arm 52, if not twice that distance.
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[00045] When assembling the arms 48-53 to the shaft 12, one of the first and
second plates
54,56 is preferably placed on the shaft 12 with the arms 48-53 placed in
relation thereto along
with the second of the first and second plates 54,56 and the pins 58,60 can
then be placed in
position. With this construction, possibly such as with the plates 54,56 being
wedged into place
or otherwise secured to the shaft 12 as would be understood by one of ordinary
skill in the art,
the heads of the pins 58,60 illustrated as pin head 118 in Figure 6
overlapping a top of top plate
54 can then be covered with one of a first and second spacing plates
illustrated as first spacing
plate portion 120 in Figure 4 shown with male extension 122 and female
receiver 124 with the
second cover portion being similarly constructed thereto with the first male
portion 122 of a first
portion 120 can be received in a female portion 124 of a second similarly
constructed cover
portion 128 as would be understood from the drawings and with reference to
Figure 2. In fact, a
first male portion 126 of the second spacing portion 128 is illustrated along
with a female portion
130 with the first portion 120 not installed. This construction can provide a
secure ring for the
spacing portions 120,128 while also being easy to assemble about shaft 12. The
puzzle
construction of male/female portions 122,124 provides a ring of interlocking
portions. One will
observe that the bores 132 for receiving first pins they only have a diameter
at or slightly greater
than the head of the first pin 52 while the bore is illustrated as an
elongated slot 134 for receiving
a second pin 60 so that either of the two positions illustrated can be
selected for raking of the
arms 48-53.
[00046] With the spacing plate installed (with portions 120,128) (or more),
cover plates
illustrated as first cover plate' 136 and second cover plate 138 and/or others
can then be installed
to cover the heads 102 of the pins 58,60. Connecting bolts such as bolts 140
can secure the
cover portions 136,138 through the spacing portions 120,128 to the upper or
first plate 54.
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[00047] The arms 48-53 could be made of S7 steel or other appropriate steel
material. AR steel
could be utilized (or another impact resistant material) for the pads 70,74 or
even the arms 48-53
in various other embodiments. Still other embodiments may have various
materials selected for
the housing, deflectors 38, shelves 40,41,42 and/or other components.
[00048] In order to be able to address the shape of internal vortices, it may
be that any of the
shelves such as shelves 40,41 and 42 and/or others are elevationally
adjustable. Figure 7
provides a first preferred embodiment of the present invention in which
elevational adjustment of
the shelf 40 may be achieved such as by driving carriage 384 along track 386
so that bolts
388,390 can travel along slot 392 in wall 44 as shown in Figure 8 in an
elevational manner. Of
course, the bolts 388,390 could be connected to nuts 391,393 on the outside of
housing 22 of
pulverizer 310 as well for elevation adjustment. A plate 396 may be useful to
cover remaining
portions of slot 392 in wall 44 and for which are not directly covered by the
nuts such as a first
nut 391 illustrated. Carriage 384 may be manually moved, if used, as it may be
possible to omit
carriage 384 and/or track 386 for some embodiments.
[00049] In addition to elevation adjustment, it may be possible to change the
relative angle of
the shelves such as by having the ability for carriage 384 or other component
to be able to rotate
the post 388 relative to receiver 300 for the ability to pull in the bottom
end 302 relative to the
top end 304 closer to or farther away from wall 44. Of course, other
embodiments may have
other constructions and without additional movement of the shelf, such as
shelf 40, in other ways
as well. Furthermore, any of the shelves, whether it be shelf 40,41 and/or 42,
could be adjustable
in a similar manner. Furthermore, deflectors such as deflector 38 may also be
adjustable in
either angular relationships and/or distance internal from the wall 44 of the
pulverizer 10.
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[00050] Referring back to Figure 1, the shelves 40,41,42 may be adjustable
elevationally
manually and/or possibly automatically with a processor 26. It may be that for
different types of
throughput, the shelves are set to a specific position which may be different
for various
throughput of waste. Accordingly, for at least in some embodiments not only is
the elevational
height of shelves such as shelves 40,41 and 42 adjustable as well as the speed
of the shaft 12, but
possibly also the amount of vacuum and/or pressure internal to the pulverizer
10 as well as the
rate of flow into the inlet 14 of the waste product.
[00051] By contrasting such variables, it has been discovered that the input
and output can be
increased roughly 20% while providing a consistent power consumption by motor
16 for at least
some waste streams. This could be described as increasing the efficiency by
20% by adjusting
the position or height of the shelf 40 (along with either or both of 41 and
42) to change the
vortices within the housing 22 on at least one level.
[00052] A pulverizer 10 can be constructed to have a head 24 with an input
port 26, a bottom 23
with a discharge port 25, and a housing 22 extending intermediate the head 24
and the bottom
23, said housing 22 having a vertically extending rotating shaft 12 with a
plurality of arms
48,49,50,51,52,53 extending from hubs 32,34,36 connected to the shaft 12
thereby reducing
input such as particulate 30 from a larger to a smaller size from the input
port 26 to the discharge
port 25 with the rotation of the arms 48-53 in the housing.
[00053] At least some of the arms 48-53 can be canted relative to the hub
32,34, or 36 to which
they are connected at a first connection position whereby they form an angle
between 5 and 90
degrees relative to a radian 64 extending through the arm 51. Some embodiments
may provide a
first connection position with at least some of the arms are angled between 5
and 30 degrees
relative to the radian 64 extending through the arm 51. Some embodiments may
have a second
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connection position at the hub 32,34 or 36 whereby when in the second
connection position, the
angle of the arm 51 relative to the radian 64 is different than when in the
first connection
position. None of the prior art constructions are believed to have an ability
to change an angle of
the arm 51 relative to a radian extending through the arm 51 (i.e., be multi-
angular). While some
embodiments have canted arms, others do not require such a feature.
[00054] Some pulverizers 10 provide a mechanical fuse, such as by using first
and second pins
58,60 retaining at least some of the arms 51 in a first connection position
whereby if a
predetermined force is reached, then at least some of the arms 51 release
without breaking such
as by having the second in 60 release, i.e., possibly by shear, thus allowing
the arm 51 to rotate
about the first pin 58. The pins 58,60 and/or other connections of the arms 48-
53 to the hubs can
be covered with a coverplate, such as one having first and second portions
interlocking with a
puzzle connection on the hub 32,34 or 36. Additionally, some arms 48-53 can be
retained to
hubs 32,34 or 36 in a sandwich style configuration, such as one having the
arms 48-53 connect
between the first and second sandwich halves to the shaft 12.
[00055] Additionally some pulverizers 10 can have arms with improved pad
constructions.
Instead of sticking out in front of the front face of the arms like prior art
constructions, the arm
pads 66 have a front face 74 which can be one of either coplanar with the
front face 70 of the
arms 52 or recessed relative thereto. The pads 66 can also be manufactured to
be higher (i.e.,
have a height greater than a height of the arms 52), such as at least about
150 percent, if not up to
about 300 percent for at least some embodiments. Additionally, some arm pads
66 are angled at
a radially inner position of the pad 66 to increase in height proceeding
radially outwardly to
assist in shedding material off the pad 66 which might otherwise be entangled
thereon.
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[00056] Still these, or other pulverizers 10 have shelves 40,41 or 42
connected to the housing 22
which are positionally adjustable, such as elevationally adjustable within the
housing 22 and/or
angularly adjustable within the housing 22. Some of these type pulverizers 10
can have the
positioning or adjustment of the shelves 40,41 or 42 automatedly controlled
with a processor 26.
For some of these embodiments, the processor 26 can adjust the speed of the
rotation of the shaft
12 along with the shelf position to increase efficiency of output relative to
energy consumption,
some embodiments have been able to achieve up to a 20% increase in efficiency.
[00057] Some embodiments may provide a pulverizer 10 constructed to have a
head 24 with an
input port 26, a bottom 23 with a discharge port 25, and a housing 22
extending intermediate the
head 24 and the bottom 23, said housing 22 having a vertically extending
rotating shaft 12 with a
plurality of arms 48,49,50,51,52,53 extending from hubs 32,34,36 connected to
the shaft 12
thereby reducing input such as particular 30 from a larger to a smaller size
from the input port 26
to the discharge port 25 with the rotation of the arms 48-53 in the housing.
The arms 48-53 may
or may not be canted as described herein for some embodiments.
[00058] At least some of the arms 52 may have pads 66 connected to the arms
whereby the pads
66 have a front face 74 and the arms 52 have a front face 70, both in the
direction of rotation, and
the front face 74 of the pads 66 is one of (a) coplanar with the front face 70
of the arms 52 and
(b) recessed relative thereto. These pads 66 could also extend up to or more
than 150 percent of
a height of the arm 54 for some embodiments.
[00059] Some embodiments may provide a retaining plate 400 to be used (one per
pin pair
58,60) possibly instead of jigsaw or puzzle male/female portions 122,124. In
an event of retainer
fastener failure, shaft angular velocity and/or retaining plate inertia, both
designs can use
retaining pins 58,60. Six retaining plates 400 would be used with the
embodiment illustrated.
16
CA 2963657 2017-04-10
[00060] Numerous alterations of the structure herein disclosed will suggest
themselves to those
skilled in the art. However, it is to be understood that the present
disclosure relates to the
preferred embodiment of the invention which is for purposes of illustration
only and not to be
construed as a limitation of the invention. All such modifications which do
not depart from the
spirit of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the
appended claims.
[00061] Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what is claimed
herein is:
=
17
