Pneumatic refuse material separation system

[57] ABSTRACT

Light and heavy constituents of refuse material are separated by delivering the material through a tubular inlet into the upper portion of a vertical separating chamber to drop onto and past declumping means and then to a spreader which directs it to fall through an annular venturi throat. As the material descends it is subjected to upwardly moving air of substantial velocity to separate lighter constituents of the material' and draw them off from the separating chamber above the discharge end of the inlet. Heavier constituents are collected from the lower portion of the chamber spaced below the spreader.

Claims, 2 Drawing Figures

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PATENTEDSEP 31974

3,833,117

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3,833,117

PNEUMATIC REFUSE MATERIAL SEPARATION SYSTEM

This invention relates to materials separation, and is more particularly concerned with a pneumatic refuse material separation system. Refuse materials such as municipal garbage and ttash, now generally collected without discrimination, present substantial problems in separation thereof for recovery of reusable raw products such as paper, glass and metals. It is to the solving of these problems that the present invention is directed.

An important object of the invention is to provide a new and improved pneumatic refuse material separar tion system.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved means for efficiently separating diverse materials such as municipal or other refuse for recovering reusable constituents.

A further object of the invention is to provide a new and improved pneumatic material separating system.

Other objects, features and advantages of the; invention will be readily apparent from the following description of certain preferred embodiments thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing although variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts embodied in the disclosure, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a system embodying features of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional detail view taken substantially along the line II—II of FIG. 1.

Loose refuse material 5 such as municipal trash and garbage is delivered as by means of an endless conveyor 7 into the upper end of a tubular inlet 8 which is desirably provided with an upwardly flaring funnel-like mouth head structure 9. Within the inlet 8 the material is guided to drop down into a downwardly opening separating chamber 10 defined by means comprising a columnar casing providing wall 11 of substantial length about the chamber, with the inlet 8 of smaller diameter and extending concentrically downwardly to a limited extent through and below a top closure 12 into the separating chamber. Suitable frame structure 13 supports the vertical chamber wall 11 and the inlet 8 carried by the chamber wall through the top closure 12.

For breaking up descending clumped masses of the material to be separated, declumping means 14. are provided adjacently below the discharge end of the inlet 8. In a desirable construction, the declumping means 14 comprise a set of radial vanes 15 disposed in vertical planes and of preferably triangular shape in elevation. Support for the vanes 15 is provided by means such as a vertical bar or rod 17 which extends vertically concentrically through the inlet 8 and is suspended, preferably rigidly, from supporting means 18 such as a ceiling or other supporting structure above the receiving head 9 of the inlet. In diameter, the suspension rod 17 is as small as practicable for the purpose and throughout its length within the inlet the rod is smooth and free from obstructions on which material might catch, so that the passage through the inlet is practically free for dropping of material to be separated downwardly therethrough into the chamber 10 toward the declumper 14. Each of the vanes 15 is fixedly secured to the supporting rod 17 at an elongated hypotenuse and with the vanes radiating in uniformly spaced relation to a common diameter at their convergent edge peaks approximately one-half that of the inlet diameter. In a desirable arrangement there are six of the vanes 15, as shown. Through this arrangement, the vanes 15 efficiently break-up larger masses or clumps of adherent material, but avoid catching of the material thereon.

Within the chamber 10 the descending material is subjected to pneumatic separation by forcing air upwardly through the material for thereby carrying off the lighter constituents of the material, such as paper. Preferably the separating air-flow is effected by means causing a suction primarily upwardly through the chamber 10 from the lower open end of the wall casing 11. For this purpose, a suitable blower 19 is connected with an exhaust duct 20 leading from an exhaust throat 21 communicating by way of a wide angle exit opening 22 with the upper end of the chamber 10 immediately below the top closure 12 and at a substantial height above the lower end of the inlet 8. Although at least one exhaust opening and duct may be provided, a plurality of such exhaust arrangements may be provided at circumferentially spaced intervals (FIG. 1) at the same or graduated elevations and providing for the same suction velocity or graduated suction velocities, as may be preferred.

To enhance separating effect of the pneumatic column in the separating chamber 10, velocity increasing means are provided, comprising a spreader and venturi member 23. For this purpose, the spreader 23 is supported in fixed suspended relation from the lower end of the rod 17 preferably coincident with the lower end of the declumper 14. On its upper end the spreader 23 has a generally downwardly and radially tapering spreader surface 24 which joins a reversely tapering conical air deflecting undersurface 25, with the surfaces meeting at a perimeter of a diameter about the same as the diameter of the inlet 8. Between the perimeter of the spreader 23 and the surrounding portion of the chamber wall 11 is defined an annular venturi velocity increasing throat 27. Thereby descending material deflected into the venturi throat is subjected to high velocity separating air with an advantageous pressure drop above the throat for large volume air lifting and tumbling of the descending materials for separation of the lighter constituents which are then sucked up the reduced cross-section chimney area between the inlet 8 and the wall 11. Downward movement of the material to be separated, and countermovement of the air and lifting of the lighter materials is graphically shown by means of directional arrows. This air separation is enhanced by the flow path along the unconstricted passage provided within the wall casing IT which provides a flow unobstructed except for the spreader 23, entirely down to the lower end outlet opening from the casing.

Constituents of the materials to be separated, which are heavier than will be lifted by the ascending air, drop down below the spreader 23 and discharge from the separating chamber through preferably open lower end provided by the wall casing 11 and are collected as shown at 28 on means such as a conveyor 29 for further separating action or for disposal.

Although only one of the separators according to the present invention has been disclosed, it will be understood that there may be as many of such separators as necessary to handle any given volume of refuse, and

3,833,117 there may be batteries of the separators in series for multiple raw product separation. In such an installation raw products such as paper, glass and metals are segregated and collected, land fill refuse is packed into transporting and dumping apparatus, and such refuse or trash as cannot be reused or recycled may be burned in an incinerator which provides heat for drying valuable raw products such as paper.

It will be understood that variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of this invention.