AU1668399A

AU1668399A - Device for emptying refuse containers

Info

Publication number: AU1668399A
Application number: AU16683/99A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Klaus Delle; Manfred Schaubruch
Original assignee: Zoeller Kipper GmbH
Current assignee: Zoeller Kipper GmbH
Priority date: 1997-12-03
Filing date: 1998-11-10
Publication date: 1999-06-16
Anticipated expiration: 2018-11-10
Also published as: CZ291937B6; AU745640B2; YU49063B; PT1044146E; EP1044146A1; HUP0100009A2; ATE211998T1; TR200001517T2; UA49092C2; HRP20000365A2; SK6552000A3; RU2197419C2; CZ20001637A3; PL193880B1; WO1999028216A1; DK1044146T3; DE59802678D1; EP1044146B1; YU23900A; ES2172254T3

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for emptying refuse containers into a collecting bin (3), comprising a lifting device (5) with a carriage unit (6) and at least one swivel device (20) mounted on the lifting device, on which a receiving device (10) grasps the refuse container. A four-bar guide (30a,b) arranged on the swivel arm (40a,b) and provided with an upper guide rod (31a,b) and a lower guide rod (32a,b) supports the lifting frame (11) with the receiving device (10). The upper guide rod (31a,b) extends beyond its pivot point (34a,b) as far as the collecting bin (3) and forms an actuating lever (33a,b), whereby a cylinder piston device (21) pivots between the free ends thereof and the carriage unit (6). When the cylinder piston device (21) is actuated, its pivot point (25) on the four-bar guide (30a,b) moves along the arc of a circle (25) between both pivot points (34a,b,37a,b) on the four-bar guide (30) on the swivel arm. This improves the limited ground clearance of vertically conveying lifters and increases height capacity for receiving containers onto the inventive device. The cylindrical piston device is substantially protected against damage.

Description

The invention concerns a device to discharge refuse bins into a collecting bin with a lifting device provided on the collecting bin, the lifting device having a lifting carriage and at least one pivoting device provided on the lifting device with a pivoting arm, on which lifting arm a pick-up device to grasp the refuse bin is 5 provided. Such a discharging device is known, for example, from DE 36 40 132 Al. This lifting device has pick-up devices for the refuse container as well as for two household refuse bins arranged next to each other. The small household bins are 10 suspended on a pick-up comb, that is fastened on a pivoting device arranged on the lifting device, with the aid of which pivoting device the bin is tilted into the collecting bin. The disadvantage of this known device is that the height of the pick-up device is 15 determined, and consequently limited, by the manoeuvrability of the lifting carriage. According to the valid safe working regulations the refuse bins have to be lifted off the ground, i.e. to satisfy the requirement the lifting carriage has to extend very far downward to enable also the lifting of smaller bins off the ground. This requirement is achieved in known devices by that the lifting device extends 20 correspondingly far and below, resulting in considerable reduction of the ground clearance. A further disadvantage is that the pick-up of the bin is arranged between the lateral guide rails and therefore the positioning of the bin on the pick up device is difficult for the refuse truck. 25 This disadvantage is supposed to be eliminated with a device according to DE OS 41 42 307, wherein the pick-up of the bin has an extendable construction. This would facilitate the operation, i.e. the attaching of the bin on to the pick-up device, but the lack of or limited ground clearance and consequently the pick-up height for the bins is not effected because from its deepest point the pick-up can 30 extend on the guide rails only horizontally relative to the bin. DE-OS 26 54 542 describes a lifting/tilting device with a four-bar guide, that carries at one end the pick-up for the bin and at the other end is pivotably mounted on a pivoting arm. The lower connecting rod is extended in the direction 35 of the collecting bin and forms an actuating lever, engaged by a cylinder/piston system. In the retracted state of the cylinder/piston system the four-bar guide with the pick-up for the bin is pivoted downward, so that the bin can be picked up. In this position both connecting rods of the four-bar guide point inclined downwards. When the cylinder/piston system is extended, the pick-up for the bin is pivoted 5 upwards on an arc until the edge of the refuse bin is grasped by the locking bar. In this position, which corresponds also to the resting position, the cylinder/piston system is not yet fully extended and the actuating lever points inclined downwards. The hinge point of the cylinder/piston system on the actuating lever forms the deepest point of the device and determines the ground clearance 10 available to the vehicle during its travel. The piston(s) of the cylinder/piston system is (are) therefore exposed to the risk of getting damaged. A further disadvantage of this known version is that the cylinder/piston system must be correspondingly long, so that telescoping cylinders have to be used. 15 Based on DE-OS 36 40 132, the object of the invention is to improve the limited ground clearance of vertically conveying lifters and to increase the latitude for the pick-up height of the bin on the device while the actuating device is to be protected as far as possible form getting damaged. 20 This objective is achieved with a device to discharge refuse bins, wherein on the pivoting arm a four-bar guide with an upper connecting rod and a lower connecting rod is provided, that carries the lifting frame with the pipk-up device. The upper connecting rod is extended past its hinge point to the pivoting arm 25 towards the collecting bin and forms an actuating lever, with a cylinder/piston system hingedly connected between the free ends of the actuating lever and the lifting carriage. When actuating the cylinder/piston system the hinge point on the actuating lever moves along an arc between the two hinge points of the four-bar guide on the pivoting arm. 30 Advantageous embodiments are described in the dependent patent claims. By virtue of the fact that the upper connecting rod is extended and consequently forms the lifting lever to move the pick-up device, the hinge point of the 35 cylinder/piston system lies further up than is the case in the state-of-the-art, so that the piston(s) of the cylinder/piston system is (are) not subjected to such strong soiling and damages. Furthermore, by virtue of the device according to the invention the ground clearance is increased because the cylinder/piston system does not protrude downward. 5 In the travelling position, when the pick-up device is pivoted inward on the lifting carriage, the hinge point of the cylinder/piston system is situated on the pivoting arm in the region between the upper and lower hinge point of the four-bar guide and when two four-bar guides are used it is in the space between the two four-bar 10 guides, thus protecting the cylinder/piston system even better. This is assisted by the fact that the distance of the two hinge points of the four-bar guide on the pivoting arm is preferably greater than the length of the actuating lever. The overall length of the cylinder/piston system can be altogether shorter than in 15 the case of the known device, so that no telescoping cylinder is necessary. The radius of the movement path of the hinge point of the cylinder/piston system on the upper connecting rod during the total movement is smaller than in the case of the device according to DE-OS 26 54 542. 20 The cylinder/piston system is provided and constructed to suit the close up pivoting of the pick-up device on the lifting carriage and the inward pivoting of the pick-up device into the charging opening of the collecting bin. In the lowermost position of the lifting carriage the pick-up device can be pivoted away from it and thus simultaneously downward on an arc, so that for the picking up of the bin to 25 be discharged the lifting device does not have to be lowered as far as would be the case if this pivoting would not be foreseen. This execution also contributes to the increase of the ground clearance. When pivoting the pick-up device outward into the pick-up position, the 30 cylinder/piston system is completely retracted. This means that in the closely pivoted state the cylinder/piston system is partly extended and during the inward pivoting of the refuse bin into the charging opening it is fully extended. After picking up the refuse bin, the lifting frame can, in a superimposed 35 movement, be lifted already with the lifting carriage of the lifting device. The advantage of this is that the locked position of the refuse bin is outside of the reach of the operator, reducing the chances of an accident happening. At the same time time is saved. The locking of the bin takes place before the end of the lifting path, preferably between the pick-up and a locking bar that is fitted between 5 the pivoting arms and grasps the edge of the bin. The hinge point of the pivoting arm is preferably above the hinge point of the cylinder/piston system on the lifting carriage. The greater the distance of the hinge point and the closer the hinge point of the cylinder/piston system to the 10 vertical line passing through the hinge point of the pivoting point, the greater the available pivoting angle during the tilting into the charging opening. The cylinder/piston system preferably has only one single pressure medium cylinder, thus further simplifying the device. 15 For reasons of stability two pivoting arms and two four-bar guides may be provided in a twin-system between the lifting frames and the lifting carriages. When this twin-system is combined with a motor for the pressure medium, both 20 upper connecting rods are preferably bent past their pivot points on the respective pivoting arm and joined with each other on their actuating levers. The motor for the pressure medium in this case is hingedly connected on a joining position of the actuating lever. 25 The cylinder/piston system can be controlled by a control device connected to the bin recognition system. In a preferred manner the entire device is controlled by the signals arriving from the bin recognition system. The bringing of the lifting carriage and of the pick-up device into the position which is correct for the respective refuse bin to be discharged is also part of the control process. To pick 30 up the bin the lifting frame is moved upward manually or by a bin release or data carrier and the pick-up device engages a carrier on the bin from below, preferably below the edge of the bin. Depending on the fact as to what type of refuse bin the bin recognition system 35 has recognised, the corresponding charging opening is approached. The separation of the lifting device and of the pivoting device has the advantage that the lifting frame can be pivoted inward at any height of the collecting bin for the purpose of discharging the bin. 5 In an advantageous manner a suction device is provided on the lifting frame, that abuts against the body of the refuse bin during the picking up operation to secure it during the entire discharging process. Due to this the refuse bin to be discharged is fixed early, in fact before the locking bar engages the edge of the refuse bin and consequently locks the refuse bin on the pick-up device. 10 Exemplary embodiments of the invention are explained below in detail based on the drawings. They show in: 15 Fig.1 - a side view of the entire discharging device, Fig.2 - a side view of the entire discharging device during the tipping process into a charging opening, 20 Fig.3 - a side view of the device with pivoted away pick-up device, Fig.4a - the device shown in Fig.3 with inward pivoted pick-up device, 25 Fig.4b - a vertical section through the device shown in Fig.4a, where the sectioning plane is parallel to the plane of the paper, and Fig.5 - a front view of the device shown in Fig.1. 30 Fig.1 shows in side-view the device in toto to discharge refuse bins 1. The collecting bin 3, into which the refuse bin 1 is to be discharged, can be provided, for example, on a refuse-collecting vehicle. A charging opening 4 is provided on the upper side of the collecting bin 3, however, further charging openings 4' may be provided below the charging opening 4, as this is illustrated in the form of an 35 example in Fig.2.

V On the rear of the collecting bin 3, on a side wall 45, a rail 46 is provided vertically, on which rail a lifting carriage 6 is guided. The lifting carriage 6 is engaged by a cable 9, that is connected with a motor for the lifting pressure medium 7 via reversing rollers. By extending the top piston 8a and retracting the 5 bottom piston 8b, the cable 9 is moved and consequently the lifting carriage 6 is pulled vertically upwards. Two pivoting arms 40a,b, which are connected with the lifting frame 11 by means of two four-bar guides 30a,b, are provided on the lifting carriage 6. In the position 10 shown here, of the four-bar guides only the lower connecting rod 32a of the front four-bar guide 30a can be seen. Furthermore, the locking bar 19 is attached to the lifting carriage 6. Details of the device are illustrated in Figs.3, 4a and 4b. One deals here with a 15 twin-system having two pivoting arms 40a,b and two four-bar guides 30a,b, the front components of which are illustrated and are designated with the letter a. The pivoting arm 40a is hinged on the lifting carriage 6 in the pivot point 41a and it has a basically trapezoidal shape. The four-bar guide 30a is formed by the upper connecting rod 31a and the lower connecting rod 32a, which are hinged in the 20 pivot points 34a and 37a on the pivoting arm 40a and at the other end in the pivoting points 35a and 36a on the lifting frame 11, which on its top has the pick up comb that grasps the refuse bin 1 from below the edge. Furthermore, the pick up device 10 has a suction device 13, that is arranged on the lifting frame 11 and abuts against the body of the bin and secures it by applying vacuum. 25 On its rear end the upper connecting rod 31a of the four-bar guide 30a is extended past the hinge point 34a and thus forms an actuating lever 33a, to the end of which the cylinder/piston system 21 is hingedly attached with the piston 23 at point 25. In the pivoted position shown in Fig.3 the pick-up device 10 is 30 pivoted away from the lifting carriage 6, while the pick-up comb 12 moves along an arc about the fulcrum 34a. Due to this not only a movement away from the lifting carriage is affected, but simultaneously a lowering of the pick-up device 10 and consequently of the pick-up device 12 is also achieved. The cylind'er/piston system 21 is fully retracted in this position. 35 The hinge point 24 of the cylinder/piston system 21 on the lifting carriage 6 is situated below the hinge point 41 a of the pivoting arm 40a. The distance between the points 24 and 41a is chosen to be very great, while the hinge point 24 is very close to the vertical line 26 passing through he point 41 a. By virtue of this a very 5 large pivoting angle is provided for the tipping into the charging opening. Due to the fact that the upper connecting rod 31a is extended, the hinge point 25 of the cylinder/piston system 21 is above the hinge point 37a and consequently in the protected region. When the cylinder/piston system 21 is extended, the pivot 10 point 25 moves along the arc 50 that runs between the hinge points 37a and 34a. Fig.4a shows the inward pivoted position. The piston 23 of the cylinder/piston system 21 is extended only partially in this position, while the hinge point 25 is situated between the hinge points 34a and 37a. This is more clearly shown in the 15 sectioned illustration in Fig.4b, wherein the four-bar guide 30a has been omitted and one can see the four-bar guide 30b. The cylinder/piston system 21 is also shown sectioned, and one can see that the piston 23 is extended only partially. In this position, which corresponds the travelling position of the device, the piston 23 with its hinge point 25 is in the protected region between the four-bar guides 30a 20 and 30b. Furthermore, the cylinder/piston system 21 is already in an inclined position, what is particularly advantageous for the force transfer during the inward pivoting process to the charging opening. Fig.5 illustrates the front view of the device. One deals here with a cylinder/piston 25 system that has only one cylinder for the pressure medium, that is arranged centrally between the pivoting arms 40a and 40b. Behind their hinge points 34a and 34b the upper connecting rods 31a and 31b have bent sections 31a[sic] and 31 b[sic], which form the actuating device[sic] 33a,b, that lead to a common hinge point 25 for the piston 23. In this manner a simple and compact device is 30 produced. The suction device 13 can be more clearly seen in Fig.5, showing that it has a rubber ring 14 bounding the interior 16 in which the suction hole 15 is situated. When the refuse bin 1 to be discharged abuts with its wall against the rubber ring 35 14, a vacuum is produced in the interior 16 by evacuating the air situated in the 1 0 interior 16 through the suction hole 15, the vacuum pressing the bin against the rubber ring 14. Li Cb0 Reference numerals 1 Refuse bin 2 Pick-up edge 5 3 Collecting bin 4, 4' Charging opening 5 Lifting device 6 Lifting carriage 7 Motor for lifting pressure medium 10 8a,b Piston rod 9 Cable 10 Pick-up device 11 Lifting frame 12 Pick-up comb 15 13 Suction device 14 Rubber ring 15 Suction hole 16 Interior 19 Locking bar 20 20 Swivelling device 21 Cylinder/piston system 22 Cylinder 23 Piston rod 24a,b Hinge point 25 25a,b Hinge point 26 Vertical 30a,b Four-bar guide 31a,b Upper connecting rod 32a,b Lower connecting rod 30 33a,b Actuating lever 34a,b Pivot point 35a,b Pivot point 36a,b Pivot point 37a,b Pivot point 35 38a,b Bent section wj Iu 40a,b Pivoting arm 41a,b Hinge point 45 Side wall 46 Rail 5 50 Arc

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Claims

1. A device to discharge refuse bins into a collecting bin with a lifting device provided on the collecting bin, the lifting device having a lifting carriage and at 5 least one pivoting device provided on the lifting device with a pivoting arm, on which lifting arm a pick-up device to grasp the refuse bin is provided, characterised in that on the pivoting arm (40a,b) a four-bar guide (30a,b) with an upper 10 connecting rod (31a,b) and a lower connecting rod (32a,b) is provided that carries the lifting frame (11) with the pick-up device (10), that the upper connecting rod (31a,b) is extended past its hinge point (34a,b) towards the collecting bin (3) and forms an actuating lever (33a,b), between 15 the free ends of the actuating lever and the lifting carriage (6) a cylinder/piston system (2) is provided, and that when actuating the cylinder/piston system (21) its hinge point (25) on the four-bar guide (30a.b) moves along an arc (50) between the two hinge points 20 (34a,b, 37a,b) of the four-bar guide (30) on the pivoting arm (40a,b).

2. A device according to claim 1, characterised in that the distance of the two hinge points (34a,b, 37a,b) of the four-bar guide (30a,b) on the pivoting arm (40a,b) is greater than the length of the actuating lever (33a,b). 25

3. A device according to claim I or 2, characterised in that the cylinder/piston system (21) is provided and constructed to suit the close up pivoting of the pick-up device (10) on the lifting carriage (6) and the inward pivoting of the pick-up device (10) into the charging opening (4, 4') of the collecting bin (3). 30

4. A device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the hinge point (41a,b) of the pivoting arm (40a,b) is above the hinge point (24a,b) of the cylinder/piston system (21) on the lifting carriage (6).

5. A device according to any one of claims I to 4, characterised in that the cylinder/piston system (21) has only one single pressure medium cylinder.

6. A device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that two 5 pivoting arms (40a,b) and two four-bar guides (30a,b) are provided in a twin system between the lifting frames (11) and the lifting carriages (6).

7. A device according to claim 6, characterised in that both upper connecting rods (31a,b) are bent past their pivot points (34a,b) on the respective pivoting arm 10 (40a,b) and joined with each other on their actuating levers (33a,b) and that the motor for the pressure medium is hingedly connected on the joining position of the actuating lever (33a,b).

8. A device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that the 15 cylinder/piston system (21) can be controlled by a control device connected to a bin recognition system.

9. A device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterised in that a suction device (13) is provided on the lifting frame (11). 20