CA2196412A1 - Collection system for materials destined for recycling - Google Patents
Collection system for materials destined for recyclingInfo
- Publication number
- CA2196412A1 CA2196412A1 CA002196412A CA2196412A CA2196412A1 CA 2196412 A1 CA2196412 A1 CA 2196412A1 CA 002196412 A CA002196412 A CA 002196412A CA 2196412 A CA2196412 A CA 2196412A CA 2196412 A1 CA2196412 A1 CA 2196412A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- set forth
- container
- hoist means
- containers
- hoist
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65F—GATHERING OR REMOVAL OF DOMESTIC OR LIKE REFUSE
- B65F3/00—Vehicles particularly adapted for collecting refuse
- B65F3/02—Vehicles particularly adapted for collecting refuse with means for discharging refuse receptacles thereinto
- B65F3/0203—Vehicles particularly adapted for collecting refuse with means for discharging refuse receptacles thereinto with crane-like mechanisms
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65F—GATHERING OR REMOVAL OF DOMESTIC OR LIKE REFUSE
- B65F1/00—Refuse receptacles; Accessories therefor
- B65F1/0033—Refuse receptacles; Accessories therefor specially adapted for segregated refuse collecting, e.g. receptacles with several compartments; Combination of receptacles
- B65F1/0053—Combination of several receptacles
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65F—GATHERING OR REMOVAL OF DOMESTIC OR LIKE REFUSE
- B65F1/00—Refuse receptacles; Accessories therefor
- B65F1/12—Refuse receptacles; Accessories therefor with devices facilitating emptying
- B65F1/125—Features allowing the receptacle to be lifted and emptied by its bottom
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65F—GATHERING OR REMOVAL OF DOMESTIC OR LIKE REFUSE
- B65F1/00—Refuse receptacles; Accessories therefor
- B65F1/0033—Refuse receptacles; Accessories therefor specially adapted for segregated refuse collecting, e.g. receptacles with several compartments; Combination of receptacles
- B65F2001/0086—Means for holding receptacles together
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65F—GATHERING OR REMOVAL OF DOMESTIC OR LIKE REFUSE
- B65F2210/00—Equipment of refuse receptacles
- B65F2210/168—Sensing means
Abstract
The invention concerns a collection system for materials destined for recycling. It comprises collection containers with apertures for depositing the materials and emptying flaps, and collection vehicles with loading bays and hoist emptying systems which can be coupled to the collection containers in order to lift them over the loading bays and empty them. Both the vehicles and hoists and the collection containers are designed to allow at least partially automated emptying.
Description
2196~2 Collection System for Recyclable Substances The invention relates to a collection system for recyclable substances. Such systems are widely in use. They comprise, on the one hand, collection containers which are accessible by the public and have inlet openings for goods to be collected and are provided with dispen-sing flaps. On the other hand, the system comprises dispensing vehicles including load bins into which the collection containers are emptied by means of hoists disposed on the vehicles.
The systems presently in use have the drawback that the pro-cess of discharge is rather complex and time consuming.
Object of the invention is therefore an at least partially au-tomated collection system as defined in patent claim 1.
This includes in the context of the invention a method for emptying the collection containers, further a coupling apparatus between hoist and collection container, and also novel collection containers which are rendered possible by using the coupling apparatus of the in-vention in the method of the invention.
At first, the method aspect of the invention will be dealt with.
Accordingly, the invention comprises a method for discharging of containers wherein glass -- color-separated, as the case may be --, paper, compound substances, and so on are collected for recycling purpo-ses. Usually, a plurality of such containers form a battery, and such batteries are placed at sites accessible for supply of the recyclable goods as well as for transportation vehicles for removal of the goods.
A hoist means, e.g. a crane, is mounted on the transportation vehicle, and the crane jib has means for coupling with a container. The-re are different systems each performing two functions: Lifting the con-tainer over the load bin of the vehicle and actuating of an opening me-chanism by means of which container discharge flaps, preferably disposed - 2196~12 at the bottom of the container, are pivoted so that the recyclable goods may fall down.
After discharge the container is repositioned at its place, a difficult task unless there is a centering device.
All these actions are controlled by the vehicle driver or a second person and for this purpose the vehicle must be left even under adverse weather conditions. Each discharge operation is time consuming, and because of the monotonic job operational errors frequently occur.
Such errors may then result in damage of the containers or of other ob-jects when the hoist means is inaccurately controlled, or fractions of the recyclable goods are mixed although they were separately collected.
The uniform loading of the vehicle depends upon the care of the operator as well as noise nuisance upon discharge of, say, glass collection con-tainers.
The method within the system of claim 1 is defined in patent claim 2. It is commensurate with the fact that the relative position of container and vehicle is different for each discharge operation. In de-tail, the events are as follows:
- The driver drives his vehicle close to the container to be discharged so that he may reach the latter with the hoist means; this is expressed in claim 2 by the words "in reaching range".
- Thereafter, the hoist means is manipulated manually --prefe-rably from the driver's cabin -- and under observation by the driver in-to a position such that the hoist may be coupled to the container. If the hoist is not from the very beginning visible to the driver, it is, preferably automatically, moved into such a position. The manually de-termined portion of the hoist movement is suitably memorized, e.g in the form of control instructions of the operator or in the form of spatial coordinates. In this case, the hoist is provided with sensors for all motions of its members, and the sensor signals are transferred to a con-trol unit housed in the vehicle. The control unit calculates, from the sensor signals, the actual position of the hoist once the manual portion of the control is terminated (it would alternatively be possible to cal-culate said actual position from data memorized during manual operation;
for safety reasons, however, it is preferred to process the feedback of the sensors). The data are needed to transmit to the hoist drive means the proper instructions for the now automatic sequence after the prefe-rably automatic coupling to the container.
- During the latter sequence, at first the container is lifted vertically by a stroke corresponding to its own height, then brought over the load bin or load platform of the vehicle, and discharged. In-structions issued for this purpose, or equivalent data, are also memori-zed by the control unit because, after discharge of the container, those instructions are needed again in order to accurately reposition the con-tainer at its original site; for this purpose, the instructions are pro-cessed in an inverted order. It is to be noted that the necessary in-structions must be re-calculated for each discharge event. Not only the coupling and uncoupling positions are considered in calculating the mo-vement instructions but it is preferred to vary, in accordance with a predetermined scheme, the discharge position such that a uniform loading of the vehicle bin will be assured.
- After uncoupling of the container, the memorized data or in-structions of the manual portion of the control sequence are also "in-versely" processed in order to reposition the hoist means into its rest position via the same way as it was initially determined by the opera-tor. This type of operation, in order to avoid time losses, is preferred over the variant wherein the hoist re-passes the same way as during discharge.
To save time and expenses, the manual portion of the control sequence will be performed from the driver's cabin of the transportation vehicle, and preferably, the driver himself will do it, e.g. by means of a joystick.
Ideally, coupling and uncoupling of the containers to and from the hoist means occurs already automatically. Depending upon the utili-zed system (twin hook system, tongs system, mushroom system, or others) such automatic coupling may be complex; it is within the scope of the invention to provide for manual coupling.
Before the next container site is approached, preferably from automatic control, the system is reset to manual control; such reset in-struction may be the last instruction of the automatic program.
As mentioned above, prior to the unlocking of the or each discharge flap the horizontal coordinates are newly determined such that a uniform loading of the vehicle bin occurs. It is, however, within the scope of the invention to adapt the vertical discharge position of the hoist means to the filling level, preferably such that the container, still in its locked condition, is disposed on the goods contained in the vehicle bin or, if the vehicle is empty, on the bin bottom; the resul-ting load relief of the hoist means may be easily detected by a simple sensor. Thereafter, the discharge flaps are unlocked, and the container is lifted so as to permit the flaps to open. This operation minimizes for certain recyclable goods, as glass, the risk of damage and nasty noise.
For sake of safety it is preferred to automatically block the vehicle gearbox upon start up of the hoist means.
In order to permit automatic coupling, suitably the hoist me-ans is provided with a sensor which may be brought into operative con-nection with signal originators disposed on the containers so as to po-sition the hoist means relative to the containers. Such signal origina-tors may be e.g. elements of the discharge mechanism on the container which e.g. are mechanically sensed by the sensor. Alternatively, one may provide magnetic, preferably permanent-magnetic, signal transmitters on the containers, e.g. magnetic strips, or optical signal transmitters, in a most simple case reflectors.
Referring to the attached drawings, the method will be explai-ned hereunder.
Fig. 1 through 3 illustrate the sequence of a discharging ope-ration, Fig. 4 is a program scheme for explaining the individual me-thod steps, and Fig. 5 is a block diagram of the control unit.
As shown in Fig. 1, the operator 10 has stopped the discharge _ 5 -vehicle 12 relative to a container 14 to be dumped such that he may see container 24 from the driver's cabin 16. By means of a manual lever sy-stem 18 --which may comprise one or more so-called joysticks --disposed in the cabin, he will now displace the hoist means, here a crane 20, in-to a position above container 14, selecting the shortest path to be pas-sed without restraint by parking vehicles, plantation, other containers, and the like.
Signal transmitter(s) and signal receiver(s) are mounted on the container 14 and the crane jib, respectively, to permit engagement of the anchoring and actuating means 22 disposed on the crane jib with actuating means 24 mounted on container 14. In the illustrated example, the latter means is a so-called twin hook mechanism: A first shackle 24a is fixed to the container roof and serves to lift the container while a second shackle 24b is connected to a linkage disposed within the contai-ner and holding bottom flaps of the container in a closed position as long as subjected to a pulling force by means of the crane. For actua-tion, therefore, two relatively moveable hooks on the crane jib are ne-cessary, each hook to be coupled with an allocated one of the shackles.
During this manual displacement of the crane jib, the actually performed movements are stored in the form of respective data; for this purpose, instructions as given by the operator may be used but it is preferred to provide the moveable members of the crane with stroke and angle sensors and to store their actual values so that they may be used later for returning the crane into its start position.
Fig. 2 illustrates the position into which the crane jib has been displaced under manual control by the operator 10. As soon as a si-gnal exchange between crane jib and container becomes possible, this will be indicated to the operator, say, by illumination of an optical signal or, preferably, by an acoustic signal. The operator will now in-itiate the automatic operation. At first, head 26 at the distal end of the crane jib is displaced and, as the case may be, rotated such that the crane-sided hooks may be anchored at shackles 24. These data, too, are stored for later re-use. As the control unit now "knows" where head 26 is located relative to the vehicle, the very discharge or dumping may ' 2196412 _ - 6 -now be performed automatically, the container initially being lifted vertically to a level at least equal to its own height dimension. This is necessary to avoid collisions with other adjacent containers (14, 14'). Thereafter, the container is displaced above the vehicle bin 28 as illustrated in Fig. 3. The container is lowered until it rides on the load platform or on material already present in the bin; this may be sensed as a load relief of the crane or may be calculated by the control unit. Only thereafter the bottom flaps of the container are released, and the container is lifted so that it is discharged with a minimum of noise.
From this point, the stored data are read with inverted order and the crane is operated accordingly. Thus, the container follows its previous path with inverted direction, and after placing the container on positioning rail 15 and disengaging from head 26 the latter traverses backwards the path which initially was input by manual control, optimi-zed by the control unit as the case may be, until the crane jib assumes its start position again as shown in Fig. 1. The total sequence is sum-marized in flow diagram of Fig. 4 including automatic actuation of the brakes.
Fig. 3 permits to see that based on the memorized data, the control unit will also keep in "memory" which part of the bin 28 has al-ready been loaded with dumped material so that in horizontal direction, too, a uniform loading is assured as indicated by the container posi-tions shown by dashed and dash-dotted lines, respectively. Similar con-siderations apply if the container is a multi-chamber container, the chambers to be sequentially discharged into an allocated compartment of the bin.
Fig. 5 shows a schematic block diagram of the control unit. A
microprocessor 30 receives input signals from the manual lever control 18 and from sensors 38 from which the microprocessor calculates the ne-cessary instructions for actuators 40 using a program stored in memory 32. The other two memories 34, 36 serve the intermediate storage of the path data individually input from device 18 and the sensors, respective-ly, for each discharge operation.
It is within the scope of the invention to automatize the ma-nual portion of the method, too. For this purpose, one has to provide the transportation vehicle with devices permitting location and identi-fication of a container to be discharged. While such devices are availa-ble on the market, their application will depend upon economic conside-rations.
The following portion of the description deals with another aspect of the invention, viz. a discharging apparatus which is particu-larly suited to permit a fully automatic discharge operation but is, of course, also suited for semi-automatic operation.
It is an apparatus for actuation of at least one discharge flap of a collection container by means of a discharge hoist to be cou-pled with the container.
A number of such discharge apparatuses are known. The so-cal-led twin hook system has been mentioned above. In another system, two hydraulically controlled actuators mounted on the hoist pull horizontal-ly displaceable levers towards one another in order to actuate bottom flaps or to spread apart two container halves. A third system comprises a first central element to be fixed to the hoist and a second element coaxially displaceable relative to the first one so as to actuate the flaps.
All known systems have the common feature that an operator must connect the hoist to the container-sided coupling means and discon-nect it again. This slows down the operation, and the operator is sub-jected to adverse weather conditions depending upon the season.
The coupling systems between container and hoist used so far are hardly suited for automation. The latter, in fact, supposes that once the container is coupled to the hoist, the container position rela-tive to the hoist is uniquely determined and so remains over the entire discharge sequence.
The apparatus according to the invention for the actuation of at least one discharge flap of a collection container or receptacle by means of a hoist adapted to be coupled to the container, however, is better suited for the automatization of the discharging. Therein, it ' 2196412 should be possible to arrange the container-sided parts of the apparatus within the container so as to improve the container appearance. The parts of the apparatus should have a compact construction, and it should be possible to avoid linkages within the container which otherwise would interfere with discharging.
According to the invention, the container comprises a coupling element operatively connected to the discharge flap, the coupling ele-ment being rotatably driven by the hoist.
Such a coupling element has the advantage that a complementary part disposed on the hoist may "plunge" thereinto and may align itself, the complementary part being adapted to be anchored on the coupling ele-ment axially and with respect to rotation. Preferably, the container has a thrust piece which e.g. may be welded to the container roof, and the hoist carries a stator element to be connected to the thrust element.
It is preferred to use a cable or chain winch as the coupling element, at least one cable or chain being fixed to the winch while the other end of cable or chain is operatively connected to the discharge flap. For example, the cable may be directly connected via pulleys to a flap mounted e.g. at the container bottom. If the the cable is wound on the winch due to rotation thereof, the flap is held closed but may open due to the weight of the collected items once the cable is wound off.
It is, however, also possible to couple the rotatable coupling element with the discharge flap via linkage means.
On the side of the hoist, the apparatus comprises preferably a stator to be fixed to the thrust piece and rotor to be fixed to the coupling element. In this case it is advantageous if stator and rotor each have retractable and extendible engagement members to be brought in positive engagement with the thrust piece and the coupling element, re-spectively. It is, of course, also possible to provide press fit connec-tions or at least one press fit connection.
Stator and rotor are preferably coaxially arranged and have cylindrical portions fitting into respective bores of the thrust piece and the coupling element, respectively. Bores are most easy to manufac-ture but it will be understood that other cross section shapes are suit-21!~6412 -g able, too.
A preferably hydraulic drive motor for the rotor may be accom-modated in the stator.
The coupling element is preferably suspended loosely with clearance at the thrust piece, and the relative dimensions of the ancho-ring means at the rotor and the coupling element, respectively, are chosen such that upon anchoring, the rotor lifts somewhat and aligns the coupling element so that the coupling element, in use, does not have contact with the thrust piece. Therefore, bearing means of the coupling element in the container may be omitted.
In order to permit anchoring of the stator-rotor-assembly in self-aligning manner at the thrust piece/coupling element assembly, the hoist preferably is provided with sensors which deliver control signals, in particular upon contact with the coupling element. For example, at the distal end of the rotor a cone may be attached which upon hitting a shoulder of the coupling element drives, by means of the sensor signals, actuators of the hoist such that gradually the cone tip is centered with respect to a bore of the coupling element.
Preferably, the container-sided part of the apparatus is moun-ted invisibly within the container beneath a top wall thereof. An access opening may have closing lids spring-biased into a closing position but adapted to yield upon lowering of the rotor.
The drawing figure 6 illustrates substantially schematically an embodiment of the invention, a side elevation in the upper part, an axial section view in the lower part.
At first, the lower part of the drawing, i.e. the container-sided arrangement, will be discussed.
On the inner side of a container roof 110 a thrust piece 112 is mounted, e.g. welded to the roof; welding seams, stiffening webs and the like have been omitted in the drawing as they are not essential for the invention. The thrust piece has a first cavity 114 in its upper part, the first cavity having a rectangular cross section parallel to roof 110. At two opposite edges 116 two lids 118 are pivotably mounted;
their free edges facing one another overlap like roof tiles. The lids are biased into the illustrated position by means of springs and abut-ments (not shown) but may be deflected inwards and will then abut the vertical walls 120.
Therebeneath, the cavity becomes more narrow to form a second cavity 122 having a circular section shape parallel to roof 110. This portion of the thrust piece has a groove-like recess 124. A further groove 126 extends inwards.
Beneath thrust piece 112 there is a winch drum 128. Three disk sectors 129 are connected to drum 128, e.g. by means of screws, the sec-tors engaging into groove 126 with axial and radial clearance. Thus, the drum is loosely suspended on thrust piece 112 but is locked against ro-tation, e.g. by engagement of teeth provided on the downwards-facing si-de of the disk sectors (not shown) between counter-teeth provided in groove 126. The drum is traversed by a bore 130 which has the same dia-meter as the second cavity 122 of thrust piece 112; that, however, is not compulsory. This cavity expands at about the axial center of bore 130 to form a further groove-like recess 132 of wedge-shaped section. On the exterior of drum 128 drawing means, e.g. cable 133 or chains, are fixed with one end thereof while the other end is connected to flaps, e.g. bottom flaps, for the discharge of the container, necessary pulleys being mounted within the container.
The upper portion of the drawing illustrates the hoist-sided portion of the apparatus, comprising a stator 134 and a rotor 136. The stator 134 includes a connection plate 138 by means of which it is moun-ted on a crane jib (not shown). The stator accommodates a motor, prefe-rably a hydraulic motor, by means of which rotor 136 is rotatable about its axis 140, the sense of rotation being selectably controlled. Furt-her, stator and rotor include means, e.g. cams, cooperating with cam followers, which permit support pieces 142 to be displaced outwards and inwards, respectively, from and into the stator, respectively, and per-mit carry pieces 144 to be displaced similarly relative to the rotor.
The support pieces and carry pieces are illustrated in their outwardly displaced position although, in use, they are displaced outwards only when the stator is within the thrust piece and the rotor within the ' 2196412 drum.
The apparatus is operated as follows. The operator displaces under manual control the crane jib over the container until the rotor is approximately above the lids 118. Then, automatic operation is switched on. For this purpose, the hoist-sided part of the apparatus is provided with a number of sensors, the choice and disposition thereof becoming apparent for an expert of ordinary skill from the following explanation of the function.
The crane jib now lowers vertically the assembly of stator and rotor. A guiding cone 146 on the lowermost tip of the rotor will in ge-neral hit shoulder 147 somewhere because the rotor axis and the axis of the container-sided parts will be misaligned. Such hitting will be sen-sed by first sensors, and their output signal will be processed to form an instruction by means of which the crane jib will be displaced in di-rection of axial alignment while the rotor continues to penetrate the second cavity 122. Eventually, alignment has taken place, and connecting plate 138 rides on the top side of the thrust piece which event is sen-sed by a second sensor. In this position, the support pieces 142 are le-vel with groove-like recess 124, and the carry pieces 144 are slightly above recess 132. When the second sensor indicates that the operative position is reached the support and carry pieces are extended. The sup-port pieces 142 lock the stator not only axially on thrust piece 112 but also circumferentially; for this purpose, recess 124 is not exactly cir-cular but is brought in positive engagement with the support pieces 142.
For example, teeth may be provided on the bottom of recess 124 in com-plementary arrangement with teeth of the support pieces 142.
Upon outwards movement of the carry pieces 144 whose wedge shape is complementary to the wedge-shaped section of recess 132, the drum will be lifted because of the wedging action and the slightly hig-her position of the carry pieces relative to recess 132 so that the drum gets free and does not contact the thrust piece anywhere because it is centered by the carry pieces 144. The carry pieces, too, are anchored rotatingly on drum 128. The rotational blocking of the drum is unlocked thereby.
Once the support and carry pieces 142, 144 have been extended which may be indicated by a third sensor, and the cable means have been tensioned in order to keep the discharge flap in closed position, the container is lifted by hoist means (crane and crane jib) and displaced over the bin of the discharge vehicle where the container is set down, indicated by a further sensor. The motor in the stator is switched on so that the rotor 136 rotates drum 128 and in accordance with the sense of rotation winds or unwinds the cable so that the discharge flaps are re-leased so as to open under the weight of the material in the container upon re-lifting thereof. After discharge the motor is actuated to turn in inverse sense so that the flaps are closed by the cable. The contai-ner may now be set down, support and carry pieces are withdrawn, and the hoist-sided parts of the apparatus are freed.
It is to be noted that during lifting, opening, closing and resetting of the container the latter remains coupled, via its thrust piece 112, axially and circumferentially with the hoist and therefore its relative position cannot vary in an uncontrolled manner. That means that the container is accurately positioned again at its previous site under the provision that the movements executed for purpose of discharge are memorized and executed in inverse order for resetting as described above in connection with the method of the invention.
It follows from the preceding description that the coupling apparatus is particularly suited for automatic operation: If the vehi-cle is provided with aiming means for the containers, the position of the lids 118, too, may be detected; even if the accuracy of the detec-tion is poor -- say, in the order of some centimeters -- this will be sufficient for the very coupling because of the "self-searching" feature by means of cone 146.
If containers and vehicles are provided with the apparatus of the invention the containers will be reset on their previous site with an accuracy of centimeters. This, in turn, permits the use of containers having interengaging horizontal section shape; this is an advantage be-cause batteries made up of such containers are stable and containers ha-ving rather small dimensions are not readily subject to vandalism. An embodiment of such a container system will be explained hereunder, a "battery" comprising at least a first container and a second container of same height and width but may also comprise an arbitrary number of containers.
Hence, a battery consists of a first container and a second container of identical height and width wherein the first container has at least one vertical wall having a projection and the second container has at least one vertical wall having a recess complementary to said projection.
This concept permits to place the containers in an interenga-ging fashion which is particularly suitable if a "short" container is framed by two "long" ones. This, however, requires the operator of the discharge vehicle to position the containers lifted over the vehicle bin and emptied again on their previous sites with high accuracy. A suitable concept of hoist means and container has been described above, and the respective method of operation has been explained above.
The containers may have a nice appearance if the projection is convex-cylindrical and the recess is concave-cylindrical. The feature of selecting the cylinder diameter to exceed the width of the container im-proves the appearance of the containers. It is then preferred to choose the angular extension of the projection such that it exceeds that of the recess; in fact, this permits to position the containers not only along a straight line but also with angled longitudinal axes without loosing interengagement and without creation of ugly re-entrant angles.
In order to achieve flexibility in the disposition of the con-tainers, preferably one in a group of containers has two projections, one at each end of its length. It forms, so to speak, the core of the battery and is harmonic even as a single container. The additional con-tainers, in turn, have a projection at one end and a recess at the other end so that the recesses may always be "interior" and the battery has projections at its ends. It is, of course, conceivable that a container has recesses at both its ends which recesses are adapted to projections of two adjacent containers. Preferably, the volume of the containers is varied such that their ends (including projection or recess) remain un-~ 2196~12 changed but the length therebetween is dimensioned in accordance with the desired capacity while width and height are kept uniform.
An embodiment is illustrated in the attached drawings and will be explained hereunder with reference thereto.
Fig. 7 shows isometrically a first one of the containers, Fig. 8 shows isometrically another one of the containers, Fig. 9 shows in plan view one of the potential installation of a collection battery in the disposition of the invention, and Fig. 10 is a side view of the same disposition.
The container of Fig. 7 comprises a body 210 having plane cen-tral vertical walls, convex-cylindrically projecting vertical end walls 214 and a top wall 216 which is also convex-cylindrical. The upper edge of wall 214 is connected to the end edge of top wall 216 via partial-spherically shaped inserts 218. At its bottom, the container has dis-charge flaps 220 which, however, are unimportant for the present.
The top wall has e.g. two charge openings 222, dimensioned for passing bottles and other hollow glas bodies. The upper side of the top wall includes inwardly pivotable lids 224 under which there are parts of a discharge mechanism or other coupling elements for discharge mecha-nisms.
It is to be noted that the diameter of the cylindrical wall portions, i.e. the projecting walls 214 and top wall 216, as well as that of the spherical inserts 218 is somewhat larger than the width of the container between the outer surfaces of the plane walls 212 so that ridges 226 are visible at the interfaces.
The container shown in Fig. 7 is the basic container to be placed in the center of a waste collection station having more than two containers, at both ends to be supplemented by containers according to Fig. 8.
The container of Fig. 8 is shaped like the container of Fig. 7 as far as one of its ends and its central part are concerned; this par-ticular end is therefore only partly seen in Fig. 8. At its other end, however, there is a recess or flute such that the end wall 230 and in-21964~2 sert 232 are cut off and the cut is covered by a vertical concave-cylin-drical wall 234. It will be understood that the bottom flaps, too, are shaped accordingly. This wall 234 has the same cylinder diameter as walls 214 but extends over an arc or angle which is just slightly grea-ter than one half of the arc or angle of walls 214.
Fig. 9 and 10 illustrate an exemple of a container battery. A
container 240 for white glass, a container 242 for brown glass, a con-tainer 244 for green glass, a container 246 for paper and a container 248 for light packages form a straight line. The glass containers have only one charge opening on each side while the two other containers have charging slots. The container 244 has projections on both of its ends while the other containers have each one projection and one recess, the recesses being in interengagement with the projection of the neighbou-ring container. It will be seen in particular that the "short" container 242 is pretty well held in interengagement between the two adjacent con-tainers.
It will be seen that the containers need not necessarily be located along a straight line but that adjacent containers may be sub-stantially rotated relative to one another before ugly internal angles between the recess of one container and the plane wall of the adjacent container occur.
The design of the containers suits well a production from fi-bre reinforced plastic material, in particular glass fibre reinforced epoxy, but manufacture from metal, e.g. steel sheet material, is not ex-cluded. Also, the two materials may be combined, or other materials may be used.
The systems presently in use have the drawback that the pro-cess of discharge is rather complex and time consuming.
Object of the invention is therefore an at least partially au-tomated collection system as defined in patent claim 1.
This includes in the context of the invention a method for emptying the collection containers, further a coupling apparatus between hoist and collection container, and also novel collection containers which are rendered possible by using the coupling apparatus of the in-vention in the method of the invention.
At first, the method aspect of the invention will be dealt with.
Accordingly, the invention comprises a method for discharging of containers wherein glass -- color-separated, as the case may be --, paper, compound substances, and so on are collected for recycling purpo-ses. Usually, a plurality of such containers form a battery, and such batteries are placed at sites accessible for supply of the recyclable goods as well as for transportation vehicles for removal of the goods.
A hoist means, e.g. a crane, is mounted on the transportation vehicle, and the crane jib has means for coupling with a container. The-re are different systems each performing two functions: Lifting the con-tainer over the load bin of the vehicle and actuating of an opening me-chanism by means of which container discharge flaps, preferably disposed - 2196~12 at the bottom of the container, are pivoted so that the recyclable goods may fall down.
After discharge the container is repositioned at its place, a difficult task unless there is a centering device.
All these actions are controlled by the vehicle driver or a second person and for this purpose the vehicle must be left even under adverse weather conditions. Each discharge operation is time consuming, and because of the monotonic job operational errors frequently occur.
Such errors may then result in damage of the containers or of other ob-jects when the hoist means is inaccurately controlled, or fractions of the recyclable goods are mixed although they were separately collected.
The uniform loading of the vehicle depends upon the care of the operator as well as noise nuisance upon discharge of, say, glass collection con-tainers.
The method within the system of claim 1 is defined in patent claim 2. It is commensurate with the fact that the relative position of container and vehicle is different for each discharge operation. In de-tail, the events are as follows:
- The driver drives his vehicle close to the container to be discharged so that he may reach the latter with the hoist means; this is expressed in claim 2 by the words "in reaching range".
- Thereafter, the hoist means is manipulated manually --prefe-rably from the driver's cabin -- and under observation by the driver in-to a position such that the hoist may be coupled to the container. If the hoist is not from the very beginning visible to the driver, it is, preferably automatically, moved into such a position. The manually de-termined portion of the hoist movement is suitably memorized, e.g in the form of control instructions of the operator or in the form of spatial coordinates. In this case, the hoist is provided with sensors for all motions of its members, and the sensor signals are transferred to a con-trol unit housed in the vehicle. The control unit calculates, from the sensor signals, the actual position of the hoist once the manual portion of the control is terminated (it would alternatively be possible to cal-culate said actual position from data memorized during manual operation;
for safety reasons, however, it is preferred to process the feedback of the sensors). The data are needed to transmit to the hoist drive means the proper instructions for the now automatic sequence after the prefe-rably automatic coupling to the container.
- During the latter sequence, at first the container is lifted vertically by a stroke corresponding to its own height, then brought over the load bin or load platform of the vehicle, and discharged. In-structions issued for this purpose, or equivalent data, are also memori-zed by the control unit because, after discharge of the container, those instructions are needed again in order to accurately reposition the con-tainer at its original site; for this purpose, the instructions are pro-cessed in an inverted order. It is to be noted that the necessary in-structions must be re-calculated for each discharge event. Not only the coupling and uncoupling positions are considered in calculating the mo-vement instructions but it is preferred to vary, in accordance with a predetermined scheme, the discharge position such that a uniform loading of the vehicle bin will be assured.
- After uncoupling of the container, the memorized data or in-structions of the manual portion of the control sequence are also "in-versely" processed in order to reposition the hoist means into its rest position via the same way as it was initially determined by the opera-tor. This type of operation, in order to avoid time losses, is preferred over the variant wherein the hoist re-passes the same way as during discharge.
To save time and expenses, the manual portion of the control sequence will be performed from the driver's cabin of the transportation vehicle, and preferably, the driver himself will do it, e.g. by means of a joystick.
Ideally, coupling and uncoupling of the containers to and from the hoist means occurs already automatically. Depending upon the utili-zed system (twin hook system, tongs system, mushroom system, or others) such automatic coupling may be complex; it is within the scope of the invention to provide for manual coupling.
Before the next container site is approached, preferably from automatic control, the system is reset to manual control; such reset in-struction may be the last instruction of the automatic program.
As mentioned above, prior to the unlocking of the or each discharge flap the horizontal coordinates are newly determined such that a uniform loading of the vehicle bin occurs. It is, however, within the scope of the invention to adapt the vertical discharge position of the hoist means to the filling level, preferably such that the container, still in its locked condition, is disposed on the goods contained in the vehicle bin or, if the vehicle is empty, on the bin bottom; the resul-ting load relief of the hoist means may be easily detected by a simple sensor. Thereafter, the discharge flaps are unlocked, and the container is lifted so as to permit the flaps to open. This operation minimizes for certain recyclable goods, as glass, the risk of damage and nasty noise.
For sake of safety it is preferred to automatically block the vehicle gearbox upon start up of the hoist means.
In order to permit automatic coupling, suitably the hoist me-ans is provided with a sensor which may be brought into operative con-nection with signal originators disposed on the containers so as to po-sition the hoist means relative to the containers. Such signal origina-tors may be e.g. elements of the discharge mechanism on the container which e.g. are mechanically sensed by the sensor. Alternatively, one may provide magnetic, preferably permanent-magnetic, signal transmitters on the containers, e.g. magnetic strips, or optical signal transmitters, in a most simple case reflectors.
Referring to the attached drawings, the method will be explai-ned hereunder.
Fig. 1 through 3 illustrate the sequence of a discharging ope-ration, Fig. 4 is a program scheme for explaining the individual me-thod steps, and Fig. 5 is a block diagram of the control unit.
As shown in Fig. 1, the operator 10 has stopped the discharge _ 5 -vehicle 12 relative to a container 14 to be dumped such that he may see container 24 from the driver's cabin 16. By means of a manual lever sy-stem 18 --which may comprise one or more so-called joysticks --disposed in the cabin, he will now displace the hoist means, here a crane 20, in-to a position above container 14, selecting the shortest path to be pas-sed without restraint by parking vehicles, plantation, other containers, and the like.
Signal transmitter(s) and signal receiver(s) are mounted on the container 14 and the crane jib, respectively, to permit engagement of the anchoring and actuating means 22 disposed on the crane jib with actuating means 24 mounted on container 14. In the illustrated example, the latter means is a so-called twin hook mechanism: A first shackle 24a is fixed to the container roof and serves to lift the container while a second shackle 24b is connected to a linkage disposed within the contai-ner and holding bottom flaps of the container in a closed position as long as subjected to a pulling force by means of the crane. For actua-tion, therefore, two relatively moveable hooks on the crane jib are ne-cessary, each hook to be coupled with an allocated one of the shackles.
During this manual displacement of the crane jib, the actually performed movements are stored in the form of respective data; for this purpose, instructions as given by the operator may be used but it is preferred to provide the moveable members of the crane with stroke and angle sensors and to store their actual values so that they may be used later for returning the crane into its start position.
Fig. 2 illustrates the position into which the crane jib has been displaced under manual control by the operator 10. As soon as a si-gnal exchange between crane jib and container becomes possible, this will be indicated to the operator, say, by illumination of an optical signal or, preferably, by an acoustic signal. The operator will now in-itiate the automatic operation. At first, head 26 at the distal end of the crane jib is displaced and, as the case may be, rotated such that the crane-sided hooks may be anchored at shackles 24. These data, too, are stored for later re-use. As the control unit now "knows" where head 26 is located relative to the vehicle, the very discharge or dumping may ' 2196412 _ - 6 -now be performed automatically, the container initially being lifted vertically to a level at least equal to its own height dimension. This is necessary to avoid collisions with other adjacent containers (14, 14'). Thereafter, the container is displaced above the vehicle bin 28 as illustrated in Fig. 3. The container is lowered until it rides on the load platform or on material already present in the bin; this may be sensed as a load relief of the crane or may be calculated by the control unit. Only thereafter the bottom flaps of the container are released, and the container is lifted so that it is discharged with a minimum of noise.
From this point, the stored data are read with inverted order and the crane is operated accordingly. Thus, the container follows its previous path with inverted direction, and after placing the container on positioning rail 15 and disengaging from head 26 the latter traverses backwards the path which initially was input by manual control, optimi-zed by the control unit as the case may be, until the crane jib assumes its start position again as shown in Fig. 1. The total sequence is sum-marized in flow diagram of Fig. 4 including automatic actuation of the brakes.
Fig. 3 permits to see that based on the memorized data, the control unit will also keep in "memory" which part of the bin 28 has al-ready been loaded with dumped material so that in horizontal direction, too, a uniform loading is assured as indicated by the container posi-tions shown by dashed and dash-dotted lines, respectively. Similar con-siderations apply if the container is a multi-chamber container, the chambers to be sequentially discharged into an allocated compartment of the bin.
Fig. 5 shows a schematic block diagram of the control unit. A
microprocessor 30 receives input signals from the manual lever control 18 and from sensors 38 from which the microprocessor calculates the ne-cessary instructions for actuators 40 using a program stored in memory 32. The other two memories 34, 36 serve the intermediate storage of the path data individually input from device 18 and the sensors, respective-ly, for each discharge operation.
It is within the scope of the invention to automatize the ma-nual portion of the method, too. For this purpose, one has to provide the transportation vehicle with devices permitting location and identi-fication of a container to be discharged. While such devices are availa-ble on the market, their application will depend upon economic conside-rations.
The following portion of the description deals with another aspect of the invention, viz. a discharging apparatus which is particu-larly suited to permit a fully automatic discharge operation but is, of course, also suited for semi-automatic operation.
It is an apparatus for actuation of at least one discharge flap of a collection container by means of a discharge hoist to be cou-pled with the container.
A number of such discharge apparatuses are known. The so-cal-led twin hook system has been mentioned above. In another system, two hydraulically controlled actuators mounted on the hoist pull horizontal-ly displaceable levers towards one another in order to actuate bottom flaps or to spread apart two container halves. A third system comprises a first central element to be fixed to the hoist and a second element coaxially displaceable relative to the first one so as to actuate the flaps.
All known systems have the common feature that an operator must connect the hoist to the container-sided coupling means and discon-nect it again. This slows down the operation, and the operator is sub-jected to adverse weather conditions depending upon the season.
The coupling systems between container and hoist used so far are hardly suited for automation. The latter, in fact, supposes that once the container is coupled to the hoist, the container position rela-tive to the hoist is uniquely determined and so remains over the entire discharge sequence.
The apparatus according to the invention for the actuation of at least one discharge flap of a collection container or receptacle by means of a hoist adapted to be coupled to the container, however, is better suited for the automatization of the discharging. Therein, it ' 2196412 should be possible to arrange the container-sided parts of the apparatus within the container so as to improve the container appearance. The parts of the apparatus should have a compact construction, and it should be possible to avoid linkages within the container which otherwise would interfere with discharging.
According to the invention, the container comprises a coupling element operatively connected to the discharge flap, the coupling ele-ment being rotatably driven by the hoist.
Such a coupling element has the advantage that a complementary part disposed on the hoist may "plunge" thereinto and may align itself, the complementary part being adapted to be anchored on the coupling ele-ment axially and with respect to rotation. Preferably, the container has a thrust piece which e.g. may be welded to the container roof, and the hoist carries a stator element to be connected to the thrust element.
It is preferred to use a cable or chain winch as the coupling element, at least one cable or chain being fixed to the winch while the other end of cable or chain is operatively connected to the discharge flap. For example, the cable may be directly connected via pulleys to a flap mounted e.g. at the container bottom. If the the cable is wound on the winch due to rotation thereof, the flap is held closed but may open due to the weight of the collected items once the cable is wound off.
It is, however, also possible to couple the rotatable coupling element with the discharge flap via linkage means.
On the side of the hoist, the apparatus comprises preferably a stator to be fixed to the thrust piece and rotor to be fixed to the coupling element. In this case it is advantageous if stator and rotor each have retractable and extendible engagement members to be brought in positive engagement with the thrust piece and the coupling element, re-spectively. It is, of course, also possible to provide press fit connec-tions or at least one press fit connection.
Stator and rotor are preferably coaxially arranged and have cylindrical portions fitting into respective bores of the thrust piece and the coupling element, respectively. Bores are most easy to manufac-ture but it will be understood that other cross section shapes are suit-21!~6412 -g able, too.
A preferably hydraulic drive motor for the rotor may be accom-modated in the stator.
The coupling element is preferably suspended loosely with clearance at the thrust piece, and the relative dimensions of the ancho-ring means at the rotor and the coupling element, respectively, are chosen such that upon anchoring, the rotor lifts somewhat and aligns the coupling element so that the coupling element, in use, does not have contact with the thrust piece. Therefore, bearing means of the coupling element in the container may be omitted.
In order to permit anchoring of the stator-rotor-assembly in self-aligning manner at the thrust piece/coupling element assembly, the hoist preferably is provided with sensors which deliver control signals, in particular upon contact with the coupling element. For example, at the distal end of the rotor a cone may be attached which upon hitting a shoulder of the coupling element drives, by means of the sensor signals, actuators of the hoist such that gradually the cone tip is centered with respect to a bore of the coupling element.
Preferably, the container-sided part of the apparatus is moun-ted invisibly within the container beneath a top wall thereof. An access opening may have closing lids spring-biased into a closing position but adapted to yield upon lowering of the rotor.
The drawing figure 6 illustrates substantially schematically an embodiment of the invention, a side elevation in the upper part, an axial section view in the lower part.
At first, the lower part of the drawing, i.e. the container-sided arrangement, will be discussed.
On the inner side of a container roof 110 a thrust piece 112 is mounted, e.g. welded to the roof; welding seams, stiffening webs and the like have been omitted in the drawing as they are not essential for the invention. The thrust piece has a first cavity 114 in its upper part, the first cavity having a rectangular cross section parallel to roof 110. At two opposite edges 116 two lids 118 are pivotably mounted;
their free edges facing one another overlap like roof tiles. The lids are biased into the illustrated position by means of springs and abut-ments (not shown) but may be deflected inwards and will then abut the vertical walls 120.
Therebeneath, the cavity becomes more narrow to form a second cavity 122 having a circular section shape parallel to roof 110. This portion of the thrust piece has a groove-like recess 124. A further groove 126 extends inwards.
Beneath thrust piece 112 there is a winch drum 128. Three disk sectors 129 are connected to drum 128, e.g. by means of screws, the sec-tors engaging into groove 126 with axial and radial clearance. Thus, the drum is loosely suspended on thrust piece 112 but is locked against ro-tation, e.g. by engagement of teeth provided on the downwards-facing si-de of the disk sectors (not shown) between counter-teeth provided in groove 126. The drum is traversed by a bore 130 which has the same dia-meter as the second cavity 122 of thrust piece 112; that, however, is not compulsory. This cavity expands at about the axial center of bore 130 to form a further groove-like recess 132 of wedge-shaped section. On the exterior of drum 128 drawing means, e.g. cable 133 or chains, are fixed with one end thereof while the other end is connected to flaps, e.g. bottom flaps, for the discharge of the container, necessary pulleys being mounted within the container.
The upper portion of the drawing illustrates the hoist-sided portion of the apparatus, comprising a stator 134 and a rotor 136. The stator 134 includes a connection plate 138 by means of which it is moun-ted on a crane jib (not shown). The stator accommodates a motor, prefe-rably a hydraulic motor, by means of which rotor 136 is rotatable about its axis 140, the sense of rotation being selectably controlled. Furt-her, stator and rotor include means, e.g. cams, cooperating with cam followers, which permit support pieces 142 to be displaced outwards and inwards, respectively, from and into the stator, respectively, and per-mit carry pieces 144 to be displaced similarly relative to the rotor.
The support pieces and carry pieces are illustrated in their outwardly displaced position although, in use, they are displaced outwards only when the stator is within the thrust piece and the rotor within the ' 2196412 drum.
The apparatus is operated as follows. The operator displaces under manual control the crane jib over the container until the rotor is approximately above the lids 118. Then, automatic operation is switched on. For this purpose, the hoist-sided part of the apparatus is provided with a number of sensors, the choice and disposition thereof becoming apparent for an expert of ordinary skill from the following explanation of the function.
The crane jib now lowers vertically the assembly of stator and rotor. A guiding cone 146 on the lowermost tip of the rotor will in ge-neral hit shoulder 147 somewhere because the rotor axis and the axis of the container-sided parts will be misaligned. Such hitting will be sen-sed by first sensors, and their output signal will be processed to form an instruction by means of which the crane jib will be displaced in di-rection of axial alignment while the rotor continues to penetrate the second cavity 122. Eventually, alignment has taken place, and connecting plate 138 rides on the top side of the thrust piece which event is sen-sed by a second sensor. In this position, the support pieces 142 are le-vel with groove-like recess 124, and the carry pieces 144 are slightly above recess 132. When the second sensor indicates that the operative position is reached the support and carry pieces are extended. The sup-port pieces 142 lock the stator not only axially on thrust piece 112 but also circumferentially; for this purpose, recess 124 is not exactly cir-cular but is brought in positive engagement with the support pieces 142.
For example, teeth may be provided on the bottom of recess 124 in com-plementary arrangement with teeth of the support pieces 142.
Upon outwards movement of the carry pieces 144 whose wedge shape is complementary to the wedge-shaped section of recess 132, the drum will be lifted because of the wedging action and the slightly hig-her position of the carry pieces relative to recess 132 so that the drum gets free and does not contact the thrust piece anywhere because it is centered by the carry pieces 144. The carry pieces, too, are anchored rotatingly on drum 128. The rotational blocking of the drum is unlocked thereby.
Once the support and carry pieces 142, 144 have been extended which may be indicated by a third sensor, and the cable means have been tensioned in order to keep the discharge flap in closed position, the container is lifted by hoist means (crane and crane jib) and displaced over the bin of the discharge vehicle where the container is set down, indicated by a further sensor. The motor in the stator is switched on so that the rotor 136 rotates drum 128 and in accordance with the sense of rotation winds or unwinds the cable so that the discharge flaps are re-leased so as to open under the weight of the material in the container upon re-lifting thereof. After discharge the motor is actuated to turn in inverse sense so that the flaps are closed by the cable. The contai-ner may now be set down, support and carry pieces are withdrawn, and the hoist-sided parts of the apparatus are freed.
It is to be noted that during lifting, opening, closing and resetting of the container the latter remains coupled, via its thrust piece 112, axially and circumferentially with the hoist and therefore its relative position cannot vary in an uncontrolled manner. That means that the container is accurately positioned again at its previous site under the provision that the movements executed for purpose of discharge are memorized and executed in inverse order for resetting as described above in connection with the method of the invention.
It follows from the preceding description that the coupling apparatus is particularly suited for automatic operation: If the vehi-cle is provided with aiming means for the containers, the position of the lids 118, too, may be detected; even if the accuracy of the detec-tion is poor -- say, in the order of some centimeters -- this will be sufficient for the very coupling because of the "self-searching" feature by means of cone 146.
If containers and vehicles are provided with the apparatus of the invention the containers will be reset on their previous site with an accuracy of centimeters. This, in turn, permits the use of containers having interengaging horizontal section shape; this is an advantage be-cause batteries made up of such containers are stable and containers ha-ving rather small dimensions are not readily subject to vandalism. An embodiment of such a container system will be explained hereunder, a "battery" comprising at least a first container and a second container of same height and width but may also comprise an arbitrary number of containers.
Hence, a battery consists of a first container and a second container of identical height and width wherein the first container has at least one vertical wall having a projection and the second container has at least one vertical wall having a recess complementary to said projection.
This concept permits to place the containers in an interenga-ging fashion which is particularly suitable if a "short" container is framed by two "long" ones. This, however, requires the operator of the discharge vehicle to position the containers lifted over the vehicle bin and emptied again on their previous sites with high accuracy. A suitable concept of hoist means and container has been described above, and the respective method of operation has been explained above.
The containers may have a nice appearance if the projection is convex-cylindrical and the recess is concave-cylindrical. The feature of selecting the cylinder diameter to exceed the width of the container im-proves the appearance of the containers. It is then preferred to choose the angular extension of the projection such that it exceeds that of the recess; in fact, this permits to position the containers not only along a straight line but also with angled longitudinal axes without loosing interengagement and without creation of ugly re-entrant angles.
In order to achieve flexibility in the disposition of the con-tainers, preferably one in a group of containers has two projections, one at each end of its length. It forms, so to speak, the core of the battery and is harmonic even as a single container. The additional con-tainers, in turn, have a projection at one end and a recess at the other end so that the recesses may always be "interior" and the battery has projections at its ends. It is, of course, conceivable that a container has recesses at both its ends which recesses are adapted to projections of two adjacent containers. Preferably, the volume of the containers is varied such that their ends (including projection or recess) remain un-~ 2196~12 changed but the length therebetween is dimensioned in accordance with the desired capacity while width and height are kept uniform.
An embodiment is illustrated in the attached drawings and will be explained hereunder with reference thereto.
Fig. 7 shows isometrically a first one of the containers, Fig. 8 shows isometrically another one of the containers, Fig. 9 shows in plan view one of the potential installation of a collection battery in the disposition of the invention, and Fig. 10 is a side view of the same disposition.
The container of Fig. 7 comprises a body 210 having plane cen-tral vertical walls, convex-cylindrically projecting vertical end walls 214 and a top wall 216 which is also convex-cylindrical. The upper edge of wall 214 is connected to the end edge of top wall 216 via partial-spherically shaped inserts 218. At its bottom, the container has dis-charge flaps 220 which, however, are unimportant for the present.
The top wall has e.g. two charge openings 222, dimensioned for passing bottles and other hollow glas bodies. The upper side of the top wall includes inwardly pivotable lids 224 under which there are parts of a discharge mechanism or other coupling elements for discharge mecha-nisms.
It is to be noted that the diameter of the cylindrical wall portions, i.e. the projecting walls 214 and top wall 216, as well as that of the spherical inserts 218 is somewhat larger than the width of the container between the outer surfaces of the plane walls 212 so that ridges 226 are visible at the interfaces.
The container shown in Fig. 7 is the basic container to be placed in the center of a waste collection station having more than two containers, at both ends to be supplemented by containers according to Fig. 8.
The container of Fig. 8 is shaped like the container of Fig. 7 as far as one of its ends and its central part are concerned; this par-ticular end is therefore only partly seen in Fig. 8. At its other end, however, there is a recess or flute such that the end wall 230 and in-21964~2 sert 232 are cut off and the cut is covered by a vertical concave-cylin-drical wall 234. It will be understood that the bottom flaps, too, are shaped accordingly. This wall 234 has the same cylinder diameter as walls 214 but extends over an arc or angle which is just slightly grea-ter than one half of the arc or angle of walls 214.
Fig. 9 and 10 illustrate an exemple of a container battery. A
container 240 for white glass, a container 242 for brown glass, a con-tainer 244 for green glass, a container 246 for paper and a container 248 for light packages form a straight line. The glass containers have only one charge opening on each side while the two other containers have charging slots. The container 244 has projections on both of its ends while the other containers have each one projection and one recess, the recesses being in interengagement with the projection of the neighbou-ring container. It will be seen in particular that the "short" container 242 is pretty well held in interengagement between the two adjacent con-tainers.
It will be seen that the containers need not necessarily be located along a straight line but that adjacent containers may be sub-stantially rotated relative to one another before ugly internal angles between the recess of one container and the plane wall of the adjacent container occur.
The design of the containers suits well a production from fi-bre reinforced plastic material, in particular glass fibre reinforced epoxy, but manufacture from metal, e.g. steel sheet material, is not ex-cluded. Also, the two materials may be combined, or other materials may be used.
Claims (42)
1. Collection system for recyclable substances, comprising:
- collection containers having charge openings and discharge flaps, - collection vehicles having bins and discharge hoist means adapted to be coupled to the containers so as to lift them over the bins and to discharge them, characterized in that the vehicles and their hoist means, on the one hand, and the collection containers, on the other hand, are arranged for at least partially automatic sequence of discharge operations.
- collection containers having charge openings and discharge flaps, - collection vehicles having bins and discharge hoist means adapted to be coupled to the containers so as to lift them over the bins and to discharge them, characterized in that the vehicles and their hoist means, on the one hand, and the collection containers, on the other hand, are arranged for at least partially automatic sequence of discharge operations.
2. Method of discharging collection containers for recyclable substances in the system of claim 1 by means of hoist means adapted to be controlled and mounted on a transportation vehicle, comprising the steps:
- after stop of the vehicle within reaching range, the hoist means is displaced, preferably under manual control, into a position relative to a to-be-discharged container wherein the hoist means -- after switching over to automatic operation -- may be coupled with the container, and preferably manually determined data of the movements are memorized, - after coupling to the container, the latter is first vertically lifted by a stroke according to its height and then brought over the vehicle and discharged, and movement data automatically determined are memorized, - the hoist means carrying the container executes a movement in accordance with the automatically determined data read in inverse order and is uncoupled from the container, - the hoist means is returned in accordance with the inversely read automatically determined data, or -- preferably -- in accordance with the inversely read manually determined data.
- after stop of the vehicle within reaching range, the hoist means is displaced, preferably under manual control, into a position relative to a to-be-discharged container wherein the hoist means -- after switching over to automatic operation -- may be coupled with the container, and preferably manually determined data of the movements are memorized, - after coupling to the container, the latter is first vertically lifted by a stroke according to its height and then brought over the vehicle and discharged, and movement data automatically determined are memorized, - the hoist means carrying the container executes a movement in accordance with the automatically determined data read in inverse order and is uncoupled from the container, - the hoist means is returned in accordance with the inversely read automatically determined data, or -- preferably -- in accordance with the inversely read manually determined data.
3. Method as set forth in claim 2 wherein discharge is performed in accordance with a program which ensures a uniform loading of the vehicle.
4. Method as set forth in claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the manual control of the hoist means is executed from a driver's cabin of the vehicle.
5. Method as set forth in one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the coupling and uncoupling between hoist means and container is executed using the automatic program.
6. Method as set forth in one of claims 2 to 5 wherein after discharge and return of the hoist means resetting to manual control is executed.
7. Method as set forth in one of claims 2 to 6 wherein after stop of the transportation vehicle the hoist means automatically is displaced into the sight range of an operator.
8. Method as set forth in one of claims 2 to 7 wherein the discharge height of the hoist means is automatically adapted to a filling level of the transportation vehicle.
9. Method as set forth in one of claims 2 to 8 wherein a drive transmission of the transportation vehicle is blocked upon start-up of the hoist means.
10. Apparatus for implementing the method of one of claims 2 to 9 wherein the hoist means comprises sensors for current position of its components, said sensors being connected to a control unit of the vehicle.
11. Apparatus as set forth in claim 10 wherein the hoist means has at least one sensor adapted to be brought in operative connection with signal originators disposed on the containers so as to position the hoist means relative to the containers.
12. Apparatus as set forth in claim 11 wherein the signal originators are magnetic signal originators.
13. Apparatus as set forth in claim 12 including permanent-magnetic signal originators.
14. Apparatus as set forth in claim 11 wherein the signal originators are optical signal originators.
15. Apparatus as set forth in claim 14 wherein the signal originators are reflectors.
16. Device for the system of claim 1 to actuate at least one discharge flap of a collection container by means of a hoist means adapted to be coupled with the container, characterized in that the container has a coupling element drivingly connected to the discharge flap and adapted to be rotated by the hoist means.
17. Device as set forth in claim 16 wherein the container has a thrust piece to support reaction torques, a stator of the hoist means being adapted to be circumferentially and axially fixed on the thrust piece.
18. Device as set forth in claim 17 wherein the coupling element is a cable or chain drum, at least one cable being fixed to the drum, and another end of the cable being in actuating connection with the discharge flap.
19. Device as set forth in claim 17 or claim 18 wherein the hoist means comprises a stator to be anchored on the thrust piece and a rotor to be anchored on the coupling element.
20. Device as set forth in claim 19 wherein the stator has extendable and retractable support pieces, and the rotor has extendable and retractable carry pieces, said pieces being adapted to positively interengage with said thrust piece and coupling element, respectively.
21. Device as set forth in claim 20 wherein said stator and rotor are coaxially disposed.
22. Device as set forth in claim 20 or claim 21 wherein said stator and said rotor have cylindrical portions.
23. Device as set forth in one of claims 19 to 22 wherein the stator accommodates a drive motor for the rotor.
24. Device as set forth in claim 23 wherein the drive motor is a hydraulic motor.
25. Device as set forth in one of claims 19 to 24 wherein the coupling element is loosely suspended on the thrust piece and, once the rotor is anchored thereon, has no contact with the thrust piece.
26. Device as set forth in one of claims 16 to 25 wherein the hoist means has sensors delivering signals upon contact with the coupling element.
27. Device as set forth in claim 26 wherein a cone is provided on the hoist means, the cone being adapted to penetrate a bore of the coupling element.
28. Device as set forth in claims 19 and 27 wherein the cone is part of the rotor.
29. Device as set forth in one of claims 16 to 28 wherein the coupling element is located beneath a top wall of the container.
30. Device as set forth in claim 29 wherein the coupling element is accessible via a container top wall opening, the opening being provided with closing lids.
31. Device as set forth in claim 30 wherein the closing lids are spring-biased into a closing position and are adapted to be displaced into an opening position by means of the device members disposed on the hoist means.
32. Device as set forth in one of claims 16 to 31 wherein the coupling element is rotatable about an axis extending orthogonal with respect to a container bottom.
33. Collection container installation for the system of claim 1 comprising at least a first container and a second container of identical height and width, wherein the first container has at least one vertical wall provided with a projection and wherein the second container has at least one vertical wall provided with a recess complementary to the projection of the first one.
34. Installation as set forth in claim 33 wherein the projection is convex-cylindrical and the recess is concave-cylindrical.
35. Installation as set forth in claim 34 wherein the cylinder diameter exceeds the width of the containers.
36. Installation as set forth in claim 34 or claim 35 wherein the angular extent of the projection exceeds that of the recess.
37. Installation as set forth in claim 35 wherein each container has a top wall shaped as part of a cylinder having a diameter equal to that of the projection.
38. Installation as set forth in claim 37 wherein the end edges of the top wall and the upper edges of the projection and recess, respectively, are joined by partly spherical inserts of identical curvature diameter.
39. Installation as set forth in one of claims 33 to 38 wherein at least one of the containers has a first projecting vertical wall and a second recessed vertical wall.
40. Installation as set forth in one of claims 33 to 39 wherein at least one of the containers has two projecting vertical walls.
41. Installation as set forth in one of claims 33 to 40 wherein the projecting and recessed vertical walls are end walls defining a container length.
42. Installation as set forth in claim 41 wherein containers have different lengths.
Applications Claiming Priority (6)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| DE1995120466 DE19520466A1 (en) | 1995-06-03 | 1995-06-03 | Emptying and sorting containers of recyclable waste materials |
| DE19520466.2 | 1995-06-03 | ||
| DE1995130906 DE19530906A1 (en) | 1995-08-23 | 1995-08-23 | Collection system for materials intended for recycling |
| DE19530906.5 | 1995-08-23 | ||
| DE29515300U DE29515300U1 (en) | 1995-09-25 | 1995-09-25 | Collection container arrangement |
| DE29515300.8 | 1995-09-25 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2196412A1 true CA2196412A1 (en) | 1996-12-12 |
Family
ID=27215174
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002196412A Abandoned CA2196412A1 (en) | 1995-06-03 | 1996-06-01 | Collection system for materials destined for recycling |
Country Status (5)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| EP (1) | EP0773896B1 (en) |
| AT (1) | ATE186892T1 (en) |
| CA (1) | CA2196412A1 (en) |
| DE (1) | DE59603710D1 (en) |
| WO (1) | WO1996039347A2 (en) |
Cited By (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES2399498R1 (en) * | 2010-09-14 | 2013-11-21 | Mondini Engineering Sa | Procedure and apparatus for moving waste containers and emptying their contents |
| ES2525304A1 (en) * | 2014-08-13 | 2014-12-19 | Ingenieria De Aplicaciones, S.A. | Lifting device-opening of lower dump waste containers and operating procedure (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) |
| ES2661290A1 (en) * | 2017-10-24 | 2018-03-28 | Aquilino PÉREZ VERA | Electric lifting crane for moving loads and container containers vertical catch and emptying without turning. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) |
Families Citing this family (6)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITTO980341A1 (en) | 1998-04-22 | 1999-10-22 | Nord Engineering Di Armando Lo | SYSTEM AND/OR DEVICE FOR THE HANDLING AND UNLOADING OF THE CONTENTS OF CONTAINERS USED FOR THE COLLECTION OF WASTE. |
| NL1010751C2 (en) * | 1998-12-07 | 2000-06-19 | Bammens Bv | System, truck mobile and collection container for the collection of household waste. |
| WO2015125091A1 (en) * | 2014-02-20 | 2015-08-27 | Meroni Stefano | Bilateral method of unloading a dumpster |
| ES2553927B1 (en) * | 2014-05-29 | 2016-09-20 | Explin Iris, S.L. | Device installed in a vehicle for collecting and lifting containers and downloading their contents |
| DE202015002173U1 (en) * | 2015-03-20 | 2016-06-22 | Faun Umwelttechnik Gmbh & Co. Kg | Collecting container for residual and / or valuable materials |
| CN108438618B (en) * | 2018-04-13 | 2023-07-18 | 河北工业大学 | Garbage collection vehicle, garbage operation system and method |
Family Cites Families (8)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE3142227A1 (en) * | 1981-10-24 | 1983-05-11 | Friedrich Kampwerth Maschinenfabrik, 4518 Bad Laer | "METHOD AND DEVICE FOR RECEIVING AND EMPTYING WASTE CONTAINERS" |
| ATE58885T1 (en) * | 1985-10-02 | 1990-12-15 | Edelhoff Polytechnik | MOTOR-DRIVEN WASTE COLLECTION VEHICLE. |
| DE3909762C2 (en) * | 1989-03-23 | 2003-02-06 | Msts Logistik Gmbh & Co | Garbage collection system with a garbage collection vehicle and garbage containers |
| US5015142A (en) * | 1989-12-26 | 1991-05-14 | Carson William S | System for mechanized pickup of separated materials |
| DE4018424A1 (en) * | 1990-06-08 | 1991-12-12 | Mabeg Abfall & Entsorgung | ARRANGEMENT FOR LOADING COLORED SENSORS |
| DE9201348U1 (en) * | 1992-02-04 | 1992-06-04 | Riemensperger, Bernd, 7700 Singen, De | |
| DE4230501A1 (en) * | 1992-09-14 | 1994-03-17 | Goediker Stahl Und Containerba | Collector-hopper emptying mechanism - has rotary head on crane jib rigidly coupled to hopper wall and with drive for bottom dumping hatches |
| FR2716177B1 (en) * | 1994-02-17 | 1996-05-03 | Utpm | Locking / unlocking device for the opening of a container. |
-
1996
- 1996-06-01 AT AT96917486T patent/ATE186892T1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1996-06-01 EP EP96917486A patent/EP0773896B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1996-06-01 WO PCT/EP1996/002374 patent/WO1996039347A2/en active IP Right Grant
- 1996-06-01 DE DE59603710T patent/DE59603710D1/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1996-06-01 CA CA002196412A patent/CA2196412A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (4)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES2399498R1 (en) * | 2010-09-14 | 2013-11-21 | Mondini Engineering Sa | Procedure and apparatus for moving waste containers and emptying their contents |
| ES2525304A1 (en) * | 2014-08-13 | 2014-12-19 | Ingenieria De Aplicaciones, S.A. | Lifting device-opening of lower dump waste containers and operating procedure (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) |
| ES2661290A1 (en) * | 2017-10-24 | 2018-03-28 | Aquilino PÉREZ VERA | Electric lifting crane for moving loads and container containers vertical catch and emptying without turning. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) |
| WO2019081794A1 (en) * | 2017-10-24 | 2019-05-02 | Aquilino Perez Vera | Self-bearing electric crane for moving vertically collected loads and containers emptied without upending |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| ATE186892T1 (en) | 1999-12-15 |
| DE59603710D1 (en) | 1999-12-30 |
| WO1996039347A2 (en) | 1996-12-12 |
| EP0773896B1 (en) | 1999-11-24 |
| EP0773896A2 (en) | 1997-05-21 |
| WO1996039347A3 (en) | 1997-01-23 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| FZDE | Discontinued |