DK177721B1

DK177721B1 - Crusher and use thereof

Info

Publication number: DK177721B1
Application number: DK201370256A
Authority: DK
Inventors: Henrik Kjeldgaard Hansen
Original assignee: Xergi As
Priority date: 2013-05-07
Filing date: 2013-05-07
Publication date: 2014-04-14
Also published as: DK201370256A

Abstract

A crusher (1) is disclosed for comminuting material, in particular organic material, comprising a comminuting vessel (2) with an inner vertical side wall (3), a drive shaft (5) extending substantially vertically and centrally within said comminuting vessel, a crushing tool (7) arranged on said drive shaft within the comminuting vessel to rotate with the drive shaft, the crushing tool comprising at least one flexible, elongated crushing element (9) having a free end (11), the crusher furthermore comprising crusher drive means (13, 14) arranged to drive the rotation of said drive shaft, the comminuting vessel having an inlet opening (4) and an outlet opening (15), wherein the outlet opening of the comminuting vessel is situated in the cylindrical wall of the comminuting vessel at the horizontal level of said at least one crushing element, wherein the free end of the at least one crushing element extends out through the outlet opening during operation of the crusher when the drive means drives the rotation of the drive shaft and the crushing tool. The use of the crusher is furthermore disclosed, in particular for organic material to be used in the production of biogas.

Description

DK 177721 B1 i

Crusher and use thereof

The present invention relates to a crusher in particular for comminution of organic material.

5

Background

Crushers that may be used for comminution of organic material as well as for other types of material are known in the prior art from European patent application EP 1 479 441 A2, where a horizontally rotating crushing tool comprising a number of 10 chains extending out from a central hub is applied to comminution of material in a batch process, where the material is loaded into the vessel containing the crushing tool and then processed for a time period, where after a door is opened in the side wall of the vessel and the processed material is removed from the vessel by the action of the chains.

15 A different crusher is disclosed in US patent No. 5,697,563 where a number of scrapers are arranged at the horizontal bottom wall of the comminution vessel to rotate and cause the crushed material to be pushed outside of the vessel through an opening in the side wall of the vessel, thus allowing a continuous operation of the 20 crusher.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simpler crusher that allow for continuous operation in particular of organic material and it is a further object to provide a crusher where the quality of the comminution of the material can be 25 controlled in an improved manner.

Brief description of the present invention

The objects of the present invention are obtained by providing a crusher for comminuting material, in particular organic material, comprising a comminuting 30 vessel with an inner vertical side wall, a drive shaft extending substantially vertically and centrally within said comminuting vessel, a crushing tool arranged on said drive DK 177721 B1 2 shaft within the comminuting vessel to rotate with the drive shaft, the crushing tool comprising at least one flexible, elongated crushing element having a free end, the crusher furthermore comprising crusher drive means arranged to drive the rotation of said drive shaft, the comminuting vessel having an inlet opening and an outlet 5 opening, wherein the outlet opening of the comminuting vessel is situated in the cylindrical wall of the comminuting vessel at the horizontal level of said at least one crushing element, wherein the free end of the at least one crushing element extends out through the outlet opening during operation of the crusher when the drive means drives the rotation of the drive shaft and the crushing tool.

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By forming the outlet opening, i.e. the area defined by the edges of the opening in the inner walls of the vessel, and the elongated crushing element so that the end of the at least one element during rotation of the crushing tool will extend out through the opening, i.e. will pass the opening when the tool rotates, it is ensured that the 15 processed material is removed from the vessel by the crushing elements themselves without the need for a particular arrangement for that purpose, and the material is prevented from accidentally blocking the outlet and halting the operation of crusher, which in particular organic material that has been comminuted to a small particle size has a tendency to do. Thus, a simple crusher is obtained that is suited for continuous 20 operation and processing of organic material.

It is preferred that the crusher further comprising a conveyor device arranged for conveying processed material away from the outlet opening, wherein the conveyor device comprising a conveying means and a conveyor drive means for driving the 25 conveying means. The conveyor drive means is preferably arranged with an adjustable speed so as to control the flow rate of processed material out through the outlet opening. By controlling the flow rate of processed material away from the outlet opening of the vessel the processing time of the material and thus comminution degree of the processed material leaving the vessel through the outlet 30 opening may be controlled.

DK 177721 B1 3

The conveying means comprises preferably a conveyor screw, in particular a centerless conveyor screw. However, other conveying means such as a flighted belt conveyor could be applied alternatively.

5 It is preferred that the inner wall of the comminuting vessel is of a substantially cylindrical cross-section at least at the vertical level of the rotating crushing tool.

The crushing tool comprises preferably at least two flexible, elongated crushing elements each having a free end which extends out through the outlet opening during 10 operation of the crusher when the drive means drives the rotation of the drive shaft and the crushing tool, and the crushing elements of the crushing tool are preferably arranged in balance around the drive shaft. The crushing tool may comprise more crushing elements and the crushing elements may be arranged in a plurality of vertical levels.

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The crushing element or elements are flexible and may be formed e.g. of steel wire ropes with a hammer element at the free end thereof. However, it is preferred that the crushing element or elements are formed of chains which are very wear resistant.

20 The comminuting vessel may in a preferred embodiment further comprise a bottom wall immediately below the horizontal plane of the crushing tool, in particular a substantially horizontal bottom wall that is parallel with the rotational plane of the crushing tool.

25 The outlet opening is preferably formed in said bottom wall as well as in said side wall so that the outlet opening extends from the side wall into the bottom wall and the free end or ends of the crushing elements during rotation of the crushing tool will pass vertically above the part of the outlet opening defined in the bottom wall, whereby the gravitational pull will assist in removing the processed material from the 30 comminuting vessel.

4 DK 177721 B1

The crusher preferably also comprises a driven feeding device for feeding material into the inlet opening so that the feeding of material may be controlled.

5 The crusher may preferably further comprise control means arranged to receive an input relating to the power consumption of the crusher drive means during operation of the crusher and to control the operation of said feeding device in response to the input. The crusher is suited for being operated in a continuous mode, where the control means of the crusher monitors the power consumption of the motor driving 10 the crushing tool and controls the operation of the material feeding device. The power consumption of the motor decreases when the material contained within the vessel is processed to a finer size and the feeding device may is in response to a lowering of the power consumption be activated by the control means to increase the feeding of material into the vessel in order to maintain the power consumption of the 15 motor and thus the processing rate of the crusher substantially constant.

The present invention further relates to the use of a crusher as described herein for the comminuting of material in a continuous process, in particular where the material is organic material. The comminution of organic material is in particular in use for 20 organic material that is further processed in a plant for biological decomposition of the organic material for the production of biogas as the finer size of the material allows for a faster and more uniform biological decomposition and the present crusher is preferably used for such purpose.

25 Brief description of the figures A preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in the accompanying drawing which comprises the following figures

Fig. 1 is an end view of a crusher according to the invention,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the crusher of Fig. 1, 30 DK 177721 B1 5

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section of the crusher of Figs. 1 and 2,

Fig. 4 is a detail of the cross-section of Fig. 3, and 5

Fig. 5 is a horizontal cross-section of the lower part of the comminution vessel of the crusher.

The embodiment of the present invention shown in the drawing is an example of the 10 invention provided to illustrate it and is not in any way to be construed as a limitation of the present invention.

Detailed description of an embodiment of the invention The embodiment of the crusher 1 shown in the accompanying drawing is primarily 15 intended for comminution of organic material such as animal excrements mixed with straw, organic industrial waste or food waste so that it is better suited for being fed to a biogas plant, also known as a biogas digester. The crusher 1 comprises a comminution vessel 2 having an inner vertical wall 3 of a cylindrical cross-section with a funnel 4 at the top of the vessel 2 which constitutes an inlet of the 20 comminution vessel 2. A feeding device (not shown) may be provided as part of the crusher 1 for controlled feeding of material into the vessel 2 through the funnel 4.

A vertical drive shaft 5 extends through the horizontal bottom wall 6 of the vessel 2 and carries a crushing tool 7 comprising a hub 8 rigidly connected to the drive shaft 5 25 and two chains 9 extending on opposing sides of the hub 8. Each chain 9 is at one end 10 fastened to the hub 8 and has an opposing free end 11 carrying an end link 12 of the chain 9 acting as a hammer. An electric motor 13 is a drive means for the crushing tool 7 and is connected to the drive shaft 5 by means of a belt drive 14. The crushing tool 7 is arranged right above the bottom wall 6 so that the chains 9 during 30 operation of the crusher 1 will rotates parallel to and immediately above the bottom wall 6.

DK 177721 B1 6

The comminution vessel 2 has an outlet opening 15 formed in the bottom part of the side wall 3 of the vessel 2 as well as in the bottom wall 6 and the outlet opening 15 is formed so that the free ends 11 of the chains 9 under operation of the crusher 1 will 5 extend out through the outlet opening 15, i.e. the outer part of the end links 12 of the chains 9 will pass out through the opening area defined by the of the edges of the outlet opening 15 in the inner walls 3, 6 of the comminution vessel 2 when the electric motor 13 drives the crushing tool 7 to rotate during operation of the crusher 1. The outlet opening 15 extends horizontally along an angle range of the inner wall 10 3 of the vessel 2 and in the vertical direction in a height sufficient to accommodate the passing of the free ends 11 of the chains 9.

A centerless conveyor screw 16 arranged in a cylindrical housing 17 is arranged outside the outlet opening 15 of the comminution vessel 2 of the crusher 1 to convey 15 the processed material away from the outlet opening 15. The conveyor screw 16 is driven by means of an electrical motor 18 with a variable speed which may be adjusted to control the flow rate of processed material out from the comminution vessel 2 and thus the degree of processing of the material.

20 The crusher 1 is suited for being operated in a continuous mode, where a control unit (not shown) of the crusher 1 monitors the power consumption of the electrical motor 13 driving the crushing tool 7 and controls the operation of the material feeding device (not shown). The power consumption of the motor 13 is decreasing when the material contained within the vessel 2 is processed to a finer size and the feeding 25 device is in response to a lowering of the power consumption activated to increase the feeding of material into the vessel 2 through the inlet opening 4 thereof in order to maintain the power consumption of the motor 13 and thus the processing rate of the crusher 2 substantially constant.

30 The operation of the crusher 1 to produce an output of material that has been comminuted to a suitable degree may be continuous by the fact that has been realised DK 177721 B1 7 by the inventor of the present invention, that the material of the finest size has a tendency to move to the lowest part of the comminution vessel 2 where the free ends 11 of the chains 9 during rotation will force the material out through the outlet opening 15, and the fact that these free ends 11 extend out through the inner opening 5 area of the outlet opening 15 ensures that the flow of material out through the outlet opening 15 is continuous and that the opening 15 will not be blocked by the material.

Reference numerals I Crusher 10 2 Commination vessel 3 Inner vertical wall of comminution vessel 4 Funnel defining inlet opening of comminution vessel 5 Drive shaft 6 Bottom wall of comminution vessel 15 7 Crushing tool 8 Hub of crushing tool 9 Chains 10 Inner end of chains II Free end of chains 20 12 End link of chains 13 Electric motor driving crushing tool 14 Belt drive 15 Outlet opening 16 Conveyor screw 25 17 Housing of conveyor screw 18 Electrical motor for driving the conveyor screw

Claims

A crusher (1) for comminuting material, especially organic material, comprising a crusher (2) having an internal vertical side wall (3), a drive shaft (5) extending substantially vertically and centrally within The crushing tool is a crusher tool (7) arranged on the drive shaft inside the crushing container to rotate with the drive shaft, the crusher tool 10 comprising at least one flexible elongated crusher element (9) with a free end (11), the crusher further comprising crusher drive means. (13, 14) arranged to drive the rotation of the drive shaft, wherein the comminution container has an inlet opening (4) and an outlet opening (15), wherein the output port of the comminution container is disposed in the cylindrical wall of the comminution container 15 at the horizontal level of the at least one crushing element. wherein the free end of the at least one crushing member extends through the exit opening during crusher operation as the drive means drives the shaft and crusher tool etching rotation.

Crusher according to claim 1, further comprising a conveyor device (16, 17, 18) arranged to transport treated material away from the exit opening, said conveyor device comprising a conveyor means (16) and a conveyor drive means (18) for driving the conveyor means. .

The crusher of claim 2, wherein the conveyor comprises a conveyor screw, in particular a centerless conveyor screw.

The crusher of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the inner wall of the comminution vessel has a substantially cylindrical cross section. 30 DK 177721 B1 2

A crusher according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the crusher tool comprises at least two flexible elongated crusher elements, each with a free end, extending through the exit opening during crusher operation as the drive means drives the rotation of the drive shaft and crusher tool. 5

The crusher according to claim 5, wherein the crushing elements of the crusher tool are arranged in balance around the drive shaft.

Crusher according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the crushing element 10 or elements is formed by chains.

Crusher according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the comminution container further comprises a bottom wall (6) immediately below the horizontal plane of the crusher tool. 15

The crusher of claim 8, wherein the bottom wall is substantially horizontal.

Crusher according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the exit opening is formed in the bottom wall and in the side wall. 20

Crusher according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a driven supply device for supplying material into the inlet opening.

The crusher according to claim 11, further comprising control means arranged to receive an input regarding the power consumption of the crusher driver during operation of the crusher and to control the operation of the supply device in response to the input.

Use of a crusher according to any of the preceding claims for comminuting material in a continuous process. 30

Use according to claim 13, wherein the material is organic material. DK 177721 B1 3

Use according to claim 14, wherein the organic material is further processed in a plant for biodegradation of the organic material for the production of biogas.