EP0386569A1 - Device for emptying containers, particularly refuse receptacles - Google Patents

Abstract

A device for emptying refuse receptacles as a lifting and tipping device which is provided with two lifting and tipping frames for receiving one or two refuse receptacles to be emptied. On this device there is a monitoring arrangement (52, 54, 56, 58, 60) which detects the lifting and tipping movement of the two lifting and tipping frames, an electrical control signal (42) being produced by this monitoring arrangement if the respective positions of the two lifting and tipping frames differ. These electrical control signals (42) switch over hydraulic control valves (28, 72) which are present in each hydraulic power circuit for the respective lifting and tipping frame. Switching over is effected in such a way that, if the respective position of the two lifting and tipping frames is different, a partial quantity of hydraulic fluid is withdrawn from the forward line (22, 70) belonging to at least one hydraulic power circuit and leading to the lifting cylinders of one lifting and tipping frame and is fed into the return line (32) leading to the accumulator (10). <IMAGE>

Description

TECHNICAL AREA

The invention relates to a device for emptying containers, in particular garbage containers. Such a device has a lifting and tilting device which is provided with two lifting and tilting frames for receiving one or two containers to be emptied. The lifting and tilting movement of each lifting and tilting frame takes place via a corresponding activation of its hydraulic pressure medium power circuit, in particular. In addition, the device has a device for generating a synchronization of both lifting and tilting frames.

STATE OF THE ART

Such a device is known from DE-OS 34 05 997. This device has two lifting and tipping devices that can be used as double or twin beds. The corresponding drive and control system for the two beds has two hydraulic pressure medium power circuits, which can either be separated or connected to one another via a changeover valve. In the flow line leading to the lift-tilt cylinders of each pressure medium power circuit, there is a further changeover valve, which can either be switched into a position blocking or releasing the flow. The two changeover valves are reversed in such a way that, in the individual operation of both beds, the changeover valve connecting the two pressure medium power circuits is in the blocking position and the changeover valve in the flow line is in the open position. As a result of the same design of the pressure medium motors and the pressure medium circuits, the lifting and swiveling cylinders become both lifting and tilting frame fed with the same pressure medium flow rate as in the corresponding individual control of only one of the two lifting and tilting frames. In order to ensure the synchronism of the two individual beds when they are used as combination beds, it is provided that the two lifting and tilting frames are screwed together using a connecting and support beam. The presence of this connection and support bar causes the above two changeover valves to be adjusted in their "combination" position. In addition to the fact that when converting the two beds from twin to combination operation by attaching or removing the connection and support beam, a considerable increase in the work involved in the conversion process is required, the two pressure medium power circuits must be designed in the same way to ensure synchronization. In single operation, as a twin bed, the two individual beds therefore always move at the same lifting and tipping speed, regardless of how heavy the individual container is. Although the highest possible stroke tilting speed is desired for economic reasons, the maximum possible stroke tilting speed is also limited by the fact that the impact of the containers in their respective upper emptying position on the receiving frame cannot be too great. Otherwise damage to the container or the receptacle could not be avoided.

PRESENTATION OF THE INVENTION

Starting from this prior art, the invention is based on the object, while avoiding the disadvantages known from the prior art, of specifying an optimum fill and bulk take-up for single, twin or combination operation and thus also for containers of different sizes and weights.

The solution of this invention is given by the features of the main claim. The above-mentioned device for emptying containers, in particular garbage containers, is accordingly characterized according to the invention in that a monitoring device which detects the lifting and tilting movement of the two lifting and tilting frames is provided, by means of which an electrical control signal is generated when the respective position of the two lifting and tilting frames differs from one another is that a hydraulic control valve is also present in each pressure medium power circuit, which can be switched by means of the electrical control signals in such a way that when the two lifting and tilting frames are at different positions, a subset of pressure medium from the supply line leading to the lifting cylinders of a lifting and tilting frame of at least a pressure medium power circuit can be discharged into the return line leading into the pressure accumulator. Pressure medium is thus withdrawn from the pressure medium power circuit of one of the two pressure medium power circuits when the relevant lifting and tipping frame is advanced over the other lifting and tipping frame. As a result, the speed of movement of the lifting / tilting frame in question can be braked and the synchronous operation of both lifting / tilting frames can be restored.

The synchronism of the two individual beds, which must be produced with a combination bed, is not achieved by the fact that both pressure medium power circuits are designed identically and in combination operation to a single pressure medium power circuit, but by the fact that both individual pressure medium power circuits are separated from each other remain separate and a control mechanism is provided which detects an uneven movement speed and then changes the speed of at least one lifting and tilting frame accordingly, so that both lifting and tilting frames are again aligned synchronously with one another.

The monitoring and adjustment takes place in any short periods of time, so that a quasi-synchronism is generated for practical operation. This training makes it possible to train both pressure medium power circuits differently. It is therefore possible to have both beds work at different lifting and tipping speeds in individual operation. This can be useful, for example, in cases where two types of containers of different weights have to be emptied regularly. The fact that the separation of garbage already takes place in the households, it can be assumed when using two types of containers that one container will regularly be heavier than the other container. If these two containers are simultaneously accommodated in a refuse collection vehicle with correspondingly different refuse compartments, the two containers could thus be emptied at the same speed despite their different weights. This suits the working rhythm of the operators very well.

According to one embodiment of the invention, each of the two lifting and tilting frames has a contact element, both of which together constitute a switching element that generates the electrical control signal. The two contact elements can be brought into contact with one another without contact, which means that the switching element works magnetically, inductively, photoelectrically or the like. The contact elements can also be brought into their contact position by corresponding mutual contact. The latter can be produced, for example, by a link guide or the like.

After a training that has proven to be advantageous in practical operation, an electrically controlled 2-way valve is present in the line connection of the pressure medium power circuit, the line connection leading the supply line to the lifting cylinders of the relevant lifting / tipping frame with that to the storage reservoir for the pressure medium leading return line connects together. This 2-way valve releases the flow direction to the return line in a first position, while it interrupts the same in a second position. This 2-way valve is electrically controlled by an electrical control signal from the monitoring device. Thus, for example, this 2-way valve can be opened briefly by a corresponding electrical control signal, so that pressure medium can be withdrawn from the supply line and thus from this pressure medium power circuit. This has the consequence that the corresponding lifting and tipping frame is moved more slowly, so that a corresponding advance of this lifting and tipping frame can be reversed compared to the other lifting and tipping frame.

If desired, both pressure medium power circuits can have a common pressure medium supply pump and a common pressure medium accumulator and, if necessary, both pressure medium power circuits can also be of the same design.

Since the device according to the invention is intended to empty garbage containers as quickly as possible, provided that their weight permits, which means that the corresponding containers are brought into their upper emptying position as quickly as possible, provision is made for a very substantial finding that in the area of the filling opening the receptacle there are two separate container support devices assigned to the respective lifting / tilting frame, each of which forms an elastically flexible upper support for a container in its emptying position. The resilient upper support for each of the two containers allows the container to be quickly seated against the filling opening. This buffer formation in the area of the filling opening acts for each of the containers regardless of whether a container is already in contact with the buffer.

In this connection, a rod stretched across the fill opening is known in the prior art, which is each laterally resiliently and pivotably supported laterally at its two ends. When two containers are emptied independently of one another, this rod can only fulfill its predetermined "buffer" purpose for the first of the two containers, since in its shifted support position caused by the installation of this container it no longer has an elastically flexible position for the other container .

Advantageously, this separate design of the container support devices can be achieved in that each support device has a support device for a container, which is suspended in a rocking manner above the filler opening and is designed to be elastically flexible downward into the filler opening. Structural details for such a support device are given in claims 12 to 14. There is also given a possibility of how this support device could be combined with dust curtains covering the filling opening. Such dust curtains are known in the form of a curtain, cloth or foil (DE-OS 25 15 929).

Further refinements and advantages of the invention can be found in the features further specified in the claims and in the exemplary embodiment below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

• Fig. 1 ein sich auf das erfindungsgemäß Wesentliche be­schränkendes Schaltschema für eine Vorrichtung zum Entleeren von Müllbehältern mit schematischer Dar­stellung einer Überwachungseinrichtung nach der Er­ findung,
• Fig. 2 eine perspektivische Teildarstellung der Abstütz­einrichtung für einen zu entleerenden Behälter im Bereich seiner oberen Entleerstellung,
• Fig. 3 eine perspektivische Darstellung der Rückansicht dieser Abstützeinrichtung nach Fig. 2 und
• Fig. 4 eine Vorderansicht dieser Abstützeinrichtung nach Fig. 2 und 3.

The invention is described and explained in more detail below with reference to the embodiment shown in the drawing. Show it:

• 1 shows a circuit diagram for an apparatus for emptying garbage containers which is limited to the essentials of the invention, with a schematic representation of a monitoring device according to the Er finding,
• 2 is a partial perspective view of the support device for a container to be emptied in the region of its upper emptying position,
• Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the rear view of this support device according to Fig. 2 and
• 4 shows a front view of this support device according to FIGS. 2 and 3.

WAYS OF IMPLEMENTING THE INVENTION

From a pressure medium supply tank 10, pressure medium is pressed into a line 14 by means of a pump 12 and from there into a left line branch 16 and right line branch 18.

The left line 16 leads via a throttle valve 19 to a 3-way valve 20. In the position shown, this 3-way valve 20 is closed, while in its left position it releases the flow from line 16 into another line 22 would. The line 22 leads to the schematically illustrated lifting cylinders 24, of which only one is shown symbolically. These lifting cylinders 24 are used to lift and pivot the associated left lifting / tilting frame 26 (FIG. 2).

A line 27 branches off from line 22 to a 2-way valve 28. In its left position shown in FIG. 1, this 2-way valve 28 is closed. In its right position, this valve 28 acts as a throttle valve and releases the flow from line 27 into another line 30. This line 30 opens into a line 32 which short-circuits the line 16 with the tank 10. This line 32 sits in the area between its branch point 34 in line 16 and the point 36 where line 30 in this line 32 opens, a pressure relief valve 38, which allows the flow direction for the pressure medium from the line 16 into the line 32 and thus into the tank 10 if the pressure is too high.

The pressure medium power circuit leading to the lifting cylinders 64 of the other lifting and tilting frame is constructed in the same way as the pressure medium power circuit leading to the working cylinders 24. Thus, the pressure medium pressed by the pump 12 into the line 18 flows via a throttle valve 66 to a 3-way valve 68. In its position shifted to the right, the flow is released into a further line 69. The line 69 is connected to the lifting cylinders 64 as well as the line 22 to the lifting cylinders 24.

A line 70 branches off from line 69 to a 2-way valve 72. In its position shifted to the right, a likewise throttled flow of pressure medium from line 70 into line 74 is released, which opens into line 32 and thus also leads to tank 10.

The 2-way valve 28 is controlled electrically, specifically via a control line 40. The corresponding control signal is transmitted by an electrical control unit 42. This control unit 42 is connected to corresponding four sensors 52, 54, 56, 58 via electrical line connections 44, 46, 48, 50. The 2-way valve 72 is also connected to the electrical control unit 42 via a control line 76.

In the present example, the sensors 52, 54, 56, 58 are seated on a lifting carriage 59 of the lifting and tilting device, which is only symbolically indicated, and there in the area of the stop plate provided for the container to be emptied. They are at a short distance from a metallic plate 60 which - opposite the sensors - is present on the pallet truck 61 of the adjacent other lifting and tipping device that is. The sensors 52, 54, 56, 58 act together with the plate 60 as a switching element. If the stroke and tilt movement of the two lift and tilt frames is of the same size and, in addition, if these two lift and tilt frames are synchronized, the position of the sensors with respect to the plate 60 will not change. However, as soon as one of the two lifting trucks and thus one of the two lifting and tilting frames assumes a different position in space with respect to the other lifting and tilting frame, one or more of the sensors 52, 54, 56, 58 will laterally move away from the plate 60. This triggers an electrical signal due to the sensor which has migrated laterally from the plate 60, which is processed accordingly in the control unit 42 and leads to one of the two 2-way valves 28, 72 present in the two pressure medium power circuits being opened briefly is, so that a partial amount of pressure medium can be drawn into the tank 10 from the corresponding flow line 22 or 68. The working cylinders 24 connected, for example, to the supply line 22 will consequently move more slowly, so that their stroke-tilt movement is slowed down or comes to a complete standstill. This allows the two lifting and tilting frames to be aligned in the same position again. The two 2-way valves 28, 72 can thus be opened or closed accordingly via the electrical control unit 42, so that pressure medium can be sprayed back into the tank 10 from the corresponding lines 22 or 68.

Instead of spraying back, additional pressure medium could also be pressed into the corresponding pressure medium power circuit. The solution shown in the drawing, in which the printing medium is drawn off, is technically simpler.

If both pressure medium power circuits are not of the same design, the two associated lifting and tilting cylinders can nevertheless be easily synchronized. In this case, this is one of the two 2-way valves 28, 72, for example, opened more or less continuously, so that the faster lifting and tipping frame is slowed down gradually or continuously in terms of its speed of movement.

In order to achieve the optimally high emptying speed made possible by the device according to the invention in all operating modes, which is particularly desirable in twin operation or in individual operation, the filling opening of the waste receptacle is designed with the support device shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 in the manner according to the invention .

Thus, two bands 92, 94 which are elastic in their longitudinal direction are anchored in the region of the upper frame 90 of the filling opening. A relatively rigid plastic plate 96 is attached to its lower ends. Seen from the direction of a container to be emptied, there is a curtain 98 in front of this plate 96, which is also suspended in the area of the upper frame 90 and serves as dust protection. The height of this curtain 98 fills the entire filling opening. Its width corresponds approximately to the system width of a lifting and tipping frame. If there are two lifting and tilting frames, two of these dust curtains 98 and plates 96 are accordingly also present. These two dust curtains then fill the entire filling opening.

There are two vertical slots 100, 102 in the dust curtain 98. A protrusion 104, 106 projects through each of these slots. Both projections 104, 106 are anchored by means of a connecting plate 108 on the back of the plate 96. The projections 104, 106 can thus move up and down relative to the dust curtain 92, together with the plate 96.

Via a strip 110 spanning the slots 100, 102 in the transverse direction on the front of the dust curtain, which led through the slots on the plate 96 by means of a screw ben 112 is attached, the dust curtain 92 can not move relative to the plate 96 - for example forward; the dust curtain 92 is thus held between the plates 96, 110. The two plates 96, 110 are at such a distance from one another that the plate 96 and thus the projections 104, 106 can move freely up and down in their plate plane relative to the curtain 98.

The support works in the following way.

The projections 104, 106 are mounted in such a way that a container 114 in its emptying position can be supported on them with its area which extends maximally into the filling opening. In the present case, the projections 104, 106 are mounted in such a way that the container 114 can be supported on these projections 104, 106 in the region of its hinges 118 provided for the cover 116. A container moving into the opening, which is shown in broken lines in FIG. 2, can thus yieldably move both the dust curtain and the plate 96 and thus also the projections 104, 106 backwards out of the plane of the filling opening. At the same time, the plate 96 and thus also the projections 104, 106 will also move more or less downward in an elastically flexible manner. These movements of the plate 96 are made possible by the elastic suspension thereof by means of the elastic bands 92, 94.

With this support device, the container to be emptied is placed very gently against the desired filling opening, so that very rapid emptying is possible. Nevertheless, a very gentle treatment of the receptacle and the corresponding container is ensured. The use of plastic materials in the plate 96 and the projections 104, 106 means that the container no longer has to be in contact with the filling opening in such a noisy manner as was previously the case in the prior art. In addition, emptying is also possible with a largely dust-free environment.

Claims (14)

01) Device for emptying containers, in particular garbage containers, with
a lifting and tipping device which is provided with two lifting and tipping frames for receiving one or two containers to be emptied,
- a pressure medium power circuit for each lifting and tipping frame for operating the same,
a device for generating synchronization of both lifting and tilting frames,
characterized in that
- A monitoring device (52, 54, 56, 58, 60) determining the lifting and tilting movement of both lifting and tilting frames (26) is present,
an electrical control signal (42) can be generated by this monitoring device at different respective positions of the two lifting and tilting frames,
- In each pressure medium power circuit, a hydraulic control valve (28, 72) is available, both of which can be switched independently of one another by means of the electrical control signals (42) in such a way that, in the case of mutually different respective positions of the two lifting and tilting frames, from the to the lifting cylinders of a stroke Feed frame (22, 70) leading to the tipping frame of at least one pressure medium power circuit (26) a partial quantity of pressure medium into which the return line (32) leading into the pressure accumulator (10) can be inserted. 02) Device according to claim 1,
characterized in that
each of the two lifting and tilting frames each has a contact element (52, 54, 56, 58, 60), both of which together form a switching element for generating the electrical control signal. 03) Device according to claim 2,
characterized in that
the contact elements (52, 54, 56, 58, 60) can be brought into contact with one another without contact. 04) Device according to claim 3,
characterized in that
the switching element can be actuated magnetically, inductively, photoelectrically or the like. 05) Device according to claim 2,
characterized in that
the contact elements can be brought into contact position with corresponding mutual contact. 06) Device according to claim 5,
characterized in that
the switching element can be brought into the switching position by a corresponding link guide or the like. 07) Device according to claim 1 or 2,
characterized in that
- An electrically controlled 2-way valve (28, 72) is present in a line connection (27, 78) of the pressure medium power circuit, the line connection leading to the lifting cylinders (24, 64) of the relevant lifting / tilting frame (22 , 69) with the return line (32) leading to the storage medium (10) for the pressure medium and this 2-way valve (28, 72) releases the flow direction to the return line (32) in a first position and in a second position Position interrupts it,
- The electrical control of this 2-way valve (28, 72) by electrical control signals (42) of the monitoring device (52, 54, 56, 58, 60). 08) Device according to claim 7,
characterized in that
Both pressure medium power circuits have a common pressure medium supply pump (12) and a common pressure medium accumulator (10). 09) Device according to claim 8,
characterized in that
both pressure medium power circuits are of the same design. 10) Device according to claim 1,
characterized in that
In the area of the filling opening there are two separate container support devices (96, 104, 106) assigned to the respective lifting and tilting frame, each of which forms an elastically flexible upper support for a container (114) in its emptying position. 11) Device according to claim 10,
characterized in that
each support device has a support device (96, 104, 106) for a container (114) which is suspended in a rocking manner above the filling opening (90) and which is resiliently flexible downwards into the opening. 12) Device according to claim 11,
characterized in that
the support device comprises:
- a plate (96),
- master links (92, 94),
- which are resilient in their length,
- on which the plate (96) is suspended,
- which are held in a swing-like manner in the upper edge region (90) of the opening,
- Thorn-like projections (104, 106) on the plate (96), on which a container (114) positioned in the opening is supported. 13) Device according to claim 11 or 12,
characterized in that
- In the area of the filling opening there are two separate dust curtains (98) assigned to each lifting and tilting frame, both of which are suspended in the upper edge area (90) of the filling opening,
each curtain (98) has the number of vertical slots (100, 102) corresponding to the number of spike-like projections (104, 106),
- The plate (96) is positioned in relation to the lifting and tipping frame behind the curtain (98)
- The spike-like projections (104, 106) of the plate (96) protrude through the slots (100, 102) and are displaceable in the same. 14) Device according to claim 13,
characterized in that
the curtain (98) in the region of its slots (100, 102) is partially covered on both sides by plates (96, 110), the rear plate (96) represents the rear support and the front plate (110) at a distance from the rear plate thereon is attached so that both plates are movable with respect to their plane relative to the curtain (98).

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