FR3125946A1 - urban ashtray suitable for collecting cigarette butts - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an ashtray (100) for a flammable object such as cigarette butts comprising a stepped hollow structure comprising: - an upper compartment (10) comprising a hopper (11) having at the bottom (11a) a hatch (12) whose actuation authorizes passage from a storage configuration (C1) in which the hatch (12) is closed for storing cigarette butts to an emptying configuration (C2) of said hopper (11) in which said hatch (12 ) is open for gravity dumping of cigarette butts through said open hatch (12), and a lower compartment (20) configured to receive a container for collecting cigarette butts which is positioned under said hatch (12) of the hopper ( 11) so as to be able to fill up with said butts when opening said hatch (12) in emptying configuration (C2).

Description

urban ashtray suitable for collecting cigarette butts

The object of the present invention relates to the field of urban ashtrays.

The object of the present invention relates more particularly to an urban ashtray intended for collective use and allowing the butts of cigarettes or equivalent to be collected in an urban environment to promote the recovery of these butts and send them to industrial sectors specialized in depollution. and the recycling of these butts.

The object of the present invention thus finds many advantageous applications by addressing communities (town halls, agglomerations, communities of agglomerations, large cities, etc.) which seek to set up in urban spaces a network of connected ashtrays ecological and environmental.

Of course, it is understood that the object of the present invention also finds many other advantageous applications by addressing all entities of the administration, business, restaurant, café or other type who are concerned about the environment and the public space, and who seek to install collective ashtrays for their employees and/or their customers.

By ashtray is meant throughout the present description which follows all types of devices capable of containing and/or storing objects such as flammable objects such as cigarette butts or the like.

Prior art

It is known that cigarette butts, once the cigarettes have been smoked, are classified as hazardous waste under the properties HP6 (acute toxicity) by calculation and HP14 (ecotoxicity) by ecotoxicity tests.

The nicotine concentration in the cigarette butt is the main factor behind this classification.

In addition to this toxicity, cigarette butts represent one of the most important wastes in the world with more than 4,300 billion cigarette butts discarded each year in nature; this represents, by way of illustration, nearly 40% of the waste present in the oceans.

It should be noted here that a cigarette butt decomposes in nature after about 15 years; during this period, the cigarette butt alone pollutes up to 500 liters of water.

For these reasons, the recycling of cigarette butts has become a real ecological and environmental issue.

However, despite this proven toxicity and alarming figures, the Applicant notes that very few means have been deployed so far for the implementation of the recycling of cigarette butts, for technical, financial and/or ecological reasons. /environmental.

Today, the Applicant has developed a technology for depolluting cigarette butts by bringing fibers from cigarette butts into contact with a dense fluid under pressure, preferably a fluid in the supercritical state (also called supercritical fluid) .

Such supercritical fluid depollution technology is described in document WO2021/079050A1.

Bringing a supercritical fluid into contact with the fibers to be depolluted makes it possible to extract from the fibers a very large majority of toxic substances (mainly nicotine) and odors accumulated in cigarette filters.

Such extraction of toxic substances and odors accumulated in cigarette filters by supercritical fluid technology allows reliable and effective depollution of fibers; after depollution, these fibers become clean and can be reused for new materials and/or other applications.

Such supercritical fluid depollution technology is also environmentally friendly.

Its performance (efficiency, respect for the environment, cost) makes it possible to envisage the development of a real industrial recycling sector for cigarette butts, making it possible to recover the depolluted fibres.

Such decontaminated fibers are in fact very appreciated for their thermal and/or phonic properties, their filtering capacities and/or their mechanical properties, but also for their low cost and their ecological and environmentally friendly character.

If the pollution control technology exists, the Applicant is now facing a real difficulty in collecting the raw material, namely cigarette butts.

The Applicant indeed submits that the ashtrays known from the prior art do not currently make it possible to optimize the collection of cigarette butts.

Communities seeking to set up networks of urban ashtrays such as those known from the prior art often encounter real difficulties in the effectiveness of the system.

The Applicant submits that the solutions of the prior art in this area focus mainly on issues related to the cleanliness of sidewalks.

On the other hand, none of the solutions of the prior art provides solutions adapted to the manipulations of the operators taking into account the level of toxicity of the cigarette butts which are today considered as real toxic waste (classification HP6 and HP 14).

The Applicant also observes that the service companies and the municipal (or other) agents in charge of the maintenance and management of these networks are forced to make their rounds periodically, which can prove fruitless: very often , their round is not optimized because some ashtrays are empty while others are full, or even overflow. The carbon footprint linked to this collection is therefore very high, which can slow down certain players in this approach, which is basically ecological and respectful of the environment.

The Applicant submits that none of the prior art solutions is fully satisfactory.

The present invention aims to improve the situation described above.

The present invention aims more particularly to remedy at least one of the various drawbacks mentioned above by proposing an urban ashtray in particular facilitating handling by operators and the collection of cigarette butts.

The object of the present invention is an ashtray for a flammable object of the cigarette butt type which more particularly comprises a stepped hollow structure comprising a first so-called upper compartment and a second so-called lower compartment provided under the upper compartment.

According to the invention, the upper compartment comprises in its interior a hopper having at the bottom an operable hatch whose actuation allows the passage of a storage configuration in which the hatch is closed for storage of cigarette butts in a volume of storage defined by the inner wall of the hopper to a hopper emptying configuration in which the hatch is open for gravity dumping of cigarette butts through the open hatch.

According to the invention, the lower compartment is configured to receive a container for collecting cigarette butts which is positioned under the hatch of the hopper so as to be able to fill with cigarette butts when the hatch is opened in the emptying configuration.

Advantageously, the internal wall and/or the bottom of the hopper are made at least partially of a fireproof material.

The use of flame retardant material allows safe storage of cigarette butts without the risk of fire.

It can be a material such as aluminum or steel.

Of course, it is understood here that all other types of material having fire resistance and thermal insulation properties similar to those of aluminum or steel can be used.

Advantageously, the container under the hopper can be of the sealed bag type.

Preferably, the waterproof bag comprises closing means comprising, for example, two quick-closing buckles.

Preferably, it is also possible to roll the opening of the bag several times on itself and close the bag tightly.

Advantageously, the hopper also comprises two quick-release buckles capable of cooperating in a repeatable manner with the two closing buckles of said bag so as to allow the bag to be attached to the hopper by snap-fastening.

Alternatively, the container can be attached under the hopper using magnets or temporary assembly means using Velcro®-type buckles. Advantageously, the ashtray according to the present invention comprises means for displaying the filling level of the hopper.

In an advantageous embodiment, the display means comprise at least one display window provided on the upper compartment and configured to display the storage volume of the hopper.

Other means of visualization are possible here.

The Applicant submits that the presence of these means of visualization also has an educational nature and makes it possible to raise public awareness of the process of collecting cigarette butts.

Advantageously, the ashtray according to the present invention further comprises an electronic module for monitoring the filling level of the hopper.

In an advantageous embodiment, this module comprises at least one filling level sensor configured to measure a filling level of said hopper and transmit information relating to the measured filling level to a central processing unit which is configured to process this information by comparing it to a predetermined threshold filling level.

Preferably, the central processing unit is configured to, when following the comparison the filling level reaches the predetermined threshold filling level, generate and transmit a filling signal to a remote central server via communication means.

In one embodiment, the at least one hopper fill level sensor is configured to measure the hopper fill level periodically, such as hourly or daily.

Advantageously, the at least one filling level sensor is a scale configured to measure a total mass of cigarette butts stored in the hopper.

Advantageously, the at least filling level sensor is a laser sensor capable of carrying out a telemetric distance measurement and configured to carry out a measurement of the filling level of the hopper.

In an advantageous embodiment, the upper compartment comprises on its peripheral periphery at least one opening dimensioned for the passage of a cigarette butt, the at least one opening opening into the hopper for the introduction of cigarette butts from the exterior of the ashtray in the hopper.

In this mode, it is possible, for example, to envisage that the at least one filling level sensor is a counter positioned at the level of the opening and configured to count the number of cigarette butts passing through this opening.

Advantageously, the at least one filling level sensor is an infrared camera oriented in the direction of the storage volume to capture an image comprising the cigarette butts stored in the hopper.

Advantageously, the electronic module comprises geolocation means configured to transmit to the central server via the communication means information on the geolocation of the ashtray concomitantly with the transmission of the filling signal.

Advantageously, the electronic module is powered by electrical power supply means comprising at least one solar panel incorporating photovoltaic cells.

Such means can incorporate one or more batteries of the long-life type.

Preferably, the at least one solar panel at least partially covers the upper part of the upper compartment.

The power supply can also be carried out on the electrical network.

Advantageously, the lower compartment comprises a door, the opening of which allows access to the hatch under the hopper and to the collection container.

Preferably, the closing of the access door is secured by locking/unlocking means operable by a key of the type, for example spanner key or equivalent.

Preferably, the locking/unlocking means comprise an electromagnet capable of securing the closing of the door, such an electromagnet being able to be actuated remotely with a communication terminal.

Advantageously, the lower compartment comprises means for holding the collection container in position under the hopper.

Thus, by the various functional and structural technical characteristics above, the Applicant proposes a container for the storage of a toxic object particularly adapted to promote the collection and manipulations of the operators in charge of the collection of cigarette butts.

Brief description of figures

The characteristics and advantages of the present invention will emerge from the description below with reference to the appended Figures 1 to 5 illustrating two embodiments which are devoid of any limiting character and in which:

There shows a schematic perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of an ashtray in storage configuration according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

There shows a schematic perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of an ashtray in emptying configuration according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

There shows a schematic sectional view of an exemplary embodiment of an ashtray according to Figures 1 and 2;

There shows a schematic view of an embodiment of an electronic module for monitoring the filling level of the hopper of an ashtray; And

There shows a schematic perspective view of another embodiment of an ashtray in storage configuration according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (16)

Ashtray (100) for a flammable object such as cigarette butts comprising a stepped hollow structure comprising a first so-called upper compartment (10) and a second so-called lower compartment (20) provided under the upper compartment (10),
wherein said upper compartment (10) comprises in its interior a hopper (11) having at the bottom (11a) an operable hatch (12) whose actuation allows the passage of a storage configuration (C1) in which the hatch ( 12) is closed for storage of cigarette butts in a storage volume defined by the internal wall (11b) of said hopper (11) towards an emptying configuration (C2) of said hopper (11) in which said hatch (12 ) is open for gravity dumping of cigarette butts through said open hatch (12),
wherein said lower compartment (20) is configured to receive a container for collecting cigarette butts which is positioned under said hatch (12) of the hopper (11) so as to be able to fill with said cigarette butts when said opening hatch (12) in emptying configuration (C2). Ashtray (100) according to Claim 1, in which the internal wall (11b) and/or the bottom (11a) consist at least partially of a fireproof material. Ashtray (100) according to claim 1 or 2, which comprises means (13) for displaying the level of filling of the said hopper (11). Ashtray (100) according to claim 3, in which the display means (13) comprise at least one display window (13a) provided on the upper compartment (10) and configured to display the storage volume of the hopper (11) . Ashtray (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, which comprises an electronic module (30) for monitoring the filling level of the hopper (11) comprising at least one filling level sensor (31) configured to measure a level filling of said hopper (11) and transmitting information relating to said measured filling level to a central processing unit (32) which is configured to process said information by comparing it with a predetermined threshold filling level, said central processing unit (32) being configured to, when following said comparison the filling level reaches the predetermined threshold filling level, generate and transmit a filling signal to a remote central server (SC) via communication means (33). Ashtray (100) according to Claim 5, in which the said at least one filling level sensor (31) of the hopper (11) is configured to measure the filling level of the said hopper (11) periodically, for example every hourly or daily. Ashtray (100) according to claim 5 or 6, wherein said at least one filling level sensor (31) is a scale configured to measure a total mass of cigarette butts stored in said hopper (11). Ashtray (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, in which said upper compartment (10) comprises on its peripheral periphery at least one opening sized (14) for the passage of a cigarette butt, said at least one opening emerging in the hopper (11) for the introduction of cigarette butts from outside the ashtray into the hopper. Ashtray (100) according to Claim 8 appended to any one of Claims 5 to 7, in which the said at least one filling level sensor (31) is a counter positioned at the level of the said at least one opening (14) and configured to count the number of cigarette butts passing through said opening (14). Ashtray (100) according to any one of claims 5 to 9, wherein said at least one filling level sensor (31) is an infrared camera oriented towards the storage volume to capture an image comprising said stored cigarette butts in the hopper (11). Ashtray (100) according to any one of claims 5 to 10, in which said electronic module (30) comprises geolocation means (34) configured to transmit to said central server (SC) via said communication means (33) information geolocation of said ashtray (100) concomitantly with the transmission of the filling signal. Ashtray (100) according to any one of claims 5 to 11, in which said electronic module (30) is powered by electrical power supply means comprising at least one solar panel incorporating photovoltaic cells. Ashtray (100) according to claim 12, wherein said at least one solar panel at least partially covers the upper part (10a) of said upper compartment (10). Ashtray (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the said lower compartment (20) comprises a door (21) the opening of which allows access to the hatch (12) under the hopper (11) and to the container of collection. Ashtray (100) according to claim 14, in which the closing of the door (21) is secured by locking/unlocking means (22) operable by a key of the type, for example spanner key or equivalent. Ashtray (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the said lower compartment (20) comprises means for holding in position (23) the collection container under the hopper (11).