GB1575079A

GB1575079A - Plant for separating material-containing packages from their contents

Info

Publication number: GB1575079A
Application number: GB42906/77A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: CARLSEN H AB
Current assignee: CARLSEN H AB
Priority date: 1976-10-15
Filing date: 1977-10-14
Publication date: 1980-09-17
Also published as: DE2745559A1; SE7611463L; JPS5363663A; SE404170B

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO PLANT FOR SEPARATING MATERIAL-CONTAINING PACKAGES FROM THEIR CONTENTS (71) We, H. W. CARLSEN AB., a Swedish Company of Ribersborgsvägen 14 B, S-217 53 Malmö, Sweden, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a Patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement::- The present invention relates to improvements in separating plant for separating material-containing packages from their contents and in which material-containing packages fed into the plant through a receiver or feeder unit are broken up in a disintegration process, and separation of packages an contents is executed by a screening process in a separation unit, and in which at least one feed and disintegration screw is adapted to advance the packages from the receiver unit to the separation unit, the latter including at least one screen in the form of a rotary screening drum adapted to be rotated independently of the rotation of said feed and disintegration screw.

In systems of the type disclosed in the opening paragraph it has been found to be difficult to attain the disintegration and advancing effect aimed at. This inconvenience, to a large extent, has been found to depend on an improper construction of the feed and disintegration unit between the receiver unit and the screening drum.

The present invention has for its object to eliminate this problem and to attain, by simple expedients, a substantially improved goods-advancing and disintegration effect to that the packages and goods in question will be rapidly and effectively fed into the fine-screening drum at the exactly proper location after the packages have been properly crushed.

This object is substantially fulfilled in accordance with the invention by the provision of separation plant for separating material-containing packages from their contents by disintegrating the packages, comprising a receiver or feeder unit through which the material-containing packages can be fed into the plant to be broken up by disintegration, a separation unit for separating packages and their contents by screening, at least one rotatable feed and disintegration screw for advancing the packages from the receiver or feeder unit to the separation unit, the latter including at least one screen in the form of a rotary screening drum adapted to be rotated independently of the rotation of said feed and disintegration screw and a casing surrounding said at least one screw, the screw and the casing being so designed as to taper towards the screening drum, and one end portion of the casing being centred relative to a central section of the screening drum, said drum section being associated with the casing in a free-running interrelation therewith, and the screw extending in substantially coaxial relation to the screening drum and ending close to or within said drum.

The invention will now be explained more in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, the single Figure of which is a diagrammatic side-elevation of a separating plant according to the invention certain components of the plant being shown partly in section.

Ilustrated in the drawing is a receiver or feeder unit 1 comprising a funnel 2 into which packages (not shown) of various sizes and with various desired contents may be fed without any specific demands as to rate of feed or order. The packages may be fed into the funnel 2, for instance by being dumped from a pallet or by opening a net sack or any other type of container. From the receiver unit 1, the packages are moved by a conveyor 3 to a separation unit 7 within which the packages are separated from their contents.

To reduce dust formation during the separation, a fan installation 11 or the like provided with a filter is connected to the separator unit and is adapted to contain a subatmospheric pressure in the system. After the separating operation, the empty packages are transferred from the separating unit 7 through a chute 12 or the like to a conveyor screw 13 which is driven by a motor 14 and adapted to discharge the empty packages into a waste container 15 or the like.

The goods-containing packages fed into the separator plant through its receiver or feeder unit are broken by a disintegration process, and separation of the packages into wrappings and contents takes place through a screening process within the separation unit 7. At least one conveyor and disintegrating screw 4 is adapted to transfer the packages from the receiver or feeder unit 1 to the separation unit 7 which comprises at least one rotary screen in the form of a screening drum 8 which is rotatable independently of the rotation of the conveyor and disintegration screw 4.

An extremely advantageous advancing and disintegration effect will, in principle, be attained by the fact that the conveyor and disintegration screw 4 as well as a casing 19 surrounding this screw are so designed as to taper towards the screening drum 8, one end portion 20 of the casing 19 being centred relative to a central section of the screening drum which section is associated with the casing 19 in a free-running relation thereto, and so that the conveyor and disintegrating screw 4 extends substantially co-axially relative to the screening drum and ends close to or inside the latter.

A particularly advantageous advancing effect and simple sealing arrangement in the transition between the casing 19 and drum 8 may be obtained by causing the conveyor and disintegration screw 4 to extend into the fine-screening drum 8, in which case the casing 19 is surrounded by a collar-shaped end portion of the fine-screening drum.

If the conveyor and disintegration screw 4 opens into the screening drum 8 adjacent to a flared portion 23 of the latter, as shown in the drawing, then in order to obtain a satisfactory advancing effect, it is preferred that said flaring portion 23 be provided with dogs 24 adapted to contribute to direct movement of packages further into the finescreening drum 8.

In order to prevent any wedging of the packages, the flaring portion 23 may be provided with dogs 24 which are adapted to move arriving packages further into the screening drum 8 so as to be caught and advanced further by other dogs 17 which, preferably, are disposed in a row on a helical line along the inner wall of the drum 8.

In order to enable variation of the effi ciency of the work being carried out within the drum 8, the dogs may be in the form of vanes 17 which are adjustably mounted in the drum 8. Efficiency variation may also be made by speed variation, as well as by such adjustment, or in combination therewith.

By setting the dogs or vanes 17 into a definite position and driving the drum 8 at a definite speed, the drum 8 may be cleaned up with a particularly good result while utilising empty packages or wrappings.

The separating unit 7 may be constructed with particular compactness and with a small overall height by disposing a con veyor system 9, 10 directly beneath the screening drum 8 and adapted to discharge material flowing down from the drum 8 directly out of the separation unit 7.

The design of the separator plant will be particularly compact if the separating unit 7 comprises a casing 25 which contains the drum 8 and carries the conveyor 3 and the receiver or feeder unit 1. The casing 25, in addition, could suitably carry both the conveyors 9, 10 for discharging separated material, and the discharging system (for instance the chute 12) for discharging the wrappings.

The disclosure of the invention hereinbefore is intended to be non-limiting within the scope of the claims. The components described may be of different shape; thus, for instance, the dogs 17 may be in the form of shark's fin-shaped vanes, and the screw and its casing may be conical in shape. The perforate or netting walls of the drum 8 may be interchangeable to enable adjustment of the separating action, and the drum may comprise a cylindrical or nearly cylindrical main portion. Further, the drum 8 may be provided with wheels (not shown), one or more of which being positively driven (by motors, not shown) and which run in engagement with annular tracks of channelsectional shape.

The arrangement according to the invention ensures that the advancement of goods from the receiver or feeder unit to the screening drum will be very efficient, and that during this advancement the packages will be disintegrated in a sufficient extent to enable a complete cleaning out of the package remnants from the screening drum.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. Separation plant for separating material-containing packages from their contents by disintegrating the packages, comprising a receiver or feeder unit through which the material-containing packages can be fed into the plant to be broken up by disintegration, a separation unit for separating packages and their contents by screening, at least one rotatable feed and disin

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **.

To reduce dust formation during the separation, a fan installation 11 or the like provided with a filter is connected to the separator unit and is adapted to contain a subatmospheric pressure in the system. After the separating operation, the empty packages are transferred from the separating unit 7 through a chute 12 or the like to a conveyor screw 13 which is driven by a motor

14 and adapted to discharge the empty packages into a waste container 15 or the like.

The goods-containing packages fed into the separator plant through its receiver or feeder unit are broken by a disintegration process, and separation of the packages into wrappings and contents takes place through a screening process within the separation unit 7. At least one conveyor and disintegrating screw 4 is adapted to transfer the packages from the receiver or feeder unit 1 to the separation unit 7 which comprises at least one rotary screen in the form of a screening drum 8 which is rotatable independently of the rotation of the conveyor and disintegration screw 4.

An extremely advantageous advancing and disintegration effect will, in principle, be attained by the fact that the conveyor and disintegration screw 4 as well as a casing 19 surrounding this screw are so designed as to taper towards the screening drum 8, one end portion 20 of the casing 19 being centred relative to a central section of the screening drum which section is associated with the casing 19 in a free-running relation thereto, and so that the conveyor and disintegrating screw 4 extends substantially co-axially relative to the screening drum and ends close to or inside the latter.

A particularly advantageous advancing effect and simple sealing arrangement in the transition between the casing 19 and drum 8 may be obtained by causing the conveyor and disintegration screw 4 to extend into the fine-screening drum 8, in which case the casing 19 is surrounded by a collar-shaped end portion of the fine-screening drum.

If the conveyor and disintegration screw 4 opens into the screening drum 8 adjacent to a flared portion 23 of the latter, as shown in the drawing, then in order to obtain a satisfactory advancing effect, it is preferred that said flaring portion 23 be provided with dogs 24 adapted to contribute to direct movement of packages further into the finescreening drum 8.

In order to prevent any wedging of the packages, the flaring portion 23 may be provided with dogs 24 which are adapted to move arriving packages further into the screening drum 8 so as to be caught and advanced further by other dogs 17 which, preferably, are disposed in a row on a helical line along the inner wall of the drum 8.

In order to enable variation of the effi ciency of the work being carried out within the drum 8, the dogs may be in the form of vanes 17 which are adjustably mounted in the drum 8. Efficiency variation may also be made by speed variation, as well as by such adjustment, or in combination therewith.

By setting the dogs or vanes 17 into a definite position and driving the drum 8 at a definite speed, the drum 8 may be cleaned up with a particularly good result while utilising empty packages or wrappings.

The separating unit 7 may be constructed with particular compactness and with a small overall height by disposing a con veyor system 9, 10 directly beneath the screening drum 8 and adapted to discharge material flowing down from the drum 8 directly out of the separation unit 7.

The design of the separator plant will be particularly compact if the separating unit 7 comprises a casing 25 which contains the drum 8 and carries the conveyor 3 and the receiver or feeder unit 1. The casing 25, in addition, could suitably carry both the conveyors 9, 10 for discharging separated material, and the discharging system (for instance the chute 12) for discharging the wrappings.

The disclosure of the invention hereinbefore is intended to be non-limiting within the scope of the claims. The components described may be of different shape; thus, for instance, the dogs 17 may be in the form of shark's fin-shaped vanes, and the screw and its casing may be conical in shape. The perforate or netting walls of the drum 8 may be interchangeable to enable adjustment of the separating action, and the drum may comprise a cylindrical or nearly cylindrical main portion. Further, the drum 8 may be provided with wheels (not shown), one or more of which being positively driven (by motors, not shown) and which run in engagement with annular tracks of channelsectional shape.

The arrangement according to the invention ensures that the advancement of goods from the receiver or feeder unit to the screening drum will be very efficient, and that during this advancement the packages will be disintegrated in a sufficient extent to enable a complete cleaning out of the package remnants from the screening drum.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. Separation plant for separating material-containing packages from their contents by disintegrating the packages, comprising a receiver or feeder unit through which the material-containing packages can be fed into the plant to be broken up by disintegration, a separation unit for separating packages and their contents by screening, at least one rotatable feed and disin

tegration screw for advancing the packages from the receiver or feeder unit to the separation unit, the latter including at least one screen in the form of a rotary screening drum adapted to be rotated independently of tthe rotation of said feed and disintegration screw and a casing surrounding said at least one screw, the screw and the casing being so designed as to taper towards the screening drum, and one end portion of the casing being centred relative to a central section of the screening drum, said drum section being associated with the casing in a free-running interrelation therewith, and the screw extending in substantially coaxial relation to the screening drum and ending close to or within said drum.
2. Plant as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the feed and disintegration screw extends into the screening drum and the casing is surrounded by a collar-shaped end portion of the screening drum.
3. Plant as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which the feed- and disintegration screw opens into the screening drum adjacent to a flared portion of the latter, and said flared portion is provided with dogs adapted to contribute direct, positive advancement of packages further into the screening drum.
4. Separation plant for separating material-containing packages from their contents, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying draw ings.