GB2099776A

GB2099776A - Insulation dispensing apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2099776A
Application number: GB8207424A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: ECOMAX UK Ltd
Current assignee: ECOMAX UK Ltd
Priority date: 1981-03-13
Filing date: 1982-03-15
Publication date: 1982-12-15
Also published as: GB2099776B

Abstract

An insulation dispensing machine has rotary feeding means 20 with a dividing or separating action between a hopper for divided insulation material e.g. mineral fibre material and a pump for feeding an outlet pipe or tube. The feeding means has gas injection via a pipe (36) to enhance such separation and flow of material. The feeding means comprises counter rotating bladed shafts (25, 26) which intercalate and are arranged above the gas injection pipe. Material movement is up between the bladed shafts and then down past converging sides (23, 24), through a valve (not shown), and into a lower casing 37. A seven vaned rotary shaft (38) then takes material between its blades and a casing (37) to a lower area including a trough formation 43 where the material is pumped away. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Insulation dispensing apparatus The invention relates to apparatus for dispensing insulation as finds use in pumping, usually from a vehicle, into the roof space, and wall cavities, of buildings.

It will be appreciated that such apparatus requires material to be in divided form so as to be capable of forced travel, usually in an air stream, through a delivery tube or pipe, usually fiexible, to the desired place for the insulation. Granulated or shredded mineral fibre insulation materials are suitable for the purpose. In general, machines suitable for the purpose require a storage hopper and feeding means therefrom to a pressurising delivery pump. The feeding means is best organised to cooperate with an outfeed of the storage hopper to have a shredding, granulating or other suitable dividing action on the insulation material at least to counteract any densification, compacting or agglomeration thereof under its own weight in the hopper or by action of a conventional auger ouffeed therefrom.

Any compaaction of agglomeration or reduction of actual separation of the divided components of the insulation material has two deleterious effects in reducing insulation value and increasing the quantity of material required for a desired nominal insulation thickness or volume.

This invention is directed particularly at meeting the possibility that the dividing action of the feeding means may promote any tendency for the material therefrom to occupy less space in its generally divided form.

According to the present invention there is provided an insulation dispensing machine comprising a storage hopper for divided insulation material, pump means for forced delivery of divided insulation material via a pipe or tube, and feeding means between an outlet from the hopper and an inlet to the pump means, wherein the feeding means includes rotary means having a dividing or separating action on material from the hopper outlet, and means for injecting a gas into the material that is subjected to said dividing or separating action. Air at low pressure is suitable for such injection and serves both to fluidise the material and to promote maximum separation of its components.

At least when using such injection we have found that a particularly effective shredder comprises two parallel counter-rotating toothed or bladed shafts that overlap, usually intercalate, between them and may also cooperate with stationary teeth or blades at a side or sides of a casing therefor. Such a shredder has a much better and more symmetrical action than single rotary shafted shredder cooperating with stationary teeth or blades, at least so long as the increased shredding or granulating capabiiity is accompanied by air injection to counteract any tendency to reduce the separation of the components of the insulation material and thus its overall volume and density.

Counter-rotation of the shafts is best achieved with jointly upward movement in the region between them so that material is spread from that position upwardly and outwardly to downwardly converging sides of the converging sides of the casing whereat the shaft blades move downwardly. One shaft is preferably somewhat above and to the side of the other, most conveniently with the upper shaft bearing chopper or hammer like blades of substantial bredth and the lower shaft bearing rod-like fingers intercalating between the upper shaft blades. The latter may advantageously be in pairs each of juxtaposed blades at 1 800 to each other and the pairs being spaced along the shaft from each end at successive 900 displacements. The rod-like fingers are conveniently each of diametrical extent successively 450 out of phase.A rod-like finger may conveniently be between two banks of the hammer or chopper like blades.

Embodiments hereof are particularly effective when used on conjunction with a hopper outfeed system of our cofiled application using a rotary feed with material moving blading spaced from a shaft thereof, specifically as a helical ribbon blade, to a paddle type exit blade section.

One specific embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which; Figure 1 shows a hopper and feeder casing; Figure 2 shows a feeder and an air valve; Figures 3, 4 and 5, 6 show bladed shafts of the feeder of Figure 2.

Figure 1 shows a moulded plastics container 10, though it can be of mild steel, in one or two parts having a hopper portion 11 with downwardly convergent sloping sides to a troughlike bottom 1 2 and a shredder housing portion 1 3 below one end of the hopper bottom and communicating therethrough. The container 10 is advantageously of a low friction material at least internally, and may be of a conventional glassfibre-in-resin type, even, if desired (perhaps for a mild steel construction), suitabiy lined or coated, say with Teflon (Registered Trade Mark), so that there will be an inherently high degree of slip that will, if anything, increase in slipperiness during use.Such a container will resist roughening and corrosion at its inner surfaces and its convergent side walls preferably have steep slopes, preferably greater than 450, even parabolic, as particles of insulation material do not readily slide over each other.

We prefer that, as in our cofiled application, the trough-like bottom 12 of the hopper 11 will accommodate a ribbon-auger also equipped with paddles above hopper exit and shredder entry 30.

The hopper auger will bejournaled in holes 21 in the hopper ends.

Turning now to Figures 2 to 6, the shredder housing 1 3 is shown with upwardly divergent sides 23, 24 and is traversed by two counter rotating shredder shafts 25, 26 each equipped with blades 27, 28 that interleave and overlap at 20, and further cooperate with stationary blades 29 in enhancing particulation of the insulation material from the hopper 11. An inlet pipe 36 is shown at a low position in the shredder for injection of low-pressure air the further to aid separation of the insulation particles. Holes in the container 10 are shown at 31, 32 for the shredder shafts 25, 26 and at 33, 34 for air inlet pipes, such as 36, of which there can be as many as desired.

Figure 2 also shows a slide 35 for varying oufflow from the shredder to an air valve 37 comprises of a shaft 38 carrying radial lengthwise vanes 39 establishing chambers between them that will be separately sealed by coaction of the vanes 39 and the interior of casing 40 below the shredder outlet. Those chambers will be loaded consecutively as shaft 38 rotates.

The counter-rotatable shredder shafts 25, 26 are actually at different heights, and the higher one (25), relatively rearward in Figure 2, has flat chopper or hammer blades of greater width of breadth than the narrow blades of the other, lower shaft 26. The latter are rod-like fingers passing through holes in the shaft 26 at spaced intervals and successive relative rotations of 45 0. The blades 27 are in juxtaposed perpendicular pairs A, B and C, D spaced along the shaft 25 at relative rotations of 900. Each blade 27 has a generally diamond shape that is elongated and terminates in blade ends tapered at 23' as shown. The fingers 29 intercalate between the blade pairs 28.

The latter are shown in two banks separated centrally by a position 40 for a rod-like finger blade.

It is the upper chopper bladed shaft that coacts with stationary blades 29, and the or each air inlet 34 terminates somewhat over half way across the shredder housing, i.e. under the upper shredder blades. One or more of the finger blades 26 may have to be omitted or shortened. Figure 2 shows insulation retention screening 41 at an air inlet to the shredder housing, and also a bent pipe 42 to take the air to the desired lower position 36 below the upper shredder blades.

The housing 40 for air valve 37 has a bottom groove or indent 43 from an air inlet at one end to an angularly offset outlet at the other end so as to scavenge each air valve chamber progressively and to afford smooth transition between consecutive such chambers.

The shredder shafts will be driven in the direction of arrows 45, 46 by suitable gearing, if necessary variable and equipped with a clutch, and air pump will also be provided from which shredder air supply is bled off and the remainder used to supply the air valve inlet. A flexible pipe from the air valve outlet will take the insulation entrained in air to its application point.

In operation, divided particles of insulation material will be fed from the hopper 11 to entry 30 of the shredder unit into which it will fall and be subjected to the action of the blades 27, 28.

The chopper or hammer blades 27 are particularly effective in breaking up any agglomeration or packing of the insulation particles and the blades 28 have a gentler action to ensure that the particles are "fluffed up" without any tendency to compact them due to the entrainment therein of air delivered from pipe 34 at low pressure. The counter rotation of the blades 27, 28 produces a movement centrally of the shredder chamber at their overlap 20 that is generally upward and over the lower blades 28 which are themselves over possible positions of the adjustable plate 35 when extended into the shredder as shown. The air from pipe 36 also materially assists a smooth flowing exit of insulation particles from the shredder into the air valve 37.

Typically air pressure will be about 1 to 2 pounds per square inch at the shredder and 1 to 4 pounds per square inch at the air valve, and the advantages of the invention are particularly well achieved with the air inlet to the shredder at the side of the finger-bladed shaft with the air-exit slide under the finger-blades shaft.

We find it advantageous to utilise seven equispaced vanes 39 and a trough 43 inclined so that its ends are angularly displaced by about the spacing of the vanes 39. Figure 2 shows such spacing, but with the sectional showing at the bottom indicating that the section concerned is close to the exit end of the chamber 37, though a more symmetrical disposition of the trough 43 could be used (relative to the bottom of the chamber 37). Such a seven-vaned, vane-sprungtraversing-trough arrangement is particularly effective in use.

Claims

1. An insulation dispensing machine comprising a storage hopper for divided insulation material, pump means for forced delivery of divided insulation material via a pipe or tube, and feeding means between an outlet from the hopper and an inlet to the pump means, wherein the feeding means includes rotary means having a dividing or separating action on material from the hopper outlet and there is provided means for injecting gas into the material that is subjected to said dividing or separating action.

2. An insulation dispensing machine according to claim 1, wherein the means for injecting serves to feed low pressure air that effectively fluidises said divided material.

3. An insulation dispensing machine according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the rotary means comprises two parallel counter-rotating toothed or bladed shafts that overlap by intercalation of their teeth or blades.

4. An insulation dispensing machine according to claim 3, comprising stationary teeth or blades to cooperate with the rotary teeth or blades at a side or sides of a casing for the rotary means.

5. An insulation dispensing machine according to claim 4, wherein counter-rotation of said shafts is so as to impart upward movement to material between the shafts for subsequent outward movement over and downward movement past downwardly converging sides of the casing.

6. An insulation dispensing machine according to claim 3, 4, 5 or 6, wherein one of the shafts is somewhat above and to one side of the other of the shafts.

7. An insulation dispensing machine according to claim 6, wherein the upper one of the shafts has chopper or hammer blades of substantial breadth and the lower of the shafts has rod-like fingers intercalating with the blades of the upper shaft.

8. An insulation dispensing machine according to claim 7, wherein the blades are in pairs juxtaposed at 1 800 to each other, the pairs being spaced along the upper shaft at successive 900 displacements.

9. An insulation dispensing machine according to claim 7 or claim 8, wherein the fingers are each of diametrical extent successively 450 out of phase.

1 0. An insulation dispensing machine according to any one of claims 3 to 9, wherein the means for injecting terminates below intercalation of the toothed or bladed shafts.

11. An insulation dispensing machine according to any preceding claim, wherein a or said casing of the rotary means has a bottom exit for the material and a slide for varying the effective size of that exit.

12. An insulating dispensing machine according to claim 11 with claim 10, wherein the means for injecting terminates above the exit at or towards one side thereof.

1 3. An insulation dispensing machine according to any preceding claims, wherein the feeding means supplies a generally cylindrical chamber apertured to receive material from above and through its side above a trough formation inclined to the axis of the chamber, which trough formation is subjected to pumping of the material and is swept over by radial lengthwise vanes on a rotary shaft, which vanes form between them and the interior of the casing separate chambers successively receiving material from the feeding means and successively supplying that material to the trough formation.

14. An insulation dispensing machine according to claim 13, comprising seven said vanes equally angularly spaced on their rotary shaft.

1 5. An insulation dispensing machine according to claim 14, wherein the ends of the trough formation are angularly displaced by an amount substantially equal to the pitch of the seven said vanes.

1 6. An insulation dispensing arranged and adapted to operate substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawing.