JP2008073964A - Plastic bottle recovery device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a plastic bottle recovery device which can improve its operating efficiency as a whole and smoothly perform the recovery of the plastic bottle incessantly. <P>SOLUTION: This plastic bottle recovery device comprises the following components: (1) a carrier belt conveyor 30 which conveys the plastic bottle 100 from upstream to downstream, the cut cap part of the plastic bottle 100 being at the apex, (2) a compression belt conveyor 40 which assists in the conveyance of the plastic bottle 100 carried by the carrier belt conveyor 30 while gradually pressing the plastic bottle 100 from the top; (3) a rotary cutter 50 which cuts almost the central position of the plastic bottle 100 pressed by the compression belt conveyor 40, in the conveyance direction; (4) a label release mechanism 60 which releases a label 103 pasted to the outer surface of the plastic bottle 100 cut by the rotary cutter 50, from the plastic bottle 100, and (5) a grinding mechanism 70 which shreds the plastic bottle 100 cut by the rotary cutter 50 in the form of flakes. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a PET bottle recycling system, and more particularly, to a PET bottle collecting apparatus for cutting and collecting PET bottles to be discarded into fine flakes.

  Currently, discarded plastic bottles are transported to a recycling factory in the form in which they are used, and are separated into a recyclable part and other parts in the recycling factory. In the recycling factory, PET bottles that have only a recyclable part are collected in the form of flakes or pellets to be recovered as raw materials for recycled products. Examples of the portion not corresponding to the recyclable portion of the plastic bottle include a label seal wound around the surface of the plastic bottle or a cap portion attached to the tip.

  However, it is inefficient to collect PET bottles in a used state and transport them to a recycling plant because it takes a lot of time and effort to transport the PET bottle volume. For this reason, a PET bottle collection device is installed in small-scale facilities such as storefronts and public facilities where PET bottles are discarded. When PET bottles are discarded, the recyclable parts and other parts are separated, and the recyclable parts are further separated. A system has also been devised for finely cutting and collecting.

As an invention for the purpose of collecting such a plastic bottle, a plastic bottle collecting system of Patent Document 1 is disclosed. The PET bottle collection system of Patent Document 1 has a configuration in which after a PET bottle is inserted from an input mechanism, the PET bottle that has been input is fixed, the label seal of the PET bottle is cut with a cutting blade, and the label seal is peeled off with an adsorption pad. is there. Further, the PET bottle is crushed by a crushing roller after the cap portion is cut by another cutting blade. Thereby, a PET bottle is collect | recovered in the state crushed into flakes.
JP 2001-138327 A

  In the PET bottle collection system of Patent Document 1, after the fixed PET bottle is fixed at a predetermined position, a plurality of mechanical processes are performed at that position, and finally, the PET bottle is conveyed to a crushing roller. Therefore, while the previously charged PET bottle is being processed, it is necessary to keep waiting for the next PET bottle to be charged. For this reason, when a user intends to discard a plurality of PET bottles, it takes a long time to put them in one by one, and it is not possible to expect an efficient collection according to the convenience of the user.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and the operation efficiency of the entire apparatus is obtained by dividing the plastic bottle to be discarded into two during transportation and removing the label seal and then cutting it into a flake shape. It is providing the PET bottle collection | recovery apparatus which implements and improves the collection of a PET bottle smoothly without interruption.

In order to achieve the above object, a plastic bottle collection device of the present invention is characterized by having the following configurations (a) to (e).
(A) Conveying means for conveying a PET bottle whose cap portion has been cut in advance (b) Compressing means for compressing the PET bottle in the conveying process in the vertical direction in cooperation with the conveying means (C) Compression means Cutting means for vertically cutting the substantially central position in the width direction of the plastic bottle compressed by (d) Label peeling means for peeling the label externally attached to the PET bottle cut by the cutting means from the plastic bottle (e) Crushing means for cutting PET bottles cut by cutting means into fine flakes

According to the present invention having the above-described configuration, the steps of compression, cutting, and label peeling can be performed while the plastic bottle is being transported, and the process can be smoothly guided to the pulverization process. The bottle can be collected.
Moreover, since the plastic bottle is cut in a compressed state, the label can be smoothly and surely vertically divided together with the plastic bottle. The vertically divided labels can be easily peeled off in a later process.

  A compression means can be set as the structure which compresses a PET bottle in the range which can be decompress | restored elastically. Thus, when the compressed PET bottle is restored with its own elastic force after being cut, the label is flipped up from the surface of the PET bottle. As a result, the label can be easily and reliably peeled from the plastic bottle.

  A conveyance means can be comprised with the conveyance belt conveyor arrange | positioned substantially horizontally. Further, the compression means can be constituted by a compression belt conveyor disposed obliquely from the downstream side of the conveyor belt conveyor toward the end position of the conveyor. The PET bottle is sandwiched between the conveyor belt conveyor and the compression belt conveyor and compressed, and is most compressed at the end position of the conveyor.

  Moreover, a cutting | disconnection means can be comprised with the rotary cutter provided in the terminal position of the conveyance conveyor. Further, the label peeling means is constituted by a rotating brush that is disposed in the vicinity of the downstream side of the end position of the conveyor, and that comes into contact with the PET bottle that is cut vertically and discharged from the end position from both sides. be able to.

Furthermore, an opening / closing door having the following configurations (a) to (c) may be provided upstream of the conveying means, and a configuration may be adopted in which a plastic bottle is inserted from the opening / closing door.
(A) In the closed state, a cap insertion port into which a cap portion of a PET bottle with a cap can be inserted is open at the center.
(B) In the open state, an opening capable of feeding a PET bottle in the longitudinal direction is opened.
(C) A cap detection sensor is provided to detect when a cap portion of a PET bottle is inserted into the cap insertion port. When the cap detection sensor detects the cap portion of the PET bottle, the cap is released from the closed state. Change to state.

Furthermore, it is possible to provide a cap cutting means for holding the plastic bottle introduced from the opening / closing door before being transported by the transport means and cutting the cap portion from the plastic bottle.
If comprised in this way, the effort which cut | disconnects a cap part previously is saved, and it becomes possible to implement the collection process of a PET bottle more efficiently.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the operation efficiency of the entire apparatus can be improved by cutting a discarded plastic bottle into a flake shape after cutting in a vertical section during transportation to remove the label seal. .

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
1 to 6 are diagrams showing a configuration of a plastic bottle collection device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1A and 1B are diagrams showing the overall structure of a plastic bottle collecting apparatus, wherein FIG. 1A is a front view, FIG. 1B is a side sectional view, and FIG. 1C is a rear sectional view.
The PET bottle collection device of this embodiment is a device that cuts and collects used PET bottles 100 in a flake shape. As shown in FIG. 1, in this plastic bottle collecting apparatus, various apparatuses for cutting the plastic bottle 100 are installed inside the apparatus main body 1 which is movable with a caster 2 attached to the bottom.

Here, the plastic bottle collection device of the present embodiment is installed especially in a store or public facility, and is intended to collect the plastic bottle 100 discarded from the user. Therefore, the apparatus main body 1 is reduced in size to be installable in a facility, and the size of the discarded plastic bottle 100 corresponds to a commercially available container of 280 ml to 2 L. Moreover, the apparatus main body 1 has a structure in which a receiving port 4 through which drinking water remaining in the PET bottle 100 is drained is provided on the outer surface and stored in a beverage tank 3 inside.
Of course, the PET bottle collection apparatus of the present invention is not limited to such an apparatus applied to general users. For example, it can be provided as a large-sized PET bottle collection device so that it can be easily used by a collection company.

  Inside the apparatus main body 1 of the PET bottle collecting apparatus, the PET bottle input unit 10, the cap cutting mechanism 20 (cap cutting means), the conveying belt conveyor 30 (conveying means), and the compression belt conveyor are arranged in the order of processing steps of the PET bottle 100. 40 (compression unit), rotary cutter 50 (cutting unit), label peeling mechanism 60 (label peeling unit), and crushing mechanism 70 (crushing mechanism).

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process of processing a plastic bottle collected by the plastic bottle collection apparatus according to the present embodiment.
Briefly explaining the process of collecting the PET bottle 100 first, as shown in FIG. 2, the PET bottle 100 with a cap is inserted into the apparatus main body 1 from the input unit 10 with the cap unit 101 side as a tip by the user. It is thrown. The inserted plastic bottle 100 has the cap portion 101 on the distal end side cut by the cap cutting mechanism 20 provided immediately downstream, so that only the body portion 102 is obtained. Subsequently, the PET bottle 100 is transported from the upstream to the downstream by the transport belt conveyor 30. Further, on the downstream side of the conveyor belt conveyor 30, the body portion 102 is conveyed while being compressed by the compression belt conveyor 40 provided at the top.

  Then, the PET bottle 100 is cut vertically from the substantially central portion while being compressed by the rotary cutter 50 provided at the end position of the conveyor belt conveyor 30. Here, it is general that a label 103 for displaying a product is wound around the body portion 102. The label 103 is cut in a vertical section together with the body portion 102 and further removed from the body portion 102 by the label peeling mechanism 60. Thereafter, the cut PET bottle 100 is discharged to the crushing mechanism 70 and is finely crushed into flakes by the crushing mechanism 70. In this way, the PET bottle 100 is generated and stored in the form of flakes, and is appropriately recovered by a recovery company.

Next, each configuration of the plastic bottle collection device will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, in the plastic bottle collecting apparatus, the upper front portion of the apparatus main body 1 serves as a plastic bottle charging unit 10, and an opening / closing door 11 is provided in the charging unit 10. This open / close door 11 has a function of opening only when the cap portion 101 side of the plastic bottle 100 is inserted as a tip. Specifically, the open / close door 11 has a cap insertion port 11a that has a diameter that allows only the cap portion 101 of the plastic bottle 100 to be inserted in a standby state (closed state). Further, a cap detection sensor 12 that detects insertion of the cap portion 101 into the cap insertion port 11a is provided immediately behind the open / close door 11. When the cap part 101 of the plastic bottle 100 is inserted into the cap insertion port 11 a of the opening / closing door 11, the charging unit 10 detects the cap part 101 and opens the opening / closing door 11. The open / close door 11 in an open state has an opening area in which the plastic bottle 100 can be poured in the longitudinal direction. The plastic bottle 100 can be put into the apparatus main body 1 through the open / close door 11 in the open state.

  Further, the feeding unit 10 is provided with a feeding mechanism 13 composed of 4 to 8 rollers immediately downstream of the opening / closing door 11 and a detection sensor 14 for detecting that the PET bottle 100 has been fed to a predetermined position. ing. The feeding mechanism 13 feeds the plastic bottle 100 to the cutting position A of the cap unit 101 after the plastic bottle 100 is inserted. The detection sensor 14 is configured to detect that the PET bottle 100 has been sent to the cutting position A and transmit a detection signal to the cap cutting mechanism 20.

The cap cutting mechanism 20 includes a crank mechanism that sandwiches and holds the cap portion 101 side of the PET bottle 100, and a cutting blade (both not shown) attached to the crank mechanism. The crank mechanism and the cutting blade are installed at a position where the cap part 101 and the body part 102 can be cut at the cutting position A of the PET bottle 100. Thereby, after the PET bottle 100 is arrange | positioned in the cutting position A, the cap cutting mechanism 20 can receive a detection signal from the detection sensor 14, drive a crank mechanism, and can cut | disconnect the cap part 101 with a cutting blade. .
In addition, the cap part 101 cut | disconnected from the plastic bottle 100 passes along the discard path | route which is not shown in figure, and is discharged | emitted to the unnecessary part collection | recovery box 21 in an apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing the conveyor belt conveyor and the compression belt conveyor of the PET bottle collecting apparatus according to the present embodiment, wherein (a) is a side view and (b) is a rear view. 4 and 5 are perspective views showing the operation of the PET bottles conveyed by the conveyor belt conveyor and the compression belt conveyor.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the conveyor belt conveyor 30 includes a chain belt 31 in which metal pieces are connected in a belt shape, and a sprocket 32 that moves the chain belt 31 from upstream to downstream. The chain belt 31 translates the upper surface thereof from upstream to downstream by the rotational drive of the sprocket 32. Therefore, the conveyor belt conveyor 30 can carry the PET bottle 100 dropped from the cutting position A and transport it downstream.

  The chain belt 31 of the conveyor belt conveyor 30 is provided symmetrically with a slight gap between the center positions where the PET bottles 100 are placed. The conveyor belt conveyor 30 is configured to convey the PET bottle 100 while always maintaining the central position by driving the chain belt 31 with a constant torque with the central position as a boundary. Further, side guides (not shown) are provided on both sides of the chain belt 31 to guide the transported PET bottles 100 to the center position of the transport belt conveyor 30.

  Further, a plurality of protruding members 33 are provided on the surface of the chain belt 31 at arbitrary intervals. When the PET bottle 100 is transported, the protruding member 33 is caught by the PET bottle 100, thereby assisting transport from upstream to downstream.

  The compression belt conveyor 40 includes a chain belt 41, a sprocket 42, and a protruding member 43, as in the case of the conveyor belt conveyor 30 described above. This compression belt conveyor 40 is installed in the upper part of the conveyance belt conveyor 30, and the lower surface side of the chain belt 41 is driven in the same direction as the conveyance direction of the PET bottle 100. In addition, the compression belt conveyor 40 is disposed above the transport belt conveyor 30 and extends from an obliquely upstream side toward the end position of the conveyor 30. At the terminal position of the conveyor belt conveyor 30, the gap between the conveyor belt conveyor 30 and the compression belt conveyor 40 is adjusted to be a narrow interval.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the PET bottle 100 conveyed by the conveyor belt conveyor 30 is gradually sandwiched between the conveyor belt conveyor 30 and the compression belt conveyor 40 and compressed from above and below. By compressing the plastic bottle 100 in this way, the posture of the plastic bottle 100 is stabilized, and the body portion 102 can be cut smoothly and easily in the next cutting step. Further, by sandwiching the PET bottle 100 between the conveyance belt conveyor 30 and the compression belt conveyor 40, the position of the PET bottle 100 is difficult to be displaced at the time of cutting, so that the body portion 102 can be cut more stably.

  The distance between the compression belt conveyor 40 and the conveyance belt conveyor 30 is adjusted so that the body portion 102 has a pressing force that can be elastically restored at the terminal position where the compression belt conveyor 40 passes. Thereby, when the PET bottle 100 is pulled out from the compression belt conveyor 40, it is actively restored from the pressed shape. At this time, the label 103 floats from the surface of the plastic bottle 100 with the restoring force of the plastic bottle 100. As a result, the label 103 can be easily and reliably peeled from the plastic bottle 100 in the label 103 peeling step.

  Further, the protruding member 43 provided on the chain belt 41 of the compression belt conveyor 40 is caught together with the protruding member 31 of the transport belt conveyor 30 when the body portion 102 is pressed against the compression belt conveyor 40, and is downstream of the body portion 102. It plays the role of assisting transportation. With the protruding members 33 and 43, the plastic bottle 100 can be reliably conveyed without running idle on the chain belt 31.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view showing the conveyor belt conveyor and the rotary cutter of the PET bottle collecting apparatus according to the present embodiment, where (a) is a perspective view from the back side, and (b) and (c) are the body parts. It is the perspective view which showed the cutting | disconnection of typically.
As shown in FIG. 6A, the rotary cutter 50 includes a rotary blade 51 and a receiving blade 52 in which a metal material is formed in a disk shape. The rotary blades 51 are provided between the sprockets 42 on the downstream side of the compression belt conveyor 40, and the receiving blades 52 are provided so that the rotary blades 51 are sandwiched between the sprockets 32 on the downstream side of the conveyor belt conveyor 30. It has been. The rotary blade 51 cuts the substantially central position of the PET bottle 100 conveyed by the conveyor belt conveyor 30 into a vertical split in cooperation with the receiving blade 52.

  In addition, label peeling mechanisms 60 are disposed on both sides of the rotary cutter 50. The label peeling mechanism 60 of this embodiment is a cylindrical rotating brush 61 with a large number of wires extending, and a pair of the rotating brushes 61 are rotatably installed on both sides of the rotating blade 51. The rotating brush 61 is rotated to face the conveyance direction of the plastic bottle 100. Therefore, when the body part 102 is cut by the rotary blade 51, the rotary brush 61 comes into contact with the label 103 of the plastic bottle 100, and the label 103 can be removed from the plastic bottle. Note that the label 103 removed by the rotating brush 61 passes through a discard path (not shown) and is discarded in the waste portion collection box 21 from which the cap portion 101 is discharged.

  Here, the operation of the rotary cutter 50 and the label peeling mechanism 60 of this embodiment will be described in detail. The PET bottle 100 placed on the chain belt 31 of the conveyor belt conveyor 30 is compressed by the compression belt conveyor 40. It is conveyed to the cutting device 50. As shown in FIG. 6B, in the cutting device 50, the PET bottle 100 is in contact with the rotary blade 51 in a compressed state, and further cut into two in the longitudinal direction in the course of being further conveyed. At this time, the label 103 attached to the plastic bottle 100 is also cut vertically.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6C, the PET bottle 100 is transported downstream while being cut by the rotary blade 51, and is discharged downstream from the terminal position of the transport belt conveyor 30. As described above, when the compressed PET bottle 100 is ejected from the end position of the conveyor belt conveyor 30, a resiliently restoring force works, and the cut label 103 is flipped outward. . At this time, since the rotating brush 61 of the label peeling mechanism 60 rotates on both sides of the rotating blade 51 so as to face the transport direction of the PET bottle 100, the flipped label 103 is caught on the wire of the rotating brush 61, The label 103 is effectively removed. Further, the PET bottle 100 cut in the vertical division is discharged from the chain belt 31 that has been conveyed, and is put into the cutting device 70 located downstream.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the cutting device 70 of a PET bottle collection | recovery apparatus has the function to cut the PET bottle 100 cut | disconnected in two into flakes. A rotary cutter and a fixed blade (not shown) are provided inside the cutting device 70. In the cutting device 70, the plastic bottle 100 thrown into the device is crushed by the cutter rotating and being sandwiched between the fixed blades. Since the PET bottle 100 is cut into two in advance, it becomes easy to be sandwiched between rotating cutters, and the cutting can be performed more efficiently. In addition, a flake collection box 71 is provided below the cutting device 70, and the cut flake-shaped PET bottle 100 is accumulated.

As described above, the PET bottle collecting apparatus can collect the inputted PET bottle 100 in the form of flakes. This PET bottle collection device can convey the PET bottle 100 while pressing it and cut it into two, so that the label 103 can be easily removed and the cutting device 70 can efficiently cut it. Therefore, the operational efficiency of the entire apparatus can be improved, and the collection of the PET bottle 100 can be carried out smoothly without interruption.
In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, For example, it is also possible to comprise with the modification and application example as shown below.

[Modification 1]
The charging unit 10 of the plastic bottle collection device may be provided with a heat detection sensor in the vicinity of the open / close door 11. This heat detection sensor can detect the insertion of a human hand and is configured to stop the operation of the entire apparatus. Thereby, the plastic bottle collection | recovery apparatus can ensure safety | security with respect to the user etc. who are not used to the apparatus.

[Modification 2]
The charging unit 10 of the plastic bottle collection device may be provided with an aluminum detection sensor in the vicinity of the open / close door 11. This aluminum sensor can detect the insertion of an aluminum plastic bottle. By receiving a signal from the aluminum sensor, the device can be made such that an aluminum plastic bottle is not charged by making the door not open.

[Modification 3]
In addition, the cap cutting means of the PET bottle collecting apparatus may cut the cap unit 101 at a stage prior to loading the PET bottle 100 into the loading unit 10 without being provided in the PET bottle conveyance path. That is, the user who discards the plastic bottle 100 can cut | disconnect the cap 101 of the plastic bottle 100 previously by the cap cutting mechanism provided separately, and can throw in only the plastic bottle 100 in the apparatus main body 1 after that. Therefore, the internal structure of the apparatus main body 1 can be further simplified, and the plastic bottle 100 can be continuously cut.

[Modification 4]
For business use, the opening / closing door 11 is not provided at the position of the input unit 10, but instead a guide mechanism that enables continuous input can be provided so that large-capacity PET bottles can be continuously processed.

It is a figure which shows the whole structure of a PET bottle collection | recovery apparatus, (a) is a front view, (b) is side sectional drawing, (c) is back sectional drawing. It is a schematic diagram which shows the processing process of the plastic bottle collect | recovered by the plastic bottle collection apparatus which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure which expands and shows the conveyance belt conveyor and compression belt conveyor of the PET bottle collection | recovery apparatus which concern on this embodiment, (a) is a side view, (b) is a rear view. It is a perspective view which shows operation | movement of the PET bottle conveyed by the conveyance belt conveyor and compression belt conveyor which concern on this embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows operation | movement of the PET bottle conveyed by the conveyance belt conveyor and compression belt conveyor which concern on this embodiment. It is a figure which expands and shows the conveyance belt conveyor and rotary cutter of the PET bottle collection | recovery apparatus which concern on this embodiment, (a) is a perspective view from a back direction, (b), (c) is a model of cutting of a plastic bottle. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1: device body, 2: caster, 3: beverage tank, 4: receiving port,
10: loading part, 11: open / close door, 11a: cap insertion port, 12: cap detection sensor, 13: feeding mechanism, 14: detection sensor,
20: Cap cutting means, 21: Waste part collection box,
30: Conveyor belt conveyor, 31: Chain belt, 32: Sprocket, 33: Projection member,
40: Compression belt conveyor, 41: Chain belt, 42: Sprocket, 43: Projection member,
50: rotary cutter, 51: rotating blade, 52: receiving blade,
60: Label peeling mechanism, 61: Rotating brush,
70: crushing mechanism, 71: collection box for flakes,
100: plastic bottle 101: cap part 102: body part 103: label
A: Cutting position

Claims (7)

A plastic bottle collection device comprising the following configurations (a) to (e):
(A) Conveying means for conveying a PET bottle whose cap portion has been cut in advance (b) Compressing means for compressing the PET bottle in the conveying process from above and below in cooperation with the conveying means (c) Cutting means for vertically cutting the substantially central position in the width direction of the PET bottle compressed by the compressing means. (D) Label peeling means for peeling the label externally attached to the PET bottle cut by the cutting means from the PET bottle. (E) Crushing means for cutting the PET bottle cut by the cutting means into fine flakes 2. The plastic bottle collection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the compression means compresses the plastic bottle within a range in which the plastic bottle can be elastically restored. The transport means is a transport belt conveyor disposed substantially horizontally,
The compression means is composed of a compression belt conveyor disposed obliquely from the downstream side of the conveyor belt conveyor toward the terminal end position of the conveyor,
3. The PET bottle collection according to claim 1, wherein the PET bottle is compressed by being sandwiched between the conveyor belt conveyor and the compression belt conveyor, and is most compressed at the end position of the conveyor. apparatus. 4. The PET bottle collecting apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the cutting means is a rotary cutter provided at a terminal position of the conveyor. The label peeling means is a rotating brush that is disposed at a position near the downstream side of the end position of the conveyor, and that contacts the PET bottle that is cut vertically and discharged from the end position from both sides. The plastic bottle collection device according to claim 4. 6. An opening / closing door having the following configurations (a) to (c) is provided upstream of the conveying means, and a plastic bottle is inserted from the opening / closing door. The plastic bottle collection device according to any one of the above.
(A) In the closed state, a cap insertion port into which a cap portion of a PET bottle with a cap can be inserted is open at the center.
(B) In the open state, an opening capable of feeding a PET bottle in the longitudinal direction is opened.
(C) When a cap part of a plastic bottle is inserted into the cap insertion port, a cap detection sensor for detecting the cap part is provided, and when the cap detection sensor detects the cap part of the plastic bottle, the closed state Changes from open to open. 7. The PET bottle according to claim 6, further comprising a cap cutting means for holding the PET bottle introduced from the opening / closing door before being transported by the transport means and for cutting the cap portion from the PET bottle. Recovery device.

Images