JP2017029875A - Pneumatic classifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pneumatic classifier where an empty can and an empty PET bottle are separated by jetting air during transportation and the residence of containers at the crossing part of a blowing-away passage is eliminated.SOLUTION: In a pneumatic classifier,: an empty container discharge passage is disposed at the midstream position of a belt conveyor so as to cross a conveyor transportation passage; air is jetted from a blower toward a recovery container on the conveyor and only an empty container is discharged from the top of the belt conveyor to a discharge passage; air is jetted from a nozzle to a reverse direction of the transportation passage at the crossing part of the transportation passage to the discharge passage and the residence of containers at a crossing part corner is completely eliminated; and the upstream side corner of the crossing part is diagonally chamfered and the discharge of empty containers is promoted by jetting air from the other nozzle in a diagonal direction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a wind power sorter, and more particularly to a wind power sorter that separates and sorts empty cans and empty plastic bottles from which no contents remain from a collection container such as a beverage container conveyed by a belt conveyor by wind power. .

Empty cans of beverage containers (aluminum cans / steel cans), empty bottles, waste plastic bottles, etc. are collected not only by municipalities such as municipalities, but also through business routes from convenience stores and vending machines. These are sorted by type and are reused in various ways after being recycled.
By the way, these collected containers are not necessarily separated into empty cans and waste PET bottles, and are often collected in a state where both are mixed. For this reason, it sorts into an aluminum can, a steel can, and a waste plastic container (for example, a plastic bottle etc.) with a special sorter.
However, in recent years, the proportion of waste plastic containers in the collection containers has increased, and it has been impossible to sort waste plastic containers with conventional sorting machines. Therefore, there is a place where an operator is arranged around the supply conveyor that sends the collection container to the sorting machine, and all or most of the waste plastic container is sorted and removed by manual sorting to perform the pretreatment. For this reason, reduction of the work burden concerning sorting is demanded.

  On the other hand, the sorting device described in Patent Document 1 detects an empty can or a waste plastic bottle with a first photoelectric sensor, detects a waste plastic bottle with a second photoelectric sensor, and detects pulsed air against the waste plastic bottle. These are sorted out by spraying and blowing them off.

JP 2009-268996 A

  However, in the sorting apparatus described in Patent Document 1, for example, even when a beverage remains in an empty can or a waste plastic container, it is recognized as a waste plastic container and is blown away. Therefore, it is necessary to manually sort the plastic containers, etc., etc., and it does not lead to a reduction in the work burden of sorting.

  As a result of intensive research, the inventor paid attention to the behavior of this empty container in a wind power sorter that blows an empty container from the conveyor belt by the wind power from the blower. And, it was found that an empty container that does not contain contents can be sorted from the recovery container by configuring so that the empty container is not conveyed downstream from the wind power sorter, and the present invention has been completed. .

  An object of the present invention is to provide a wind power sorter that separates and sorts cans and plastic containers (empty containers) that do not contain contents from a collection container composed of cans, bottles, and plastic containers by wind power. .

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, an empty container made of a can or a plastic bottle containing no cans, a bottle, or a plastic bottle is mounted on a belt conveyor that constitutes a conveyance path. A wind power sorter body is provided in the middle of the conveyance path, and the wind power sorter body is provided with a side wall standing along the belt conveyor and a conveyance direction by the belt conveyor. Extending in a direction that intersects at a substantially right angle with respect to the passage, a part of the side wall is cut out to communicate with the transport path, a side wall provided in the path, and the path toward the path. A blower that blows off only an empty container, and a first nozzle that blows air upstream of the conveyance path at a position where the passage is open in the conveyance path. During blowing of the empty container by a said collection container and or suppressing wind sorter integration of the empty containers in the vicinity of the corner and the passage side walls of the passageway and the sidewall of the transport path intersect.

The collection container referred to here mainly includes cans, bottles, and plastic containers, and their ratios and the like differ for each collection. The plastic container is a container made of plastic, such as a plastic bottle, and the material is a general-purpose resin such as polyethylene or polypropylene, or a functional resin such as polyethylene terephthalate. An empty container is a plastic container (pet bottle) in which the contents are not contained and the contents remain. For this reason, the bottle which is a heavy article which is not blown away by the blower or the air blow from the first nozzle, the can containing the contents, and the plastic container in which the contents remain are directly conveyed downstream by the belt conveyor.
The cans are steel cans (including tin cans) and / or aluminum cans.

The belt conveyor is a device that rotates a wide belt in a ring shape on a carriage and places a collection container on the belt to convey the belt. A pair of side walls are erected on both sides of the conveying path of the belt conveyor so as to surround the belt conveyor. In addition, the belt conveyor can be covered with a ceiling wall. The type of the side wall provided in the vicinity of the belt conveyor is not particularly limited. For example, it is not limited to a plate material, and may be a net-like material such as a fence wire mesh.
In the middle of the conveyor path of the belt conveyor, a wind power sorter body is provided to sort empty containers from the collection containers.

The wind power sorter main body separates (sorts) only empty containers from the collection containers by blowing air to the collection containers on the belt conveyor. That is, a part of the side wall constituting the transport path is cut out and opened, and the opening portion communicates with a path orthogonal to the transport path. Therefore, the blower and the first nozzle are disposed in this portion (position) of the conveyance path, and the wind power selector body intersects the passage perpendicular to the conveyance path, the side wall of the belt conveyor (conveyance path), and the side wall. And a blower that blows air toward the passage at the intersection position, and a first nozzle that blows air toward the upstream of the conveyance path at the intersection position. Become.
The side wall provided as the wind power sorter main body is erected so as to extend along the belt conveyor from the entrance to the exit.
The blower is a so-called blower that blows air in a direction (including a substantially perpendicular direction) perpendicular to the conveying direction of the belt conveyor in a horizontal direction by the rotational movement of the impeller. The blower blow output is not particularly limited, but it has a minimum output that can blow up an empty container conveyed to a belt conveyor and blow it to a passage and further to another conveying device at the back of the passage. .

  The empty container blown off by the blowout of the compressed air from the blower moves to another transfer device through the passage. This passage extends in a straight line and is formed in a rectangular cross section having a side wall surface, a bottom surface, and an upper surface (ceiling surface). This is to form a strong air flow.

  The first nozzle blows air in the direction from the downstream side to the upstream side of the belt conveyor (reverse injection nozzle). The first nozzle is provided at a predetermined height position near the outlet of the wind power sorter body and above the belt conveyor. It is preferable that the first nozzle is attached so that the gas (air) blown by the first nozzle is blown slightly downward from the center of the outlet of the wind power sorter body. In this case, when the empty container is blown off by the blower, it is possible to efficiently prevent the collection of the collection container / empty container in the vicinity of the corner formed by the intersection of the belt conveyor and the passage. For example, the air from the first nozzle is blown out toward the center of gravity of the PET bottle (500 ml bottle) lying on the belt conveyor or slightly below. Thereby, if the said PET bottle is empty, it can be blown away in the horizontal direction efficiently with the air from the motion blower so as to soar. The air from the first nozzle exhibits an effect of curving the horizontal jet flow from the blower slightly upstream. That is, the accumulation is eliminated by air injection from the first nozzle.

  According to invention of Claim 1, the collection | recovery container conveyed with the belt conveyor blows up an empty container by the ventilation from a blower in a wind power sorter main body, and blows it away and moves it. At that time, the collection and / or stagnation of the collection container and / or the empty container in the vicinity of the corner formed by intersecting the belt conveyor and the passage is prevented by blowing air from the first nozzle. Thereby, only an empty container can be sorted out from the collection container, and the burden due to manual sorting can be reduced. As a result, the cost required for separating the collection containers can be reduced.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, a second portion that chamfers a corner formed by the side wall and the passage side wall erected along the belt conveyor and blows air along a chamfered wall formed by chamfering. The wind power sorter according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle is provided so as to blow air in a direction from the upstream of the belt conveyor toward the passage.

Of the side walls erected along the belt conveyor, the corner formed by the upstream side wall (hereinafter simply referred to as the “upstream side wall”) and the passage side wall is chamfered, and the chamfered wall stands at the chamfered portion. The side surface is formed by being provided. And the ventilation by a 2nd nozzle is made along this chamfering wall.
The second nozzle blows air (inclined nozzle) in a direction from the upstream side of the belt conveyor toward the passage (at an angle of about 45 ° obliquely with respect to the transport direction in plan view). The second nozzle is provided in the vicinity of the inlet (upstream portion) of the wind power sorter body and at a predetermined height position above the belt conveyor. The blowing angle of the second nozzle is set so as to inject compressed air slightly downward and toward the back of the passage. Therefore, the empty container which behaves like being danced upon being injected is reliably and speedily discharged by the lateral injection by the blower.

When there is a corner (corner) formed by the upstream side wall and the passage side wall, the collection container and / or the empty container are in the vicinity of the corner by the blowing from the blower and the reverse blowing by the first nozzle. Accumulation (accumulation) may occur. As a result, if only the air is blown from the blower, the accumulated empty containers may interfere and it may be difficult to blow the transferred empty containers toward the back of the passage, that is, to another transfer device. .
However, according to the second aspect of the present invention, not only the corner formed by the upstream side wall and the passage side wall does not exist, but also the second container is blown along the chamfered wall, thereby collecting the recovery container. And / or an empty container, unlike a container with its contents, rises and can be reliably blown (without accumulating (stacking)) towards the passage.

  According to invention of Claim 1, the collection | recovery container conveyed by the belt conveyor blows up an empty container by the ventilation (air blow from a horizontal direction with respect to a conveyance direction) in a wind power sorter main body. Blow away and move horizontally. By constantly blowing (air injection) from the blower in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction, a flow of compressed air in the lateral direction is formed. At that time, collection of the collection container and / or empty container (stagnation) in the vicinity of the corner formed by the intersection (substantially orthogonal) of the belt conveyor and the passage is prevented by reverse blowing by the first nozzle. To do. In other words, the flow of the compressed air in the lateral direction is partially detoured by the reverse air flow. At the same time, only the empty container can be smoothly selected from the collection container by causing the backward injection to behave as if it jumps up to the empty container. That is, the burden of manual sorting can be eliminated (reduced), and as a result, the cost for separating the collection containers can be greatly reduced.

By the way, when there is an angle (a right-angled corner) formed by the upstream side wall and the side wall of the passage, the recovery container and / or the empty container are caused by the air blown from the blower and the air blown by the first nozzle. It tends to accumulate (stuck) near the corner. Thereby, it may be difficult to blow off only with the blower from the blower.
However, according to the invention described in claim 2, not only the corner formed by the upstream side wall and the side wall of the passage does not exist, but also the air is collected by being blown along the chamfered wall by the first nozzle. The container and / or the empty container can be guided toward the passage and can be blown away at a predetermined speed toward the passage without accumulating (stagnation) in the same place.

1 is a schematic plan view showing a wind power sorting machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the front view which shows the 2nd nozzle of the wind power sorter which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is the top view which shows the wind power selector main body of the wind power separator which concerns on one Example of this invention. FIG. 4 is a view as viewed in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3, showing the wind power selector body of the wind power selector according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a view as viewed in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 3, showing a wind power selector body of the wind power selector according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.
As shown in FIG. 1, this embodiment relates to a sorting system for sorting steel cans, bottles, aluminum cans and PET bottles from a collection container. The collection container thrown into the vinyl bag is taken out from the vinyl bag when the vinyl bag is broken by a bag breaking machine, loaded in a pile on a belt conveyor, and conveyed downstream. Reference numeral 11 denotes a bell conveyor on which the collected collection containers are randomly mounted and conveyed downstream. The belt conveyor 11 is arranged on the floor on one straight line in the work space. The container mounting surface of the belt conveyor 11 is set almost horizontally. The belt conveyor 11 is configured by looping an annular belt around rollers at both ends in the extending direction, and the upper surface of the belt is a mounting surface for a collection container (many cans and bottles).
At the most upstream position of the belt conveyor 11, there is arranged a conveyor 12 for conveying materials, that is, recovery containers from the bag breaker, and the recovery containers are transferred from the conveyor 12 to the belt conveyor 11. . The collection container is mounted on the mounting surface of the belt conveyor 11 at a substantially constant height.
A known magnetic separator (magnetic separator) 13 is disposed at a midstream position of the belt conveyor 11. The collection container conveyed by the belt conveyor 11 is first sorted and removed from the collection container by the magnetic separator 13. The removed steel can is pressed by the steel press 14. Accordingly, a collection container that does not react to magnetic force, such as a PET bottle other than a steel can, an aluminum can, or a glass bottle, passes through the magnetic separator 13.
And the collection | recovery container which passed the magnetic separator 13 will pass the wind sorter 15 which concerns on one Example of this invention. That is, the wind power sorter 15 is located downstream of the magnetic separator 13 in the belt conveyor 11 (conveyance path). In the wind power sorter 15, high-pressure air generated by an air compressor 17 provided in the vicinity of the main body 16 is ejected from the blower 26, so that an empty aluminum can on the belt conveyor 11 at the position of the main body 16 PET bottles are blown off to the mesh conveyor 19 as empty containers. In the state in which the belt conveyor 11 is in operation, air is constantly ejected from the blower 26. However, a sensor is arranged on the upstream side of the main body 16, and the sensor detects that the collection container is not mounted for a predetermined time. In such a case, the operation of the blower 26 may be stopped.
Further, the bins that have not been blown off due to their weight and the collection containers containing the contents (containing the contents) pass through the wind power sorter 15 and are conveyed further downstream by the belt conveyor 11.
At this downstream end, for example, a glass bottle and a bottle other than the bottle are sorted and collected individually by hand sorting.
The mesh conveyor 19 is arranged almost in parallel with the belt conveyor 11, and empty containers (empty aluminum cans and empty plastic bottles) that have been blown off through the passage 28 and transferred are sorted by the mesh conveyor 19. It is conveyed to the machine 20. That is, the belt conveyor 11 and the mesh conveyor 19 are operated simultaneously.
In the aluminum sorter (aluminum separator) 20, only the aluminum can in the empty container is separated and sorted and pressed by the aluminum press machine 21. Reference numeral 22 denotes a first sub-conveyor on which empty containers are transferred from the mesh conveyor 19, and conveys the empty containers to the second sub-conveyor 23 via the aluminum separator 20.
As a result of being transported through these sorters, the collection container mounted on the second sub-conveyor 23 is composed only of empty plastic bottles (plastic bottles) that are collection containers from which aluminum cans have been removed. It becomes. The second sub conveyor 23 conveys only empty plastic bottles to the pet press machine 24, where the plastic bottles are pressed. The plastic bottle after pressing is effectively used as a resource.

  The belt conveyor 11 is a known device that rotates a wide belt in a ring shape on a carriage and places a collection container on the belt to convey it. The belt width of the belt conveyor 11 is about 100 cm and the length is about 10 m, for example. A pair of fences 25 (side walls) are erected on both sides of the belt conveyor 11 so as to surround the belt conveyor 11. As described above, the wind power sorter 15 is provided on the downstream side of the intermediate portion in the extending direction of the belt conveyor 11 (downstream side of the intermediate portion in the transport path of the collection container transported by the belt conveyor 11). .

  As shown in FIG. 1, the wind power sorter 15 is provided (partially) in the middle of the conveyance path by the belt conveyor 11. The wind sorter 15 has a wind sorter body 16 in addition to the compressor 17. The wind sorter main body 16 is emptied in a direction orthogonal to a pair of side walls 25 and 25 erected on the both sides of the belt conveyor 11 at a predetermined height and a conveying direction of the collection container by the belt conveyor 11. A blower 26 that blows only the containers and moves them to the mesh conveyor 19, a passage 28 having a passage side wall 27 that moves the empty containers blown by the blowers 26 to the mesh conveyor 19, and from the downstream side to the upstream side of the belt conveyor 11. The first nozzle 30 for injecting compressed air and the second nozzle 31 for injecting compressed air in the direction from the upstream of the belt conveyor 11 toward the passage.

Inside the wind power sorter main body 16, as described above, side walls 25, 25 formed of metal plates are provided so as to sandwich the belt conveyor 11 (the conveyor belt itself).
A part of the side wall 25 (the side wall on the left side toward the upstream side) is cut out to form an opening, and a passage 28 that communicates with the mesh conveyor 19 through the opening is a conveyance direction of the collection container by the belt conveyor 11. It extends in a direction orthogonal to the direction. Further, three nozzles constituting the blower 26 are provided on the extended line of the passage 28 in the side wall 25 (the right side wall toward the upstream side) different from the side wall 25 intersecting with the passage 28. These three nozzles are provided at regular intervals in the vertical direction, such as an upper nozzle, a middle nozzle, and a lower nozzle, and air blown from the blower 26 (three nozzles) is mounted on the conveyor belt 11. The empty collection container that is light in weight is blown off toward the passage 28. The passage 28 communicates the conveyance path and the mesh conveyor 19 linearly.

The blower 26 is a device that blows air in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the belt conveyor 11 by the rotational movement of the impeller. The output of the blower 26 is about 0.75 kW, for example, and the air volume is about 29 m ³ / min, for example. An empty container transported on the belt conveyor 11 can be blown up and blown up to the mesh conveyor 19 by the wall-like flow of compressed air formed by being blown by the blower 26.

The empty container blown off by the blower 26 moves to the mesh conveyor 19 through the passage 28. The passage 28 is formed of a rectangular cross-sectional plate material having side walls 27, a ceiling wall, and a bottom wall, that is, a rectangular frame. This is because a strong flow is formed in the passage 28. The passage cross-sectional area is the same over the entire length, but the entrance side may be narrowed (narrow) and the exit side may be slightly widened. This is because, when the air pressure is increased and the empty container is blown away in the passage 28, the empty container is caught and stuck in the outlet side where the pressure of the air flow slightly weakens. Further, the passage 28 may be formed such that the outlet side is lower than the inlet side to facilitate the discharge of the empty container.
Among the side walls 25 erected along the belt conveyor 11 in the wind power sorter main body 16, an upstream side wall (a part of the side wall is cut out and upstream from the notch) 25 and a side wall of the passage 28. The corner formed by the (passage side wall) 27 is chamfered obliquely in plan view. A chamfered wall 41 is erected on the edge of the chamfered portion.
Both the component wall 27 and the chamfered wall 41 of the passage 28 are formed of a smooth metal plate (vertical wall).

Here, the 1st nozzle 30 ventilates in the direction which goes to the upstream from the downstream of the conveyance path of a collection container. The first nozzle 30 is installed by a transverse bracket 42 at a predetermined height position near the outlet of the wind power sorter body and above the belt conveyor 11. The first nozzle 30 is attached so that the compressed air blown by one first nozzle 30 (reverse injection nozzle) is blown slightly downward at the center of the outlet of the wind power sorter body 16. It has been. This is because the flow in the direction opposite to the conveying direction (the flow perpendicular to the horizontal flow) collides with the flow of the compressed air in the horizontal direction from the blower 30 (three nozzles) and slightly upstream with respect to the horizontal flow. It also has the meaning of forming a curved flow portion. Moreover, it can be set as the behavior which floats an empty container by reverse injection.
In addition, the 1st nozzle 30 and the air compressor 17 are connected and connected via piping, such as a hose, so that compressed air may inject from the 1st nozzle 30 (not shown).
The second nozzle 31 blows compressed air obliquely downward in a direction from the upstream side of the transport path of the recovery container toward the passage 28. Further, the air from the second nozzle 31 is made along the chamfered wall 41. The second nozzle 31 (oblique injection nozzle) is provided in the vicinity of the entrance of the wind separator main body 16 and at a predetermined height position above the belt conveyor 11 (see FIGS. 3 and 5).
The second nozzle 31 and the air compressor 17 are connected and connected via a flexible pipe or the like so that compressed air is jetted from the second nozzle 31 (not shown).
The compressed air injected from the first nozzle 30 and the compressed air injected from the second nozzle 31 and the compressed air to the blower 17 are supplied from the same air compressor 17. The discharge flow rate of the first nozzle 30 and the discharge flow rate of the second nozzle 31 are the same. The blower 17 ejects compressed air from these three nozzles to the nozzles 30 and 31 in a triple amount.

Next, a wind power sorting method for sorting an empty container from a collection container using this wind power sorter will be described.
The collection containers transported by the belt conveyor 11 that is activated by the start of operation are blown up toward the mesh conveyor 19 by being constantly blown laterally from the blower 26 in the wind sorter body 16 by the continuous blowing in the lateral direction. Moved. Even if the empty container is not blown up, the empty container is returned into the wind power sorter main body 16 by the air blowing by the first nozzle 30. Further, the collection (stagnation) of collection containers and / or empty containers in the vicinity of the corner (downstream corner) formed by the intersection of the belt conveyor 11 and the passage 28 is dispersed by blowing air from the first nozzle 30. Can be made.
At the same time, the second nozzle 31 blows air along the chamfered wall 41 so that the collection container and / or the empty container are blown off to the mesh conveyor 19 through the passage 28 without accumulating (stagnation). The blower 26 and the first and second nozzles 30 and 31 are turned on while the belt conveyor 11 is running (during operation) and constantly inject compressed air.
Thereby, only an empty container can be sorted out from the collection container, and the burden due to manual sorting can be reduced. As a result, it is possible to reduce the cost for separating the collection containers.

Further, if there is an angle formed by the upstream side wall 25 and the passage side wall 27, the collection container and / or the empty container are angled by the air blown from the blower 26 and the air blown by the first nozzle 30. May accumulate (stagnant) in the vicinity. Thereby, it may be difficult to blow off the mesh conveyor 19 by only the lateral blow from the blower 26.
However, in this embodiment, not only the corner formed by the upstream side wall 25 and the passage side wall 27 does not exist (chamfering), but also the air is blown along the chamfered wall 41 by the second nozzle 31, thereby collecting. The empty containers can always be blown off to the mesh conveyor 19 without the containers and / or empty containers accumulating (stagnation).

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is useful as a technology for sorting by wind power from cans and plastic bottles that do not contain contents from a collection container transported by a wind power sorter, specifically a belt conveyor.

11 Belt conveyor,
15 Wind sorter,
16 Wind power sorter body,
25 side walls,
26 Blower,
27 Aisle side wall,
28 passageway,
30 first nozzle,
31 Second nozzle.

Claims (2)

A wind power sorter body that sorts empty containers made of cans and PET bottles that do not contain contents from a collection container made of cans, bottles, and PET bottles conveyed by a belt conveyor by wind force A wind power sorter provided in the middle of the transport path of the recovery container,
The wind sorter body is
Side walls erected along the belt conveyor;
A passage having a passage side wall provided so as to extend in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the collection container by the belt conveyor by cutting out a part of the side wall;
A blower that blows only the empty container into the passage;
A first nozzle that blows air toward an upstream direction of the conveyance path,
When the empty container is blown off by the blower by the air blown by the first nozzle, the collection container and / or the empty container in the vicinity of the corner formed by intersecting the belt conveyor and the passage are collected. Wind sorter to suppress.   A second nozzle that chamfers a corner constituted by the side wall on the upstream side of the belt conveyor and the side wall of the belt conveyor, and blows along a chamfered wall formed by chamfering, into the path from the upstream side of the belt conveyor. The wind power sorter of Claim 1 provided so that it might ventilate in the direction to go.

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