JP4952695B2 - Label separator for plastic containers - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a label separating apparatus for a plastic container, and more particularly to an apparatus for crushing a plastic container such as a PET bottle and separating a label attached to the plastic container.

Recycled materials for PET bottles used for soft drinks, etc. have excellent properties as recycled materials. Different materials are printed with labels.
Used PET bottles are separated and collected by local governments, etc., and PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and labels on PET bottles are separated to recycle and promote the use of raw materials such as fibers. ing. In addition, the use of recycled PET bottles as raw materials has been promoted.

Used PET bottles collected as resource waste are collected in a randomly compressed state so that the volume does not become bulky, but in that, paper and plastic labels are mixed with the container body, and PET In order to effectively recycle bottles, it is necessary to separate these different substances such as labels.
Conventionally, separation of labels and the like has been performed manually using a cutter knife or the like, and therefore, a tremendous amount of time is required, and those whose shape has been extremely deformed by compression must be incinerated. For mechanized ones, a method of crushing PET bottles and separating them by wind separation is performed, but this also has a problem of poor efficiency and low sorting.
JP 2005-254467 A

  The present invention has been made to solve such drawbacks, and an object thereof is to provide an apparatus capable of efficiently separating a label from a used plastic container and recovering a high-purity plastic material.

  The present invention includes a main body provided with an input port for introducing a plastic container, a plastic container fragment discharge port for discharging a crushed plastic container, a label discharge port for discharging a peeled label, Label separation of a plastic container that is provided with a rotary blade that is radially installed around a rotation axis and crushes the plastic container by a rotational movement, and a fixed blade that is arranged so as not to interfere with the rotary blade In the apparatus, a propeller-type rotary blade that is mounted under the fixed blade at the lowermost part of the rotating shaft and crushes the plastic container and generates a spiral updraft on the inner peripheral surface of the main body, and near the plastic container crushed piece discharge port The label mixed in the plastic container fragment discharge flow is collected from the provided label suction port, and the label is loaded. A label returning device for returning to the mouth, a conical label separating cylinder at the top of the main body for separating the label and guiding the separated label to the label discharge port, the rotary blade and the propeller-type rotary blade A spiral label guide plate that efficiently guides the rotating upward flow including the label caused by the above to the upper part of the main body, and a conical baffle for preventing the plastic container fragment from entering the discharge label. The inner surface of the outer shell of the main body is covered with a replaceable lining.

  The label returning device includes a label suction port for returning a label sent in the direction of the plastic container crushed piece discharge port together with the plastic container crushed piece, and a label suction blower provided near the label suction port. And a return pipe and a return port for returning the label recovered by the label suction blower to the input port.

  The label guide plate includes a first spiral plate for guiding a rotating upward flow including the label caused by the rotary blade and the propeller-type rotary blade to the upper part of the main body, and the label guided to the upper part of the main body. And a second spiral plate for continuously guiding the rotating upward flow to the upper first blower.

According to the present invention, even when plastic containers such as PET bottles having various shapes that are compressed indiscriminately and are extremely deformed are mixed and charged, a label separation degree exceeding 95%, for example, can be obtained at the time of primary crushing. Thus, a plastic material such as a high-purity PET material can be recovered through a post process.
Further, since the pulverizing and separating mechanism for the plastic container such as a PET bottle is housed in the main body, the plastic container and the label to be crushed are not scattered around, and a safe and efficient operation is possible.

  The plastic container label separating apparatus of the present invention separates a commercially available plastic container body such as a PET bottle from a label attached to it and printed with the contents, the manufacturer's display, or the product name. It is a device that can be recovered. Hereinafter, a PET bottle with a label attached is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and even if containers having different purposes and uses have various shapes or configurations, It can be applied to anything.

Collected PET bottles are generally divided into those that are compressed and packaged and distributed to processors, and those that are generally distributed in a round shape. In both cases, PET bottles with labels attached In order to obtain a high-purity PET component, it is important to separate the label at the initial stage of recycling.
The plastic container label separating apparatus according to the present invention crushes the plastic container with the rotating blade 6 rotating at high speed, and separates the plastic container (PET) and the label by crushing.
The label separated from the PET rides on the spiral rising air flow inside the main body caused by the propeller-type rotary blade 14 provided at the lowermost part of the rotary shaft 5 at the center of the main body 23 shown in FIG. Then, it is discharged to the outside of the main body by the first blower 10 at the top of the main body.

On the other hand, since PET has a higher specific gravity than the label, the plastic container crushed piece discharge port 3 is not affected by the spiral ascending current generated on the inner wall surface of the main body 23 and falls to the lower portion of the main body 23 and is caused by the centrifugal force of the rotary blade generated at the lower portion of the main body 23 Is discharged to the outside.
At this time, the partially mixed label is sucked by the second blower 24 for sucking the label provided in the vicinity of the plastic container crushed piece discharge port 3, is returned to the return port 26 through the return pipe 25, and is again returned to the input port 2. It is thrown.
The flow of air at the plastic container crushed piece discharge port 3 is in the direction of sucking into the main body 23 in order to compensate for the rising air flow generated by the propeller-type rotary blade 14. This flow pulls the label into the main body 23 and makes the separation of the label more efficient.

  The plastic container label separating apparatus according to the present invention is a plastic container crusher that discharges a PET bottle into which a PET bottle with a label attached is inserted into a cylindrical main body 23, and a PET bottle that has been crushed after the label is removed. A single discharge port 3 and a label discharge port 4 for discharging the label peeled from the PET bottle are provided. The inlet 2 for feeding the PET bottle with the label attached and the label outlet 4 for discharging the peeled label are provided above the center of the main body 23, and the plastic container fragment discharge for discharging the crushed PET bottle is provided. The outlet 3 is provided below the main body 23.

Inside the main body 23, there are a plurality of rotary blades 6 mounted above the lowermost propeller-type rotary blade 14, which are radially mounted around the rotary shaft 5, and the main body so as not to interfere with the propeller-type rotary blade 14. 23 is provided with a fixed blade 7 also serving as a baffle plate disposed on the inner peripheral portion of the outer shell 23, and the propeller-type rotary blade 14, the rotary blade 6, and the fixed blade 7 are used to crush the PET bottle. The fixed blade 7 is provided so as to sandwich the tip portion of the rotary blade 6 from above and below, but is disposed so as not to interfere with each other.
In the plastic container label separating apparatus of the present invention, the propeller-type rotary blade 14, the rotary blade 6, and the fixed blade 7 are effectively acted to peel the label from the PET bottle. That is, the PET bottle is crushed by the rotary blade 6, and the PET bottle is also crushed well by sandwiching the PET bottle between the rotary blade 6 and the fixed blade 7, and the labels are peeled off. Is possible.

The propeller-type rotary blade 14 has a pair of propeller-type rotary blades mounted around the rotary shaft 5 at the lowermost part of the rotary shaft 5, and when the propeller-type rotary blade 14 is rotated around the rotary shaft 5, It is possible to efficiently generate an updraft accompanied by a vortex from the bottom of the main body 23 upward.
The propeller-type rotary blade 14 has a function of further finely crushing a PET bottle that has not been sufficiently crushed by the rotary blade 6 installed above and efficiently generating an air flow. That is, the rotary blade functions to crush the PET bottle and also has a function of generating an updraft accompanied by a vortex.
Part of the air that is the source of this updraft is supplied from a plastic container fragment discharge port 3 provided at the lower part of the main body. That is, a suction airflow is generated at the plastic container crushed piece discharge port 3 and most of the labels having a low specific gravity are lifted by a spiral updraft on the inner peripheral surface of the main body 23. On the other hand, PET has a large specific gravity and cannot take up the rising air current, and is discharged to the plastic container fragment discharge port 3 by the wind pressure of the propeller type rotary blade 14 and the rotary blade 6 provided at the lower part of the main body and the impact at the time of contact. The supply of the updraft also occurs from the upper inlet 2.

A plurality of rotary blades 6 are preferably provided along the longitudinal direction of the rotary shaft 5, and are attached in multiple stages so as to cross each other.
The cross-sectional shape of the rotary blade 6 does not necessarily need to have a sharp edge at the end, and is configured in a bar shape, flat plate shape, or the like, with an appropriate gap so that the crushed PET bottle falls. Anything is acceptable. It may be twisted like a propeller in order to generate airflow by rotation. The shape of the fixed blade 7 fixed to the inner wall of the main body 23 is not particularly limited as long as the fixed blade 7 is arranged so as not to interfere with the rotary blade 6 like the rotary blade 6. Various shapes such as a rectangular shape and a conical shape are available. It can be. In order to pinch and crush the PET bottle between the rotary blade 6 and the fixed blade 7, fine protrusions may be formed on the surface of the PET bottle. It is preferable to make it difficult to slip.

On the upper part of the rotary blade 6, a reflecting plate 21 is installed to prevent the PET bottle introduced from the inlet 2 from hitting the rotary blade 6 and directly jumping into the second spiral plate 20 due to the reaction.
A first spiral plate 19, which is a guide plate made of a spiral thin plate, is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the main body 23 above the uppermost portion of the rotary blade 6, and the first spiral plate 19 is further provided. A frustoconical label separation cylinder 11 is mounted on the upper part, and the first blower 10 and the label discharge port 4 are attached on the label separation cylinder 11. A frustoconical baffle cylinder 22 similar to the label separation cylinder 11 is installed inside the label separation cylinder 11, and a second spiral plate 20 made of a spiral thin plate is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the label separation cylinder 11. Is provided. The first spiral plate 19 and the second spiral plate 20 are labels that are raised by the propeller-type rotary blade 14 and the rotary blade 6 together with the truncated cone-shaped baffle cylinder 22 and riding on the spiral updraft on the inner peripheral surface of the main body. It efficiently guides to the first blower 10 at the top of the main body 23 without rotating around the same circumference.

The baffle cylinder 22 provided inside the conical label separation cylinder 11 extends downward in a skirt shape, and its outer diameter has an interval of 10 mm to 70 mm from the inner diameter of the label separation cylinder 11.
This prevents a large piece of the PET bottle bounced up by the rotary blade 6 inside the main body 23 from entering the gap between the conical label separating cylinder 11 and the baffle cylinder 22 and allows the label to freely pass through this gap. It is for doing so.
A part of the PET bottle with a side of about 70 mm or less rises in the gap between the conical label separating cylinder 11 and the baffle cylinder 22 together with the label. This PET bottle small piece is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the conical label separating cylinder 11. In the process of ascending while moving in a spiral motion, the turning radius is narrowed, and the rising wind of the spiral is adjusted so that it falls with the weight of the PET bottle piece.

  The rotating air in the conical label separating cylinder 11 is generated by the rotation of the rotating blade 6 in the cylinder 23 of the main body, and the rising air is generated by the rotation of the propeller-type rotating blade 14. This is done by adjusting the twist angle and length. The balance between the rotating wind and the rising wind makes it possible to sort the PET bottle small pieces and labels with the wind. The PET bottle pieces that have fallen are returned to the cylinder portion of the main body 23 through a pit provided in the skirt portion of the baffle tube 22. At this time, the installation position of the pit is on the opposite side where the rotating shaft fixing support beam in the cylinder of the main body 23 receives the rotating air.

  At this position, it is a descending vortex against the ascending wind generated on the inner peripheral surface of the main body 23, and the PET bottle small piece easily falls. The PET bottle small piece falls while rotating on the skirt of the baffle cylinder 22, reaches the pit, and falls from here. The PET bottle pieces that have fallen fall on the descending airflow that passes through the center of the rotation axis in the main body 23, and rise again on the inner wall surface of the main body 23 and are guided into the conical label separating cylinder 11 to blow the blower together with the label. Although there is a thing discharged after that, the PET bottle rising again on the inner wall surface of the main body 23 is about 1% or less of the whole PET bottle.

The label peeled off in the cylinder of the main body 23 is blown up into the upper conical label separating cylinder 11 by the spiral wind rising on the inner wall surface of the main body 23. However, some of the labels peeled off by the lower rotary blade 6 and the propeller type rotary blade 14 are made of plastic together with the PET bottle pieces by the centrifugal wind caused by the lower rotary blade 6 and the propeller type rotary blade 14 below the rotary shaft. It is pushed out in the direction of the container fragment discharge port 3.
The label pushed out together with the PET bottle piece to the plastic container fragment discharge port 3 is sucked up by the label suction port 28 and the second blower provided in the vicinity of the plastic container fragment discharge port 3 and then returned to the return port 25 through the return pipe 25. 26 and is reintroduced from the input port 2 together with the collected PET bottle.
At this time, some PET bottle pieces are also mixed in, but can be re-separated by re-introducing from the inlet 2.

A rubber slit plate 27 is provided in the return port 26 and the input port 2 in order to efficiently input the label sucked up by the second blower 24 and returned to the return port 26 and a part of the PET bottle into the input port 2. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the label returned by the wind force from being scattered outside the insertion port 2.
The airflow at the plastic container crushed piece discharge port 3 is entirely sucked into the main body 23, and most of the label pieces pushed out by the centrifugal wind return to the inside of the main body 23, but some of them are crushed. Since there is something that is likely to be discharged from the plastic container fragment discharge port 3 together with the PET bottle fragment, it is sucked up by the second blower 24.

  The suction force of the first blower 10 is determined by the interaction with the rotating rising wind generated by the propeller-type rotary blade 14, and the air inlet is large in the opening portion of the inlet 2 at the middle portion thereof, and the inflow air from here Is directly supplied to the first blower 10, it leads to the weakening of the rotational rising air caused by the propeller-type rotary blade 14. In order to prevent this, a slit plate 27 capable of preventing (decreasing) air inflow while inserting a collected PET bottle is provided.

In this plastic container label separating apparatus, PET bottle fragments cause wear of the rotary blade 6, the propeller-type rotary blade 14, the fixed blade 7 and the inner wall of the main body 23 when the PET bottle is crushed.
In a conventional plastic container label separating apparatus, the rotating blade and the fixed blade can be attached and detached with bolts and can be replaced at any time. However, even if the main body is worn, it is difficult to replace it. As a result, there were cases where a hole was formed in the main body within a few years, making it unusable as a whole.
In the plastic container label separating apparatus according to the present invention, the lining plate 29 can be attached to and detached from the inner wall of the main body 23 with bolts 30 and 31 as means for improving the life of the main body 23. The configuration of the lining plate 29 is a small division method in consideration of replacement work in a narrow space when the lining plate 29 is replaced.
As shown in FIG. 2, for example, a method of dividing the inner wall surface into seven parts in the circumferential direction and two parts in the vertical direction is conceivable. Thus, the lining plate is provided with two rows of mounting holes in the circumferential direction, one of which shares the fixed blade 7 mounting hole, the other is provided with a screw hole in the lining plate 29, and the body 23 has a through hole. One side of the lining plate is pulled from the outer side of the provided main body 23 with the bolt 31 for fixing the lining plate 29, and is firmly fixed to the inner side of the main body.

Bolt through holes for attaching the fixed blade 7 are provided on the inner wall surface of the main body 23, and one of the lining plates 29 is fixed by utilizing the bolt holes. The fixed blade 7 is provided with two screw holes in each of the two locations, thereby making it possible to obtain a strong tight fixing force. Further, the other fixed side is threaded to the lining plate 29 and is bolted from the outside of the main body, so even if the lining plate 29 is worn and thinned, there is no scattering of foreign matter inside the main body 23 and high purity. It becomes possible to continue supplying the PET material.
The standard of replacement due to wear of the lining plate is desirably a time not exceeding about 1/2 of the initial plate thickness.
The main consumable members of the label separating apparatus for plastic containers according to the present invention are the rotary blade 6, the propeller-type rotary blade 14, the fixed blade 7 and the inner peripheral surface portion of the main body 23, and the service life can be remarkably improved by the above measures.
In one embodiment of the plastic container label separating apparatus of the present invention, the outer diameter of the main body 23 is 1000 mm, the height is 3000 mm, and a PET bottle treatment of 500 kg / h is possible.

Hereinafter, a label separating process in the plastic container label separating apparatus according to the present invention will be described.
The PET bottle introduced from the introduction port 2 collides with the rotary blade 6 and rotates, and scatters toward the inner peripheral wall of the main body 23 due to the accompanying centrifugal force. The fixed blade 7 provided on the inner peripheral wall of the main body 23, together with the rotary blade 6 and the propeller-type rotary blade 14, crushes the PET bottle blown to the inner peripheral wall by centrifugal force to separate the labels and the PET bottle. The peeled labels are floated without falling due to the airflow generated by the rotation of the rotary blade 6 or the propeller-type rotary blade 14, are gathered upward along the airflow, and are discharged from the label discharge port 4.

The label discharge port 4 may be disposed at the tip of a connecting pipe connected to the main body 23 so as to discharge the label from the inside to the outside of the main body 23. By providing an auxiliary blower in the middle of the connecting pipe, it is possible to more efficiently generate an airflow that flows from the inner side to the outer side of the main body 23, and it is possible to further promote the discharge of labels.
On the other hand, the crushed PET bottle falls without being floated by the air current in the main body 23 due to its weight. By providing a plurality of stages of rotating blades 6 along the longitudinal direction of the rotating shaft 5, the PET bottles are subjected to the action of the rotating blades 6 and the fixed blades 7 several times while falling, and the crushing proceeds more reliably. And the PET bottle are separated. As a result, the label can be reliably removed even in a PET bottle that has been extremely compressed and deformed. The PET bottle from which the label has been peeled is discharged from a plastic container fragment discharge port 3 provided below the main body 23.

  As described above, according to the apparatus for separating plastic containers of the present invention, it is possible to perform wind selection by crushing and airflow in the main body 23 using the rotary motion of the rotary blade, and the main body 23 is provided. From two different outlets, it is possible to separate and collect a container body such as a PET bottle and labels attached thereto.

It is the longitudinal cross-sectional view and side view of the label separation apparatus of the plastic container which concern on this invention. It is a figure which shows the lining board attachment condition of the label separation apparatus of the plastic container which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the lining board attachment condition of the label separation apparatus of the plastic container which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Stand 2 Input port 3 Plastic container crushing piece discharge port 4 Label discharge port 5 Rotating shaft 6 Rotating blade 7 Fixed blade 8 Bottom plate 9 Connecting pipe 10 1st blower 11 Label separation cylinder 12 Main motor 13 Introducing path 14 Propeller type rotating blade 15 1st fixed quantity motor 16 2nd fixed quantity motor 17 pressure plate 18 3rd discharge port 19 1st spiral board 20 2nd spiral board 21 reflector 22 baffle cylinder 23 body 24 2nd blower 25 return pipe 26 return slot 27 slit board 28 label Suction port 29 Inner plate 30 Bolt for fixing fixed blade 31 Bolt for fixing inner plate

Claims (4)

A main body provided with an input port for inserting the plastic container, a plastic container fragment discharge port for discharging the crushed plastic container, and a label discharge port for discharging the peeled label; In the label separating apparatus for a plastic container provided with a rotary blade that is radially mounted around the rotation axis and crushes the plastic container by a rotational movement, and a fixed blade that is arranged so as not to interfere with the rotary blade,
A propeller-type rotary blade that is mounted under the fixed blade at the bottom of the rotary shaft and crushes the plastic container and generates a spiral updraft on the inner peripheral surface of the main body,
A label return device for recovering the label mixed in the plastic container fragment discharge flow and returning the label to the input port from the label suction port provided in the vicinity of the plastic container fragment discharge port;
A conical label separating cylinder at the top of the body for separating the label and guiding the separated label to the label outlet;
A spiral label guide plate for efficiently guiding a rotating upward flow including the label caused by the rotary blade and the propeller-type rotary blade to the upper part of the main body;
A conical baffle for preventing contamination of the plastic label into the discharge label;
A label separation apparatus for plastic containers, comprising:   The label separating apparatus for a plastic container according to claim 1, wherein the inner surface of the outer shell of the main body is covered with a replaceable lining. The label returning device is a label suction port for returning a label sent in the direction of the plastic container crushed piece discharge port together with the plastic container crushed piece to the inlet again,
A label suction blower provided near the label suction port;
2. The label separating apparatus for a plastic container according to claim 1, comprising a return pipe and a return port for returning the label collected by the label suction blower to the input port. The label guide plate includes a first spiral plate for guiding a rotating upward flow including the label caused by the rotary blade and the propeller-type rotary blade to the upper part of the main body,
2. The label separation of a plastic container according to claim 1, further comprising: a second spiral plate that continuously guides the rotating upward flow including the label guided to the upper part of the main body to the first blower at the upper part. 3. apparatus.

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