JPH0829802B2 - Waste compactor - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to compactor systems, and more particularly to waste compactor systems for aircraft or space vehicles.

The handling of large amounts of waste material generated during flight of passenger transport aircraft has long existed as a major problem for service personnel in flight. The introduction of wide fuselage jet aircraft with extremely high passenger densities has exacerbated this problem not only from an in-service perspective, but also in flight safety. Conventional methods of waste handling for boarding passenger transport aircraft include cardboard boxes and plastic bags with waste pins or trucks that require large volume containment areas. Frequently, once the main debris storage area was filled, plastic bags or paper bags with plastic inserts were used to collect excess debris. These excess waste bins are often stored in the cooking area or washroom during flight, which makes them unusable for passengers and even behind the last row of passenger seats and even unnecessary passenger seats. Making it unusable. Not only are such cluttered bins looking unattractive, they can also introduce debris of a highly ignitable nature and debris into the vessel along with the debris. There is also a serious risk of fire. If overfilled containers are stored in the discharge area, they prevent or impede emergencies in emergencies, creating another safety hazard.

A typical 5 with empirically average passengers on a wide fuselage
Approximately 20 to 30 cubic feet of debris can occur during hourly flights (eg, Hawaii to Calif Orunia or transcontinental flights). On a longer transoceanic flight lasting as long as 15 hours, 80-120 cubic feet of debris will be generated by the large amount of food, snack and bar service provided.

The debris compactors currently used for residential purposes cannot handle the large amount of debris generated on board during a limited time for service in flight. It ’s power,
Neither the ability to save space nor the cycle time to fully meet in-flight service requirements.

For waste compactors used on aircraft, the compactors must be located in an easily accessible treatment location, such as the aircraft's kitchen or washroom, or the same as the food and drink trucks used on the aircraft. Or it must be mounted on a wheelbarrow of similar size. Therefore, such compactors must be relatively small, lightweight, and customized to fit into many suitable mounting locations on aircraft and spacecraft. Current commercial or industrial compactors require electrical power that is too large and too heavy for the purposes for which they are to be used, and is not normally used in aircraft.

The aircraft waste compactor described in copending application No. 635,141 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,479) represents a significant improvement over the prior art. One feature of this debris compactor that is of particular interest is the dual chamber debris compactor, i.e. the full container can be stored in the rear chamber. However, it has been found that the back panel of cardboard waste compactors is often insufficiently strong to withstand the packing pressure without tearing seams or the like.

Thus, there remains one need for dual chamber waste compactors to support the rear panel of the waste container during loading of the internal waste. The present invention satisfies this need.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is generally used for aircraft or spacecraft debris compactors, and more particularly for use in compacting debris within a debris container having a dual sized interior chamber disposed therein. And the other part relates to an improved waste compactor used to store or dispose of a filled waste container.

The waste compactor system of the present invention generally includes a housing having an interior elongated chamber having front and rear chambers suitable for containing a waste container. A reciprocating squeezing head or platen is provided in the upper part of the antechamber part and, when extended, pushes debris into a debris container located in the antechamber part. Means by which a movable support door or wall secures the support door or wall laterally across the width of the inner chamber so as to support the adjacent rear panel of the waste container in the front chamber during the waste pushing operation. Is located between the front and rear of the inner chamber. A device is also provided to move the door or wall supporting the rear panel of the waste compactor to an offset position such that the full waste container in the front chamber is pushed into the second chamber for storage or subsequent abandonment. To be done.

The movable support door is preferably attached to one of the side walls of the inner chamber that pushes the inner chamber into the front chamber and the rear chamber. The door swings into the second chamber to push the waste container, which has gathered from the first chamber into the second chamber, from the first chamber into the second chamber.

A latching device is provided for fixing the movable debris in a position transverse to this chamber, thereby partitioning the inner chamber into a front and a rear part. The latching device has a removal device assembly that can be actuated from the front of the debris compactor.

When the latching device is removed, the support door is pushed into the second chamber and at the same time the full waste bin is pushed into the rear chamber for storage or disposal. The empty waste container is then placed in the antechamber. The full waste bin in the rear chamber will support the rear panel of the waste bin located in the front chamber when the waste is packed therein.

In another embodiment, the rear compartment comprises a trough that directs the packed waste container pushed into the rear compartment to a storage area located below the floor supporting the waste compactor.
In this example, after dropping the gutter down the storage area and discarding the waste container, the support door was then positioned in the chamber and laterally fixed to this chamber and placed in the anterior chamber section. Provide support for the new waste container. This embodiment is of particular interest for wide fuselage aircraft with substantial space under the floor of the passenger compartment for storing such waste bins.

The present invention relates to a substantially improved debris compactor system, and more particularly to a debris compactor system where large amounts of debris occur, such as during long-haul transcontinental and transoceanic flights of wide fuselage jet aircraft. The above and other advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the figures, all corresponding parts are provided with the same reference numerals.

Detailed Description of the Embodiments An improved waste compactor system illustrating aspects of the present invention is shown in Figures 1-3. The scrap compactor 10 is generally a cabinet 11, a front door 12, and a scrap gutter 1 for dropping scraps into the compactor.
3 and a control panel 14 for actuating the compactor 10.

In particular, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the compactor 10
Has an elongated interior chamber 15 defined in part by opposed sidewalls 16 and 17, a rear wall 18, an interior surface 19 of the front door 12 and a floor 20. The inner chamber 15 includes a front chamber portion 21 in which waste is packed in a waste container 22 arranged therein by a compactor platen or a ram 23, and a rear chamber portion in which the waste waste container 22 is stored or sent. Including 24. The anterior chamber part 21 and the posterior chamber part 24 are separated by a movable support door or wall 25, which is kept in the anterior chamber part 21 by the compactor ram 23 while the debris is being pressed. Waste bins placed inside 22
Used to support the rear panel.

As shown in FIG. 3, the vertically arranged movable support door 25 is preferably rotatably mounted on the side wall 16 by means of a hinge 27, whereby the vertical direction of the hinge 27. The container 22 with the door closed is rotated around the axis to a position that does not interfere with the inside of the rear chamber 24, and the container 22 is closed.
Facilitates moving from 21 to rear chamber 24.

As shown in FIGS. 4 to 7, the latch device
A door 30 is provided for fixing the position of the movable support door 25 across the chamber 15 so that the door 25 supports the rear panel 26 of the waste bin 22 located in the first chamber. The latch device 30 is generally slidably mounted on the back side of the support door 25 by a bracket 32 and the sidewalls by a spring 33 and a collar 34.
Biased towards 17, i.e. towards the closed position, said spring and collar are fixed to the rod 31 to push the end 35 of the rod 31 into a recess 36 formed in the side wall 17. Rod
The opposite end 37 of 31 is connected to the lower crank by a crank pin 41.
Mounted rotationally on 40. The lower crank 40 is securely attached to the hinge pin 42 by a fixed pin 43 (shown in phantom in FIG. 7). The upper crank 44 is securely attached to the upper end of the hinge pin 42 in the same manner as the lower crank 40, but at an angle from the lower crank 40. The actuating arm 45 is connected by a crank pin 46 to the upper crank 44 at one end thereof.
A compactor rotatably coupled to the actuator assembly 47 at its opposite end by a coupling element 48.
Extends 10 forwards.

As shown in more detail in FIGS. 5 and 6, the actuator assembly 47 is generally generally rotationally connected at one end thereof to a connecting element 48 mounted to the housing 50 and the operating arm 45. Includes L-shaped handle 51. A column 52 is rotationally connected at one end to the center of the L-shaped handle 51 and at the other end to a bottom element 53 within the housing 50. As shown in phantom in FIG. 6, by pulling up on the actuating end 54 of the L-shaped handle 51, the upper crank 41 is rotated clockwise by the movement of the forward arm 45 of the compactor 10. Then, the hinge pin 42 and the lower crank 40 attached thereto are rotated clockwise.

When the lower crank 40 rotates clockwise, the latch pin or rod 31 is pulled toward the perimeter 55 of the support door 25, thereby removing the end of the rod 31 from the recess formed in the side wall 17.
35 is removed, thereby releasing the support door 25 from its fixed lateral position, which allows it to rotate freely about the axis of the hinge pin 42. Therefore, the wall 25 is easily pushed to an unobstructed position in the rear chamber portion 24 by pushing the waste container 22 in the front chamber portion 21 which is filled up into the second chamber.

However, pending patent application No. 781,39 filed September 20, 1985.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,623, the hydraulically movable side wall panel 56 of the anterior chamber portion 21 is provided before the full container 22 is pushed into the posterior chamber portion 24. container
It is actuated to release the frictional engagement between the side wall panel 56 and the adjacent side panel 57 that was constructed during debris compaction.

To operate the debris packing system of the present invention, the front door 12 of the compactor 10 is opened and the movable support door 25 pushes the end 35 of the rod 31 into the receiving recess 36 to form the side walls 16 and 17. It is hung on the position that crosses the inner chamber 15 perpendicular to
Thereby, the position of the support door 25 is fixed. Empty waste container 22
Is placed in the front chamber 21 of the waste compactor 10, and then the front door
12 is closed. A waste container in which the side wall 17 and the side wall panel 57, the inside of the door 12, and the movable support door 25 are arranged in the first chamber.
Since it supports the four side panels of 22, it does not damage the container 22 during the packing of debris therein.

The debris is discharged into the container 22 through the open gutter 13 as shown in FIG. When the container 22 is properly filled with debris, the compactor 10 is actuated by pressing a push button or switch 60 located on the control panel 14,
Begin pressing the compactor platen or ram 23 into the container 22.

Upon completion of the jamming stroke, the arm 23 is automatically retracted from the container 22 to its starting position above the anteroom 21, as shown in FIG. 3, thereby reopening another debris. It is discharged into the waste container 22 through the gutter 13. After several successive squeezing operations, the container 22 is substantially filled with squeezed debris and needs to be replaced.

In order to replace the used waste container in the front chamber part 21, the front door 12
When the lever is opened and the operating end 54 of the L-shaped handle 51 is lifted upward, the latch mechanism 30 is disengaged, and the movable support door 25 can freely rotate to a position in the rear chamber portion 24 that does not interfere. As a result, the waste container 22 that has gathered together is pushed into the rear chamber portion 24 at the same time. Then, a new empty container 22 is placed in the front chamber portion 21, the front door 12 is closed, and the waste is discharged into the container 22 again as described above. The front upright panel 61 of the full scrap container 22 in the rear chamber part 24, like the door 25, supports the rear panel 26 of the empty waste container arranged in the front chamber part 21.

Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.
A gutter 62 is provided in the rear room 24 that leads to a storage area (not shown) below the floor 63 of the passenger compartment of the aircraft. The gutter 62 replaces the waste container 22 that has been pushed into the rear chamber 24 with the waste compactor 10
And slide downward into the storage area below the floor 63 supporting the. A drop door 63 is provided on the floor of the rear compartment 24 to support the container 22 in the rear compartment 24 until it is desired to drop the container into the gutter 62. This embodiment is particularly desirable for large, wide fuselage aircraft with a fairly large space below the floor of the passenger compartment. This embodiment can also reduce the number of waste compactors required on each aircraft.

For more information about the ram 23, the hydraulic system that drives the ram 23, and its controls, see pending patent application No. 781,391, filed September 20, 1985, assigned to the assignee of the present invention (US Pat. No. 4,700,623). No.). Further details of suitable box constructions are described in pending patent application 868,131 filed May 28, 1986 (US Pat. No. 4,711,390) assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Both of these applications are fully referenced herein.

Obviously, various modifications can be made to the present invention. For example, the rear wall of the compactor may be provided with a door for taking out the waste container. Further, the movable door or wall that supports the rear panel of the container in the front chamber can have various configurations. For example, the partially constructed wall can be slidably supported in a groove provided along the side wall of the inner chamber, or it can be moved upwardly to an unobtrusive position. Other modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a perspective view of a waste packing system showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the waste compactor shown in FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the waste compactor taken along the line 3-3 in FIG. 2, the front door is closed, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a support door and a mechanism for operating the support door disposed in the interior chamber of the waste compactor for supporting the rear panel of the waste container disposed in the front chamber, and FIG. 5 is shown in FIG. In the rear view of the door, adjacent walls and floor are shown in phantom, FIG. 6 is a partial side view of the actuation mechanism of the latch system shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a top view of the support door shown in FIG. 3 taken along line 7-7, and FIG. 8 is a plan view taken along line 8-8 in FIG. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment in which the scrap container is placed in the rear chamber part and the empty waste container is arranged in the first chamber part. A gutter is provided in the rear compartment for feeding to the storage area. Reference numeral 10 in the figure, compactor, 11 ... cabinet, 12 ... floor 13 ... waste gutter, 14 ... control panel, 15 ... inner chamber, 16 ... side wall, 17 ... side wall, 18 ... … Rear wall, 19 …… Inside surface, 20 …… Floor, 21 …… Front chamber, 22 …… Scrap container, 23 …… Compactor platen, 24 …… Rear chamber, 25 …… Support door, 26 …… Rear panel, 27 ... Hinge, 30 ... Latch device, 31 ... Latch pin, 32 ... Bracket, 33 ... Spring, 34 ... Collar, 35 ... Pin end, 36 ... Recess, 37 ... Pin end, 40 …… lower crank, 41 …… crank pin, 42 …… hinge pin, 43 …… fixing pin, 44 …… upper crank, 45 …… arm, 46 …… crank pin, 47 …… actuator Assembly, 48 ... Connecting element, 50 ... Housing, 51 ... Handle, 52 ... Strut, 53 ... Bottom element, 54 ... Working end, 55 ... Perimeter, 56 ... Side wall panel, 57 ... Side panels, 60 ...... start button, 61 ...... front upright panel 62 ...... gutter, 63 ...... drop door, showing a 64 ...... bed.

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A housing having an inner chamber having a front chamber part and a rear chamber part for accommodating a waste container, b. A device for discharging waste in a waste container arranged in the front chamber part, c. A reciprocating squeezing platen that can be extended downwards into a waste container that is placed in the front chamber to internally clamp the waste, d. Laterally placed in the inner chamber between the front and rear chambers A movable support door, e. A device for fixing the lateral position of the movable support wall between the front chamber and the rear chamber in order to facilitate the support of the rear panel of the waste container arranged in the front chamber, f. To allow the waste container in the front chamber to move into the rear chamber,
A scrap compactor that includes a device that moves a movable door out of its fixed sideways position out of the way. 2. The waste compactor according to claim 1, further comprising a latch device for fixing the lateral position of the movable support wall. 3. A waste compactor according to claim 2 including a device for releasing the latch device to move the movable support wall out of the way. 4. The waste compactor according to claim 2, wherein a lateral periphery of the movable support wall is hingedly connected to a side wall of the inner chamber between the front chamber portion and the rear chamber portion. 5. The debris as claimed in claim 4, wherein the movable support wall has a device for latching the hingedly connected lateral peripheries and the opposed lateral peripheries of the adjacent side walls of the inner chamber. Compactor. 6. The waste compactor according to claim 3, wherein the device for releasing the latch device is arranged in front of the waste compactor. 7. A hinged connection between the movable support wall and the side wall including one or more hinges with a common hinge pin, further comprising a latching device fixed to the upper end of the hinge pin, an upper crank, below the hinge pin. One or more lower cranks fixed to the part,
A latch pin slidably mounted on the support wall and rotationally connected to the lower crank, a bias for pushing the latch pin toward a recess formed in the side wall facing the side wall to which the support wall is hingedly connected. The debris compactor of claim 5 including a device and an actuation arm rotationally connected at one end to the upper crank and at the other end to an actuator assembly. 8. An actuator assembly having an L-shaped handle rotatably connected at one end to the other end of the arm, and a central portion of the L-shaped handle at one end and a connecting element in the housing at the other end. The waste compactor of claim 7 including rotatably connected struts. 9. The rear chamber section is provided with a gutter for orienting the waste container moved into the rear chamber section in a storage area below the level of the surface supporting the compactor.
The waste compactor described in the item. 10. A patent configured such that the rear chamber portion has a drop door on its floor, whereby the drop door is opened to support the waste container thereon until it slides into the gutter. The waste compactor according to claim 9.