Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B26—HAND CUTTING TOOLS; CUTTING; SEVERING
  • B26D—CUTTING; DETAILS COMMON TO MACHINES FOR PERFORATING, PUNCHING, CUTTING-OUT, STAMPING-OUT OR SEVERING
  • B26D3/00—Cutting work characterised by the nature of the cut made; Apparatus therefor
  • B26D3/003—Cutting work characterised by the nature of the cut made; Apparatus therefor specially adapted for cutting rubber
  • B26D3/005—Cutting work characterised by the nature of the cut made; Apparatus therefor specially adapted for cutting rubber for cutting used tyres
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B02—CRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING; PREPARATORY TREATMENT OF GRAIN FOR MILLING
  • B02C—CRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING IN GENERAL; MILLING GRAIN
  • B02C18/00—Disintegrating by knives or other cutting or tearing members which chop material into fragments
  • B02C18/0084—Disintegrating by knives or other cutting or tearing members which chop material into fragments specially adapted for disintegrating garbage, waste or sewage
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29B—PREPARATION OR PRETREATMENT OF THE MATERIAL TO BE SHAPED; MAKING GRANULES OR PREFORMS; RECOVERY OF PLASTICS OR OTHER CONSTITUENTS OF WASTE MATERIAL CONTAINING PLASTICS
  • B29B17/00—Recovery of plastics or other constituents of waste material containing plastics
  • B29B17/02—Separating plastics from other materials
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29B—PREPARATION OR PRETREATMENT OF THE MATERIAL TO BE SHAPED; MAKING GRANULES OR PREFORMS; RECOVERY OF PLASTICS OR OTHER CONSTITUENTS OF WASTE MATERIAL CONTAINING PLASTICS
  • B29B17/00—Recovery of plastics or other constituents of waste material containing plastics
  • B29B17/04—Disintegrating plastics, e.g. by milling
  • B29B2017/0424—Specific disintegrating techniques; devices therefor
  • B29B2017/0428—Jets of high pressure fluid
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29K—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES B29B, B29C OR B29D, RELATING TO MOULDING MATERIALS OR TO MATERIALS FOR MOULDS, REINFORCEMENTS, FILLERS OR PREFORMED PARTS, e.g. INSERTS
  • B29K2021/00—Use of unspecified rubbers as moulding material
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29K—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES B29B, B29C OR B29D, RELATING TO MOULDING MATERIALS OR TO MATERIALS FOR MOULDS, REINFORCEMENTS, FILLERS OR PREFORMED PARTS, e.g. INSERTS
  • B29K2105/00—Condition, form or state of moulded material or of the material to be shaped
  • B29K2105/26—Scrap or recycled material
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29K—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES B29B, B29C OR B29D, RELATING TO MOULDING MATERIALS OR TO MATERIALS FOR MOULDS, REINFORCEMENTS, FILLERS OR PREFORMED PARTS, e.g. INSERTS
  • B29K2705/00—Use of metals, their alloys or their compounds, for preformed parts, e.g. for inserts
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29K—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES B29B, B29C OR B29D, RELATING TO MOULDING MATERIALS OR TO MATERIALS FOR MOULDS, REINFORCEMENTS, FILLERS OR PREFORMED PARTS, e.g. INSERTS
  • B29K2705/00—Use of metals, their alloys or their compounds, for preformed parts, e.g. for inserts
  • B29K2705/08—Transition metals
  • B29K2705/12—Iron
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29L—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASS B29C, RELATING TO PARTICULAR ARTICLES
  • B29L2030/00—Pneumatic or solid tyres or parts thereof
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02W—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT
  • Y02W30/00—Technologies for solid waste management
  • Y02W30/50—Reuse, recycling or recovery technologies
  • Y02W30/62—Plastics recycling; Rubber recycling

Definitions

• This invention relates to a method of reclaiming rubber from vehicle tyres so that the rubber can be recycled in various forms and for many purposes.
• Burying of tyres in landfill has been used as a method of disposal, however, in view of the size, construction and flexibility of tyres, they result in the respective tyre beads being pressed together forming cavities in the landfill and are difficult to fill with soil or sand, and effectively compact during the landfill operation. Further, it has been found that in these situations the soil tends to settle more than the tyres and the latter may subsequently resurface. Further the alternative practice of burning of tyres as a fuel also presents an environmental problem in the nature of the resulting products of combustion and is relatively inefficient due to low thermal output. Also there is the problem of tyres incorporating non combustible components such as steel reinforcing wires or mesh, which present a further difficulty in the operation of combustion equipment.
• the reduction of the side walls to particle form may be effected mechanically such as by rotary knives or saws or by high pressure liquid jets, commonly referred to as ultra high pressure liquid cutting.
• This rubber where the presence of the particle reinforcement is not detrimental or can be advantageous.
• the radial dimension of the tyre sidewall varies with different size tyres and/or with tyres built for different purposes. Accordingly the most convenient manner of processing the sidewalls is to mount them for rotation about their axis, and to provide appropriate cutter arrangements or configurations to span the full radial width of the sidewall. For economic operation, it is desirable for the full width of the sidewall to be processed in a single rotation of the sidewall. However, it will be appreciated that there would be substantial differences in the peripheral speed across the radial extent of the sidewall with the radially inner portion rotating at a speed less than the radially outer portion of the sidewall.
• the cutters only be operated to process a width corresponding to the radial extent of the sidewall for the particular tyre size being processed.
• a method of reclaiming rubber from the sidewall of the vehicle tyre where said sidewall is in the form of an annulus comprising rotating the sidewall about the axis thereof and operating a plurality of cutter heads to reduce the rubber content of the sidewall to a particle form as the sidewall rotates on the axis thereof, said cutting heads being arranged so that each operates to reduce the sidewall to a particle form across a respective nominated portion of the radial extent of the sidewall, the number of cutting heads operating being selected to reduce the sidewall to particle form across the full radial extent of the sidewall.
• the above method has a wider application in reducing a substantially flat circular article to a particle form and thus there is also provided by the present invention a method of reducing a circular shaped article to a particle form comprising rotating said articles on the axis thereof, operating a plurality of cutting heads to each particularise a respective annular shaped portion of the article as the article rotates.
• each cutting head is moved in an cyclic oscillatory or circular motion across the respective annular shaped portions to effect the reduction to a particle form.
• the cycle speed of each cutting head is selected so that the average size of the particles produced by each cutter head is substantially the same.
• the respective cutting heads are operated at different speeds to take into account that the peripheral velocity of the radially inner portion of the sidewall is substantially less than the peripheral velocity at the radially outer portion of the sidewall.
• the particle size of the rubber removed from the radially outer portion of the sidewall would be substantially larger than the particle size of the rubber removed from the radially inner portion of the sidewall. Accordingly, by operating the respective cutting heads at different speeds which increase from the radially inner to the radially outer cutting head, in a proportion substantially similar to the difference in peripheral speed of the inner and outer sections of the sidewall, greater uniformity in the particle size of the rubber removed from the complete sidewall is achieved.
• each cutting head is subjected to an orbital movement, preferably in a circular path across a selected portion of the radial extent of the sidewall and the speed of oscillation of the respective cutting heads is appropriately increased from the radially inner head to the radially outer head.
• the speed variation is proportionally similar to the increase in the peripheral speed of the sidewall as it rotates on its axis. It is to be understood that each one of the cutting heads will operate over a radial extent of the sidewall and thus there will still be a degree of variation in particle size of the rubber removed by the inner portion of each cutter head relative to that produced by the radially outer portion of the same cutter head. However, by providing a plurality of cutter heads to span the full radial extent of the tyre, and operating the respective cutter heads at different speeds, the degree of variation in the particle size over the full width of the sidewall is substantially reduced.
• Figure 1 is a simplified plan view of. the tyre sidewall processing unit.
• Figure 2 is a more detailed view of the ultra high pressure cutting head assembly forming part of the processing unit seen in Figure 1.
• Figure 3 is a schematic representation of the three cutter units and the gear train driving same.
• the platform 10 has two sidewall support frames one of which is shown in detail at 11 and the other is shown in phantom outline at 11 a each being mounted on respective arms 12 and 12A. These arms are rigid with a vertical support 13 pivotally mounted on the platform 10 for rotation about a vertical axis.
• a tyre sidewall is mounted on the support frame 11 , when in the position as shown, and the support frame is subsequently rotated about the axis 13 into the position 1 1 A beneath the cutting head assembly 14.
• the rotation of the support frames between the loading and the processing stations can be effected by a suitable electric or hydraulic motor with, if necessary, appropriate intermediate gear mechanisms, or may be manually moved between the respective positions.
• each of the cutter heads operate over a respective portion of the radial extent of the tyre sidewall, as will be referred to later herein.
• An oscillatory movement of the respective cutting heads in the radial direction will result in there being a degree of overlap in respect of the sections of the radial width of the tyre treated by the respective cutter heads.
• Each of the three cutter head 18, 19 and 20, are mounted on a respective cutter head arms 15, 16 and 17 at one end thereof.
• Each of the arms 15, 16 and 17 is supported at the end opposite to the cutter head on the transmission box 14a mounted on the platform 10 for orbital movement about respective vertical axis coincident with the respective gears 27, 28 and 29.
• each cutter head arm is individually coupled in the same manner to the motor 35 and for cnvenience the coupling of the cutter head arm 15 will be described in detail.
• the gears 24 and 53 are each driven by gear 27 and hence rotate in the same direction.
• the eccentrics 21 and 21 a are respectively direct coupled to the gears 24 and 53, and the drive pins 60 and 61 of the eccentrics 21 and 21a are respectively received in spaced apertures in the cutter head arm 15. This arrangement results in the cutter head arm 15 being caused to orbit in a circular path in response to rotation of gear 27.
• the circular path has a radius equal to the degree of eccentricity of the pins 60 and 61 to the respective gears 24 and 53.
• the cutter head arms 16 and 17 will similarly be subjected to a circular orbital movement by the ecentrics 22 and 22a and 23 and 23a driven respectively by the gears 28 and 29 via the respective pairs of gears 25 and 54 and 26 and 55.
• the gears 27, 28 and 29 are rigidly mounted on respective shafts 30, 31 and 32.
• the shaft 31 and the gear 28 carried thereby are coupled to the motor 35 by the gears 33 and 34 while the shaft 30 is coupled through gears 40 and 41 to the gear 42 mounted on the shaft 31.
• the gear 42 is similarly coupled by gears 43 and 44 to the shaft 32.
• the eccentrics 22 and 22a and 23 and 23a each incorporate respective pins corresponding to pins 60 and 61 onthe eccentrics 21 and 21 a.
• the rate of orbiting of the respective arms 15, 16 and 17 is determined by the speed of the rotation of the shafts 30, 31 and 32 respectively.
• the arm 15 will orbit at the slower rate, arm 16 at a faster rate than 15 and arm 17 at a faster rate than arm 16.
• the arm 15 orbits at approximately 300 cycles per minute, the arm 16 at 400 cycles per minute and the arm 17 at 500 cycles per minute.
• This rate of increase of speed of the respective arms is approximately equal to the rate of increase of the peripheral speed of the tyre sidewall section as it is rotated about the axis of the platform 11.
• the rate of orbiting per unit of peripheral length of the sidewall passing beneath the respective cutter heads 18, 19 and 20 is maintained approximately equal or at least within a limited range, and hence the particle size into which the sidewall is broken down into is uniform within set limits.
• each of the cutter heads incorporates a plurality of nozzles 65 arranged in one or more rows across the length of the cutter head.
• High pressure liquid preferably water
• the high pressure fluid is provided to the respective heads by conduits extending internally through the arms 15, 16 and 17 which in turn are coupled by suitable flexible lines to the high pressure fluid source.
• the pressure of water as used for the cutting of tyre sidewalls is of the order of 2000 to 3000 bar.
• the cutter head 9 is positioned so that it will provide an additional cutting action in respect of the rubber covering the conventional bead wires of the tyre.
• This cutter head will also be subject to an orbiting movement by the end portion of the cutting head 18.
• the additional cutting capacity provided by the cutter head 9 is required to ensure all of the rubber is removed from the wire reinforcement.
• the apparatus as above described provides a particularly effective treatment of the sidewall of a tyre to recover the rubber thereof and the reinforcement fibre therein.
• the apparatus is versatile in being able to operate on a range of different width sidewalls effectively and economically due to the variability of the operating width of the apparatus. Further, the apparatus is able to maintain a degree of control over the particle size of the reclaimed rubber to limit the variation thereof without additional treatment.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Forests & Forestry (AREA)
• Food Science & Technology (AREA)
• Separation, Recovery Or Treatment Of Waste Materials Containing Plastics (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=3777186

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Cited By (6)

Citations (8)

• 1994
  • 1994-09-06 TW TW83108198A patent/TW277017B/zh active
  • 1994-09-06 WO PCT/AU1994/000526 patent/WO1995007146A1/en active Application Filing

Patent Citations (8)

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