WO2000076820A1

WO2000076820A1 - Materials handling system

Info

Publication number: WO2000076820A1
Application number: PCT/AU2000/000646
Authority: WO
Inventors: Laurence Michael Byrne
Original assignee: Laurence Michael Byrne
Priority date: 1999-06-09
Filing date: 2000-06-08
Publication date: 2000-12-21
Also published as: TW474875B

Abstract

A rail car (17) having a chassis (12) adapted to travel on a track (13); A longitudinal extending container (6) for compacted material, the container (6) having a closeable opening (11) for loading or unloading material through at least one longitudinal end thereof, and means to enable interconnected displacement of the container (6) relative to the chassis (12) to permit in situ loading via the closeable opening (11); a loading means (4) at a material collection point for loading material into the container (6) through the opening (11); a track (13) for the rail car (7) extending from the collection point to a remote distribution point; and an unloading means (15) at the distribution point for unloading material from the container (6) through the opening (11); wherein, The container (6) is displaced relative to the chassis (12) to operatively engage the loading means (4) and again when unloading the material.

Description

MATERIALS HANDLING SYSTEM FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system for handling materials and in particular an environmentally sensitive system for economically transporting metropolitan waste to land fill sites.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Metropolitan waste includes household garbage and the like. Its collection and disposal is a major expense for municipal councils. Typically, garbage trucks will periodically collect household garbage from the kerb side. When the truck is full, it will normally take the garbage to a transfer station. At the transfer station the garbage may be sorted to separate out any recyclables. The remaining refuse is crushed or baled in a compactor. The compressed refuse is then loaded into containers for transport to a land fill site by a semitrailer.

With the rapid growth of cities, the volume of metropolitan waste is increasing. Furthermore, there is an increasing tendency to move the land fill sites further from urbanised centres. This has required a proportional increase in the number of garbage trucks and regional transfer stations. However, the cost to municipal councils is increasing disproportionately relative to the increase in the number of rate payers as more heavy haulage trucks are required to transport the refuse the greater distance from the transfer station to the land fill site. This also involves greater indirect costs through the increased heavy haulage using the public road system.

In an attempt to address this, some regional transfer stations have balers or compactors that can directly engage the end of a container on the back of a semitrailer. Metropolitan waste from the garbage trucks is fed to the hoppers above the compactors which compress the refuse directly into the container on the truck thereby removing the

intermediate step of loading the compressed refuse into the heavy haulage truck.

However in order to withstand the forces and pressures generated by the compressor, the

container on the truck must be fabricated from relatively thick steel. This significantly

increases the weight of the container and therefore to keep the load within the maximum permissible limit for public road usage, the containers must be relatively small.

Accordingly, the volume of refuse transported is compromised. Large containers can be

used if the trucks do not have to travel over public roads however this is not practical

when the land fill site is a large distance from the transfer station.

One attempt to address this involves transferring large containers of compressed

refuse from the back of heavy haulage trucks onto rail cars which have much greater

weight limits. The container can then be transported by rail to a point at or near the land

fill site where it can be loaded back onto a heavy haulage truck and emptied into the land

fill. This increases the volume of refuse in each container and takes the heavy haulage

trucks off public roads, however transferring the containers from the trucks to the rail

cars and then from the rail cars back to the trucks is time consuming and labour

intensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or ameliorate one of the problems of the prior art or at least provide a useful alternative.

Accordingly, in a first aspect the present invention provides a rail car including:

a chassis adapted to travel on a track; a longitudinally extending container for compacted refuse material, the container

having a closeable opening for loading or unloading material through at least one

longitudinal end thereof; and

means to enable interconnected displacement of the container relative to the chassis to permit in situ loading via the closeable opening.

In a second aspect the present invention provides a materials handling system including:

a rail car having a chassis adapted to travel on a track;

a longitudinally extending container for compacted material, the container having a closeable opening for loading or unloading material through at least one longitudinal end

thereof, and means to enable interconnected displacement of the container relative to the

chassis to permit in situ loading via the closeable opening;

a loading means at a materials collection point for loading material into the container through the opening;

a track for the rail car extending from the collection point to a remote distribution

point; and

an unloading means at the distribution point for unloading material from the

container through the opening; wherein,

the container is displaced relative to the chassis to operatively engage the loading

means and again displaced when unloading the material.

In a third aspect the present invention provides a method of transporting material

between a collection point and a distribution point by rail using a rail car having: a chassis adapted to travel on a track; a longitudinally extending container having a closeable opening for loading or

unloading material through at least one longitudinal end thereof; and

means to permit interconnected displacement of the container relative to the chassis to permit in situ loading via the closeable opening, said method including:

providing loading means at the collection point;

displacing the container relative to the chassis to operatively engage the loading

means and loading material through the opening;

returning the container to its original position relative to the chassis and transporting the rail car along the track to the distribution point;

providing an unloading means at the distribution point; and

displacing the container relative to the chassis to operatively engage the unloading

means and unloading the material.

In one preferred form, the means to enable interconnected displacement of the

container relative to the chassis is a bearing between the container and the chassis such

that the container is selectively rotatable relative to the chassis. In another preferred

form, the material is loaded and unloaded through the closeable opening.

Preferably the material is metropolitan waste and the collection point is a regional transfer station wherein the loading means includes a compactor for compressing the

waste. In this form stabilising means are provided to support and stabilise the rail car

against forced generated by the compactor.

In a further preferred form, the distribution point is adjacent a land fill site and the

unloading means is a hydraulically actuated telescopic ram capable of engaging the compressed waste through one opening in the container and pushing it out the opening in the other end of the container. In a still further preferred form of this embodiment, the

telescopic ram pushes the compressed waste out of the other end of the container into the

trailer of a heavy haulage truck. Conveniently the trailer of the heavy haulage truck is

provided with a conveyor means along its floor for unloading the waste into the land fill

area.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be described by way of example only with

reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows a schematic elevation of a regional transfer station according to the

present invention;

Figure 2 shows a plan view of the regional transfer station shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a schematic elevation of the rail car being unloaded at the distribution

point; and

Figure 4 is a plan view of the unloading operation at the distribution point.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, metropolitan waste is collected from the kerb side by

garbage trucks 1 and taken to a regional transfer station 2. The garbage trucks 1 enter

the transfer station 2 and unload the metropolitan waste onto a conveyor surface 14

which feeds the hoppers 3 of each compactor 4. From this point the process can be

controlled from a control room (not shown) with a single operator. Automating the operation avoids human contact with refuse or equipment that has been in contact with

refuse. The transfer station is of split level construction. The compactor is fed by a

suitable bi-directional conveyor surface such as those marketed under the trademark

Walking Floor ® conveyor bunkers with hardened steel slats specifically designed for waste conveyance.

The compactor 4 crushes the waste material to minimise its volume. Preferably the

hydraulic compactor 4 crushes the material such that it no longer has "memory". In this

field "memory" describes the degree to which material resiliently returns to its original volume after being compressed.

A suitable compactor is the SP industries CP-13001 compactor which has a 10

cubic metre capacity. This gives the compactor a volume displacement of 567 cubic

metres per hour under continuous operation and will load a 72 cubic metre container in 8

minutes. Based on a range between 390 kg per cubic metre for dry commercial refuse to

520 kg per cubic metre for wet residential refuse, one of these compactors will load 3

containers with a maximum of 37 tonnes of refuse per hour.

The outlet 5 of the compactor 4 is operatively engaged with the open end 11 of the

container 6. The compressed waste material from successive garbage trucks 1 is

progressively loaded into the container 6. The hydraulic ram (not shown) of the

compactor 4 ensures that the container 6 is filled to capacity. Stabilising mounts 8 and 9

hold the container 6 firm against the forces exerted by the hydraulic ram of the

compactor 4 during the loading process.

In the embodiments shown the container 6 is constructed from high tensile steel with 4 mm 3 CR 12-500 MPa stainless steel plate. Nolume displacement is 72 cubic

metres with feed container opening measuring 2.2 m wide by 2.6 m high. The head of the compactor is designed with 3 vertical pinning tunnels (not shown)

into which overhead pins (not shown) penetrate when the container is full. The pins

limit the degree of memory in the compacted refuse.

When the container 6 is full, the open end 11 of the container is shut and the

stabilising mounts 8 and 9 are disengaged. The container is then rotated on the bearing 10 back into alignment with the chassis 12 of the rail car 7 and locked into position. The

rail car 7 may then be transported via track 13 to the remote distribution point.

It is envisaged that the life expectancy of the containers is 3 or 4 times that of a

road vehicle compaction trailer. The compaction container can easily be removed for

replacement or repairs. Tare weight of the compaction container is 8,200 kg with a load rating capacity to 40,000 kg. High capacity to 37 tonnes can be used where the

processing plant or land fill is located in close proximity to rail and road transport on

public roads is not required. Where public roads are utilised approximately 28 tonnes

would be loaded unless special permits were available. Depending on the rail corridor and the rating on the track, double container rolling

stock can be used. The tare weight of a rail wagon suitable for 2 containers is

approximately 24,000 kg. New wagons can be manufactured or existing rolling stock

modified without difficulty.

Referring to Figures 3 and 4, unloading the waste from the rail cars 7 at or near the

land fill site is equally as convenient. A spur of track 13 is provided at a location convenient to the land fill site. The rail cars 7 are positioned such that the end 11 of the

container 6 can be operatively engaged with the hydraulic unloading ram 15. The

container 6 is rotated on bearing 10 such that it aligns with the telescopic arm 16 of the ram. Stabilising mounts 8 and 9 are engaged to provide the necessary resistance against

the force of the ram 16. The ends 11 and 20 of the container 6 are opened so that the

driving end 17 of the telescopic ram 16 can push the waste (not shown) out of the end 20

into the trailer of the truck 18.

The driving end 17 is self-aligning and runs on UHMW plastic bearings with

sweepers (not shown) to completely clean the container 6. When the driving end 17

reaches its maximum stroke and begins to return misters located on the rear of the

driving end commence spraying a fine mist of anti-bacterial deodorant.

Conveniently the floor of the trailer 19 is provided with a conveyor means such as

a hydraulically powered slat type conveyor surface. A suitable surface is marketed under

the trade mark Walking Floor®. Then it is a simple matter for the trucks to back the

trailer up to the escarpment of the land fill site and simply convey the waste out of the

trailer and over the edge of the escarpment.

It will be appreciated that a material handling system such as this has a number of

inherent cost and time efficiencies. Through the use of a rail car having a container that

rotates relative to the chassis many intermediate handling operations are removed. There

is no need to load heavy haulage trucks at the regional transfer stations with containers

filled with compressed metropolitan waste which are then in turn loaded onto rail cars and then similarly transferred back to trucks at the land fill site. The rail car according to

the present invention allows the present system which removes the need for heavy

haulage trucks on the roads in metropolitan areas. Heavy haulage trucks are used at the

land fill sites, however these trucks will often not need to use public roads and therefore the normal weight limits will not apply. Consequently, fewer trucks are required to

transport the waste to the escarpment of the land fill.

It is envisaged that a materials handling system provides particular opportunities

for efficient waste management in small towns and rural communities. Utilising existing

methods the cost to small communities with low volumes of waste is enormous. High establishment costs for land fill in increasingly strict environment standards often results

in sub-standard facilities which have difficulty meeting community expectations.

Using the present invention a small town transfer station could service a

community of 5,000 and produce only one 25 tonne rail container every 2 days. The

filled container may be collected by the train on its way to the major land fill.

Conveniently the train would leave behind an empty container to replace the one it

collects.

A community of 50,000 people would require 6 containers to be collected everyday

at a facility staffed by a single operator. Furthermore, the establishment costs are

relatively low and is easily adapted to incorporate a recycling and waste sorting facility.

The present invention has been described herein by way of example only and

skilled workers in this field would recognise many variations and modifications which

would not depart from the spirit and scope of the broad inventive concept.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS :-

1. A rail car including: a chassis adapted to travel on a track;

a longitudinally extending container having a closeable opening for loading or

unloading material through at least one longitudinal end thereof; and

means to enable interconnected displacement of the container relative to the

chassis to permit in situ loading via the closeable opening.

2. A rail car according to claim 1 wherein the means to enable interconnected

displacement of the container relative to the chassis is a bearing between the container

and chassis such that the container is selectively rotatable relative to the chassis.

3. A rail car according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein both of the longitudinal ends have a closeable opening for loading or unloading material.

4. A materials handling system including:

a rail car having a chassis adapted to travel on a track;

a longitudinally extending container for compacted material, the container having a

closeable opening for loading or unloading material through at least one longitudinal end

thereof, and means to enable interconnected displacement of the container relative to the chassis to permit in situ loading via the closeable opening;

a loading means at a materials collection point for loading material into the

contamer through the opening;

point; and an unloading means at the distribution point for unloading material from the container through the opening; wherein,

the container is displaced relative to the chassis to operatively engage the loading means and again displaced when unloading the material.

5. A materials handling system according to claim 4 wherein the means to enable

interconnected displacement of the container relative to the chassis is a bearing between

the container and the chassis such that the container is selectively rotatable relative to the chassis.

6. A materials handling system according to claim 4 wherein the material is loaded

and unloaded through the closeable opening.

7. A materials handling system according to claim 4 wherein the material is

metropolitan waste and the collection point is a regional transfer station wherein the loading means includes a compactor for compressing the waste.

8. A materials handling system according to claim 7 wherein stabilising means are

provided to support and stabilise the rail car against forced generated by the compactor.

9. A materials handling system according to claim 4 wherein the distribution point is adjacent a land fill site and the unloading means is a hydraulically actuated telescopic

ram capable of engaging the compressed waste through one opening in the container and

pushing it out the opening in the other end of the container.

10. A materials handling system according to claim 9 wherein the telescopic ram

pushes the compressed waste out of the other end of the container into the trailer of a heavy haulage truck.

11. A material handling system according to claim 10 wherein the trailer of the heavy

haulage truck is provided with a conveyor means along its floor for unloading the waste into the land fill area.

12. A method of transporting material between a collection point and a distribution

point by rail using a rail car having:

a chassis adapted to travel on a track;

a longitudinally extending container having a closeable opening for loading or unloading material through at least one longitudinal end thereof; and

means to permit interconnected displacement of the container relative to the

chassis to permit in situ loading via the closeable opening, said method including: providing loading means at the collection point;

means and loading material through the opening;

returning the container to its original position relative to the chassis and

transporting the rail car along the track to the distribution point; providing an unloading means at the distribution point; and

means and unloading the material.

13. A method according to claim 12 wherein the means to enable interconnected

displacement of the container relative to the chassis is a bearing between the container and the chassis such that the container is selectively rotatable relative to the chassis.

14. A method according to claim 12 wherein the material is loaded and unloaded

through the closeable opening.

15. A method according to claim 12 wherein the material is metropolitan waste and the collection point is a regional transfer station wherein the loading means includes a

compactor for compressing the waste.

16. A method according to claim 15 wherein stabilising means are provided to support

and stabilise the rail car against forced generated by the compactor.

17. A method according to claim 12 wherein the distribution point is adjacent a land fill site and the unloading means is a hydraulically actuated telescopic ram capable of

engaging the compressed waste through one opening in the container and pushing it out

the opening in the other end of the container.

18. A method according to claim 17 wherein the telescopic ram pushes the compressed waste out of the other end of the container into the trailer of a heavy haulage truck.

19. A method according to claim 17 wherein the trailer of the heavy haulage truck is

area.