WO2010023699A1

WO2010023699A1 - Accessory, workstation and plant for recycling tires using water jet technology

Info

Publication number: WO2010023699A1
Application number: PCT/IT2008/000561
Authority: WO
Inventors: Roberto Verri
Original assignee: Roberto Verri
Priority date: 2008-08-29
Filing date: 2008-08-29
Publication date: 2010-03-04

Abstract

The present invention relates to an accessory, a workstation and a plant for recycling tires, particularly scrap tires using Water Jet technology. Particularly, the accessory comprises a support (10) extending in a first preset direction (X-X) for supporting at least one tire (3) and retaining means (11) extending in a second preset direction (Y-Y) transverse to said first preset direction (X-X), said retaining means (11) cooperating with said support (10) to define a housing (12A) for said at least one tire (3). The accessory (5) is characterized in that the retaining means (11) include a plurality of sectors (12) extending parallel to said second direction (Y-Y), said plurality of sectors (12) being adapted to circumscribe said at least one tire (3) and in that it comprises first drive means (13) operably associated with said plurality of sectors (12) to cause said plurality of sectors to be reversibly displaced towards and away from a central portion of said support (10) to move between a first operating state (Cl) and a second operating state (C2), thereby obtaining a corresponding expansion/contraction of said plurality of sectors (12) of the retaining means (11).

Description

"Accessory, workstation and plant for recycling tires using Water Jet technology"

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to an accessory, a workstation and a plant for recycling tires using Water Jet technology, particularly but without limitation scrap tires, as defined in the preamble of claims 1, 13 and 19 respectively.

Modern society mainly bases its economy and development on road transport. Thus, delivery of goods and services, implementation of industrial processes, as well as private or play activities rely on the use of cars, trucks, motorcycles, tractors, etc., which employ tires every day.

Tires are known to have a limited life and have to be replaced when they become useless. Unusable tires, such as excessively worn or damaged tires, are known as scrap tires.

Scrap tires are a contaminating product, one tire, e.g. a car tire, taking 100 years to full disposal.

Considering that the scrap tires waiting for disposal every year can be counted in hundreds of thousands of tons, such scrap tires apparently create a major environmental concern.

A variety of solutions have been proposed heretofore for scrap tire recycling. In recent times, scrap tire disintegrating plants have been introduced, which include a water-jet device capable of generating fluid jets, such as high pressure water jets, for disintegrating scrap tires into their basic components.

Particularly, Water Jet disintegration of the tire is obtained by a high pressure fluid jet delivered by a nozzle moving along a predetermined path according to a special program; the nozzle is associated, for example, with a mechanical Cartesian arm.

It shall be noted that fluid pressurization is obtained using a pressure boosting pump which multiply pressure above 3000 bar.

For instance, US patent 5,341,996 discloses a system capable of implementing a scrap tire disintegration process.

Particularly, it can be understood from this US patent that the process takes places in a hermetically sealed cylindrical chamber with a mechanical arm operating therein, on which nozzles are arranged, for delivering high pressure fluid to the tire.

Such high pressure fluid delivered by the nozzles allows disintegration of the tire in the processing chamber.

Nonetheless, while this apparatus provides doubtless advantages, it ' still suffers from certain drawbacks, such as those listed below:

- the chamber is adapted to accommodate one tire at a time, wherefore the apparatus cannot ensure a high (tire disintegration) throughput, unless the chamber is replicated as many times as the scrap tires to be simultaneously processed, thereby involving a higher cost and time burden, and a poor plant productivity;

- if scrap tires of a different diameter has to be processed/n the disintegration process, such as a scrap tire having a larger diameter than tie last processed scrap tire, the whole chamber has to be replaced with another one/having a diameter equal to or larger than the one of the scrap tire to be processed, to ensure appropriate support during delivery of the high pressure fluid agautft the scrap tire; this involves increased processing times and money and resource yastes.

Therefore, a need is apparently strongly/ felt, in the scrap tire recycling industry, for simultaneous disintegration of multple tires and for a more flexible plant, capable of disintegrating scrap tires α^" different diameters, and having structural characteristics other than those of the prior art as described above.

Thus, the present invention is based on the problem of providing an accessory, a workstation and a plant having such accessory, that have such structural and functional characteristics as to fulfill the above needs, while obviating the above mentioned drawbacks.

This problem is solved by an accessory for a scrap tire recycling plant using Water Jet technology, as defined in claim 1.

The problem is also solved by a workstation and a plant for recycling scrap tires using Water Jet technology, as defined in claims 13 and 19 respectively. The present invention provides an accessory for disintegrating scrap tires which allows simultaneous disintegration of multiple tires, thereby ensuring a considerably enhanced throughput, and hence considerable advantages in terms !of cost effectiveness.

Furthermore, the present invention provides an accessory that can be expanded according to the diameter of the tire to be processed, without requiring any personnel intervention. This adds much efficiency to the plant as a whole.

Finally, the present invention provides a scrap tire recycling plant' that can obtain the following materials from tire disgregation: rubber crumb (also known as rubber granules or powder), that can be sold in several different cuts, steel and nylon fibers.

Advantageously, the above plant can allow rubber dust /to be formed without touching the steel that forms the metal structure of the tire, thereby ensuring improved material recovery as compared with currently operating plants. Further characteristics of the accessory of the present invention, as well as the advantages derived therefrom will be apparent from the following description of one preferred embodiment thereof, which is given by way of illustration and without limitation with reference to the accompanying figures, in which: - Figure 1 shows a basic scheme of the plant for recycling tires, particularly scrap tires using Water Jet technology, according to the present invention;

- Figure 2 is a sectional view of a workstation comprising an accessory and a Water Jet device to be employed in the plant of Figure 1 , according to the present invention; - Figure 3 is a sectional view of to be employed in the plant of Figure 1, according to the present invention;

- Figure 4 is a plan view of the accessory to be employed in the plant of Figure 1 , according to the present invention;

- Figure 5 is a perspective view of the accessory to be employed in the plant of Figure 1 , according to the present invention.

While reference will be made hereinafter to scrap tires, the accessory, workstation and plant as disclosed herein are obviously indented to be capable i of processing perfectly usable tires and not necessarily scrap tires, by Water Jet technology. Bearing this in mind, and referring to the accompanying figures, numeral 1 generally designates a plant for recycling scrap tires using Water Jet technology.

The plant 1 comprises a plurality of workstations 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9, which are designed to be controlled and operated by appropriate programmable control and operation means (not shown), such as a PLC. Therefore, the PLC can supervise and coordinate the operations to be accomplished by each workstation 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9, as well as their interoperability to ensure proper operation of the recycling plant 1.

The first station 2 of the plant 1 may be an "intelligent" station in which one or more scrap tires 3 are selected and loaded into the second station 4. Particularly, the first station 2 can use appropriate selection means to select the scrap tires according to their size, weight and thickness, and transfer the scrap tires so selected to the second workstation 4.

Such second workstation 4 (see Figure 2) is a station in which the scrap tires 3 are disintegrated; such disintegration station 4 comprises: - an accessory 5 and

- a Water Jet device 6A for disintegrating the rubber and fabric that form the scrap tire.

The rubber powder and textile particles obtained from the disintegration that takes place in the second station 4 may be collected, with the fluid used by thejWater Jet device 6 A, in a third station 6, where the powder granules and the textile[particles are held in suspension in the fluid using suitable stirring means.

The granules are then conveyed to a fourth centrifugation station 7, to obtain wet crumbs with a very low moisture content.

A fifth station 8 receives rubber crumbs from the fourth station 7 and further dries such crumbs, whereas a sixth station 9 separates the rubber crumbs from the textile particles by conveying the rubber crumbs to a screening system for grain size- based separation.

With this system 1 , as explained hereinafter, an unprecedented material purity is obtained, as well as a high yield per time unit. As described above, the second disintegrating station 4 comprises the accessory 5 for supporting and retaining tires 3, preferably scrap tires of a car and/or truck and the Water Jet device 6A.

Advantageously, the accessory 5 comprises:

- a support 10 extending in a first preset direction X-X for supporting at least one scrap tire 3 and

- retaining means 11 extending in a second preset direction Y-Y transverse to said first preset direction X-X.

Particularly, the retaining means 11 cooperate with the support 10 to define a housing 12A for at least one scrap tire 3. It shall be noted that the retaining means 11 comprise a plurality of sectors

12, extending parallel to the second direction Y-Y, which are conformed to circumscribe the scrap tires 3 lying on the support 10.

Furthermore, it shall be noted that the accessory 5 comprises drive means 13 that are operably associated with the plurality of sectors 12 to cause the plurality of sectors 12 to be reversibly displaced towards/away from a central portion of the support 10 to move between a first operating state Cl and a second operating state

C2.

This leads to a corresponding expansion/contraction of the plurality of sectors 12 of the retaining means 11, allowing to retain scrap tires of different diameters. It shall be noted that the scrap tires 3 lying on the support 10 and designed to be disintegrated by the Water Jet device 6A, must have the same radial size, i.e. scrap tires 3 of different diameters cannot be processed at the same time.

In other words, when one or more scrap tires 3 lie on the support 10, the plurality of sectors 12 are controlled automatically, i.e. without the intervention of an operator, by the control and operation means, to assume a state intermediate between the first operating state Cl and the second operating state C2, such state being dependent on the radial size of said scrap tires 3 lying on the support 10.

When processing scrap tires 3 having a different diameter from the last processed scrap tires, the plurality of sectors 12 of the retaining means 11 may be advantageously arranged, once more thanks to the control and operation means, in a new configuration so that the plurality of sectors 12 can circumscribe the current scrap tires 3 lying on the support 10.

In order to contain tires of different diameters, the retaining means 11 of the accessory 5 are divided into a plurality of movable sectors 12 and, referring particularly to Figure 4, it can be noted that:

- each sector of the plurality of sectors 12 is in at least partially superimposed relation to the corresponding contiguous sector, when the plurality of sectors 12 are in the first operating state Cl and

- the plurality of sectors 12 are in substantially continuous relation to each other, when such plurality of sectors 12 are in said second operating state C2.

Namely:

- the ends extending in the second direction Y-Y of each sector 12, when they are in the operating state Cl or close to such operating state, i.e. in a state adapted to retain tires of small diameter (e.g. 13" to 16") are in at least partially superimposed relation to each other, whereas

- the ends extending in the second direction Y-Y of each sec/or 12, when they are in the operating state C2 or close to such operating state, i.e. in a state adapted to retain tires of larger diameter (e.g. above 17") are substantially seamlessly contiguous. This will avoid tire warping, both in the operating state Cl and in the operating state C2, due to the disintegrating action of the fluid ejected by the Water Jet device 6A.

Advantageously, the above feature allows retention of tires having different radial sizes, e.g. falling in a range from 600 to 1500 mm, without requiring any intervention for replacement of the retaining means 11 and affording a higher throughput of the plant 1 per time unit.

Alternatively, in said operating state C2 or close to said state, a clearance or gap S, such as 10 mm, may be provided between the ends of the contiguous sectors 12. According to a preferred aspect, the plurality of sectors 12 extend perpendicular to the first preset direction X-X, to create a retaining barrier or fence.

Preferably, the retaining barrier is as high as to be able to retain up to six concentric tires along the direction of extension.

It shall be noted that the sectors 12 of the accessory 5 are made of perforated sheet metal; its holes have such a size as to allow the passage of the residues (i.e. rubber crumbs, textile particles and fluid) obtained from disintegration of the tire 3.

Particularly, a size of such holes may fall in a range from 3 to 10 mm.

As particularly shown in Figure 4, there are as many as four sectors 12 acting as retaining means 11 , each of which is in the form of an arc of a circle, extending through about 100°.

Alternatively, there may be as many as two, three, five or more sectors 12.

Alternatively, the sectors 12 may have a planar shape.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the support 10 is provided as a support plate formed of one-piece grid of appropriate size (e.g. with a 100x50 mm mesh size) to allow the passage of residues (i.e. rubber crumbs, textile particles and fluid) obtained from disintegration of the tire 3.

Preferably, the support 10 may be formed of a circular shape, as shown in

Figure 5, but a polygonal, e.g. quadrangular shape may be also alternatively envisaged. Advantageously, also referring to Figure 4, the support 10 may have a circular shape, e.g. with a 1800 mm diameter, for supporting the plurality of sectors

12 even when the latter are in the operating state C2, i.e. when the sectors 12 are designed to retain the scrap tires 3 with the maximum diameter (such as 1500 mm) that can be processed by the accessory 5. It shall be understood that, for the sectors 12 to be displaced to and from the center of the support 10, the support 10 is equipped with at least one guide 14 for each sector of the plurality of sectors 12, in addition to the drive means 13.

Preferably, two guides 14 are provided for each sector 12, to ensure improved performance during operation of the Water Jet device 6A. Particularly, each sector of the plurality of sectors 12 is designed to be coupled by engagement means 15 to its own guide 14 in sliding engagement relation. In a preferred embodiment, the engagement means 15 of each sector of the plurality of sectors 12 are equipped with radial bearings, engaged in respective guides 14. It shall be noted that, in addition to ensuring displacement of the sectors 12 along their respective guides 14, the engagement means 15 shall provide resistance to the fluid jet delivered by the Water Jet device 6 A.

Particularly, such engagement means 15 shall safely prevent any displacement of the sectors 12 when the scrap tires 3 are hit by the pressure fluid delivered by the Water Jet device 6A. As described above, reversible displacement of the sectors 12 to and from the center of the support 10 is ensured by drive means 13 including, for each sector of said plurality of sectors 12, at least one actuator 13 A mechanically connected to its respective sector 12 so that any movement of the actuator 13A leads to a displacement of the plurality of sectors 12 between the first operating state Cl and the second operating state C2.

For example, also referring to Figures 2 to 5, each actuator 13 A is shown to be mechanically connected via suitable mechanisms 13B and 13C, to a sector 12 and the support 10 respectively. Preferably, the actuators 13 A include electric, pneumatic and/or electropneumatic actuators.

It shall be noted that the accessory 5 further comprises a plurality of centering elements 16, extending parallel to each other in the second direction Y-Y to hold the scrap tires 3 in a preset position. Particularly, these centering elements 16 are reversibly displaceable to and from the center of the support 10 thanks to appropriate drive means 17, to move between a third operating state C3 and a fourth operating state C4.

The centering means 16 ensure that a predetermined distance L always exists between one sector 12 and the tread of the tire 3, regardless of the type of tire 3 lying on the support 10.

In other words, the centering means 16 are controlled by the control and operation means to take a preset position, according to the diameter of the scrap tires 3 to be processed.

For instance, the predetermined distance L may fall in a range from 10 to 20 mm. In a preferred embodiment, the centering elements 16 are in the form of rods having a cylindrical and/or parallelepipedal plan shape, oriented perpendicular to the support 10.

It shall be noted that the height of these rods corresponds to the total height of the scrap tires 3 superimposed for simultaneous disintegration.

Preferably, in one aspect of the present invention, the centering elements 16 are as many as the plurality of sectors 12 acting as retaining means. 11.

For instance, as shown in Figure 5, there are four sectors 12 and as many centering elements 16. Furthermore, in order to adjust the position of the centering elements 16, an additional guide 18 is provided in the support 10 for each centering element 16; each centering element 16 is designed to be coupled by second engagement means 19 to the guide 18 in sliding engagement relation.

In a preferred embodiment, the engagement means 19 are equipped with radial bearings.

For each centering element 16 the drive means 17 have at least one actuator 20 mechanically connected to its respective centering element 16 so that any movement of the actuator 20 leads to a displacement between the third operating state C3 and the fourth operating state C4. For example, also referring to Figures 2 and 5, each actuator 20 is shown to be mechanically connected via suitable mechanisms 2OB and 2OC, to a centering element 16 and the support 10 respectively.

Preferably, the actuators 20 include electric, pneumatic and/or electropneumatic actuators. Referring now to Figures 2 to 5, the accessory 5 is shown to further comprise motor means 21 operably connected with the support 10 for rotating the support.

For example, the motor means 21 are connected to the support 10 via a drive shaft 22.

It will be appreciated that the motor means 21 are protected by a casing 23 to ensure imperviousness to the fluid delivered by the Water Jet device 6A during disintegration of the tires 3.

Thus, upon operation of the motor means 21, the support 10 and the scrap tires thereon are rotated.

For instance, the angular velocity imparted by the motor means 21 to the support 10 will be up to ten revolutions per minute.

Also referring to Figure 3, it can be seen that the motor means 21 are supported by a support plate 24 which is in turn supported by H-beams 24A.

The support plate 24 is also a grid allowing the passage of the residues (i.e. rubber crumbs, textile particles and fluid) obtained from disintegration of the tire 3. The motor means 21 include, for instance, a variable speed gearmotor controlled by an inverter.

Referring now to Figure 2, there is shown the disintegrating workstation 4 of the plant of Figure 1 , which comprises:

- the Water Jet device 6A, - the accessory 5 and

- a cover 25 associated with a hopper 26 capable of containing and collecting the disintegration residues as well as the fluids delivered by the Water Jet device 6A.

The Water Jet device 6A is advantageously shown to comprise swinging means 27 with at least one nozzle (or delivery head) 28 associated therewith. Such at least one nozzle 28 is capable of directing a high pressure flow of fluid, such as water, against at least one portion of the scrap tire 3.

Still referring to Figure 2, according to one aspect of the present invention, the delivered fluid flow is shown to have a propagation component substantially parallel to the direction of extension X-X of the support 10. In other words, the nozzle 28 is oriented perpendicular to the tread and side surfaces of the scrap tire 3.

Preferably, the nozzles 28 associated with the swinging means 27 are as many as the scrap tires 3 lying on the support 10.

For example, three nozzles 28 are provided in the arrangement of Figure 2, because three scrap tires lie on the support 10 for simultaneous disintegration.

Particularly, in a preferred embodiment, the swinging means 27 include a pair of mechanical Cartesian arms, one extending in the direction Y-Y (i.e. vertically) and the other extending in the direction X-X (i.e. horizontally).

It shall be noted that the nozzle 28 is associated with the mechanical arm that extends in the direction X-X.

Also, it shall be noted that these two arms are controlled by appropriate motors 29, which are controlled by the control and operation means.

Particularly, these motors 29 allow the mechanical arms to impart translational movements in the first direction X-X and the second direction Y-Y and rotary movements about such second direction Y-Y.

Therefore, once the tires 3 (e.g. up to six tires) are laid on the support 10 of the accessory 5, the mechanical arm with the nozzles 28 moves to a predetermined operating position in which the nozzles 28 are at such a height from the support 10 and at such a distance from the walls of the sector 12 as to ensure optimal disintegration of the tires 3. As clearly shown in the above description, the accessory, workstation and plant for recycling scrap tires using Water Jet technology according to the invention fulfills the above mentioned need and also obviates prior art drawbacks as set out in the introduction of this disclosure.

Those skilled in the art will obviously appreciate that a number of changes and variants may be made to the accessory 5, the workstation 4 and the plant 1 as described hereinbefore, without departure from the scope of the invention, as defined in the following claims.

Claims

1. An accessory (5) for a scrap tire recycling plant using Water Jet technology, comprising:

- a support (10) extending in a first preset direction (X-X) for supporting at least one scrap tire (3) and

- retaining means (11) extending in a second preset direction (Y-Y) transverse to said first preset direction (X-X), said retaining means (11) cooperating with said support (10) to define a housing (12A) for said at least one tire (3), characterized in that said retaining means (11) include a plurality of sectors (12) extending parallel to said second direction (Y-Y), said plurality of sectors (12) being adapted to circumscribe said at least one tire (3) and in that it comprises first drive means (13) operably associated with said plurality of sectors (12) to cause said plurality of sectors to be reversibly displaced towards and away from a central portion of said support (10) to move between a first operating state (Cl) and a second operating state (C2), thereby obtaining a corresponding expansion/contraction of said plurality of sectors (12) of the retaining means (11).

2. An accessory (5) as claimed in claim 1, wherein each sector of said plurality of sectors (12) is in at least partially superimposed relation to the corresponding contiguous sector of said plurality of sectors, when said plurality of sectors (12) are in said first operating state (Cl).

3. An accessory (5) as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of sectors (12) of said retaining means (11) are in substantially continuous relation to each other when said plurality of sectors (12) are in said second operating state (C2).

4. An accessory (5) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of sectors (12) and said support (10) have a plurality of holes for the passage of rubber crumbs, textile particles and fluid.

5. An accessory (5) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said support comprises at least one first guide (14) for each sector of said plurality of sectors (12), each sector of said plurality of sectors (12) being designed to be coupled by first engagement means (15) to said guide (14) in sliding engagement relation.

6. An accessory (5) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said drive means (13) include at least one actuator (13A) connected with at least one respective sector of said plurality of sectors (12) so that any movement of said actuator (13A) leads to a displacement between said first operating state (Cl) and said second operating state (C2).

7. An accessory (5) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a plurality of centering elements (16) extending parallel to each other in said second direction (Y-Y) to hold said at least one tire (3) in a preset position and second drive means (17) operably associated with said plurality of centering elements (16) to cause said plurality of centering elements to be reversibly displaced towards and away from said central portion of said support (10) to move between a third operating state (C3) and a fourth operating state (C4).

8. An accessory (5) as claimed in claim 7, wherein said support (10) comprises at least one second guide (18) for each centering element of said plurality of centering elements (16), each centering element (16) being designed to be coupled by second engagement means (19) to said second guide (18) in sliding engagement relation.

9. An accessory (5) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of sectors (12) of said retaining means (11) extend perpendicular to said first preset direction (X-X).

10. An accessory (5) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of sectors (12) of said retaining means (11) are able to retain up to six concentric tires (3) along said second direction (Y-Y).

11. An accessory (5) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that it comprises motor means (21) operably connected with said support (10) for rotating the support.

12. An accessory (5) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the number of said plurality of sectors (12) falls in a range from three to six.

13. A tire disintegrating workstation (4) comprising a Water Jet device (6A), characterized in that it comprises an accessory (5) as claimed in any preceding claim from 1 to 12, for retaining and supporting at least one tire (3), said Water Jet device (6A) being adapted to disintegrate the at least one tire (3) by delivering a high pressure fluid.

14. A workstation (4) as claimed in claim 13, wherein said Water Jet device (6A) comprises swinging means (27) with at least one nozzle (28) associated therewith for directing said high pressure fluid flow against at least one portion of a tire (3).

15. A workstation (4) as claimed in claim 14, wherein said at least one nozzle (28) is arranged to direct the fluid flow parallel to said direction of extension (X-X) of said support ( 10) of said accessory (5).

16. A workstation (4) as claimed in claim 14 or 15, wherein said swinging means (27) include a pair of mechanical Cartesian arms capable of translation and/or rotation in said first (X-X) and said second (Y-Y) directions.

17. A workstation (4) as claimed in claim 13, wherein said Water Jet device (6A) comprises as many nozzles (28) as there are tires (3) on the support (10) of said accessory (5).

18. A workstation (4) as claimed in claim 13, comprising a cover (25) for said accessory (5), said cover (25) being associated to a hopper (26) for containing and collecting disintegration residues as well as the fluids delivered by said Water Jet device.

19. A plant (1) for recycling tires using Water Jet technology, comprising a first workstation (2) for pre-selecting and loading at least one tire (3) into a second workstation (4), said second workstation (4) being adapted to disintegrate said tires (3) loaded therein; characterized in that said second workstation (4) is as claimed in any preceding claim from 13 to 18.

20. A plant (1) for recycling tires as claimed in claim 19, comprising a third workstation (6) for collecting the rubber and textile particles disintegrated in said second disintegration workstation (4) as well as the fluid delivered by a Water Jet device (6A), said third workstation (6) being adapted to hold the rubber and textile particles in suspension in the fluid delivered by said Water Jet device (6A) using suitable stirring means.

21. A tire recycling plant (1) as claimed in claim 20, comprising a fourth workstation

(7) for receiving the wet rubber crumbs from said third workstation (6) and centrifuging said wet rubber crumbs to obtain rubber crumbs with a very low moisture content.

22. A tire recycling plant (1) as claimed in claim 21, comprising a fifth workstation

(8) for receiving the rubber crumbs from the fourth station (7) and further drying said rubber crumbs.

23. A tire recycling plant (1) as claimed in claim 22, comprising a sixth workstation

(9) for receiving the rubber crumbs from the fifth station (8) and separating said rubber crumbs according to their size.