2. Description of the Background Art Generally, a conventional food waste disposal apparatus is made to eliminate moisture contained in food waste, thus decreasing the volume of the food waste to be discharged, and preventing environmental pollution due to the food waste. In the conventional food waste disposal apparatus, food waste is crushed by an independently installed crusher and then compressed by using a compressor installed in an another body so that moisture contained in the food waste can be extracted.

This type of the above-described conventional food waste disposal apparatus additionally requires a crushing machine which should be installed separate from the main body thereby complicating overall construction of the apparatus. Further, since food waste debris is contained in a waste water produced when compressing the food waste, there is a possibility that stinks and polluted and waste water may still remain.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a food waste disposal apparatus which includes a main body and a treatment tub installed at a lower portion of the same, comprising at least one rotary crusher unit installed in the interior of the treatment tub, said rotary crusher unit including a rotary shaft, and a heating chamber around the rotary shaft for heating food waste in order to evaporate moisture contained therein.

The rotary crusher unit is capable of mixing food waste upon its rotation by direct contact with it thereby crushing and disintegrating food waste. At the same time, the heating chamber of the rotary crusher unit heats the food waste to a high temperature and liquefying it thereby eliminating the moisture in the food waste. As the rotary crusher unit compresses and crushes food waste and simultaneously heats it using a heating medium of the heating chamber installed therein, the volume of the food waste is decreased, and quick and effective treat ment of the food waste can be achieved.

A heating chamber in which a heating medium is circulated is also formed around the treatment tub, and this heating chamber communicates with the heating chamber of the rotary crusher unit.

In the present invention, heat can be quickly and uniformly transferred to the food waste by combination of the heating chambers of the treatment tub and the rotary crusher unit thereby obtaining a synergy effect. If a circulation cycle is formed between the two chambers by the use of the same driving force (for example, pump), it is possible to obtain a high thermal efficiency and economical advantage as this structure requires no additional heat medium supplying unit.

According to the present invention, there are further provided an air blower installed in the main body and connected with the treatment tub for discharging the air in the treatment tub, and a cooling unit connected with the treatment tub for cooling the air discharged from the treatment tub.

In the present invention, hot moisture vapor in the treatment tub vaporized from the food waste is quickly flown into the cooling unit by a strong flow of the outer air discharged from the air blower, and the moisture contained in the air is liquefied by the cooling unit acting as a condenser. Therefore, a solid foreign material is not mixed to the discharge water and directly discharged to the outside. In an accompanying process, air having only gaseous components is filtered and purified, so that it is possible to effectively prevent stink and eliminate harmful components.

In particular, in the present invention, since moisture contained in the food

waste is quickly vaporized by the rotary crusher unit, moisture containing. hot air is also quickly gathered at the cooling unit and can be discharged to the outside. An air filtering apparatus connected with the cooling unit for eliminating harmful components and stink in the air which passed through the cooling unit also makes it possible to effectively prevent stink and eliminate harmful components. The air filtering apparatus can be formed as an exchangeable cartridge based on the amount of the food waste to be treated. The rotary crusher unit is formed as, for example, an impeller having a cross section of triangular or diamond shape, however, any shape of the rotary crusher unit may be adapted for crushing food waste into small pieces.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will become better understood with reference to the accompanying drawings which are given only by way of illustration and thus are not limitative of the present invention, wherein; Figure 1 is a front view illustrating a food waste disposal apparatus according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a side view illustrating a food waste disposal apparatus according to the present invention; and Figure 3 is a plan view illustrating a food waste disposal apparatus according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The embodiments of the present invention will be now explained with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in Figures 1 through 3, in a food waste disposal apparatus according to the present invention, an inlet portion 2 is formed at upper part of a main body 6. An opening and closing door 4 is attached to the upper surface of the body 6 for opening and closing the inlet portion 2. A treatment tub 10 is installed in the interior of the body 6. Upper part of the treatment tub 10 communicates with

the inlet portion 2 for thereby receiving food waste therethrough. A discharge portion 12 is installed at one side of the body 6 for discharging the treated food waste to the outside. An opening and closing door 14 is attached to the discharge portion 12 for opening and closing the discharge portion 12.

A heating chamber 16 is installed surrounding outer circumference of the treatment tub 10 for circulating a heating medium therein. At least one heater 18 is installed in the heating chamber 16 for heating a heating medium. Therefore, the heating medium heated by the heater 18 heats the food waste in the treatment tub 10 for thereby vaporizing moisture in the food waste. As a heating medium provided in the heating chamber 16, oil is preferably used.

In addition, an impeller 22 is installed in the interior of the treatment tub 10 and is driven by a driving motor 20 that is installed in the body 6. The impeller 22 is formed in a triangular or square column shape (diamond shape) having respective concave portion at each side. A rotary shaft 24 horizontally passes through both ends of the treatment tub 10 and is extended to the outside in a longitudinal direction. A decelerator 26 connected with one end of the rotary shaft 24 is connected with the driving motor 20. When the driving motor 20 drives, the impeller 22 rotates for thereby crushing and mixing food waste and vaporizing moisture in the food waste. At this time, inner lower surface of the treatment tub 10 is formed in a concave shape for thereby effectively crushing and mixing the food waste when the impeller 22 rotates.

According to the present invention, the impeller'22 includes a heating chamber 28 in which a heat medium is circulated. The heating chamber 28 is connected with the heating chamber 16 of the treatment tub 10 through a flow path formed in the rotary shaft 24 installed in the impeller 22. The heating chamber 16 is again connected with a circulation pump 30 capable of circulating the heating medium. When the circulation pump 30 operates, the heating medium heated in the heating chamber 16 flows into the heating chamber 28 of the impeller 22, and returning to the heating chamber 16, completing a cycle. When mixing food waste using the impeller 22, the impeller 22 heats the food waste for thereby more

effectively evaporating moisture contained in the food waste. The heating medium in the heating chamber 16 flows into the pump 30 through a pipe 73 by the drive of the same and is discharged through an end portion of a narrow pipe 70 which is longitudinally extended in the interior of the rotary shaft 24 and is supplied to the heating chamber 28 through a plurality of discharge holes 71. When the heating medium is filled in the heating chamber 28, it passes through the rotary shaft 24 through the incoming holes 72 and returns to the heating chamber 16 by way of a pipe 74. As described above, a circulating cycle of the heating medium by a driving force source 30 has advantages in efficiency and economic cost. For the connecting construction of the pipe 74 and the rotary shaft 24, a conventional rotary joint may be used.

Next, an air blower 46 is installed in the interior of the main body 6. The air blower 46 is connected with a suction port 48 formed in the treatment tub 10 for thereby forcibly flowing external air into the treatment tub 10. When the air blower 46 operates, the external air flows into the treatment tub 10, thus the air in the interior of the treatment tub 10 is forced to flow into the discharge port 50 formed at a side of the treatment tub 10. The discharge port 50 is connected with a cooling unit 52 capable of cooling air discharged from the treatment tub 10. The cooling unit 52 includes an air pipe 56 connected to the discharge port 50 in the tank 54. As the air blower 46 operates, the air discharged from the treatment tub 10 passes through the air pipe 56 and is cooled by the cooling unit 52. The moisture contained in the air is condensed so that air which does not contain moisture can be finally dischared to the outside. At this time, the air pipe 56 includes a drain (not shown) at one side of the same for thereby discharging water into which the moisture is condensed. An additional pipe is connected with the tank 54 of the cooling unit 52 for supplying or cooling water.

An air filtering apparatus 62 is connected to the cooling unit 52 according to the present invention. As shown in Figure 3, the air filtering apparatus 62 includes charcoal or carbon in the interior of a casing 64 connected with the air pipe 56 of the cooling unit 52 for removing harmful components contained in the

air which passes through the casing 64. Harmful components contained in the air discharged from the cooling unit 52 is eliminated thereby preventing stink. The casing 64 of the cooling unit 62 is preferably formed as a cartridge for easy exchange.

After the complete operation of the impeller of the food waste disposal apparatus, a resultant solid from which moisture is fully removed is discharged through the discharge port 12 completing a food waste treatment process.

In the food waste disposal apparatus according to the present invention, the food waste is crushed by the impeller 22 whereas the conventional food waste disposal apparatus has the food waste crushed by using an independently installed crushing unit for compressing and removing moisture contained in the food waste.

Therefore, the overall construction of the food waste disposal apparatus can be simplified. Since the food waste provided in the interior of the treatment tub 10 is heated, and further, the moisture is eliminated from the food waste, effective elimination of moisture and reduction of the net volume of food waste can be achieved. In addition, since the air discharged from the treatment tub 10 is cooled, and the moisture contained in the air is condensed and discharged, foreign material such as debris of food is not contained in the discharge water which is discharged upon processing the food waste. Therefore, in the present invention, it is possible to prevent any pollution due to the discharged water. Further, as the harmful components contained in the air are eliminated using the air filtering apparatus 62, it is possible to prevent stink. In another embodiment, fungi may be provided into the treatment tub 10 for fermenting food waste. In this case, the food waste discharged after fermentation may be used as fertilizer or animal food.

As the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, it should also be understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as defined in the appended claims.