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Title:
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DECOMPOSITION OF HOUSEHOLD PLASTIC AND PAPER PACKAGING
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO/2015/072916
Kind Code:
A1
Abstract:
This invention relates to a method and an apparatus for the decomposition of household plastic packaging and paper, comprising three rollers (4, 5, 6) in the form of truncated cones, which are vertically arranged with their axis of rotation (41, 51, 61) in an equilateral triangle and are arranged to be driven synchronously, each roll element (7) having a spiral support (75), with a thereto fixed cutting and feeding member (71) arranged to disintegrate within the apparatus (1) of objects inserted material and to feed away decomposed material.

Inventors:
BRUUN LARS (SE)
Application Number:
PCT/SE2014/051350
Publication Date:
May 21, 2015
Filing Date:
November 13, 2014
Export Citation:
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Assignee:
BRUUN LARS (SE)
International Classes:
B30B3/04; B02C4/30
Foreign References:
EP2468407A12012-06-27
EP1944154A12008-07-16
DE102008002891A12009-12-24
EP2292333A22011-03-09
JPH1157647A1999-03-02
JPH10328894A1998-12-15
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
HYNELL PATENTTJÄNST AB (Hagfors, SE)
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Claims:
CLAIMS

1. An apparatus for the decomposition of household plastic packaging and paper, characterized in that it comprises three rollers (4, 5, 6) in the form of truncated cones, which are vertically arranged with their axis of rotation (41, 51, 61) in an equilateral triangle and are arranged to be driven synchronously, each roll element (7) having a spiral support (75), with a thereto fixed cutting and feeding member (71) arranged to disintegrate within the apparatus (1) of objects inserted material and to feed away decomposed material. 2. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that one of the rollers (6) is arranged to rotate in a direction opposite the other two (4, 5).

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, characterized by an intermediate gear which changes the direction of rotation of a driven roller (6).

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 characterized in that a first row 4, 5, drives said intermediate gear.

5. Apparatus according to any above claim, characterized in that the cutting and feeding member, at least partly (71) is in the form of a band-shaped saw.

6. Apparatus according to any above claim, characterized in that the cutting and feeding member, at least partly (71) is in the form of a band-shaped saw. 7. Apparatus of claim 5 and 6, characterized in that the cutting and feeding member (71) is a combination of the band-shaped knife and band shaped saw.

8. Apparatus according to any above claims characterized in that said spiral support (75) is in the form of a groove.

9. Method for the composition of household plastic packaging and paper, characterized by providing an apparatus comprising three rollers (4,5,6) in the form of truncated cones, which are vertical arranged with their axis of rotation (41,51,61) in an equilateral triangle and by driving said three rollers (4,5,6) providing each roller element (7) having a spiral support (75) with a thereto fixed cutting and feeding member (71) disintegrating within the apparatus inserted objects producing decomposed material.

10. Method according to claim 9, characterized by driving one of the rollers (6) in a direction that is opposite the direction of rotation of the other two rollers (4, 5).

11. Method according to claim 10, characterized by using an intermediate gear to change the direction of the rotation of one of said rollers (6).

12. Method according to claim 11, characterized by using one of said rollers (4, 5) to drive said intermediate gear.

Description:
Method and apparatus for decomposition of household plastic and paper

packaging

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for the decomposition of household plastic packaging and paper.

BACKGROUND ART

Currently there is no corresponding equipment to the invention available. There are currently many households with a strong need for additional tools to manage household waste, especially where recycling is introduced. It seems e.g. often be the case that the space for the plastic waste is meager indeed. Of plastic waste is part of the assortment is provided with a deposit but most are too many non-deposit. It is estimated that half of household waste is normally plastic and dairy packaging. It is environmentally a deficiency that today it is difficult to recycle the plastic that is not equipped with a deposit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to improve with regard to the above problem area, and that is achieved by an apparatus and method according to the claims. Thanks to the invention it is easily achieved in a household to manage paper waste and plastic waste. The invention may provide a substantial compaction of the waste and automatically by means of the apparatus/method and according to a further aspect the invention may provide separation of the waste into a plastic and paper category, respectively.

In a preferred aspect of the invention refers to a device that converts plastic bottles and other plastic containers having a maximum diameter of 125 mm and coated paper packaging for dairy products and beverages, into non-bulky chip-like products. These products may in many households today represent 50% of the volume of the contents of garbage which by means of the invention will be drastically reduced, in many cases by about 90%.

Furthermore, the trend is that more and more of a household staple foods are packaged in bulky plastic packaging. Plastic packaging is extra advantageous to separate, because such chips are a sought-after raw material for many products. Environmentally, the invention may provide several advantages, e.g. reduce the waste volume and enables a simplified way to recycle plastic from plastic packaging. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

In the following the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying figures in which:

Fig.1 shows a schematic side view of an apparatus according to the invention,

Fig.2 shows the same apparatus as in Fig. l seen from above,

Fig.3 shows a top view depicting how the disintegrating rollers may be arranged in an apparatus according to the invention, and

Fig.4 is a side view schematically showing a decomposing element according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention is primarily intended for normal household and are therefore preferably in the form of a relatively small, household apparatus 1 with dimensions that are smaller than 35 cm in the width B and less than about 35 cm in height H. As shown in Fig. 1 the apparatus 1 preferably comprises an outer casing 2 which encloses a decomposition arrangement 4, 5, 6 (see Fig. 2 and Fig. 3) driven by a motor, preferably electric motor (not shown), which arrangement not only decomposes but also will feed downward through the machine. At the top there is provided an input unit 3, which exhibits an inlet 30, preferably of circular shape. The diameter φ may for example be about 120 mm to receive most common packaging, e.g. PET-bottles. It is evident that the diameter φ may be varied to fit different varying needs, e.g. a maximum diameter of 150 mm to handle even larger objects. Close to a bottom portion 20 of the apparatus 1 there are output devices 8, 9, for plastic and paper respectively.

The invention is based on using three rolls 4, 5, 6 which are shaped as truncated cones, with an approximate cone angle a in the range of 15-30 degrees and a lower maximum diameter D2 in the range of 12-20 centimeters and a maximum diameter Dl of the range of 4-8 cm. The three cones 4, 5, 6 are preferably arranged with their center of rotation 41, 51, 61 in an equilateral triangle and may preferably all be synchronous driven. Two of the rolls 4, 6 are suitably arranged so that one roller 4 drives the second 6 through an intermediate gear (not shown) wherein the driven roller 6 will have reverse rotation direction compared to the driving roller4. Each roller 7 (see Fig. 4) may be provided with a helical groove 75 where the driven roller 6 has a left groove 75, unlike the other two 4, 5 which suitably have right grooves 75. In the groove 75 there is inserted a knife member 71 projecting integrally a distance t (preferably 1-3 mm) outside the envelope surface 76 of the roller 7, the knife 71 partly decomposes the supplied material to a chip-like shape and also feed it downward.

The device is preferably made of materials that can withstand water so that it can conveniently be positioned anywhere in the home environment, such as on the sink, e.g. largely be made of plastic, which may make it both water resistant and inexpensive.

That all cones are synchronized means that the blade elements 71 can be allowed to overlap. In the space between each neighboring side of the rollers there may be attached a guide member 32 which prevents material from being pulled in between any of the pairs of rollers 4, 5, 6. The guide member 32 preferably presents curved walls 33, 34, 35 that are positioned coaxial with the circular opening 30, and preferably with the same or somewhat larger radius as that of the opening 30. The longitudinal extension of each wall 33, 34, 35 is substantially vertical, i.e. substantially in parallel with each center axis 41, 51, 61 of the rollers 4, 5, 6. An appropriate support 31 is arranged to extend radially outwardly to safely fixate each wall 33, 34, 35. The three rollers 4, 5, 6 may also be allowed to rotate in the same direction but then there is a risk that round objects, as bottles, would be given a similar rotation, hindering decomposition. It is therefore advantageous to allow one roller 6 rotate in its own direction. In the groove 75 in the roller 7 there is located the cutting tool 71 which may be designed in several ways, e.g. as a knife or a saw. It can also be performed as a combination of these.

The knife elements 71 cut the feedstock into chips and works both as supply means and shredders. Feeding is obtained vertically downwards in the center of the equilateral triangle and inside of the guide member32. If the material to be disintegrated does not allow self-feeding a conical pushing tool(not shown) may be used, that is formed as a truncated cone with protruding guide means (not shown), which prevents it from coming into contact with the knife members 71, i.e. by having the guide means in contact with inner of the guide member 32.

It should be understood that the invention is not limited by what has been described above, by may be varied within the scope of the appended claims. For instance, is evident for the skilled person that in instead of using grooves 75 to safely attach a knife 71, a similar kind of functionality may also be achieved if instead of grooves protrusions are arranged on the conical surface of the rollers 4, 5, 6, and using such a protruding spiral support to apply a thin knife element 71 (e.g. razor blade like) supported on top of the upwardly facing surface of such a protrusion. The protrusion maybe produce in non-cutting material, e.g. a strong polymer, and preferably that protrusion is then integrated with the other material of the cone, e.g. made in very durable and strong material, e.g. reinforced polyamide or polyurethane. Furthermore it is evident that the knife element 71 in some applications maybe foreseen with dented cutting edges, i.e. forming a kind of saw blade structure along the spiral, at least a long limited portion of the spiral. Moreover it is for seen that the cutting action may also be produce by other means then sharp knife or saw edges, but instead by grinding members, e.g. relatively large grinding members of a strong/durable material (e.g. aluminum silicate or bore nitride) having sharp cutting edges per forming the composing action. It is evident that it may be an advantage to integrally form such a grinding surface into each cone during production.