Technical Field

The present invention refers to an evacuation assembly, particularly for apparatuses for transforming organic matter.

Background Art

As is known, mixtures of organic compounds of low molecular weight are employed in various practical applications and, among other things, they constitute the basic components of the fuels used to power vehicles such as aircraft, automobiles and the like.

To make such mixtures, it is necessary, according to a procedure also known as "cracking", to cause the transformation, by breakage, of long molecular chain organic matter. Such long chain organic matter is what constitutes the hydrocarbons typically obtained by distilling crude oil, and it is also available in the form of various waste materials and residues, based on plastic materials, polymeric materials, wood shavings, paper, cardboard, wood, and others.

There are many various techniques for the practical implementation of this transformation, which according to various methods achieve the breakage of the carbonaceous bonds constituting the long molecular chains, until the desired organic mixtures are obtained.

More precisely, by means of such transformation it is possible to obtain various types of organic mixtures, some of which are in the solid phase, others in the liquid or gaseous phases (with the phases separating by gravity in the chamber in which the scission takes place), and each such mixture has to be appropriately removed so it can be subjected to subsequent treatments or simply to be sent to the users.

With particular reference to the mixtures in the solid (or possibly liquid) state, the need therefore arises to provide devices or methods for their controlled evacuation, thus guaranteeing their delivery to the users. This operation is often difficult to implement in practice, and hence requires the adoption of complex contrivances, due to the necessity of providing for the above mentioned evacuation while at the same time preventing the danger of air from the outside entering the chamber. Any entry of air, and therefore of oxygen, during the transformation activities could cause blowouts and explosions, with obvious serious consequences. Disclosure of the Invention

The aim of the present invention is to solve the above mentioned drawbacks, by devising an assembly that ensures the evacuation from a chamber of products of various types, while at the same time guarding against the danger of air entering the chamber.

Within this aim, an object of the invention is to devise an assembly that carries out the evacuation of solid and liquid matter with an implementation that is structurally simple.

Another object of the invention is to devise an evacuation assembly that ensures a high level of reliability in operation.

A further object of the invention is to devise an evacuation assembly that can be easily made from elements and materials that are readily available on the market.

A further object of the invention is to devise an evacuation assembly that can be made at low cost and applied safely.

This aim and these and other objects which will become better apparent hereinafter are achieved by an evacuation assembly, particularly for apparatuses for transforming organic matter, comprising at least one collection compartment, preferably for organic products to be evacuated from a chamber for transforming said products, characterized in that said at least one compartment is movable from a first configuration, in which said compartment is connected in a sealed manner to said chamber for temporarily receiving and accommodating the organic products to be evacuated, to a second configuration, in which said compartment is spaced from said chamber, which is kept closed by removable means of hermetic closure, and in which said compartment faces a discharge area for its emptying and the evacuation of the organic products, and vice versa, said means keeping said chamber under conditions of hermetic closure during the movement of said compartment from said first configuration to said second configuration, and vice versa.

Brief description of the drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the detailed description that follows of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of the evacuation assembly according to the invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawing, wherein the sole figure schematically illustrates an evacuation assembly according to the invention, sectioned through a vertical plane.

Ways of carrying out the Invention

With reference to the figure, an evacuation assembly according to the invention, generally designated by the reference numeral 1, is particularly suitable to be installed on apparatuses for transforming organic matter.

Such apparatuses are typically fed with long molecular chain organic matter, such as hydrocarbons obtained by distillation and/or various waste materials and residues, based on plastic materials, polymeric materials, wood shavings, paper, cardboard, wood, and others.

Once introduced, the organic matter is subjected to treatments that achieve the breakage of the above mentioned long molecular chains, thus causing the formation of organic products, such as for example short molecular chain organic mixtures, which by means of separation are presented in the solid, liquid, and gaseous states.

The evacuation assembly 1 therefore comprises at least one collection compartment 2, preferably of organic products to be evacuated from a chamber 3 for transforming such products (chamber 3 with which the above mentioned apparatus is equipped). The utilization of the assembly 1 for evacuating organic mixtures (solid and/or liquid) obtained by transformation of long molecular chain organic matter therefore constitutes a preferred, but not exclusive, application of the invention, and it is to this that constant reference will be made in the course of the present discussion.

For example, the collection compartment 2 could accommodate organic coal products, which must be sent to the discharge area 4 for their subsequent use in various different sectors of application, for example as a reinforcement agent for tires, or as a pigment for plastic materials, or as a fertilizer (when mixed with potting compost), or as a fuel.

It should be clear from this point onward, however, that different uses of the assembly 1 according to the invention are not excluded, for example for evacuating different materials, according to the specific application necessities.

According to the invention, the compartment 2 is movable from a first configuration, in which the compartment 2 is connected in a sealed manner to the chamber 3 for temporarily receiving and accommodating the organic products to be evacuated, to a second configuration, and vice versa. In the second configuration the compartment 2 is spaced from the chamber 3, which is kept closed by removable means of hermetic closure, and the compartment 2 faces a discharge area 4 for its emptying and for evacuating the organic products.

During the movement of the compartment 2 from the first configuration to the second configuration, and vice versa, the above mentioned means keep the chamber 3 under conditions of hermetic closure.

It should be clear therefore from this point on how, in the first configuration, it is possible to temporarily accommodate the organic products inside the compartment 2 (connected in a sealed manner to the chamber 3) without running the risk that air (and oxygen from the outside) could be introduced into the chamber 3. Subsequently, the products are evacuated by moving the compartment 2 which is brought proximate to the discharge area 4, ^' while the chamber 3 is kept hermetically isolated from the outside by closure means, thus meeting the intended object.

According to an embodiment of important practical interest, cited for the purposes of non-limiting illustration of the application of the invention, the means of hermetic closure comprise a carousel 5 with a substantially discoidal configuration, that can rotate about its central axis of symmetry A.

The carousel 5 is located below the chamber 3 and, with its upper surface 5 a, hermetically closes a discharge conduit 6 of the transformation chamber 3.

The carousel 5 has a pass-through channel, located substantially parallel to the axis of symmetry A of the carousel 5: this channel substantially defines the compartment 2, which, in the first configuration, is aligned with the discharge conduit 6 and is closed below (for example according to the methods that will be illustrated in the next paragraph).

Usefully, the means of closure comprise at least one bottom 7, which is elastically pressed against the carousel 5, at the opposite end from the chamber 3. The bottom 7 is substantially aligned with the discharge conduit 6, for closing hermetically, in the first configuration, the channel that constitutes the compartment 2, and thus preventing the entry of air from the outside into the channel (and from there into the chamber 3) .

For example, the bottom 7 can be elastically pressed against the lower surface 5b of the carousel 5 (on the opposite end, therefore, from the upper surface 5a and from the chamber 3), by the action of at least one spring (for example a Belleville spring washer) interposed between the bottom 7 and the head of a locking screw 8.

As can be seen from the accompanying figure, it is possible to use two screws 8 to tighten the carousel 5 and the bottom 7 to a fixed plate 9. The choice to use a Belleville spring washer between the head of one of the screws 8 and the bottom 7 ensures that the bottom 7 continues to be pressed against the lower surface 5 b of the carousel 5 (and therefore ensures the seal of the assembly 1 in the first configuration) even after a possible loosening of the screw 8.

Advantageously, the evacuation assembly 1 comprises at least one gasket seal 10, arranged at the coupling surfaces between the discharge conduit 6 and the compartment 2, for the sealed connection of the compartment 2 with the chamber 3 in the first configuration.

According to the preferred embodiment, as shown - in the accompanying figure, further gaskets 10 will be used at all the connections (in particular, between fixed and moving elements), for ensuring the maximum sealing of the assembly 1 according to the invention.

Usefully, for increasing the productivity of the assembly 1 according to the invention, and in particular the number of evacuation cycles of the chamber 3 performed for each revolution of the carousel 5, the carousel 5 has at least two pass-through channels arranged diametrically opposite with respect to the axis of symmetry A, thus defining two compartments 2, as in the accompanying figure.

In this way, in the first configuration and in the second configuration, alternately one of the compartments 2 is always aligned with the discharge conduit 6 to temporarily accommodate the organic products to be evacuated, while the other compartment 2 is facing the discharge area 4 for its emptying and for evacuating the organic products, basically doubling the number of reception and discharge cycles that can be executed in each complete rotation of the carousel 5.

Further, the possibility is not excluded, according to specific requirements, of adopting carousels 5 that have a greater number of pass- through channels (and therefore of compartments 2), angularly equidistant and at the same distance from the central axis A, for achieving further increases in productivity that can be reached with the assembly 1 according to the invention. Advisably, the evacuation assembly 1 according to the invention comprises a device 11 for emptying the compartment 2, which can be activated when the compartment 2, filled with the organic products received from the chamber 3, is brought to the second configuration, to promote and accelerate the evacuation of the organic products.

More precisely, according to the preferred, but non-limiting, embodiment of the application of the invention, the emptying device 1 1 comprises a guide cylinder 12 for a sliding piston 13. The guide cylinder 12 faces the carousel 5 on the opposite side with respect to the discharge area 4, in such a way that it comes into substantial alignment with the compartment 2 when the compartment 2 is in the second configuration.

In this way the piston 13 can empty the compartment 2, since with its sliding it can move from a first position, in which it is substantially accommodated in the cylinder 12, to a second position, in which the piston 13 is substantially extracted from the cylinder 12 and almost entirely accommodated in the compartment 2, thus causing the emptying and the evacuation of the organic products.

Indeed it is sufficient to appropriately dimension a head plate 14 fixed to the piston 13, so that for example it has transversal dimensions that substantially correspond to those of the cross-section of the channel that constitutes the compartment 2, in such a way that during the sliding of the piston 13 from the first position to the second position, the plate 14 pushes the organic products contained in the compartment 2 (also scraping off any deposits that have formed along the inside side walls of the channel and therefore completely cleaning such channel) to their evacuation.

The operation of the evacuation assembly according to the invention is as follows.

The organic products, progressively obtained from the transformation of long molecular chain organic matter, fall by gravity from the transformation chamber 3 into the discharge conduit 6. When the compartment 2 is in the first configuration, it is closed below by the bottom 7 and aligned with the conduit 6, from which therefore the organic products can fall into the compartment 2, where they are temporarily accommodated.

After a predetermined length of time (which can be varied as desired by the adoption of suitable units for controlling and managing the motor responsible for moving the carousel 5), the carousel 5 rotates about its central axis A and the compartment 2 is brought from the first configuration to the second configuration. During such movement, as well as, possibly, in the second configuration, the discharge conduit 6 is closed below by the upper surface 5a of the carousel 5, thus preventing, in this phase also, the entrance of air into the chamber 3. In the second configuration, the sliding of the piston 13 allows, according to the methods already described, the evacuation of the organic products from the compartment 2 and their transport to the discharge area 4, from where they can be removed safely and easily.

At the end of the evacuation, a subsequent revolution of the carousel 5 (with the conduit 6 still closed by the upper surface 5 a of the carousel 5) brings the compartment 2 into the first configuration, to reinstate the initial conditions and permit the start of a new cycle.

As already observed, for an increase in productivity, it is possible, while a first compartment 2 is in the second configuration, for a second compartment 2 to be aligned with the discharge conduit 6, so as to perform two cycles of filling and subsequent emptying of the compartment 2 with each complete revolution of the carousel 5.

In practice it has been found that the evacuation assembly according to the invention fully achieves the intended aim, since the choice to use a collection compartment for the organic products, which is movable from a first configuration, in which it is connected in a sealed manner to the chamber, to a second configuration, in which the compartment is facing a discharge area, while means of hermetic closure keep the chamber closed, makes it possible to evacuate solid and liquid materials of various types, while at the same time guarding against the danger of air entering the chamber.

The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims; in addition, all the details may be replaced by other technically equivalent elements.

In the embodiments illustrated, individual characteristics shown in relation to specific examples may in reality be interchanged with other, different characteristics, existing in other embodiments.

In addition, it should be noted that anything found to be already known during the patenting process is understood not to be claimed and to be the subject of a disclaimer.

In practice the materials employed, as well as the dimensions, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art.

Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly, such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.