AU665612B2 - Movement of particulate material - Google Patents

Description

665612 P/00/011 Regulation 3.2 cc c a r Cca;

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: Invention Title: Details of Associated Provisional Application No: FIREBELT PTY LIMITED Idwall Charles Richards TREVOR DREDGE ASSOCIATES Patent Trade Mark Attorneys 13th Floor, 379 Queen Street BRISBANE, QLD, 4000 (GPO Box 1339, BRISBANE, 4001) "Movement of Particulate Material" Australian Patent Application No.

PL1123 filed 28 February, 1992 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: 1' rt r t ft 4* f it f THIS INVENTION relates to movement of particulate material by a transfer mechanism and in particular but not limited a refuse transfer mechanism for automatically diverting the contents of a multi-compartment bin into respective tank sections of a refuse vehicle.

The present invention has particular application to a side loading refuse vehicle having a plurality of tank sections which enables transfer of refuse from respective compartments of a multi-compartment bin to the respective tank sections.

When particulate material is delivered into a container or hopper or other particulate material receiving means, it is sometimes desirable to distribute the material in a predetermined fashion. For example, it may be 15 desirable to evenly distribute the material within the container or to selectively deliver material to different selectable regions within the container according to material type.

One typical application of the present invention is in conjunction with a transfer mechanism involving the use of an oscillating blade which travels back and forth through 1800 in a semi-cylindrical hopper, at each end of the hopper is an entrance to a respect tank section for separate storage of garbage in one tank eC'9tion and co-mingled recyclables in the other tank section.

Refuse falling into the hopper is separated so that the garbage is delivered to one side of the blade and the recyclables to the other.

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3f 3 Li La, 4 Li 4 In one aspect, the invention resides in a combination of a tank having divided tank sections for storing material separately in each section and a particulate material movement means adapted to selectively transfer particulate material to separate desired tank sections, the movement means having particulate material receiving means and particulate material drive means adapted to co-operate so that a first portion of material delivered to said receiving means is driven by said drive means to one of said tank sections while a second portion of said material delivered to said receiving means is driven by said drive m.ans to another one of said desired tank sections.

In a preferred form, the present invention includes a 15 particulate material movement means in the form of a transfer mechanism which comprises an oscillating blade adapted to sweep through a hopper having opposite sides to alternately sweep material delivered to the hopper to one side and then to the other side as the blade oscillates back and forth within the hopper, a moveable hopper closure means to partially close the hopper behind the blade so as to prevent material intended to be delivered to one side of the blade being inadvertently delivered to the other side of the blade as the blade travels through the hopper so that the material is alternately delivered to the desired tank section.

The hopper is typically a semi-circular hopper in plan and the moveable hopper closure means comprises a refuse spill plate which typically forms a quadrant of the semiif I p I Cl r1

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3a circular hopper so that as the blade travels through the hopper, opposite sides of the hopper are alternately closed 0t 4., 400 4 1 4 4 4 off so that refuse which would otherwise fall on the wrong side of the blade is deposited on top of the spill plate and as the spill plate is moved, a suitably positioned partition causes refuse on the spill plate to spill into the hopper on the correct side of the oscillating blade.

Thus, operation of the transfer mechanism alternately Scloses off that portion of the hopper directly behind the blade as the blade sweeps through that particular half of the hopper. Preferably, the spill plate is driven either directly or indirectly in relation to movement of the blade. Motion of the blade can be defined as a forward stroke, during the last 90' of movement toward a tank section and a return stroke being the initial 900 of movement away from a tank section. Typically, the relative motion of the blade and the plate involves lost motion Sbetween the blade and the plate during a part of the blades return stroke. Typically, the lost motion is approximately for the full return stroke.

An alternative closure means can be in the form of a i plurality of retractable plates configured as a fan arrangement which open and closes during operation of the Sblade. Many other arrangements will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

S.In order that the present invention can be more readily understood and be put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate one preferred embodiment and wherein.- Figures 1A and lB are respective schematic side and

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plan views illustrating a transfer mechanism according to the present invention; and Figures 2 to 4 are views similar to that of Figure 1B illustrating various stages of operation of the transfer mechanism illustrated in Figures 1A and lB.

Referring to Figures 1A and IB, there is illustrated a particulate material movement means in the form of a transfer mechanism 10 which in this case is fitted to a tank 11 which is divided into two desired locations comprising two tank sections 12 and 13. The tank sections are separated by a central divider panel 14. In the illustrated embodiment as shown, the transfer mechanism could be used in say a refuse vehicle which could be a rear loader, side loader or front loader and as can be seen, the transfer mechanism includes a semi-circular hopper 15 which could be loaded from either side at 16 or 17 or from the rear at say 18 using any semi-automated or automated loading mechanism engaging a multi-compartment bin and inverting the bin over the hopper Likewise, in the case of a front loader, a bin could be raised above the tank 11 and emptied directly into the hopper from above as given by the arrow 19. The tank and transfer mechanism 10 can therefore be eppropriately positioned on a vehicle depending upon loading requirements.

As can be seen, the transfer mechanism in this case comprises an oscillating blade 20 adapted to sweep through the hopper 15 to alternately sweep the contents of the 4? at at *a a 4 4* i t1tC L S 4

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6 hopper to one side into tank section 12 and then to the other side into tank section 13 as the blade 20 oscillates back and forward within the hopper 15. A moveable hopper closure means which in this case is a spill plate 21 is located above the blade and shares a common pivot axis with the blade at 22. As can be seen in Figure IB, the blade is part way through its forward stroke toward tank section 13 and any of the square particles shown in front of the blade, which in the absence of the plate 21 would fall behind the blade, fall on top of the plate 21 and during the return stroke of the blade 20 away from tank section 13, movement of the plate 21 back toward tank section 12 in conjunction with the vertical partition 23 would cause square particles to fall into the hopper 15 on the correct side of the blade 20 so that they would finally end up in tank section 13. This can be seen in Figure lB inasfar as the particles shown at 24 are spilling into the hopper as the plate 21 travels.

Referring to Figure 2, the blade 20 has travelled through its entire forward stroke toward tank section 13 and all the square particles formerly in hopper 15 have been transfered into the tank section 13. Figure 2 represents the position of the blade 20 just prior to the return stroke and as can be seen, the plate 21 is equipped with downward flanges 25 and 26 which are adapted to engage the blade 20 to bring about movement of the plate 21.

Thus, there is lost motion between the blade 20 and the plate 21 as the blade 20 commences to move through its 7 return stroke from the position illustrated in Figure 2 to the position illustrated in Figure 3. Under these circumstances, a side of the hopper 15 corresponding to tank section 13 remains closed as the blade travels through its return stroke. Once the blade moves beyond the position illustrated in Figure 3 toward tank section 12, it is then in a forward stroke toward tank section 12. It will therefore be appreciated that refuse can be randomly delivered into the hopper 15 independent of the position of the blade 20 and the blade 20 can be made to oscillate continuously within the hopper 15 and there is no requirement for timing the operation of the blade 20 in relation to emptying of bins into the hopper 15. In other words, any particles initially delivered to the right of partition 22 will finish in tank section 12 whereas those initially delivered to the left of partition 22 will end in tank section 13 independent of the position of blade As can be seen in Figure 3, as the blade 20 completes the return stroke and commences its forward stroke toward tank section 12, any particles 24 delivered into the hopper section corresponding to tank section 12 will be deposited on top of the plate 21 eventually to spill into the hopper 15 on the side of the blade corresponding to the tank section 12 and their delivery to tank section 12 will be ensured.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the present transfer mechanism alleviates any requirement for timing the relationship between depositing particles into the hopper 15 and the position of the blade 20. It will therefore be appreciated that the essence of the present invention is to alleviate this need and that although one I particular transfer mechanism has been described herein, many other mechanically equivalent alternatives achieving the same objective that will be apparent to those skilled in the art bringing about the same result should be considered to fall within the scope and ambit of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.

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Claims (8)

1. In combination, a tank having divided tank sections for storir.g particulate material separately in each section and a particulate material movement means adapted to selectively transfer rarticulate material to separdte desired tank sections, the movement means having particulate material receiving means and particulate material drive means adapted to co-operate so that a first portion of material delivered to said receiving means is driven by said drive means to one of said sections while a second portion of said material delivered to said receiving means is driven by said drive means to another one of said desired tank sections.

2. The combination according to claim 1 wherein the movement means includes a transfer mechanism which comprises an oscillating blade adapted to sweep through a hopper having opposite sides to alternately sweep material S' delivered to the hopper to one side and then to the other side as the blade oscillates back and forth within the 4 hopper, a moveable hopper closure means to partially close i the hopper behind the blade so as to prevent material t 7 *intended to be delivered to one side of the blade beins inadvertently delivered to the other side of the blade as the blade travels through the hopper so that the material is alternately delivered to the desired tank section.

3. The combination according to claim 2 .herein the moveable hopper closure means comprises a refuse spill p plate which typically forms a quadrant of a semi-circular .4 44 S 44 44 44 I 4 4 *494 4, :4 ot ~4O LI P 044444 2 0* 4. p 4 4 0 4 o .44 Th~k o~ hopper so that as the blade travels through the hopper, opposite sides of the hopper are alternately closed off so that refuse which would otherwise fall behind the blade is deposited on top of the spill plate and as the spill plate is moved, a scraper causes refuse on the spill plate to spill into the hopper so that it is driven to its desired tank section on the next sweep of the oscillating blade.

4. The combination according to claim 3 wherein the spill plate is driven either directly or indirectly in relation to movement of the blade.

The combination according to claim 3 or claim 4 wherein. motion of the blade is defined as a forward stroke, during the final stages of movement toward a desired tank section and a return stroke being the initial stages of movement away from a desired tank section, the relative motion of the blade and the spill plate involves lost motion between the blade and the spill plate during a part of the blade's return stroke.

6. The combination according to claim 1 wherein the receiving means comprises a hopper having a plurality of outlets leading to the respective desired tank sections, the desired tank sections comprising separate container regions and the drive means comprises means actively pushing particulate material delivered into selected region of said hopper through the respective outlets to the separate container regions.

7. The combination according to any one o~f claims 3 to wherein the spill plate comprises a plurality of r <1 11 retractable plates which progressively open and close during operation of the blade.

8. In combination, a tank and a particulate material movement means substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this 31th day of October, 1995. FIREBELT PTY LIMITED By its Patent Attorneys INTELLPRO I 4 1 a i 3 4A A I ABSTRACT A particulate material movement means wherein the means includes a transfer mechanism which comprises an oscillating blade adapted to sweep through a hopper having opposite sides to alternately sweep material delivered to the hopper to one side and then to the other side as the blade oscillates back and forth within the hopper, a moveable hopper closure means to partially close the hopper behind the blade so as to prevent material intended to be delivered to one side of the blade being inadvertently delivered to the other side of the blade as the blade travels through the hopper so that the material is alternately delivered to the desired location. 4 4 I r 4.