JP3087551B2 - Plastic waste treatment method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention reduces the volume of plastic waste generated in home kitchens or small business establishments.
The present invention relates to a relatively small and easily usable plastic waste disposal method and apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, plastics are stable in daily use temperature ranges and have excellent weather resistance and chemical resistance. In addition, they are widely used because they have a smaller bulk specific gravity and are lighter and easier to mold than metal and ceramics. For this reason, the amount of plastic waste tends to increase year by year. It is common for local governments to collect plastic waste from homes and landfill or incinerate it. However, the characteristics of the plastic at the time of use become a disadvantage at the time of disposal, and there are problems that the plastic does not decompose spontaneously even if left unattended, and that the collection efficiency is low and the cost is high. Furthermore, the amount of waste cannot keep up with the increasing amount of waste, and the landfill site is currently reaching its limit. Therefore, a campaign to recycle the collected plastic, and an attempt to use it as a fuel as an oil have been started.

Further, attempts have been made to reduce the volume of plastic by heating or mechanically compressing or crushing the plastic to simplify storage or disposal. For example, there has been proposed a device for dissolving and reducing the volume of styrene foam by crushing frictional heat or heating to form a pellet, or a device for mechanically cutting and reducing the volume of a PET bottle. However, these are all large and expensive devices at present.

[0004]

As a plastic volume reducing device, although a large-scale device is being developed, there is a device for easily reducing the volume of plastic generated in a kitchen or the like at home. do not do. In the case of a system in which the volume is reduced by heating and melting, there is a risk that toxic gas is generated in the heating process. The method of mechanical crushing has problems such as an increase in the size of the apparatus and noise during processing, and cannot be scaled down for home use as it is.

An object of the present invention is to solve the conventional problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for treating plastic refuse which has a short processing time and allows sufficient compression and volume reduction. A second object is to provide an efficient method for treating plastic waste. Also, if there is an opening operation of the device during operation or if power is stopped during operation,
It is a third object of the present invention to provide a plastic waste disposal apparatus which is safe and suitable for home use without any risk of injuring the human body.

[0006]

In order to achieve the first object, a first means of the present invention is to provide a storage container for storing plastic refuse, and a volume for changing the volume of the storage container using air pressure. A variable unit, a heating unit having a heating unit and a blowing unit, a temperature detection unit of the heating unit, a pressure detection unit configured to detect a variable volume pressure in the storage container by the volume variable unit, and a timer for measuring time. A control unit having means and a first time arrival detecting means for detecting a first predetermined time measured by the time measuring means, and after heating with the heating unit in a state where the plastic refuse is stored in the storage container. Operating the volume changing means until the pressure detecting section detects the predetermined pressure, stops the operation of the heating section at the time when the predetermined pressure is reached, maintains the predetermined pressure for a predetermined time, The first time during maintenance When the temperature detected by the temperature detecting section reaches the predetermined temperature before the arrival detecting means detects the arrival at the first time, the maintenance of the predetermined pressure is stopped, and the first time arrival detecting means detects the arrival at the first time. Even if the temperature detected by the temperature detecting section is equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature, the plastic refuse disposal method operates only the blowing function of the heating section while maintaining the predetermined pressure until the detected temperature reaches the predetermined temperature. Things.

[0007] A second means of the present invention for achieving the second object is a first time arrival detecting means for detecting a first predetermined time measured by the time measuring means, and a second time shorter than the first predetermined time. A control unit having a second time arrival detecting means for detecting the second predetermined time, wherein after heating with the heating unit in a state where the plastic trash is stored in the storage container, the pressure detection unit detects the predetermined pressure Until the predetermined pressure is reached, the heating means of the heating unit is stopped to maintain the predetermined pressure at the time when the predetermined pressure is reached, and the second time reaching means is switched to the second predetermined time during the maintenance of the predetermined pressure. This is a plastic waste treatment method in which the air blowing function is stopped when the time is measured, and when the temperature detected by the temperature detecting unit reaches a predetermined temperature, the maintenance of the predetermined pressure is stopped.

A third means of the present invention for achieving the third object is a storage container for storing plastic waste, a volume variable means for changing the volume of the storage container using air pressure, and a heating means. A heating unit having a heating unit and a blowing unit; a temperature detection unit of the heating unit; a pressure detection unit configured to detect a volume variable pressure in the storage container by the volume variable unit; and an opening / closing detection unit configured to detect opening / closing of the storage container. And an energization detection unit that detects energization or power outage of the commercial power supply, wherein the volume variable unit detects when the open / close detection unit detects the opening of the storage container and when the energization detection unit detects a power outage of the commercial power supply. And a plastic waste treatment apparatus for reducing the pressure of the storage container at least at any one of the times.

[0009]

The first means of the present invention is to soften the plastic contained in the storage container by circulation of hot air and to drive the volume variable means using air pressure to pressurize for a predetermined period of time. The predetermined pressure is maintained while the heat generation function is stopped, and if the temperature detected by the temperature detection unit reaches the predetermined temperature before the time measured by the timer means reaches the first time during the maintenance of the predetermined pressure, the predetermined pressure is maintained. Stop, even after reaching the first time, if the temperature detected by the temperature detecting unit is equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature, the processing time can be reduced by performing only the blowing while maintaining the predetermined pressure until the temperature reaches the predetermined temperature, and It is possible to achieve sufficient compression and volume reduction.

The second means of the present invention drives only the air blowing function of the heating section when the pressure detecting section detects the arrival of the predetermined pressure, and starts time keeping by the time keeping means to maintain the predetermined pressure. During the maintenance of the predetermined pressure, the blowing function is stopped when the second time arrival detecting means detects the second time, so that the hot air in the initial stage of compression is efficiently circulated to reduce the volume. Can be done.

[0011] The third means of the present invention works to secure the safety in the process of softening the plastic put in the storage container by circulation of hot air and reducing the volume by means of a volume variable means using air pressure. It is. That is, when the opening / closing detecting section detects the opening of the storage container, or when the energization detecting section detects the power failure, the volume changing means acts immediately to reduce the pressure inside the storage container. That is, while pressurizing or maintaining the predetermined pressure, considerable pressure is applied to the opening / closing unit, so that there is a risk that fingers or nails may be damaged when trying to open the storage container, and a sudden power failure occurs during operation. This is dangerous because it remains in the pressurized state.

[0012]

(Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an airtight main body container. Reference numeral 2 denotes a storage container provided in the main body container 1, which is configured to expand and contract a dish-shaped bottom plate 4 by utilizing the air pressure of an airtight balloon-shaped bag 5 provided therebelow to thereby change the internal volume. Is what it is. For adjusting the air pressure of the bag 5, an air pump 3 provided at the bottom of the main body container 1 is used.
That is, the air pump 3 and the bag 5 constitute a variable volume means. Reference numeral 6 denotes a heating unit which is provided on the upper part of the main body container 1 and can be opened and closed via a locking means (not shown). The heating unit also serves to heat the plastic waste A stored in the storage container 2. The heating unit 6 includes a blowing unit 6 a composed of a pressure-type sirocco fan for circulating wind, a heating unit 6 b such as a heater, a wind outlet 6 c provided to be located in the storage container 2, and It has a wind suction port 6d for sucking the circulated wind. Reference numeral 7 denotes a temperature detector for detecting the temperature of the wind near the air outlet 6c, and reference numeral 8 denotes a pressure detector for detecting the pressure in the storage container 2. Reference numeral 9 denotes a control unit for controlling each of the above-described units. The control unit 9 includes a clock unit 9a for measuring time and a first time arrival detection unit 9b for detecting arrival at a first predetermined time. The arrows in the figure indicate the hot air circulation paths.

Hereinafter, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of the control unit 9 shown in FIG. When the user opens the heating unit 6 also serving as a door, puts the plastic waste A into the storage container 2, closes the heating unit 6 and presses a switch (not shown), the control unit 9 enters step 1 and
The device starts driving. In step 2, that is, the blowing means 6
a. Heating means 6b is energized to blow hot air into storage container 2 from wind outlet 6c. The hot air is sucked from the air suction port 6 d and circulates inside the storage container 2. At this time, the control unit 9 receives the information from the temperature detection unit 7 in step 3 and controls the heating unit 6b so that the upper limit is 130 ° C. In other words, when the temperature exceeds 130 ° C., harmful gas is generated from the plastic being processed. The temperature is set as high as possible within a range in which this harmful gas is not generated, and the time to reach the softening temperature of the plastic is shortened. After heating and softening the contained plastic, the air pump 3 is driven to blow air into the bag 5 to expand the volume of the bag 5 in step 4. When the volume of the bag 5 expands, the bottom plate 4 is lifted upward, and the contained plastic is compressed between the lower surface of the heating unit 6 and the bottom plate 4.

In step 5, the pressure in the storage container 2 is detected. That is, when the pressure in the storage container 2 detected by the pressure detection unit 8 reaches the predetermined 0.3 kg / cm 2, that is, in Step 6, the control unit 9 stops the energization of the blowing unit 6a and the heating unit 6b, At the same time, the process proceeds to step 7, and the time measuring means 9a starts measuring time. Subsequently, in step 8, that is, until the time measured by the time measuring means 9a reaches the first time preset by the first time arrival detecting means 9b, the pressure is maintained at 0.27 to 0.33 kg / cm2. To compress the plastic. In this embodiment, the first time is set to 5 minutes. In other words, experiments by the inventors have confirmed that a compression maintaining time of 5 minutes is sufficient as the compression maintaining time after the heating regardless of the amount of plastic put in the storage container 2. Is what it is. During the maintenance of the pressure, the step 9 of checking the temperature detected by the temperature detecting section 7 is executed. That is, when the detected temperature is lower than 70 ° C., the process proceeds to step 10 to stop the blowing means 6a, and then, in step 11, the pressure maintenance is stopped, and the pressure in the storage container 2 is returned to normal pressure. Ends the processing.

Even if the first time arrival detecting means 10 in step 9 detects that the first time has been reached, if the temperature detected by the temperature detecting section 7 is 70 ° C. or more, step 14 is executed.
Then, while maintaining the pressure, only the blowing means 6a is energized to cool the inside of the storage container 2 until the temperature at the temperature detecting unit 7 becomes lower than 70 ° C. In this way, when the temperature detected by the temperature detecting section 7 reaches less than 70 ° C., that is, the pressure maintenance is stopped in step 11 and the pressure in the storage container 2 is returned to normal pressure, and the processing is ended in step 12 Is what you do.

The reason why the first time arrival detecting means 10 detects the first time of 5 minutes in the step 13 is that the time required for the temperature to be lowered depends on the amount of the injected plastic. Because it will change. That is, the reason why the temperature detected by the temperature detecting unit 7 becomes lower than 70 ° C. by the elapse of 5 minutes of the compression maintaining time is that the amount of the injected plastic is small, and in this case, the process is terminated without waiting for 5 minutes. By doing so, the overall processing time can be reduced and efficiency can be improved. On the other hand, when the amount of injected plastic is large or the thermal conductivity is poor, cooling does not proceed sufficiently even after 5 minutes from the maintenance of compression, and the temperature detected by the temperature detecting section 7 is 70 ° C. or higher. It becomes. In this case, the blowing means 6
The processing time is shortened by cooling by driving a. At this time, since the cooling is performed in the above-mentioned compressed state, it is possible to prevent the material having the glass transition point or more from returning to the original shape by elasticity.

As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, regardless of the amount of plastics charged, sufficient compression is ensured while reducing the overall processing time, and the efficiency is reduced to 1/6.
It is possible to provide an inexpensive plastic waste disposal method suitable for home use that reduces the volume to a certain extent.

(Embodiment 2) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the control section 9 includes a second time arrival detecting means 9c. The second time detected by the second time arrival detecting means 9c is a time shorter than the first time described in the first embodiment, here 1
That's what it is. Example 1 for other configurations
Therefore, the description is omitted.

The above configuration operates as shown in the flowchart of FIG. Steps up to step 5 are the same as in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted. Step 6
Then, the heating means 6b is turned off, and in step 7, time measurement by the time measurement means 9a is started. In step 8, the pressure in the storage container 2 is maintained at 0.27 to 0.33 kg / cm2, and at this time, the blowing means 6a remains energized. In other words, while maintaining the pressure of 0.27 ~ 0.33kg / cm2
Over due to bias in heat distribution immediately after turning off the heating means
-Efficiently remove excess shoot and temperature
By circulating the heat, the temperature is gradually reduced evenly . Thus, in step 9, it is checked whether the second time arrival detection means 9c has finished measuring the second time (here, one minute). If the arrival of the second time has not been detected yet , the process proceeds to step 15.
Residual heat in to the container 2 continues the operation of the blowing means 6a Nde
Is circulated . When the measurement of the predetermined second time is completed in this manner, the process proceeds to step 10 where the temperature detection unit 7
Check if the detected temperature is below 70 ℃
Te, is less than 70 ° C., to stop the energization of the blower means 6a proceeds to step 11, followed by step 12
Then, the pressure in the storage container 2 is returned to normal pressure, and the process ends in step 13.

In step 9, the second time is counted.
After one minute, the temperature detection unit 7
Even if the known temperature is 70 ° C. or more, proceed to Step 14
Check if 5 minutes has elapsed since the first time
Check and turn on the air supply means 6a during 5 minutes
The ventilation function is stopped by stopping. Also the second
One minute, which is the timing of time, ends, and the first timing
The detected temperature of the temperature detecting unit 7 is not changed while the five minutes
If the temperature drops below 70 ° C, proceed to step 11 to blow air.
The power supply to the means 6a is stopped and stored in step 12.
The pressure in the container 2 is returned to normal pressure, and the process ends in step 13
Things. That is, after reaching a predetermined pressure by pressurization in hot air circulation,
Instead of stopping the heating means 6b and the blowing means 6a at the same time,
In addition, the stopping of the blowing means 6a is stopped for one minute which is a second time.
1 minute after circulating the residual heat in the initial stage of compression
After the lapse of time, the first time indicated in step 14 is counted.
Stop the ventilation for a certain 5 minutes and maintain the specified pressure.
This is to wait for curing due to a gradual decrease in temperature. In addition,
After the elapse of 5 minutes, which is the time measurement of the first time, the process returns to step 15.
The cooling means is operated by operating the air blowing means 6a.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the provision of the second time arrival detecting means 9c enables the residual heat to be efficiently circulated in the storage container 2 in the initial stage of compression, thereby improving the efficiency. The present invention can provide a plastic refuse treatment method suitable for household use, which can greatly reduce the volume.

Third Embodiment Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, an opening / closing detecting means 10 for detecting the opening / closing of the heating unit 6 which is located at the upper part of the main body container 1 and also serves as a door.
And an energization detecting means 11 for detecting an energization or a power failure of a commercial power supply. Components 1 to 1 shown in FIG.
8 is common to this embodiment.

The operation of the embodiment will be described below. In a normal state, this embodiment operates in the same manner as the above embodiments. In the present embodiment, the open / close detection unit 10 and the energization detection unit 11 are provided to detect the opening / closing of the heating unit 6 and the energization or power failure of the commercial power supply. That is, the inside of the storage container 2 is set to 0.27 to
During the process of compressing the plastic while maintaining the pressure at 0.33 kg / cm2, when the opening / closing detecting means 10 detects the opening of the door, or when the energization detecting means 11 detects the power failure of the commercial power supply ( In at least one of disconnection of the plug from the outlet, inadvertent switch OFF, etc.), the air in the bag 5 is evacuated by the air pump 3 to return the pressure in the storage container 2 to normal pressure.

As described above, in this embodiment, even if the lid of the apparatus is opened during operation or the power plug is disconnected during operation, the finger or It is possible to eliminate the possibility of damaging the nails and to provide a safe plastic waste disposal apparatus.

In each of the above embodiments, the balloon-shaped bag 5 is used as the volume changing means, but an airtight closed container such as a bellows whose volume can be changed by air pressure may be used instead. It does not matter if the storage container 2 does not have airtightness, and a configuration in which the bottom of the container is pushed up and the volume of the container can be changed is not a problem. Also,
Although the air pump 3 is used as the volume changing means, a pressure type fan may be used. Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, a pressure-type sirocco fan is used as the blowing means 6a. However, a fan capable of generating a wind pressure, such as a turbo fan, does not cause any problem. The heating unit 6
The heating means 6b may be any heating element such as a seed heater or a halogen lamp.

[0026]

The first means of the present invention is a heating means having a storage container for storing plastic waste, a volume variable means for changing the volume of the storage container using air pressure, a heating means and a blowing means. Unit, a temperature detection unit of the heating unit, a pressure detection unit that detects a volume variable pressure in the storage container by the volume variable unit, a timer unit that counts time, and a first predetermined time counted by the timer unit. And a control unit having a first time arrival detecting means for detecting the temperature.After heating with the heating unit in a state where the plastic refuse is stored in the storage container, the volume is maintained until the pressure detection unit detects a predetermined pressure. The variable means is operated, and when the arrival of the predetermined pressure is detected, the operation of the heating unit is stopped and the predetermined pressure is maintained for a predetermined time. During the maintenance of the predetermined pressure, the first time arrival detection means The arrival of time When the temperature detected by the temperature detection unit reaches the predetermined temperature, the maintenance of the predetermined pressure is stopped, and even if the first time arrival detection unit detects the arrival of the first time, the temperature detected by the temperature detection unit is predetermined. If the temperature is equal to or higher than the temperature, the plastic pressure is maintained at the specified pressure until the detected temperature reaches the specified temperature, and only the air blowing function of the heating unit is operated to shorten the processing time and reduce the amount of plastic waste that can be sufficiently compressed and reduced in volume. It implements a processing method.

[0027] The second means of the present invention has second time arrival detecting means for measuring a second predetermined time shorter than the first predetermined time, and operates the volume variable means after heating by the heating unit. When the pressure detection unit detects the arrival of the predetermined pressure, the predetermined pressure is maintained while only the air blowing function of the heating unit is operated. At the time when the time is measured, by stopping the blowing function, the residual heat can be efficiently circulated in the storage container at the initial stage of compression, and the volume of the household can be further reduced with higher processing efficiency. It is possible to provide a plastic waste treatment method suitable for the above.

Further, the third means of the present invention comprises an opening / closing detecting means for detecting the opening / closing of the storage container, and an energization detecting section for detecting the energization or the power failure of the commercial power supply, wherein the opening / closing detecting section is provided for opening and closing the storage container. Is detected, or when the power supply detecting means detects a power failure of the commercial power supply, the pressure variable means reduces the pressure of the storage container, even if the device is opened during the operation or the power plug is disconnected during the operation, An object of the present invention is to provide a plastic waste disposal apparatus which is safe and suitable for home use without any risk of injuring the human body.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a plastic waste treatment apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the plastic waste treatment apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a plastic waste treatment apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the plastic waste disposal apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a main part of a plastic waste treatment apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body container 2 Storage container 3 Air pump 4 Bottom plate 5 Balloon-shaped bag 6 Heating part 6a Blowing means 6b Heating means 7 Temperature detecting part 8 Pressure detecting part 9 Control part 9a Clocking means 9b First time arrival detecting means 9c Second Time arrival detection means 10 Open / close detection means 11 Electricity detection means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Naofumi Nakatani 1006 Kazuma, Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B09B 3/00 301 B65F 1/14

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A storage unit for storing plastic waste, a volume changing unit for changing the volume of the storage container using air pressure, a heating unit having a heating unit and a blowing unit, and a temperature detection of the heating unit. Unit, a pressure detection unit for detecting a volume variable pressure in the storage container by the volume variable means,
A control unit having a time measuring means for measuring time and a first time arrival detecting means for detecting a first predetermined time measured by the time measuring means, and a heating unit in a state where plastic garbage is stored in the storage container. After performing the heating, operate the volume variable means until the pressure detection unit detects a predetermined pressure,
When the arrival of the predetermined pressure is detected, the operation of the heating unit is stopped to maintain the predetermined pressure for a predetermined time, and the first time arrival detection unit detects the arrival of the first time during the maintenance of the predetermined pressure. By the time, when the temperature detected by the temperature detecting section reaches the predetermined temperature, the maintenance of the predetermined pressure is stopped, and even if the first time arrival detecting means detects the arrival of the first time, the temperature detected by the temperature detecting section becomes the predetermined temperature. If the temperature is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, a plastic waste disposal method in which only a blowing function of a heating unit is operated while maintaining a predetermined pressure until the detected temperature reaches a predetermined temperature. A first time arrival detecting means for detecting a first predetermined time measured by the time measuring means; and a second time arrival detecting means for detecting a second predetermined time shorter than the first predetermined time. After heating with the heating unit in a state where the plastic refuse is stored in the storage container, the pressure variable unit is operated until the pressure detection unit detects a predetermined pressure. Only the heating means is stopped to maintain the predetermined pressure, and the blowing function is stopped when the second time reaching means measures the second predetermined time during the maintenance of the predetermined pressure, and the temperature detected by the temperature detection unit is detected. The method according to claim 1, wherein the maintenance of the predetermined pressure is stopped when the temperature reaches a predetermined temperature. 3. A storage unit for storing plastic waste, a volume changing unit that changes the volume of the storage container using air pressure, a heating unit having a heating unit and a blowing unit, and a temperature detection of the heating unit. Unit, a pressure detection unit for detecting a volume variable pressure in the storage container by the volume variable means,
An opening / closing detection unit for detecting opening / closing of the storage container; and an energization detection unit for detecting energization or power failure of a commercial power supply, wherein the volume variable unit is energized when the opening / closing detection unit detects opening of the storage container. A plastic refuse treatment apparatus that depressurizes a storage container at least at any time when a detecting unit detects a power failure of a commercial power supply.