JP7496604B2 - Gravity Separator - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a gravity separation device that separates and recovers two types of absorbent materials that have different specific gravities.

Sanitary products such as paper diapers and sanitary napkins are produced by forming an absorbent material from two or more materials, such as pulp, high molecular weight polymer, urine absorbent material, etc., forming exterior materials such as a front material and a back material from air- and water-permeable paper, nonwoven fabric, etc., and surrounding the absorbent material with the exterior material.
When comparing the absorbent material with the exterior material, the exterior material is in the form of small pieces of cloth or sheets, is bulky and has a small specific gravity (lightweight) (bulky crushed material), whereas the pulp of the absorbent material is cotton-like and the high molecular weight polymer is granular, is small in bulk and has a large specific gravity (small bulk crushed material), and when comparing pulp with the high molecular weight polymer, pulp has a smaller specific gravity (lightweight) than the high molecular weight polymer.

During the manufacturing process, some sanitary products may not meet the standards for the amount of pulp, polymer, etc. Such non-standard products can be crushed, pulverized, and separated to recover the materials and reuse them.
Patent Document 1 discloses a conventional technique for recovering water absorbent materials. The conventional recycled pulp separator is a separator for recovering recycled pulp raw material containing high molecular weight polymers by separating the pulp and the high molecular weight polymers. The separator comprises a plurality of treatment chambers formed in multiple stages, a fiber-opening cylinder rotatably installed in each of the treatment chambers, a plurality of fiber-opening members and feeding/batting members alternately arranged in the circumferential direction on the outer circumferential surface of the fiber-opening cylinder, a separation grid member installed in an arc shape on the bottom of each treatment chamber corresponding to the lower half of the fiber-opening cylinder, and a pulp recovery duct provided in each treatment chamber. The raw material supplied to the upstream stage of the treatment chamber is opened and beaten by the opening cylinder while being transferred sequentially to the downstream treatment chamber, and the intake fan generates a suction air flow that flows from the outside of the treatment chamber through a separation grid member into the treatment chamber and is discharged from the pulp recovery duct, separating the pulp and high molecular weight polymer based on the difference in specific gravity, and the pulp is recovered from the pulp recovery duct, while the high molecular weight polymer is allowed to fall under its own weight through the slits of the separation grid member to the outside of the treatment chamber and be recovered.

Patent No. 3266889

The above-mentioned conventional technology can separate the raw material into pulp and high molecular weight polymer in multiple processing chambers, but this separation is carried out simultaneously with the opening and beating of fibers, and small pieces of the covering paper material are still included until the end, so the efficiency of separating the absorbent material is low. In addition, the pulp can be discharged by the suction air flow that flows into the processing chamber through the separation grid member, but the high molecular weight polymer falls against the suction air flow, making it difficult to extract the high molecular weight polymer by its specific gravity difference.

An object of the present invention is to provide a gravity separation device that can solve the problems of the conventional technology.
An object of the present invention is to provide a gravity separation device capable of separating a high specific gravity material from air containing two types of water absorbent materials with different specific gravities by using centrifugal force and the difference in specific gravity.

The specific means for solving the problem in the gravity separation device of the present invention is a rotating body (31) which roughly crushes and disintegrates the material (3) to be treated, which is made of two types of water absorbent materials (5) surrounded by an exterior material (E), and separates the two types of water absorbent materials (5) into smaller bulks and having different specific gravities than the exterior material (E), and sucks in air containing the two types of water absorbent materials (5) having different specific gravities from an air introduction member (31d) on one side of the body (31c) and rotates the air along an air swirling path;
and a discharge drum (32) disposed in the center of the rotating drum (31) for discharging the low specific gravity material (5P) upward together with air.
The rotating body (31) has an outlet (31b) for dropping the high specific gravity material (5S) at a position nearly half a circumference away from the air introduction material (31d) in the rotating direction and corresponding to the outer circumferential side of the swirling air in the bottom wall (31a) of the air swirling circuit, and a perforated plate (31e) for dropping the high specific gravity material (5S) is provided at the outlet (31b) and an outlet duct (35) is connected thereto.
The discharge duct (35) is provided with a rotary valve (36) for discharging the high specific gravity material (5S) accumulated in the discharge duct (35) while separating it from the air .

According to the present invention, the high specific gravity material can be separated from air containing two types of water absorbent materials with different specific gravities by using centrifugal force and the difference in specific gravity.

1 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a separation process of the object to be treated. FIG. 2 is a front view of the first crushing device. FIG. 4 is a front view of the second crushing device. FIG. 4 is a side view of the second crushing device. FIG. 2 is a front view of the Peter Roller. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. 6. FIG. FIG. 2 is a side view of the suction side of the separation device. FIG. 2 is a side view of the discharge side of the separation device. FIG. FIG. FIG. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the gravity separator. This is a cross-sectional view taken along line YY in Figure 13. FIG. 2 is a front view of the low specific gravity material recovery device. FIG. 2 is a side view of the low specific gravity material recovery device. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the low specific gravity material recovery device.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 to 18 show a water-absorbent material recovery system 1 that crushes and separates sanitary products such as paper diapers and sanitary napkins, and recovers pulp 5P, high molecular weight polymer 5S, and exterior material E, respectively.
Sanitary products such as paper diapers and sanitary napkins are produced by forming an absorbent material 5 using two or more materials such as pulp (also called fibrous pulp or flap pulp) 5P, a high molecular weight polymer (super absorbent polymer, also called SAP for short) 5S, and a urine absorbent material, and forming an exterior material E of a front surface material E1 and a back surface material E2 using air-permeable and water-permeable paper, nonwoven fabric, etc., and surrounding the absorbent material 5 with the exterior material E.

The absorbent material recovery system 1, which crushes, separates, and recovers the non-standard products and scraps generated during the manufacturing process of such sanitary products, is located at the beginning of the system and includes a crushing device CD that inputs the material 3 and crushes it, a separation device SD that separates the crushed material into exterior material E and absorbent material 5, an exterior material recovery device ED that separates and recovers the separated exterior material E, a specific gravity separation device GD that separates the separated absorbent material 5 into two types based on the difference in specific gravity between large and small, a low specific gravity material recovery device GS that recovers the separated low specific gravity material 5P, and a high specific gravity material recovery device GL that recovers the separated high specific gravity material 5S, and a bag filter BF that is located at the end of the system and draws in the post-separation air discharged from the exterior material recovery device ED, the low specific gravity material recovery device GS, and the high specific gravity material recovery device GL.

The crushing device CD receives the material to be treated 3, which is made of two types of absorbent materials 5 surrounded by an outer material E, and crushes, cuts, opens, shreds, disintegrates, etc., and is equipped with a first crushing device C1 for rough crushing, and a second crushing device C2 for supplying the crushed material 4 roughly crushed in the first crushing device C1, crushing it, and quantitatively supplying the crushed material 4 to a separation device SD.
As shown in Figures 1 and 3, the first crushing device C1 has a crushing section 25 having a cutter blade 25a and a rotating cutter 25b, an input hopper 26 for inputting the material to be treated 3 into the crushing section 25, and a discharge member 27 connected to the lower part of the crushing section 25, and a blower B1 and a conveying path R1 are connected to the discharge member 27.

The first crushing device C1 is equipped with an external elevator 28, and non-standard products extracted and collected from sanitary product manufacturing machines, i.e., materials to be processed 3, are placed on the elevator 28 and lifted up, then fed into the input hopper 26 from above. The outer packaging material E is bitten into and cut and shredded by the cutter blade 25a and the rotating cutter 25b, and if the absorbent material 5 is in clumps, it is roughly crushed into crushed material 4, which is sucked up by the blower B1 from the discharge member 27 and transported by air.

The rotating cutter 25b has a number of cutting blades or hook-shaped crushing blades provided at intervals in the axial and circumferential directions on the outer peripheral surface of the drum.
As shown in Figures 1 and 4 to 7, the second crushing device C2 has a lower crushing roller 41, a clamping and conveying rotor 42 above the crushing roller 41, a storage barrel 43 for storing the crushed material 4 above the clamping and conveying rotor 42, a separation duct 45 connected to the upper part of the storage barrel 43 and connected to the blower B1, and a discharge duct 46 arranged below the crushing roller 41, and the discharge port 45a of the separation duct 45 and the suction port 46a of the discharge duct 46 are connected by a bypass pipe 47.

The separation duct 45 is roughly T-shaped when viewed from the front, and is configured to form a horizontal path a that transports air linearly from the intake port 45b connected to the blower B1 to the discharge port 45a, and a vertical path b that causes the crushed material 4 contained in the transported air to fall under its own weight to the collection port 45c below, where it is collected.
The upper part of the vertical passage b of the separation duct 45 is connected to the middle part of the horizontal passage a, which gradually widens from the intake port 45b to the rear side, and a dust wall 45d is provided on the opposing surface of the widening passage, and a passage connected to the discharge port 45a is formed above this dust wall 45d.

The conveying air entering from the suction port 45b of the separation duct 45 flows while diffusing along the horizontal path a, and the crushed materials 4 contained therein fall naturally along the vertical path b. The crushed materials 4 are also separated and fall by colliding with the dust wall 45d, and the relatively small and light crushed materials 4 flow out to the bypass pipe 47 together with the remaining air.
The crushed material 4 separated in the separation duct 45 is stored in a storage drum 43, and is successively supplied to the nipping and conveying rotor 42, where it is nipped between a pair of rotors 42a and compressed while being supplied to the crushing rollers 41.

As shown in Figures 6 and 7, the crushing roller 41 has a cylindrical rotor drum 41a and a number of peaters 41b fixed at intervals in the circumferential direction on the outer periphery of the rotor drum 41a. The peaters 41b have a number of peater blades 41d provided at intervals in the axial direction on the upper surface of a band plate 41c that is long in the axial direction of the rotor drum 41a.
The peater blade 41d has a tail fin shape (approximately triangular) and the tip edge in the direction of rotation is arc-shaped, and may form a pointed cutting edge, but it does not have to be a cutting edge as long as it can rotate to crush and loosen (crush) the material 4 to be crushed that is compressed and supplied by the rotor 42a.

The crushed material 4 crushed by the crushing roller 41 falls into the discharge duct 46, but since the discharge duct 46 has an intake port 46a connected to a bypass pipe 47, the conveying air that has passed through the horizontal path a of the separation duct 45 flows in and discharges the crushed material 4 after crushing from the discharge port 46b.
In the first crushing device C1, the material 3 to be treated is manually fed into the elevator 28, so that the roughly crushed material 4 has some differences in time series. However, in the second crushing device C2, the material 4 is stored in a storage drum 43, so that there are no more differences in time series, and the material 4 is crushed by the continuously rotating crushing roller 41 and discharged in a fixed amount in time series.

The second crushing device C2 can separate the relatively large and heavy crushed materials 4 from the relatively small and light crushed materials 4 and crush them intensively. Moreover, the crushed materials 4 can be discharged by diverting the conveying air entering the separation duct 45 via the bypass pipe 47, and the relatively small and light crushed materials 4 that are not separated and dropped in the separation duct 45 can be transported to the separation device SD for the next process via the conveying path R2 together with the crushed materials 4.

In other words, while the crushed material 4 is being pneumatically transported from the first crushing device C1 to the separation device SD, the second crushing device C2 is able to gravitationally separate the relatively heavy components, lumps, etc. in the crushed material 4 from the air, and crush (including disintegrating, shredding, opening, beating, etc.) in a focused and effective manner.
The separator SD is a device for separating the crushed material 4 after crushing into exterior materials E which are relatively bulky and in the form of flakes, and water absorbent materials 5 which are relatively small in volume and in the form of cotton or granules.

In Figures 1, 8 to 12, the separation device SD includes a porous cylindrical chamber 15 having a large number of perforations 15b, a collector 16 that surrounds the chamber 15 and captures and collects the bulky crushed material discharged from the chamber 15, a discharge member 17 that is connected to the discharge port 15c of the chamber 15, and a rotating member 18 that is disposed within the chamber 15 and rotates the crushed material within the chamber 15.

Both axial ends of the chamber 15 protrude outward from the collection body 16, and an intake port 15a is provided on the outer periphery of the intake side end of one of the ends, allowing air containing large and small bulky crushed objects 4 from the second crushing device C2 to be sucked into the chamber. In addition, an intake port 19 is formed on the end face on the intake port 15a side for sucking in outside air to supplement the air taken in from the intake port 15a.
The rotating member 18 has a rotating shaft 21 supported rotatably relative to the chamber 15, and a plurality of blades 22 protruding radially outward from the rotating shaft 21. Each blade 22 is formed by fixing two blade members 22b to the outer periphery of a square rod 22a, and four of these blades 22 are arranged in series on the rotating shaft 21.

As the blades 22 of the swirling member 18 rotate within the chamber 15, they strike, swirl and agitate the transport air containing the crushed material taken in through the suction port 15a while discharging it from the discharge port 15c, and this is done in multiple stages (three stages), with the aid of centrifugal force discharging the small-bulk crushed material (small-bulk granular or cotton-like absorbent materials 5P, 5S) from the numerous perforations 15b.
The air discharged from the numerous perforations 15b after the small bulky crushed materials remain in the air (bulky pieces of exterior material E), which are discharged from the discharge port 15c together with the transporting air and transported to the exterior material recovery device ED.

The air taken in from the intake port 19 promotes the flow of the transporting air containing the bulky crushed material from the suction port 15a toward the discharge port 15c and the discharge port member 17, and also promotes the hitting, swirling and stirring of the crushed material 4.
An opening is formed in the discharge outlet member 17, and an air volume adjusting member 17a is provided at this opening, making it possible to adjust the volume of transported air flowing through the discharge outlet member 17. The intake port 19 may also be designed so that the opening area can be adjusted.

One of the four vanes 22 faces the discharge port 15c to promote the outflow of the conveying air. Only three vanes 22 facing the collecting body 16 may be provided.
The collection body 16 has an outer capturing member 23 surrounding the top and the front and rear sides of the chamber 15, and a hopper 24 located below between the front and rear sides of the outer capturing member 23. The outer capturing member 23 captures bulky crushed objects discharged from the perforations 15b of the chamber 15, and the hopper 24 collects the bulky crushed objects captured by the outer capturing member 23 and falling under their own weight.

There are three hoppers 24 corresponding to the three blades 22 of the rotating member 18, and each hopper 24 is funnel-shaped and has its lower portion connected to a common conveying path R4, which is further connected to a gravity separation device GD.
The separation device SD is structured to separate the crushed material 4 after crushing into three stages using three blades 22 and three hoppers 24, but the number of blades 22 may be one, two or four or more, and the hopper 24 may also be one, two or four or more funnel-shaped members.

The external packaging material recovery device ED is shown in FIG. 1, and is a device for separating and recovering external packaging materials E from the external packaging material-containing transport air discharged from the discharge port member 17 of the chamber 15.
The exterior material recovery device ED has a drum 52 formed from a perforated plate disposed below an inlet member 51 which swirls the sucked-in conveying air, an exhaust member 54 to which a blower B2 is connected disposed on the outer periphery of the drum 52, a rotary valve 55 which can be rotated and a recovery duct 56 disposed below the drum 52, and a compression packaging machine 57 disposed below the recovery duct 56.

The air containing bulky crushed material passes through the chamber 15 of the separation device SD and is discharged from the discharge outlet member 17, enters the inlet member 51, and while swirling, enters the drum 52. Only the air becomes exhaust air, flows out of the holes in the drum 52, is captured by the exhaust member 54, and is sent through the conveying path R3 to the bag filter BF with the addition of wind force from the blower B2.
The bulky crushed materials that enter the drum 52 are separated from the conveying air and stored in the lower part of the drum 52, and are discharged into a recovery duct 56 by the rotation of the rotor of a rotary valve 55, and are then discharged into a compression packing machine 57.
At this time, the air in the drum 52 is prevented from entering the recovery duct 56 by the rotor of the rotary valve 55.

The gravity separator GD, which is connected to the hopper 24 of the separator SD via the conveying path R4, is shown in Figures 1, 13 to 15, and is equipped with a rotating body 31 that sucks in and rotates air containing two types of absorbent material 5 (5P, 5S) with different specific gravities, a discharge body 32 that is placed inside the rotating body 31 and discharges the low specific gravity material (pulp) 5P upward together with the air, an extraction duct 35 connected to an extraction port 31b formed in the bottom wall 31a of the rotating body 31, and a rotary valve 36 provided at the bottom of the extraction duct 35.

The rotating body 31 has a substantially circular body portion 31c, an air introduction member 31d extending tangentially from one side of the body portion 31c, and a bottom wall 31a inside the body portion 31c. An outlet 31b is formed in the bottom wall 31a inside the body portion 31c on the outer circumferential side close to the body portion 31c, and an upper end of an outlet duct 35 is connected to the outlet 31b.
The outlet 31b is formed on the inner periphery of the body 31c at a position nearly halfway around the circumference from the air introduction member 31d, and is provided with a perforated plate 31e made of a mesh, punched metal or the like.

The absorbent-containing transport air that is brought into the body 31c from the air introduction material 31d becomes a spiral wind inside the body 31c, and the high-specific-gravity material (high molecular weight polymer) 5S, which has a relatively large specific gravity and is subjected to a spiral force, moves outward by centrifugal force and is separated downward by gravity. The separated high-specific-gravity material 5S flows into the outlet 31b through the perforated plate 31e, and the remaining air containing the low-specific-gravity material 5P, which has a relatively small specific gravity, enters the central discharge body 32.

A support base 61, which also serves as the upper cover of the body portion 31c, is attached to the upper part of the rotating body 31, and the upper part of the discharge body 32 and the lower part of the upper duct 63 are attached and supported on this support base 61 via supports 62 such as multiple pairs of bolts and nuts 62a.
The discharge body 32 is cylindrical in shape and protrudes into the body portion 31c from the upper side of the support base 61, with a downwardly flared mouth member 32a attached to its lower end. This mouth member 32a is positioned above and away from the bottom wall 31a, and this gap forms the discharge port 32b through which air containing the relatively small low-specific-gravity materials 5P is discharged.

By adjusting the position of the nut 62a of the support 62 up or down, the height of the upper part of the discharge body 32 can be adjusted. This adjustment adjusts the height of the lower end of the discharge body 32, and allows the expansion and contraction of the discharge opening 32b.
An upper duct 63 which is attached integrally to the discharge body 32 by the support 62 is connected to a low specific gravity material recovery device GS via a transport path R6.

The take-out duct 35 connected to the take-out port 31b of the bottom wall 31a is provided with a rotary valve 36 for discharging the high specific gravity material 5S accumulated in the take-out duct 35. The high specific gravity material 5S is collected while being separated from the air by the rotary valve 36, and is supplied to the high specific gravity material recovery device GL via the transport path R4.
In the take-out duct 35, there is a possibility that low specific gravity materials 5P may enter together with the high specific gravity materials 5S, and therefore an air intake 37 for taking in outside air is formed upstream of the rotary valve 36.

The amount of air taken in by this air intake 37 can be freely adjusted by a shutter, and the air taken in from this air intake 37 is sucked into the swirling wind inside the rotating body 31, causing the low specific gravity material 5P from the absorbent material 5 dropping into the extraction duct 35 from the extraction port 31b to float up and return it to the inside of the rotating body 31.
When the difference in specific gravity between the two types of water absorbent materials 5 (5P, 5S) is large, the air intake 37 may be closed with a shutter since the low specific gravity material 5P is unlikely to be mixed with the high specific gravity material 5S.

The specific gravity separator GD may directly connect the take-out duct 35 to the suction member 72 of the high specific gravity material recovery device GL without providing the rotary valve 36. Also, the air intake 37 may be omitted.
The high specific gravity material recovery device GL shown in FIG. 1 has a cyclone structure, in which a suction member 72 is provided at the top of a cyclone body 71, a cyclone inner body 73 is inserted in the center of the top, and a rotary valve 74 is provided at the bottom of the cyclone body 71.

The suction member 72 is connected to the extraction duct 35 of the specific gravity separation device GD via a conveying path, and is arranged to transport and rotate the high specific gravity material 5S together with the conveying air. A cyclone inner body 73 is inserted in the upper center, and a rotary valve 74 is provided at the bottom of the cyclone body 71.
The high-specific-gravity material recovery device GL takes in transport air containing high-specific-gravity material through an suction member 72, rotates it while lowering it through a cyclone body 71, centrifuges the high-specific-gravity material 5S from the air and supplies it to a rotary valve 74, where it intermittently falls from the rotary valve 74 and is recovered in a flexi-con bag 75.

The air from which the high specific gravity materials 5S have been separated in the cyclone body 71 enters the cyclone inner body 73 from the center of the swirling flow, and is sent to the bag filter BF via the transport path R5 and the blowers B3 and B4.
1 and 16 to 18, the low specific gravity material recovery device GS comprises a machine frame 81, a rotary valve section 82 placed on the ceiling of the machine frame 81, a collection section 83 arranged above the rotary valve section 82, and a discharge duct 84 connected to the underside of the rotary valve section 82.

The rotary valve section 82 has multiple blades 82b attached to a rotating shaft 82a, and stores the low specific gravity materials 5P collected in the collection section 83 between the blades 82b. By rotating, the low specific gravity materials 5P are separated from the air above and dropped into the discharge duct 84.
The collection section 83 has a conical barrel 83a to which a cylindrical barrel 83b is connected, an exhaust member 83c to which the cylindrical barrel 83b is connected, and an intake member 83d having a conveying air intake port 12 is connected to the outer periphery of the cylindrical barrel 83b. An exhaust filter 86 is disposed inside the cylindrical barrel 83b, a backflow nozzle 87 is disposed inside the exhaust filter 86, and a conical compression screw 88 connected to the lower part of the exhaust filter 86 is disposed inside the conical barrel 83a. A drive mechanism 89 is provided to rotate the compression screw 88 and the exhaust filter 86.

The air containing low specific gravity materials from the gravity separation device GD is introduced through the intake member 83d and the conveying air intake port 12 between the cylindrical body 83b and the exhaust filter 86, and while rotating, the low specific gravity materials 5P fall by centrifugation.The conveying air after separation of the low specific gravity materials 5P passes through the exhaust filter 86 and is discharged from the exhaust member 83c and the exhaust duct 84.
The backflow nozzle 87 has elongated nozzles on the top and bottom that open toward the inner peripheral surface of the exhaust filter 86, and blows out the air supplied from the blower B6 from the center of the exhaust filter 86 in the radially outward direction, passing through the exhaust filter 86 in the opposite direction to the conveying air after separation of the low specific gravity material 5P, thereby eliminating clogging of the exhaust filter 86. The backflow nozzle 87 rotates together with the compression screw 88, thereby preventing clogging of the entire exhaust filter 86.

The unclogged air discharged from the backflow nozzle 87 enters the exhaust filter 86 together with the separated air, and is discharged from the exhaust member 83c.
The conical body 83a becomes smaller in diameter (funnel-shaped) as it goes downward, and the compression screw 88 is also conical in shape. As the compression screw 88 rotates, the low specific gravity material 5P collected in the conical body 83a after separation is compressed and supplied to the rotary valve section 82, and then falls from the rotary valve section 82 into the discharge duct 84.

The discharge duct 84 has an angle-changing mechanism 91 that enables it to be switched between a hanging position in which the falling low-specific-gravity material 5P is supplied to a compression packaging machine 92, and an inclined position in which the material is swung outward from the hanging position and stored in an external container such as a flexi-con bag 93.
The air discharged from the exhaust member 83c through the exhaust filter 86 reaches the blower B4 via the transport path R7, and is sent to the bag filter BF together with the exhaust air that has passed through the blower B3 from the high specific gravity material recovery device GL.

The bag filter BF sucks in the conveyed air after the low specific gravity material 5P has been recovered by the low specific gravity material recovery device GS and the conveyed air after the high specific gravity material 5S has been recovered by the high specific gravity material recovery device GL, and removes fine dust, soot, and other fine harmful substances contained in the air.
The air exhaust port 13 of this bag filter BF is connected to the transport air intake port 12 of the low specific gravity material recovery device GS via an air transport path 14, reusing the air that has been depleted of most of its contained substances and making the air flow in the absorbent material recovery system 1 endless.

The air conveying passage 14 may be connected to the suction side of the discharge member 27 of the first crushing device C1 to make the air flow endless from the start to the end of the water absorbent material recovery system 1. Air leakage in the water absorbent material recovery system 1 is replenished by blowers B2, B6, etc.
The method for recovering the water absorbent material in the water absorbent material recovery system 1 will be described mainly with reference to Figures 1 and 2. The amount of conveying air (air volume per cubic meter per minute) used in each process when 450 (feed amount kilograms per hour) of disposable diapers (material to be treated 3) are fed into the first crushing device C1 will also be described.

The material 3 to be treated, which consists of two types of absorbent material 5, such as disposable diapers and sanitary napkins, wrapped in an outer material E, is fed into the first crushing device C1 of the crushing device CD for rough crushing, sucked through the blower B1 (40 cubic meters/min) and the conveying path R1, and then fed into the second crushing device C2 for disintegration (crushing), resulting in crushed material 4 in which the outer material E is cut into small pieces and the clumps of absorbent material 5 are dissolved (crushing process K1).

The crushed material 4 is supplied to the separator SD from the suction port 15a with an air volume (40 cubic meters/min), and is transported into the chamber 15 while taking in external air (60 cubic meters/min) from the intake port 19. The crushed material 4 is struck and stirred by the rotating member 18 together with a large amount of air in the chamber 15, and adhesions and entanglements are eliminated, and small lumps are crushed, so that the exterior material E, which is relatively bulky and easily floats in the transport air, is separated from the absorbent material 5, which is relatively small and can pass through the perforations 15b of the chamber 15. The exterior material E is discharged from the discharge port member 17, and the absorbent material 5 is collected in the hopper 24 (separation process K2).

The separated exterior material E is transported from the discharge outlet member 17 to the exterior material recovery device ED by conveying air at a volume of 40 cubic meters/minute, where the exterior material E is separated from the conveying air and supplied to a compression packaging machine 57 for recovery (exterior material recovery process K3).
The absorbent material 5 separated in the separator SD is carried by the conveying air with an air volume (60 cubic meters/min) through the conveying path R4 and is introduced into the gravity separator GD. The absorbent material 5 is a mixture of pulp (low specific gravity material 5P) and high molecular weight polymer (high specific gravity material 5S), and the pulp 5P has a lower specific gravity than the high molecular weight polymer 5S. The two types of absorbent material 5 have a large and small specific gravity difference. After entering the rotating drum 31, the high specific gravity material 5S is taken out from the take-out port 31b, and the low specific gravity material 5P is discharged from the discharge drum 32 (specific gravity separation process K4).

The separated low-density material 5P is carried on the transport air at an air volume (60 cubic meters/minute) and transported through the transport path R6 to the low-density material recovery device GS, where the low-density material 5P is separated from the transport air and supplied to the compression packaging machine 92 for recovery (low-density material recovery process K5).
The high specific gravity material 5S separated in the gravity separation device GD is transported on the conveying air of an air volume (10 cubic meters/min, suction air by blower B3) to the high specific gravity material recovery device GL, where the high specific gravity material 5S is separated from the conveying air and supplied to a flexi-con bag 75 (or a compression packaging machine) for recovery (high specific gravity material recovery process K6).

The separated air discharged from the exterior material recovery device ED in the exterior material recovery process K3 is added to the blown air (10 cubic meters/min) of the blower B2, and an air volume (50 cubic meters/min) is discharged to the conveying path 3, and the separated air discharged from the low specific gravity material recovery device GS in the low specific gravity material recovery process K5 is added to the blown air (10 cubic meters/min) of the blower B6, and an air volume (85 cubic meters/min) is discharged to the conveying path R7, and the high specific gravity material recovery process K6 is added to the air discharged from the low specific gravity material recovery device GS in the low specific gravity material recovery process K5. The post-separation air discharged from the high specific gravity material recovery device GL is the air (10 cubic meters/minute) ejected from the blower B3 mentioned above, which is collected in the blower B4 to produce an air volume (145 cubic meters/minute) that is then supplied to the bag filter BF. After removing harmful substances, the air discharged from the bag filter BF is returned to the conveying air intake 12 of the low specific gravity material recovery process K5 at an air volume (15 cubic meters/minute) (terminal air conveying process K7).

The gravity separation device GD shown in the above embodiment is equipped with a swirling body 31 that draws in air containing two types of absorbent material 5 with different specific gravities and rotates it, and a discharge body 32 that is arranged within the swirling body 31 and discharges the low specific gravity material 5P upward together with the air, and the swirling body 31 has an outlet 31b through which the high specific gravity material 5S falls at a position corresponding to the outer periphery of the swirling air on the bottom wall 31a of the air swirling circuit.

This makes it possible to separate the high specific gravity material 5S from the air containing two types of water absorbent materials 5 with different specific gravities by centrifugal force and the difference in specific gravity.
In addition, in the gravity separator GD, a rotary valve 36 for discharging the high specific gravity material 5S accumulated in the extraction duct 35 is provided in the extraction duct 35 connected to the extraction port 31b.
This allows the high specific gravity material 5P to be collected without involving transport air.

Furthermore, in the gravity separator GD, the take-out duct 35 has an air intake 37 upstream of the rotary valve 36 for taking in outside air in an adjustable amount.
This makes it possible to prevent the low specific gravity material 5P from entering the extraction duct 35.
Furthermore, in the gravity separator GD, the discharge body 32 is inserted into the rotating body 31 from above, and the vertical position of the discharge port 32b between the lower end of the discharge body 32 and the bottom wall 31a can be adjusted to change the size.

This allows adjustment so as to improve the efficiency of separation and recovery of the high specific gravity material 5P.
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the shape, configuration, and combination of the members can be changed.
For example, in the separation device SD, the axis of the chamber 15 is arranged horizontally, but it may be arranged vertically.

The blade members 22b may be inclined with respect to the axis of the chamber 15 so that the air entering from the suction port 15a and the intake port 19 flows to the discharge port 15c by the rotation of the blade members 22b. The four blades 22 may have one blade member 22b or three or more blade members 22b, and the circumferential positions of the blade members 22b of adjacent blades 22 may be the same or different.
The compression packing machines 57, 92 may be those called automatic packing machines, volume reducers, compactors, etc.

The blower B1 of the first crushing device C1 may be disposed on the air intake side of the discharge member 27 so that the pulverized material 4 is discharged from the discharge member 27 to the transport path R1 by the blower exhaust air.
The gravity separation device GD may omit the mouth member 32a and use the lower end of the discharge body 32 as the discharge outlet 32b, or may form the outlets 31b in multiple locations on the bottom wall 31a, or may extend the outlets 31b to the inner circumference.

1 Absorbent material recovery system 3 Material to be treated 4 Crushed material 5 Absorbent material 5P Low specific gravity material (pulp)
5S High specific gravity material (high molecular weight polymer)
12 Conveying air intake port 13 Air exhaust port 14 Air conveying path BF Bag filter C1 First crushing device C2 Second crushing device CD Crushing device E Outer packaging material ED Outer packaging material recovery device GD Gravity separation device GL High specific gravity material recovery device GS Low specific gravity material recovery device K1 Crushing process K2 Separation process K3 Outer packaging material recovery process K4 Gravity separation process K5 Low specific gravity material recovery process K6 High specific gravity material recovery process K7 Terminal air conveying process R1 to R6 Conveying path SD Separator a Horizontal path b Vertical path

Claims (4)

a rotating drum (31) for roughly crushing and disintegrating the material (3) to be treated, which has two types of water absorbent materials (5) surrounded by an exterior material (E), and separating the material into large and small bulks, and sucking in air containing the two types of water absorbent materials (5) having different specific gravities and smaller in volume than the exterior material (E) through an air introduction member (31d) on one side of a drum (31c) and rotating the air along an air swirling path;
and a discharge drum (32) disposed within the rotating drum (31) for discharging the low specific gravity material (5P) upward together with air.
The rotating body (31) has an outlet (31b) for dropping the high specific gravity material (5S) at a position nearly half a circumference away from the air introduction material (31d) in the rotating direction and corresponding to the outer circumferential side of the swirling air in the bottom wall (31a) of the air swirling circuit, and a perforated plate (31e) for dropping the high specific gravity material (5S) is provided at the outlet (31b) and an outlet duct (35) is connected thereto.
The gravity separation device is characterized in that the take-out duct (35) is provided with a rotary valve (36) for discharging the high specific gravity material (5S) accumulated in the take-out duct (35) while separating it from the air . a rotating body (31) that draws in air containing two types of water absorbent materials (5) having different specific gravities from an air introduction member (31d) on one side of a body portion (31c) and rotates the air along an air swirling path;
and a discharge drum (32) disposed within the rotating drum (31) for discharging the low specific gravity material (5P) upward together with air.
The air introduction material (31d) is connected to a hopper (24) of a bulk separation device (SD), and the bulk separation device (SD) roughly crushes and disintegrates the material (3) to be treated, which is made of two types of water-absorbing materials (5) surrounded by an exterior material (E), and strikes the crushed material (4) against a chamber (15) with a rotating member (18), rotates and stirs the crushed material, and separates the bulky crushed material from the bulky crushed material and collects the small bulky crushed material that has passed through a perforation (15b) in the hopper (24).
The rotating body (31) has an outlet (31b) for dropping the high specific gravity material (5S) at a position nearly half a circumference away from the air introduction material (31d) in the rotating direction and corresponding to the outer circumferential side of the swirling air in the bottom wall (31a) of the air swirling circuit, and a perforated plate (31e) for dropping the high specific gravity material (5S) is provided at the outlet (31b) and an outlet duct (35) is connected thereto.
The gravity separation device is characterized in that the take-out duct (35) is provided with a rotary valve (36) for discharging the high specific gravity material (5S) accumulated in the take-out duct (35) while separating it from the air . The gravity separation device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the extraction duct (35) has an air intake (37) upstream of the rotary valve (36) for taking in an adjustable amount of outside air into the extraction port (31b) to float the low specific gravity materials (5P) falling together with the high specific gravity materials (5S) . The bottom wall (31a) of the rotating body (31) is formed flat all around,
The gravity separation device according to claim 1, characterized in that the discharge body (32) is inserted into the rotating body (31) from above, and its vertical position can be adjusted to adjust the size of a discharge opening (32b) between its lower end and the flat bottom wall (31a).

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