Patent ID: 6123017
Filing Date: 2000-09-26
Classification: B30B

Abstract:
A system for monitoring the fullness of a waste container, wherein a ram is employed to compress the waste in the container, said system including:a first sensor configured to detect when the ram is actuated, said first sensor providing a ram actuation signal;a second sensor to measure the force required to actuate the ram, said second sensor providing a force signal;a third sensor for monitoring the presence of a container, said third sensor providing an empty container signal when a container is separated from the ram; anda processor unit connected to receive the ram actuation signal, the force signal and the container empty signal, said processing being configured to:count how often the ram is actuated after the container is emptied;determine from the force signal the highest force required during the use of the ram to compress the waste and store data representative of the highest force as a current force value;calculate a pressure/use value for the container, wherein after said container empty signal indicates a container is emptied, the pressure/use value is calculated by dividing the current force value by the count of how often the ram was actuated prior to the container being emptied;calculate a maximum uses value representative of the number of times the container can be used based on the pressure/use value; andcalculate the fullness of the container based on the count of ram actuations and the maximum uses value.