Abstract:
A shredder system and method in which wet chips travel in a flume. The wet chips in a fluid transport travel in a trough to a shredder having a shredder assembly made up of a plurality of combs that cooperate with a plurality of sizing members with at least a portion of the combs and members being positioned within the trough. The trough preferably is located above ground and the wet chips can be shredded in the trough without removal of the wet chips form the trough.

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION 
     The invention is directed to a system for shredding scrap materials located in a flume. 
     DESCRIPTION OF RELATED TECHNOLOGY 
     In the course of a machine operation, scrap material, generally in the form of helical or other shaped metal chips are generated. The chips, referred to as wet chips, also are coated with a lubricant that is applied to the metal material during the course of a machining operation. Often, it is required to transport the scrap material from one or more machine locations to a shredder station where undesired bales of scrap material or other undesired large pieces of material are shredded. Following shredding, the scrap material or wet chips pass to a chip processing system where the wet chips are centrifuged during which lubricant is separated from the chips. The separated fluid is recaptured while the dry chips are blown to a dry chip container or collection site. 
     There are various systems for conveying wet chip material from a machine center (a center generally comprising one or more machine stations). In some instances, mechanical conveyors are utilized to transport the scrap material from a machine center to a shredder. In other instances, important to the present invention, the scrap material is transported in a flume from the machine center to a shredder. A flume is defined as a fluid or liquid conveyor system in which wet chips are transported through a fluid flow to at least a shredder station. 
     Heretofore, systems incorporating a flume as a means for conveying wet chips, employed a trough disposed in the floor of a building or structure. Liquid coolant was pumped through the trough. As wet chips passed from a machine discharge chute into the trough, they mixed with the liquid and were pumped along the length of the trough to a receiving tank. There the wet chips would drop on to a conventional drag filter mechanical conveyor partially disposed in the tank. The wet chips would be mechanically conveyed to a wet chip centrifugal separator processing system where fluid would be removed from the chips and recirculated back into the system while dry chips would be directed to a dry chip collection. 
     While this wet chip transport system is satisfactory for a number of applications, it is not particularly suitable in all instances. In some situations, it is not desired or convenient to place a trough in the floor of a building. It has been found that environmental concerns exist in properly maintaining unwanted debris from building up in the trough. Further, once a trough is formed in a flume transport system, it becomes more difficult to later relocate a machine center or flume transport. 
     Further, it has been found that, in some instances, as the wet chips travel in the flume, helical scrap pieces intertwine with one another forming bales of material. The bales can clog the pump which pumps the liquid and wet chips in the flume generally at a rate of about five to ten feet per second. Accordingly, a shredder is incorporated in the system ahead of the pump station for the purpose of shredding wet chip bales and any other undesired material into smaller pieces. Previously, the shredder was positioned at a location outside the trough. The wet chips would enter the shredder and, following a shredding operation, shredded wet chips were dropped or reintroduced into the flume and thereafter transported to the chip processing or other workstation(s). 
     What is desired is to have a wet chip transport system in which the flume is not located in the floor of a structure. Rather, the trough is positioned above ground so that, if necessary, the trough can be disassembled and a new trough positioned as desired thereby allowing flexibility in locating wet chip flume systems. 
     Additionally, it is desired to have a shredder assembly disposed directly in the trough path in order that wet chips need not be diverted from the flume. It is desired to have the wet chips in the flume pass directly into a shredder without the wet chips having to be removed from the liquid containing trough for shredding purposes. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     The invention disclosed and claimed herein serves to obviate the above identified problems and achieve the above stated desires while at the same time achieving proper wet chip flow in the flume. Shredding of wet chips can occur without removing wet chips or bales of wet chips from the flume during shredding. The shredder is positioned within the trough whereby bales of wet chips or other unwanted large metal pieces pass through the shredder whose shredding mechanism is at least partially disposed in and traverses the trough. Further, the trough containing the fluid coolant preferably is positioned above ground. 
     These and other features, advantages, and objects of the present invention will be further understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art by reference to the following specification, drawings and claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 shows a schematic elevation view of a first embodiment of a shredder assembly disposed in a trough of a flume system of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 shows a partial perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 with the combs and sizing members of the shredder disposed in a trough of the present invention and the shredder shaft is positioned substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the trough in an inline position with the fluid/material flow; 
     FIG. 3 shows an elevation view of the shredder disposed in the trough shown in FIG. 1 with the trough flange removed; 
     FIG. 4 shows a plan view of the shredder of FIG. 3 with the drive assembly removed; 
     FIG. 5 shows a side elevation view taken along the right side of FIG. 3 with the drive assembly removed; 
     FIG. 6 shows a side elevation view taken along the left side of FIG. 3 with the drive assembly and shredder faceplate removed for illustration; and 
     FIG. 7 shows a second embodiment of the shredder assembly disposed in a trough with the shredder shaft positioned in a radial position substantially perpendicular to both the longitudinal axis of the trough and the flow. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of a machine center  10  where wet chips are generated by a lathe or other type of metal working machine. Wet chips pass from the machine center through discharge chute  11  where the wet chips drop into a trough  12  containing liquid coolant. The wet chips along with coolant fluid disposed in trough  12  travel along the length of trough  12 , the wet chips and fluid being pumped along in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the trough by means of a conventional pump assembly  13 . 
     Prior to the wet chips entering pump assembly  13 , the wet chips pass through shredder  14 , which has a shredder assembly  15 , at least a portion of which is disposed in the trough. As wet chips, which sometimes cling together in the form of stringy bales, pass into shredder assembly  15 , the wet chips or bales thereof, as well as other unwanted metal objects, are shredded into individual wet chip pieces which are capable of passing through pump assembly  13 . 
     Upon exiting shredder assembly  15 , the shredded wet chips pass through pump assembly  13  where the wet chips and coolant then are pumped through conduit  16  into collection tank  17 . Here the coolant fluid is recovered as the coolant passes into conduit  19 . The coolant is pumped through pump assembly  20  into coolant conduit  21  where it then is recovered either at machine center  10  for reuse as a coolant or in a suitable collection tank, not shown. The shredded wet chips are conveyed by means of a suitable mechanical conveyor  22 , such as a drag/filter conveyor, into a conventional parts separator and centrifugal separator, neither of which is shown. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates shredder assembly  15  disposed within trough  12  so that as the wet chips travel along trough  12 , they will automatically engage shredder assembly  15 . In this manner, any wet chips which have formed into bales or the like will pass through shredder assembly  15  without need of removing the wet chips or bales thereof from the trough for shredding purposes. 
     As illustrated in FIGS. 1,  2  and  3 , shredder  14  includes motor  25  mounted on motor bracket  26 . Drive shaft  27  extends from motor  25  with drive sprocket  28  mounted on the outboard end of shaft  27 . Trough  12  is illustrated as including a U shaped base  32  with two ends terminating as spaced substantially vertical tough side walls  33 ,  34 . Side wall  33  is flanged at the top to provide flange  37  while side wall  34  is flanged at the top to provide flange  38 . Shredder housing face plates  40 ,  41 , shown in FIG. 3, serve to enclose shredder sizing members and combs, and preferably are welded at their edges to the side walls of trough  12 . 
     Bearing assembly  42  is seated in an opening in face plate  40  while bearing assembly  43  is seated in an opening in face plate  41 . A rotatable drive shaft  44  is seated for rotation in bearings  45 ,  46  of bearing assemblies  42 ,  43 . Sprocket  48  is attached to one end of drive shaft  44  and is connected to sprocket  28  through a suitable roller chain, not shown. 
     Drive shaft  44  in this particular shredder assembly embodiment is positioned so that it extends in the direction of the longitudinal axis of trough  12  and is substantially in line with the flow of material and fluid in trough  12 . 
     Referring to FIGS. 2-6, a plurality of spaced sizing members or wheels  50  are fixedly seated on rotatable shaft  44 . Each sizing member  50  includes a central hub  51 . A plurality of spaced sizing arms  52  extend outwardly from hub  51 . As shown in FIG. 2, four sizing arms  52  extend outwardly from hub  51 , each arm being positioned at approximately 90° to an adjacent arm. 
     As shown in FIGS. 2,  3 ,  5  and  6  adjacent sizing members  50  are located combs  54 , each comb being formed of a metal plate. There are three different size comb sets  55 ,  56 ,  57  each set preferably comprising three like combs  54 . Combs  54  each comprise a substantially flat metal plate. The majority of the combs are sandwiched between adjacent sizing members  50 . Each side edge of a comb  54  preferably is contoured to substantially conform to an adjacent inner surface of trough side members  33  and  34 . Illustratively, comb  54  includes a comb side edge  58  adapted to abut or be contiguous to the inner surface of trough side member  33 . Comb side edge  59  is adapted to abut or be contiguous to the inner surface of trough side member  34 . 
     Combs  54  are each flanged at  60 ,  61 . Comb flange  60  as shown in FIG. 6, is adapted to seat on trough flange  38  while flange  61  is adapted to seat on flange  37 . 
     Each comb  54  includes a pair of fingers  62 ,  63 . Finger  63  depends downward (FIG. 6) the same distance for each comb in each comb set; however, fingers  62  depend downward varying distances for each comb set. Comb fingers  62  extend further downward for the combs of set  57  than the comb fingers for set  56 . Similarly, comb fingers  62  of comb set  56  depend further downward than the fingers for comb set  55 . 
     Each comb  54  as shown in FIGS. 2 and 6, also includes recesses  65 ,  66  in the top edge of the comb. A pressure plate  67  is adapted to seat in comb recesses  65  while pressure plate  68  is adapted to seat in comb recesses  66 . Bolts  70 ,  71  extend through respective openings located at the opposite ends of pressure plate  67  while Bolts  72 ,  73  extend through openings located at the opposite ends of pressure plate  68 . Each bolt extends downwardly through a corresponding opening in a trough flange  37  or  38 . A compression spring  74  is mounted on each bolt and retained in place by a suitable washer and nut assembly  75 . When nut assemblies  75  are tightened, combs  54  are maintained in place under spring pressure. 
     In operation, wet chips, often in the form of relatively long flexible helical strips are discharged from machine center  10  into fluid located in trough  12  of a flume. The wet chips often form into bales of material. As the bales of wet chips and fluid travel along in trough  12 , upon actuation of pump in assembly  13 , the materials approach shredder  14  whose combs  54  and sizing members  50  are positioned at least partially in the trough liquid directly in the path of the bales and chips. As the bales and chips enter shredder assembly  14 , actuation of the shredder causes sizing members  50  to rotate on shaft  44  relative to combs  54  thereby engaging the combs in a scissors like cutting operation to shred the bales and wet chips relatively into small shredded pieces. The shredded wet chips and coolant fluid then continue on in the trough through pump assembly  13  and conduit  16  where they are deposited in collection tank  17 . The coolant then is pumped out of tank  17  via pump  20 . The coolant passes through conduit  21  and is recycled for use as a machine tool coolant and/or wet chip transfer medium. Simultaneously, the shredded wet chips transfer onto conveyor  22  where the wet chips are transported to a wet chip collection site or a wet chip centrifugal separator system where the wet chips are centrifuged and dry chips are recovered. 
     While the particular embodiment of the invention has been illustrated showing the shredder combs and sizing fingers disposed in a trough, it is appreciated the shredder could be made in which the shredder contains a separate trough section adapted to seat within a trough. In this embodiment, the shredder and trough section could be assembled at one location and then shipped to a job site when the shredder and trough section would be installed within the trough already in place at the site or the trough section could be joined to other trough sections at the job site. 
     Similarly, while the trough has been shown to include a preferred U-shaped base, it is appreciated that the trough, if desired, could utilize another shape, e.g., box-like, and the fingers and combs formed to fit properly within such other shape. 
     FIG. 7 shows a further embodiment of the invention. In this particular embodiment, the shredder assembly is located in a radial position so that rotatable shaft  44  and the sizing members and combs are positioned substantially perpendicular to the fluid flow in the trough, unlike the embodiment of FIG. 1 where shaft  44  is positioned in line with the fluid flow in the trough. In the embodiment of FIG. 7, sizing members  50  are fixed for rotation on shaft  44 . Comb members  54  have flange members  60 , 61  which seat on spaced cross members which extend over the trough. One end of each cross member seats on trough flange  37  which the remaining cross member end seats on trough flange  38 . Comb members  54  are disposed between sizing members  50  and resiliently maintained in place on the cross beams utilizing the same type spring assembly as described above with respect to the embodiment of FIG.  1 . 
     The foregoing detailed description is given for clearness of understanding only, and not unnecessary limitation should be understood therefrom as modification within; the scope of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.