Singulation system for recyclable material

The present invention discloses a singulation system for recyclable materials which has a vacuum chamber having a slot down the middle. The vacuum chamber is substantially hollow such that air being pulled through one side of the vacuum chamber is pulled through the slot. Air is pulled through the vacuum chamber using a vacuum. A belt is rolled around the vacuum chamber, and the belt has hole arrays. The vacuum pulling air through the slot pulls air through the hole arrays, thereby allowing the belt to grab hold of and pull containers up the belt. Various outlet hoses can be provided from the vacuum to blow containers off the belt which are not firmly attached at the hole arrays, or to blow air against the diverter which then blows air across the belt, or to blow air through the hole arrays on the underside of the vacuum chamber to clear out holes which may be clogged from time to time.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates generally to a singulation system for 
recyclable material and more specifically to a device which takes a 
quantity of recyclable material and places each item individually on a 
conveyor or chute or other transportation means. 
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that recycling materials 
is very popular, given the need for energy and land conservation. It will 
further be appreciated by those skilled in the art that different types of 
materials are recycled in different manners. Therefore, these materials 
must be sorted by type. Certain materials, such as ferrous metals, can be 
sorted by type using a magnet. Other sorts can be made based on a material 
property, such as the electrical conductivity of metals, by using an eddy 
current type sensor. Magnetic and eddy current sensing can detect and be 
used to remove a specific material type from a collection of different 
types of materials. Other materials, such as plastic containers, however 
may be constructed of a variety of plastic polymer types. The majority 
part of the container may be made from PET, while the base of the 
container is covered with an HDPE cup. Additionally the closure may be 
made of aluminum or another plastic polymer type. Determining the majority 
constituent of a plastic container then requires that each container be 
examined in detail, such as by making numerous measurements of the entire 
container with electromagnetic radiation sensors. In order for these 
determining sensors to work at their most efficient, the plastic container 
must pass through or go over these sensors or other devices one at a time, 
to avoid confusion from other plastic types in close proximity. 
Unfortunately, plastic containers are generally collected in one spot in 
large groups and then placed into a recycling system in large groups. For 
example, plastic containers are usually sent to recycling center in large 
bales. 
In the past, sorting of plastic containers has been done by using some type 
of human sorting system. Humans remove the plastic container by type from 
a conveyor belt one at a time. 
Until now, singulation has been developed only for objects of very similar 
sizes and shapes, such as positioning of steel, glass or aluminum 
containers on a filling process line. Other devices have been developed to 
orient screws and bolts for filling containers or further processing. 
These devices, however, are also designed to work only with objects of 
similar sizes and shapes. 
What is needed, then, is a device for singulating recyclable materials such 
as plastic container which vary widely in size and shape. Additionally, 
the plastic containers may be received in relatively whole condition or in 
flattened condition in bales form. The singulating device must be able to 
handle plastic containers of these widely varying sizes, shapes and 
conditions, and must be economically feasible and efficient. This device 
must be simple to operate. This device must be usable with an entire 
recyclable system. This device is presently lacking in the prior art. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In the present device, a vacuum chamber is provided in an elongated and 
substantially flat piece of material which has a slot in it. The vacuum 
chamber pulls air through this slot. At each end of the vacuum chamber, 
there is provided a roller. Over the rollers, there is placed a belt. This 
belt has hole arrays each having several holes. The vacuum chamber pulls 
air through the slot and through the holes in the belt. The belt is placed 
at an angle from true horizontal such that no material would be grasped by 
the belt except for the vacuum chamber. The combination of the vacuum 
chamber through the slot and through the holes in the belt create negative 
pressure which in essence hold the recyclable material against the belt. 
The group of holes which comprise each hole assembly is made substantially 
smaller than the smallest material size to be singulated. This leads to 
single pieces of recyclable material being pulled up the belt on each 
group of materials such as to singulate the recyclable materials. The 
outlet for the vacuum can be used to clear out the holes as the belt 
passes on the bottom side of the vacuum chamber away from the vacuum slot 
and can also be blown across the belt to prevent a recyclable container 
which is being held against the belt from carrying another piece of 
recyclable material up the belt. In addition air from a nozzle may be 
directed along the direction of belt travel from the bottom roller to aid 
the orientation of material to be singulated as it is feed to the bottom 
of the singulating belt. 
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a 
singulation system for recyclable materials. 
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an economic and 
efficient singulation method. 
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method which 
is simple and effective. 
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system which 
is usable with an entire recycling system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown generally at 10 the singulation 
system of the present invention. Vacuum 12 pulls the system through inlet 
hose 14. Vacuum chamber 16 is a substantially elongated piece of what is, 
in the preferred embodiment, a flat material which has slot 18. Vacuum 
chamber 16 has first face 20, second face 22, and base 24 which extends on 
bottom of slot 18 as well as below first face 20 and second face 22. Ends 
26a, 26b are enclosed; whereas, first side 28 is open and second side 30 
can be slightly open or closed, depending upon which embodiment is used. 
Belt 32 in FIG. 2 is placed over first rollers 34 and second rollers 36. 
Rollers 34, 36 are of the same diameter in order to move belt 32 over 
vacuum chamber 16. System 10 can also be provided with outlet hose 38 
which can direct outflowing air across belt 32 in FIG. 2. 
Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a perspective view of belt 32. Belt 
32 has hole arrays 40 spaced apart. Hole arrays 40 are made of holes 42 
which can be placed in any type of alignment. 
Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, as vacuum 12 pulls air through inlet hose 
14 and between face 20 and base 24, air is pulled through slot 18. Hole 
arrays 40 are aligned to fit over slot 24 such that the slot creates 
negative pressure against belt 32, which pulls belt 32 proximate to vacuum 
chamber 16. As containers 44 contact belt 32, container 44 will only be 
pulled along belt 32 at point of hole array 40. Outlet hose 38 directs 
outlet from vacuum 12 across belt 32 so as to cause containers 44 which 
may be carried along belt 32 by another container 40 when the carried 
container is not being carried along by hole array 40 to be blown to the 
side and brought back to the bottom of the belt for pick up at hole array 
40. In addition, air from air outlet 39 may be directed through nozzle 39A 
to aid material to be singulated in their transition from input means 48 
to belt 32. Air from nozzle 38A is directed slightly upward with respect 
to input means 48 such that the front portion of material is lifted 
slightly to match the angle of belt 32 presenting the object to hole 
arrays 40 such that they are readily captured. 
Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown generally at 46 a simple recycling 
system. Singulation system 10 receives containers 44 from feed conveyor 
48. Baffle 50 is used to decrease the amount of containers 44 which are 
placed on singulation system 10 at one time. After containers are moved 
along singulation system 10 and placed singly, containers 44 are 
transported to another conveyor, chute, or other transportation device 
which is, in this particular embodiment, through sensor 52 and down off 
bearing conveyor 54. In order to ensure that conveyor 32 only pulls along 
containers 44 at hole arrays 40, singulation system is placed at 
substantially a 45 to 60 degree angle from horizontal. However, this can 
be at any angle such that the coefficient of friction between container 44 
and belt 32 is low, thereby preventing belt 32 from pulling container 44 
up belt. 
In the preferred embodiment, a 14 inches of water vacuum is used. However, 
any vacuum can be used to generate 10 to 30 inches of water in pressure. 
Rollers 34, 36 can be rotated by any means such as a chain drive or direct 
shaft from a motor. In the preferred embodiment, holes 42 are 
substantially 1/8 inch to 3/8 inch in diameter, and hole arrays 40 are 
substantially 1 inch to 3 inches in diameter, because containers 44 tend 
to be 4 inches to 10 inches in typical width. In the preferred embodiment, 
belt 32 moves at substantially 100 to 360 feet per minute. 
Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown generally at 10 another embodiment 
of the present invention. In this particular embodiment, vacuum 12 pulls 
air through inlet hose 14 to create negative pressure under hole arrays 40 
as described in reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. However, in this particular 
embodiment, cut outs 56 are provided in belt 32. Outlet hose or hoses 38 
direct air from vacuum 12 against diverter 58 which can extend above the 
plane formed by belt 32. This air blowing against diverter 56 comes back 
across the top of belt 32 at substantially 1000 to 3000 feet per minute in 
the preferred embodiment to blow any containers 44 which are not on hole 
arrays 40 off of belt 32. 
Referring now to FIG. 5, there is shown still another embodiment of device 
10. Vacuum 12 pulls air through inlet hose 14. Outlet hoses 38 receive 
outlet from vacuum 12. Outlet hose 38a forces outlet across face of belt 
32 to blow containers 44 which are not on hole arrays 40. Outlet hose 38b 
is directed to underside of belt 32 and through hole arrays 40 to clean 
hole arrays 40 which at times may become clogged. 
Air from outlet hoses 38 is directed at substantially 1000 to 3000 feet per 
minute. However, any particular velocity can be used as long as it is 
sufficient for the purpose of either dislodging materials from hole arrays 
40 or moving containers 44 off belt 32. 
Besides vacuum, air to force containers from belt can be created by an air 
nozzle which assists in the orientation of the containers making the 
transition from the input conveyor to the singulation system. Further, 
cross blowing air can provided by pulsed air valves supplied by compressed 
air and actuated by an optical sensor triggered by markings on the 
singulation belt. 
Thus, although there have been described particular embodiments of the 
present invention of a new and useful singulation system for recyclable 
material, it is not intended that such references be construed as 
limitations upon the scope of this invention except as set forth in the 
following claims. Further, although there have been described certain 
dimensions used in the preferred embodiment, it is not intended that such 
dimensions be construed as limitations upon the scope of this invention 
except as set forth in the following claims.