Garbage processing vehicle

Abstract: A garbage processing vehicle in which a rotational fermentation drum device (1) is disposed on a loading platform (20) of a vehicle (100), for mixing garbages with aerobic microorganisms and air in a rotational drum and applying fermentation. A device installation space can be saved and the garbage can be processed during transportation. Heat and power of the vehicle engine are effectively utilized for fermentation.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention concerns a garbage processing vehicle for applying fermentation to garbages during their collection and transportation, for example, from usual homes, companies and hospitals. Description of the Prior Art Garbages discharged from, for example, homes, companies, schools, shops and hospitals have generally been collected by so-called garbage collecting vehicles and then burnt in garbage burning plants. However, incineration of the garbages results in various problems such as extravagance of energy and generation of public pollution, as well as wasteful discarding of garbages which are a sort of resources. The present inventors have previously made a study on the fermentative disposal of garbages by utilizing aerobic microorganisms in order to satisfy such social demands. The study has been directed to the processing of garbages by bacterial fermentation and decomposition, which enables remarkable reduction of the volume and easy discarding thereof. Based on the result of the study, the present inventor has developed a processing box for garbages discharged from usual homes with no requirement for the recovery for more than a year and put it into practical use. Further, for making the fermentative processing system more efficient, a garbage processing device based on a rotary drum type fermentation system has also been developed. In the device, garbages charged into a drum rotating around a horizontal axis are applied with fermentation under the effect of microorganisms to decompose proteins and fibrous materials in the garbages. The processing device has the following merits: (1) The volume of the garbages can be reduced to 1/10 - 1/30. (2) No offensive odors are released in the course of the fermentation. (3) Materials after processing can be utilized as agricultural fertilizers or animal feed. The processing device has also been put to practical use in a system for modifying or improving raw meat, which becomes unsavory with lapse of time, into animal feed. Since the existent garbage processing device as described above has been adapted to dispose the garbages by using a box or a rotational drum installed on the ground, an installation site is necessary, and disposed products have to be finally collected and transported to garbage disposing plants even if this seldom occurs, for example, once per year. German Patent Specification DE-A-3837865 describes a garbage processing vehicle in which a rotational fermentation drum device is disposed on a loading platform of the vehicle for mixing garbage with air in the rotational drum. SUMMARY AND THE OBJECT THE INVENTION In view of the foregoing problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a garbage processing system of applying fermentative processing in a vehicle which transports collected garbages to final disposing plants and capable of saving the installation space, energy and resource. According to the present invention, there is provided a garbage processing vehicle in which a rotational fermentation drum device is disposed on a loading platform of a vehicle, for mixing garbages with aerobic microorganisms and air in a rotational drum and applying fermentation, characterised by the features of the second part of Claim 1. Since a rotational fermentation drum device for mixing the garbages with the aerobic microorganisms and air in the rotational drum and applying fermentation is disposed on the loading platform of the vehicle, the garbages can be processed on the garbage collecting vehicle during running. Accordingly, the fermentation facility disposed so far on the ground can be saved, as well as the processing time is no more required for fermentation both in the discharging site and the final disposing place. Since the exhaust heat of the engine can be conducted to the peripheral space of the rotational drum, the exhaust heat can be utilized effectively for the promotion of fermentation to attain further energy saving. Since the rotational driving system for the rotational drum is connected with the engine of the vehicle, an additional or independent driving source can be saved to simplify the mechanical driving system. In a feature of embodiments of the present invention, the garbage processing vehicle is so adapted that air sucked from the periphery of the engine can be supplied to the upper portion in the rotational drum, to enable to supply an appropriate warm air necessary for fermentation into the rotational drum, Since air sucked from the periphery of the engine can be supplied to the upper portion in the rotational drum, an appropriately warmed air can be supplied to the inside of the rotational drum to maintain a circumstance suitable to fermentation. As a result, the garbage collecting operations conducted so far by the self-covering bodies can be simplified to attain labour saving and energy saving, as well as a new source of revenue can be provided by the reutilization of the resource, to provide an excellent effect capable of establishing a quite novel garbage processing system. DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS These and other objects, as well as advantageous features of the present invention will become apparent by reading the following descriptions for the preferred embodiments according to the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a side elevational view illustrating an entire constitution of a garbage processing vehicle according to the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view illustrating the constitution at the inside of a rotational drum of the garbage processing vehicle according to the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in Fig. 1 illustrating the entire constitution of a garbage process vehicle according to the present invention, a rotational drum 1 is placed on a loading platform 20 of a vehicle 100 and it is adapted such that garbages are charged from a rear entrance port 2 and can be contained in an internal space K mixed with fermentative microorganisms (not illustrated). Further, the rotational drum 1 is made rotatable around a rotational axis J which is in parallel with the advancing direction of the vehicle 100 and can be rotated at an appropriate speed by an electric motor 3. Further, an agitation/conveying screw S is formed to the inner wall surface of the rotational drum 1, such that the garbage in the drum can be conveyed while being stirred with air and fermentative microorganisms and also mixed properly with newly charged garbages. A gear 4 (which may be replaced with a chain or like other connection means) disposed around the periphery of the rotational drum 1 is connected with a driving gear 3a disposed to a driving shaft of the electric motor 3. An opening/closing lid 2a is disposed to the entrance port 2, and a vent portion for extracting air in the drum 1 is formed to the opening/ closing lid 2a. The aerobic fermentative microorganisms to be mixed into the rotational drum 1 comprise: OK bacteria : aerobic mesophile bacteria and Z bacteria : thermophile bacteria exhibiting activity near 80°C or in a higher temperature region. They may be used alone or in an appropriate blending of both of them. Since the bacteria generate heat in the course of fermentation and growing while taking the garbages as their "feed", the inside of the rotational drum 1 is maintained at a temperature higher than a predetermined level. On the other hand, since various kinds of putrefying bacteria attributable to the putrefaction of the garbages, giving offensive odors are usually killed at a medium to high temperature region higher than 50°C, only the fermentative bacteria grow explosively in the rotational drum 1, making it possible for rapid processing in a period as short as 2 to 5 hours. As the driving power source for the electric motor 3, rechargeable batteries may of course be used but, in this embodiment, the system is simplified by using an electric generator 5 interlocked with the engine of the vehicle 100. Further, the rotational drum 1 may be rotated also by a driving force transmitted from the driving system of the vehicle 100 by means of mechanical transmission. A temperature keeping space H comprises an air passing gap formed between the inner surface 1a of the rotational drum 1 and the outer surface 1b thereof, so that the exhaust heat from an engine exhaust pipe 102 of the vehicle 100 can be conducted properly to the inside of the rotational drum 1. More specifically, it is constituted as described below. That is, the exhaust pipe 102 is connected to a front wall 6a of a hollow vertical wall 6 covering the front end of the rotational drum 1, while apertures 6c in communication with the temperature keeping space H are formed to the rear wall 6b of the vertical wall 6, so that the exhaust heat can intrude as shown by the arrow. The heat entering the temperature keeping space H can enter the hollow annular wall 7 covering the rear end of the drum through an aperture 7a of the front wall thereof and can be discharged through an exhaust port 7b disposed to the rear wall. Further, the temperature keeping space H is adapted such that entering exhaust heat advances spirally under the guiding effect of a guiding plate 8 that connects the inner surface 1a with the outer surface 1b, so that the temperature at the inside of the rotational drum 1 is kept at about 80°C and the growing circumstance for the fermentative microorganisms can be maintained. A pump 9 is disposed for sucking air (heat) from the periphery of the engine 10 and injecting it through a conduit 10 to the upper portion of the space K in the drum 1, and the pump 9 supplies air necessary for the fermentation in the drum 1. Air is intaken from the periphery of the engine so as not to cool the inside of the drum 1. When garbages are collected by the embodiment described above in urban areas and then transported, for example, to agricultural farms in the suburbs, a system of applying a fermentation processing to the collected garbages during transportation and taking out products processed as fertilizers or feed at the destination is established. That is, the garbages are charged through the entrance port 2 of the rotational drum 1 placed on the loading platform 20 of the vehicle 100 and then the opening/closing lid 2a is closed. In this case, since the exhaust gas from the engine exhaust pipe 101 flows into the temperature keeping space H between the inner surface 1a and the outer surface 1b of the rotational drum 1, and then flows to the exhaust port 7b at the rear end, the temperature in the rotational drum 1 can be maintained at a level suitable to the growing of the aerobic microorganisms due to the heat of the exhaust and the warm air at the periphery of the engine. Since the rotational drum 1 is rotated by the electric motor 3 by way of the gear 4, the garbages, air and aerobic microorganisms are properly mixed by the screw S. As a result, fermentation in the rotational drum 1 proceeds explosively, by which the garbages are converted into fertilizers or animal feed in several hours during which they are being transported from the urban areas to the agricultural farms in the suburbs. In the field, since the products can be taken out through the entrance port 2 by opening the opening/closing lid 2a, a garbage proceeding vehicle as a "moving garbage processing plant" can be realized.

Claims: A garbage processing vehicle (100) in which a rotationally driven fermentation drum (1) device is disposed on a loading platform (20) of a vehicle, for mixing garbages with aerobic microorganisms and air in a rotational drum and applying fermentation, characterised in that a peripheral space (H) of the rotational drum is connected to the vehicle engine (101) for conducting exhaust heat of the engine thereto, and a rotational driving system (3a,4,) for the rotational drum is connected with the engine of the vehicle. A garbage processing vehicle as defined in Claim 1, wherein air sucked from the periphery of the engine is supplied into the upper portion of the rotational drum. A garbage processing vehicle as defined in Claim 1, wherein said rotational fermentation drum includes a cylindrical shell having an outer surface (1b) and an inner surface (1a) forming the peripheral space and an entrance port (6c) leading thereinto, the inner surface (1a) having a helical screw (S) deployed thereon, the shell defining an interior (K) for receiving the garbage therein. A garbage processing vehicle as defined in Claim 1, wherein said rotational driving system includes a gear (4) formed circumferentially around the drum and the engine (101) is coupled to the gear. A garbage processing vehicle as defined in Claim 1, wherein said rotational driving system includes a gear (4) formed circumferentially around the drum and an electric motor (3) coupled to the gear.

Inventors: ONODERA KAZUO, ONODERA, KAZUO
Applicants: O K LAB CO LTD, O.K. LABORATORIES CO., LTD
Application year: 1991
Main classification: B65F3
IPC codes: C05F17, B65F3, C05F9, B65F1, B60P3, B09B3