Patent Publication Number: US-2017361330-A1

Title: Mobile Size Reduction Device

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/350,422 filed Jun. 15, 2016 which is incorporate herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a size reduction device, such as a pulverizer, also known as a grinding mill, which can be provided along an vertical axis with a rotating shaft and a plurality of arms spinning thereabout which generate a series of air currents inside a cylinder to pulverize, aerate, homogenize and/or separate material, and more particularly to a mobile unit which can be utilized for various purposes having an ability to reduce inserted material in size, whether using a pulverizer or other technology. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Solid material such as garbage or other solid material has been collected in trucks and transported for disposal for many years. 
     Burkett developed a centrifugal mill sometime around the mid-1970&#39;s ending up with U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,970 and others. Others have commercialized an embodiment of the Burkett mill and are marketing those designs in the marketplace today. All of these systems known by the applicant are fixed plant operations designed to be utilized on location. They are relatively substantial fixed place structures. 
     In examining this technology, the applicant thought that it may be a possibility to improve over the prior art designs to accomplish objectives not met by the prior art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is a present object of many embodiments of the present invention to provide an improved size reduction device, mill or pulverizer having advanced capabilities. 
     It is another object of many embodiments of the present invention to provide an improved size reduction device, such as a pulverizer connected to and supported by a frame of a vehicle for use in refuse collection and compacting, and/or other purposes. 
     It is another object of many embodiments of the present invention to provide an improved angled or even horizontally disposed pulverizer for many embodiments. 
     It is another object of many embodiments of the present invention to provide an improved vehicle for use in collecting material to then reduce the size of the material as it is received or removed from the vehicle, possibly using pulverizer or other size reduction technology. 
     Yet another embodiment of the invention provides a size reduction device in front of a cab of a vehicle, and then after collection and reducing the size, directing the reduced size components rearwardly of the cab for temporary storage on the vehicle. 
     Accordingly, in accordance with a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention, a number of size reduction device configurations are contemplated. First, a size reduction device, such as a pulverizer is anticipated to be located behind a cab of a vehicle for use in pulverizing material for some embodiments as material is provided to the vehicle and then preferably conveyed such as with a transfer system rearwardly relative to the cab to a storage body for use in storing until the vehicle can dump its contents. It is anticipated that the conveyor can lift processed material up and away from a bottom of the size reduction device to an elevated portion of the storage body. It is also possible to have a diverter within the storage body to assist in diverting material to assist in spreading material into the storage body once material has been reduced in size. 
     Another embodiment envisions reduction in size, possibly using a size reduction device, possibly a pulverizer, possibly as an angled or horizontally disposed size reduction device or pulverizer, to direct material rearwardly into the storage body, possibly coupled with a curved rear door to assist in directing material upwardly as it is directed into the storage body. 
     Still some other embodiments envision utilizing a horizontally disposed size reduction device or mill which is not believed to ever been done before. While the through put may be slower with a horizontally disposed mill, and certainly gravity would have tendency to pull things down against a side of the drum (instead of through for a vertical mill), depending upon the speed of operation, angle of inclination, and the through put for at least some embodiments, a satisfactory performance may be achieved. Furthermore, since gravity no longer pulls material directly down through a pulverizer to an exit, it may be desirable to select a different size reduction technology and/or configure the arms in such a way so that the turbulence areas created internal to a pulverizer not only assist in breaking up material but also preferably assist in linearly directing the transmittal of treated material towards an outlet which could then be directed into a hopper and/or possibly assist in lifting material upwardly for internal storage within a storage body. 
     Finally, some embodiments may envision the vehicle with a first hopper which could direct input to a pulverizer and/or a first storage body located in front of forward of a pulverizer whereby the material could be stored in the first storage body for at least a period of time and then, possibly when getting ready to discharge material, it may be that the material is conveyed or otherwise directed into the pulverizer with a transfer system for use in pulverizing discharged material. A second storage body may contain treated material after exiting the pulverizer. 
     Improvements to this design could provide a first hopper and/or first storage body located forward of the cab of the vehicle, such as supported by arms, which could receive inserted material, reduce it in size, and then direct the reduced in size material rearwardly to the second storage body, whether by using the arms to dump to the second storage body and/or using vacuum or conveyor technology 
     Mobile size reduction devices can take various forms whether they possibly require a vehicle being in park or neutral before the size reduction equipment can operate. Some other may provide a storage volume in front of a size reduction device for storage so the size reduction device need not run every time the vehicle stops for a load of material since it is either for a front loader or a side loading vehicle. 
     For some embodiments the size reduction device can be utilized to assist in discharging garbage from the truck either from during a normal discharge in the operations and/or as an alternate alternative to filling a storage body. 
     A transfer system such as a conveyor system can be connected on the vehicle so as to discharge from the size reduction device to a storage body for storage and/or to assist in feeding a size reduction device from the storage location. In addition to conveyor systems, augers or other transfer systems may be used for other embodiments either into or out of the size reduction device. 
     Many pulverizers may be loaded from above the vehicle such as from top for vertically oriented pulverizers. Still other pulverizers may be loaded in other ways. Additionally, some pulverizers may not only be located vertically like the Burkett pulverizer, but angled at an angle such as up to about 45 degrees or even horizontal at i.e. 90 degrees relative to the vertical mill shown in Burkett for at least some embodiments. Pulverizer shafts may be driven by a PTO or possibly by their own motor. Other size reduction devices may operate similarly or dissimilarly to pulverizers. 
     In order to compress material before feeding to some size reduction devices, it may be desirable for some embodiments to provide a reducer to reduce the cross-section size of material put into the size reduction device so that it a somewhat smaller inlet may be utilized for at least some embodiments. Still other improvements may be provided with this or other embodiments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The particular features and advantages of the invention as well as other objects will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a side plan view of a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a side plan view of an alternative embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a top plan view of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a side plan view of an alternative embodiment of a size reduction device similar to those shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a side plan view of an alternative embodiment similar to those shown in  FIGS. 1, 2 and 4 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a cross sectional view of a size reduction device shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a side plan view of an alternative embodiment of a size reduction similar to those shown in  FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 5 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a cross sectional view of a size reduction device similar to those shown in  FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 5 and 7 ; and 
         FIG. 9  is a side plan view of a mobile size reduction device similar to the embodiments in  FIGS. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8 ; and 
         FIG. 10  is a side plan view of a forward mounted size reduction device of another alternatively preferred embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       FIG. 1  shows a mobile size reduction device  10  in the form of a vehicle having a frame  12  supporting a cab  14  a pulverizer or other size reduction device  16  and a storage body  18 . The size reduction device  16  in this embodiment could be a vertically oriented pulverizer that could be similar to the Burkett construction shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,970 (incorporated in its entirety herein by reference) or other size reduction device mill construction. This embodiment has at least two discharge options: first a door  20  could be opened to discharge out the side of the vehicle  10  and/or second, a discharge outlet which could be onto a conveyor  22  or other transfer device (such as with the door shut  20 ). There are also other ways to potentially direct discharge from one of multiple outlets as would be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art. If the discharge proceeds on to conveyor  22  it then may preferably be lifted to an elevation into the storage body  18  to then potentially discharge into the volume thereof. 
     As can be observed from  FIG. 1 , a conveyor  20  preferably proceeds into a cavity  24  of the storage body  18  from any embodiments to where it discharges material  26  therein. 
     For some embodiments in order to operate the size reduction device  16  it may be required to place the vehicle  10  in park (or neutral) and by providing a signal from the transmission  28  for which the operation of size reduction device  16  may be controlled by a processor  30 . If the size reduction device  16  is driven by a PTO connection  32  from the engine  34 , it may be necessary for some embodiments to have the vehicle  10  in park in order to have enough energy to be able to create the necessary rotation internal to the size reduction device  16  to appropriately treat materials placed therein. Neutral may be an appropriate position for transmission  28  for some embodiments as well. Other embodiments may not require such features. Still other embodiments may be driven by primary or secondary power sources as are used on vehicles  10 , possibly including direct drive or other power sources. 
     For some embodiments such as the embodiment shown in  FIG. 7  of a vehicle  100  there may be an initial storage volume  102  provided in front of size reduction device  104  which may selectively convey such as with a conveyor  106  material into the size reduction device  104  for treatment and storage in storage body  106 . Using such a configuration made possible that the size reduction device  106  may need not operate every time that a loading event occurs other embodiments could operate differently. Other ways to provide a first volume could be including storage volume  36  above the size reduction device  16  for other embodiments. Still other ways could address this issue as well. Loading could be with a loading system, i.e. a front end loader, side loader, and/or other loader which lifts and dumps input so that it can be directed into an inlet of the size reduction device either directly or with a transfer system. 
     Augers such as auger  302  shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3  with reference to vehicle  300  could be used to load or move discharge relative to a size reduction device  304 . Other transfer devices could be utilized with other embodiments. 
     In addition to conveyors such as conveyor  22  and others, augers  302  and others, there may be other ways of assisting in moving material such as into or out of a size reduction devices  16 ,  104 ,  210 ,  304  such as with chute  202  and/or other appropriate mechanism(s). 
     In the various embodiments, the size reduction devices  16 ,  304 ,  104 ,  210  shown connects to various frames such as frame  38 ,  306 ,  108  and  212  of vehicles  10 ,  100 ,  200  and  300 . In many embodiments it is envisioned that a storage body  18  will be provided to collect material discharged from the size reduction device  16 . Storage body  18  can be adjacently disposed relative to size reduction device  10 ,  100  as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . Vehicles  10  can use a transfer mechanism such as a chute  22  to direct material from a discharge in size reduction device  16  to the storage body  18  or they can work in various ways such as shown in various figures or as would be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art through the various figures. 
     Transfer mechanisms such as conveyor  22  can be connection to the frame  12  or  38  as could the auger  302 . Other transfer mechanisms could be utilized with various embodiments such as, but not limited to, chutes, vacuums, spreaders, blowers, sprayers, augers, conveyors, compactors, and/or other material moving device(s). Some of the transfer mechanisms may extend into the frame  12  or  38  such as the auger  302  or even below the frame for some embodiments. Size reduction devices such as size reduction devices  16 ,  304 ,  104  and  210  can be loaded from above the cabs such as cab  14 , cab  308 , cab  110 , and cab  214  whether it be a front loader such as with arms  216  shown in  FIG. 9 , a side loader such as with arms  310  or other way of loading the size reduction devices  16 ,  304 ,  104 ,  210  or a storage volume before the size reduction devices  16 ,  304 ,  104 ,  210 . Other embodiments may not have a cab  110 , such as is provided on a train car, etc. 
     For the embodiment of  FIG. 1  the shaft  40  of size reduction device  16  is shown as being driven from below the frame  12  and even below the size reduction device  16  such as with a PTO connection or otherwise. Torque can be imparted to the shaft  40  in this embodiment from below the frame  38  on which the size reduction device  16  rests. Other embodiments may function differently. 
     In addition to a chute  22 , augers  302  could be utilized for some embodiments as well as to discharge. Other embodiments may have no augers  302  and instead rely on a curve  310  of the storage body  300  or other device to assist in filling the storage body  300  through direct discharge or otherwise. 
     In addition to vertical mill pulverizers as the size reduction device such as shown in  FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9 , it is possible to provide an angled mill, whether or pulverizer or other construction, such as shown in  FIG. 8  with a vehicle  400  having a size reduction device  402  having a rotating shaft oriented angle α relative to horizontal  404  with a located at about 45 degrees in this embodiment. α could possibly be in a range of between 0-90, like 0-80 degrees, etc. degrees with other embodiments such as the embodiment of  FIG. 4  which shows vehicle  500  a horizontally disposed pulverizer  502  is shown which can be fed from feeder  504  which directs material into size reduction device  502  which can then be directed out into storage body  506  resting on frame  508  (i.e., or is zero degrees). In such an embodiment it is likely to configuration of the arms  510  may be slightly different than in other embodiments so as to assist in directing material horizontally in the direction  512 . For a horizontally oriented mill, gravity will not provide the same assistance as in vertical mills to direct material from top to bottom through the mill for processing. Instead, gravity would tend to pull the material to the side wall  514  instead of into the storage body  506  as directed by the feeder  504 . Feeder  504  may be a hopper which accepts material and directs it to the size reduction device  502 . Hoppers generally are not thought of as storing material or discharged material. Accordingly changing the configuration of the arms  510  to possibly be more blade oriented (like a propeller) could assist in providing not only a crushing configuration such as shown in cross section of  FIG. 6  and as occurs in other pulverizers to create the six vertices shown, namely  50 ,  52 ,  54 ,  56 ,  58  and  60 , but also direct the treated material horizontally. Typically pulverizers are facilitated by gravity to direct the material from top to the bottom. Other size reduction technologies may not be as affected by gravity as the pulverizer construction. However, without the gravity assistance in  FIG. 4  due to its horizontal nature, then other features such as arm configuration  510  and deflectors along the sides  516  or other features can facilitate movement of material the direction  502  and preferably from front  516  towards rear  518  for many embodiments. Gravity may be sufficient for other angled size reduction devices  402 . 
       FIG. 5  shows another embodiment of the vehicle  600  which has the size reduction device  602  towards the rear  604  of the vehicle  600  and preferably a feeder  606  in front. Possibly, a compactor  608  assists in compacting material into the feeder  606 . Possibly a transfer mechanism such as a conveyor  610  may assist in feeding the size reduction device  602  such as immediately before discharging material out the rear  604  of the location of the vehicle  600 . 
     To the applicants knowledge no one has ever made a centrifugal mill or pulverizing mill angled at any degree other than vertically. The application using angles α of at least 10 degrees if not up to 45 degrees or even horizontally to provide the size reduction device  500  such as shown in  FIG. 4  for at least some embodiments. 
     The applicant is also envisioning an embodiment of a vehicle frame supporting a cab  601  behind which a size reduction device  602  is disposed as well as at least one of a feeder  606  and a storage body  605  for storing materials either prior to feeding the size reduction device  602  and/or after being treated by the size reduction device  602 . Transfer mechanisms of various kinds shown herein or otherwise can facilitate the movement of material  26  either into the size reduction devices or out of the size reduction devices. Transfer mechanisms of various kinds could be utilized with various embodiments such as, but not limited to, chutes, vacuums, conveyors, spreaders, blowers, sprayers, augers, compactors, and/or other material moving devices. 
     Accordingly, instead of having just a stationary size reduction device from which material must be provided therein at some specific geographic location, the applicant can now take size reduction remotely. Furthermore, the rate at which the density of input material is increased by a size reduction device, for at least some materials, may be similar to or greater than traditional size reduction methods. Additionally, some embodiments may increase the density of material to a higher density than prior art methods so that more material may be stored in a smaller space to therefore potentially reduce the number of trips and therefore make some embodiments more efficient than prior constructions. 
     For many embodiments the transfer mechanisms such as conveyor  222  and/or auger  302  be located along the side of the vehicle and still for other embodiments could be centrally disposed. 
       FIG. 10  shows a vehicle  700  having a forward mounted size reduction device  702 , which also can function as a first storage body to retain inserted material prior to reducing in size as well as reduced in size material prior to directing rearwardly to a second storage body illustrated as a refuse compartment  704 . In order to transfer material from in front of cab  706  to the refuse compartment  704  behind the cab  706  (and possibly above the cab  706 ), a transfer device  708  may be utilized such as a vacuum or other pneumatic device, with duct  710 . Transfer mechanisms of various kinds could be utilized with various embodiments such as, but not limited to, chutes, vacuums, conveyors, spreaders, blowers, sprayers, augers, compactors, and/or other material moving devices. Still other embodiments could use arms  720  (shown in phantom) to dump a can (or other refuse container) in container inlet  718 . Suitable vacuums could include those manufactured by Pneuvay of Australia or others. Duct  710  could be located provide suction to the size reduction device  702  to direct contents to the refuse compartment  704 . 
     The size reduction device  702  could have a can grabber  712  and/or first storage body, somewhat similar in construction to those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,639,201 &amp; 7,210,890, incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. The size reduction device  702  could provide a duct  714  to direct liquid which might be separated from material reduced in size by the size reduction device  702  to ta tank  716 , which could be behind the cab  706  as well. Transfer device  708  could have a drain  717  or duct (such as from a pump) to direct fluid to tank  716  (or other tank) as well. 
     Some embodiments may run on natural gas such as provided from a compressed natural gas (CNG) tailgate  712 . Other embodiments may operate on diesel or gas fuels, or even other energy sources. Tailgate  712  may also provide a location for dumping or removing material from the refuse compartment  704 . 
     Organic waste and/or high moisture content waste is believed to be a larger and larger percentage of waste for some municipalities and others. High moisture waste can be more difficult to transfer than other wastes under certain circumstances. Having a separate way to remove moisture and preferably collect that moisture may increase the efficiency and/or ease of conveying material with at least some of the moisture removed. 
     Numerous alterations of the structure herein disclosed will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be understood that the present disclosure relates to the preferred embodiment of the invention which is for purposes of illustration only and not to be construed as a limitation of the invention. All such modifications which do not depart from the spirit of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.