Patent Abstract:
A waste disposal apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a crushing device for crushing the waste; a ripping device for ripping the waste; a sieving device having an upper mesh and a lower mesh for sieving out the larger waste blocks and the smaller waste blocks respectively by means of vibrating; an initial separation device for sieving out the smaller waste blocks separated from the lower mesh by employing a number of gates and utilizing the fact that different kinds of waste are different in specific gravity and thus having different immersion depth in the water; a cutting device for cutting the waste blocks with lower specific gravity; an advanced separation device for further sieving out the cut waste pieces; and a strainer device for sieving out the fined waste. By utilizing this apparatus, the purposes of saving power, reducing operation and maintenance costs, and lowering the failure times in a waste disposal process are realized.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a waste disposal apparatus, and more particularly to a waste disposal apparatus comprises a crushing, a ripping, a sieving, an initial separation, a cutting, an advance separation, and a strainer devices for classifying a variety of waste. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Waste is frequently produced in our daily life and in the industry. Further, we are bothered to dispose the waste, especially non-biodegradable materials such as plastic. Typically, a toxic exhaust is possibly produced by burning the waste in the incinerator. In addition, the plastic is subjected to form a concreted mass after burning such that it is hard to degrade. A cracking process, such as a plasma cracking process, for disposing waste is developed recently. This is an improvement over the above burning technique. However, it is still impossible of processing waste comprising stones, glass, metal cans, and chemicals. It is desirable to classify waste in order to recycle it or further incinerate or crack it. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a waste disposal apparatus for offering the advantages of saving power, reducing operation and maintenance costs, and lowering the failure times. 
     The advantages of the present invention are realized by providing a waste disposal apparatus comprising a crushing device for crushing the waste; a ripping device coupled to the crush device for ripping the waste; a sieving device coupled to the ripping device having an upper mesh and a lower mesh for sieving out the larger waste blocks by horizontally vibrating the upper mesh and further sent to a tank; an initial separation device for sieving out the smaller waste blocks separated from the lower mesh by utilizing the fact that different kinds of waste are different in specific gravity and thus having different immersion depth in the water; a cutting device for cutting the waste blocks with lower specific gravity; an advanced separation device for further sieving out the waste pieces sent from the cutting device again by utilizing the same fact as the initial separation device; and a strainer device for sieving out the fined waste. 
     The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is side view of a waste disposal apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is another fragmentary view of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a further fragmentary view of FIG. 1; 
     FIGS. 5A,  5 B, and  6  schematically show the waste classifying operation of advanced separation device of the present invention respectively; 
     FIG. 7 schematically shows the collecting process of the advanced separation device of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 8 is a side view illustrating the double waterway feature of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to FIGS. 1-4, there is shown a waste disposal apparatus. The apparatus comprises a crushing device  10 , a ripping device  20 , a sieving device  30 , an initial separation device  40 , a cutting device  50 , an advanced separation device  60 , and a strainer device  70 . 
     The crushing device  10  functions as crushing the waste (not shown). The crushing device  10  comprises a tank  11  for receiving the waste; a microcomputer-controlled hydraulic press  12  mounted in the tank  11  for crushing the waste from two opposite sides of the tank  11  toward the center thereof; a gate  13  provided on a front side of the tank  11 ; a movable pusher  14  is mounted in the tank  11  for pushing the crushed waste out of the tank  11  through the gate  13 ; and a slope  15  coupled to the gate  13  such that the waste is capable of being slid to a tank  21  of the ripping device  20 . It is noted that the pusher  14  is a device coupled to, for example two horizontal beams each travelling on a track (see FIG.  7 ). Preferably, the capacity of the tank  11  is two to three trucks dumping of waste. 
     The ripping device  20  is positioned to be coupled to and lower than the crushing device  10  for ripping the waste. The tank  21  of the ripping device  20  is generally an elongated structure. A movable ripper-like pusher  22  is mounted on the top of the tank  21  for pushing the waste to an outlet  23  located on an end of the tank  21 . A slope  24  is inclined approximately at an angle 30° with respect to a roller  25  located on the side of the outlet  23 . The surface of the roller  25  is mounted with a number of spaced positioned sharp pins for ripping the waste before sending the waste to a ripper  26  located below the roller  25 . The ripper  26  is a pair of rollers each mounted with a number of spaced positioned sharp pins in which the turning direction of one roller is opposite to that of the other roller for ripping the waste prior to being sent to the sieving device  30 . The ripper  26  is rotated by a drive source  27 . 
     The sieving device  30  is positioned to be coupled to and lower than the ripping device  20 . The sieving device  30  has an upper mesh  31  with a diameter of 20 cm and a lower mesh  32  with a diameter of 10 cm. Both the upper mesh  31  and the lower mesh  32  are inclined approximately at an angle of 30° with respect to the horizontal plane. The ripped waste is sent to the upper mesh  31  because the upper mesh  31  is located below the ripper  26 . A driver device  33  is used to vibrate the upper mesh  31  and the lower mesh  32 . As a result, the larger waste blocks (e.g., large plastic bags, elongated bodies, and sticky sheets of paper, etc.) are left on the upper mesh  31  for being sent to the tank  34 , while the smaller waste blocks are sieved out from the upper mesh  31  and left on the lower mesh  32  for being sent to the initial separation device  40 . 
     The initial separation device  40  functions as sieving out the smaller waste blocks separated from the lower mesh  32  by utilizing the fact that the waste blocks with higher specific gravity being immersed deeper than the waste blocks with lower specific gravity in the water. The initial separation device  40  comprises a large water tank  41  and a reservoir  42  positioned adjacently to and by a predetermined distance lower than the water tank  41  for holding the overflow of the water tank  41 . The water tank  41  is a cubic structure in which the bottom surface is inclined at an angle 30° with respect to the horizontal plane. A number of vertical spaced water supply lines  43  is provided on the inside of the water tank  41 . The water tank  41  is full of water because a pump (not shown) is continuously supplying water when the initial separation device  40  is in use. An outlet  46  is provided on the side of the higher bottom surface portion of the water tank  41 . An opening  44  is provided on a top of the outlet  46 . The opening  44  is positioned lower than the water surface of the tank  41  by an approximate 10 cm for allowing the floated waste flowed to the reservoir  42 . Another opening  45  is provided on the side of the lower bottom surface portion of the water tank  41  for allowing the heavier or immersed waste flowed to the reservoir  42  for facilitating the cutting process as detailed below. The initial separation device  40  is designed to further separate the waste, such as lighter or smaller waste, sent from the lower mesh  32 . It is designed that approximately 70% of the waste, such as the compact containers, rice containers, and PVC bags, etc., is separated after the sieving and the initial separation processes. As stated above, other waste is flowed to the reservoir  42  via the opening  44 . 
     The cutting device  50  functions as cutting the waste blocks with lower specific gravity. A funnel-like member  51  is provided below the opening  45  of the water tank  41  for allowing the waste slid to the cutting device  50 . The input speed of the waste and the throughput of the cutting device  50  are controlled by a microcomputer (not shown) mounted therein. The cutting device  50  comprises a pair of cylindrical roller  52  each mounted with a number of spaced positioned sharp pins in which the turning direction of one roller  52  is opposite to that of the other roller  52 . 
     The advanced separation device  60  is positioned below the cutting device  50 . The advanced separation device  60  is an elongated waterway  61  in which the flow is smooth and slow. The advanced separation device  60  functions as receiving the waste pieces sent from the cutting device  50 . The length of the waterway  61  is approximately 25 to 35 m. The waste outlet (not shown) of the cutting device  50  is approximately eight meters from the front end and above the waterway  61 . The advanced separation device  60  comprises a first region  62 , a second region  63 , a third region  64 , a fourth region  65 , and a fifth region  66  arranged from the front end of the waterway  61  to the rear end thereof. A separation plate  691  is inserted between the second region  63  and the third region  64 , a separation plate  692  is inserted between the third region  64  and the fourth region  65 , and a separation plate  693  is inserted between the fourth region  65  and the fifth region  66 . A high pressure hose functions as scattering the waste floated between the second region  63  and the third region  64 . In general, the flow is smooth and slow after flowing approximately seven to eight meters in the first region  62 . It is noted that the second region  63  is located approximately three meters from the front end of the waste outlet of the cutting device  50 , further four meters is the third region  64 , further four meters is the fourth region  65 , and finally further ten meters is the fifth region  66  in which the water flow is smooth and slow. It is found that a number of small waste pieces (e.g., plastic cards, light particles, or PVC particles) are floated. Thus, an opening  68  is provided below the water surface of the waterway  61  by an approximate 10 cm distance for allowing such waste to flow out of the waterway  61 . It is noted that a certain amount of organic substance are mixed in the waste. The heavier waste, such as stones, glass, etc., are immersed in the second region  63 . Additionally, an adjustable opening  68  is provided in a bottom surface of an end of the waterway  61  for allowing water to flow to a top of the strainer device  70  such that fined particles in the water will be separated by the strainer device  70 . 
     Preferably, the strainer device  70  is located below the waterway  61  by a half meter. The strainer device  70  is a multilevel steel structure having a number of meshes  71  (preferably the number is four) each disposed on a level thereof. The top (i.e., the first) level mesh has the largest diameter, the second level mesh has the next largest diameter, and so on. Each mesh is vibrated in a different predetermined speed by a driver device  72 . Alternatively, all meshes are vibrated in the same speed. As such, particles in the water will be sieved out and sent to a storage tank  75  through a slope  74  coupled to an end of each mesh  71 . A high pressure water pump  73  is provided for cleaning impurities left on the meshes  71  for preventing such impurities from blocking the meshes  71 . The separated waste in the strainer device  70  is mostly of organic substance such that is capable of being used as fertilizer, fodder, or fish feeding. 
     Referring to FIGS. 1-6, particularly to FIGS. 5A,  5 B, and  6 , a waste classifying operation of the advanced separation device  60  is illustrated. The height of the separation plate  691  is approximately one fourth of the height of the waterway  61 , the height of the separation plate  692  is approximately one half of the height of the waterway  61 , and the height of the separation plate  693  is approximately three fourth of the height of the waterway  61 . It is noted that the waste pieces are floated or immersed in the waterway  61  and the flow is slow. Thus, when the waste pieces are flowed through the regions  63 ,  64 ,  65 , and  66 , based on the specific gravity thereof (i.e., the higher of the specific gravity the heavier of the waste pieces), the heaviest waste pieces will be sunk into the second region  63 , the second heaviest waste pieces sunk into the third region  64 , the third heaviest waste pieces sunk into the fourth region  65 , and the lightest waste pieces floated on the fifth region  66 . At this point, a gate  601  on one end of the waterway  61  is closed. For processing the waste pieces, the waste dumping and water supply will be paused temporarily and subsequently open the gate  601 . As noted, the above procedure is controlled by a computer. Once the gate  601  is open, the classified waste, temporarily stored in the regions  63 ,  64 ,  65 , and  66 , will be pushed to respective tanks  631 ,  641 ,  651 , and  661  thereof by the flowing force of water caused by the inclined bottom surface of the waterway  61  (e.g., inclined at an angle 30° with respect to the horizontal plane). A slant separation plate  602  is provided below the tanks  631 ,  641 ,  651 , and  661  for separating the waste pieces from dirty water. The dirty water is flowed to the bottom of the waterway  61 , i.e., a sewage tank  603 . The dirty water in the sewage tank  603  is further sent to a sewage disposal plant (not shown) for treatment through a drain  604 . The gate  601  is closed again once the waste pieces are sent to each tank  631 ,  641 ,  651 , and  661  completely. 
     At FIG. 7, the collecting process of the advanced separation device  60  is illustrated. A number of movable pushers  605 ,  606 ,  607 , and  608  are provided in the tanks  631 ,  641 ,  651 , and  661  respectively for pushing the waste stored therein to a conveyor  609  for being carried to a truck for transporting to a known place for further treatment. It is noted that almost all waste pieces are floated on the fifth region  66  located at the end of the waterway  61 . As such, a ripper  611  is employed to push the floated waste to the tank  661 . This is the only difference between the fifth region  66  and other regions  62 ,  63 ,  64 , and  65 . Further, the gate  601  is still functioned in the tank  661  and the fifth region  66 . 
     At FIG. 8, the double waterway feature of the waste disposal apparatus is illustrated. Such design, as claimed to be one of the novel features of the present invention, is aimed at keeping the apparatus from shutting down accidentally. In other words, this design is more fault-tolerant. 
     While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 8