Patent ID: 7325759

Claim:
A method for minimizing impact damage to a waste fragmenting machine, comprising: providing a waste fragmenting machine equipped to fragment a waste material, the machine comprising a fragmenting chamber, a powered fragmenting rotor rotating at high speed, the fragmenting rotor comprising: impacting rotor teeth; a power shaft; and power shaft bearing; and a power feed system, the feed system comprising an infeed conveyer and feed rotor drum to feed the waste material into the fragmenting chamber where it is impacted by the rotor teeth; placing a vibration detector on the waste fragmenting machine, wherein the vibration detector comprises an accelerometer for detecting analog vibration signals, a transceiver for converting the signals into digital signals, and a programmable logic controller for evaluating the digital signals; establishing a work period baseline vibration signal level for the waste fragmenting machine, prior to feeding waste material into the fragmenting chamber; feeding waste material into the fragmenting chamber with the power feed system and initiating fragmenting; monitoring vibration signals using the vibration detector during waste fragmenting; evaluating the vibration signals to detect potentially ungrindable material and minimize damage to the machine; detecting potentially ungrindable waste material within the fragmenting chamber during waste fragmenting; and alerting an operator of the machine of the presence of the potentially ungrindable waste material.