BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a suction device for sucking rubbish, trash or the
like (called rubbish hereinafter), and more particularly, to a suction device for
sucking rubbish bags after having been broken, films or the like gathered from homes
by using a vortex or eddy flow of air and also relates to a separator using such a
suction device.
[0002] Usually, cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles and the like, which are gathered after
use from homes as valuable resource rubbish, are then packaged in rubbish bags and
then fed to resource plants. In the resource plant, rubber bags in which the valuable
rubbish are packaged are broken so as to selectively recover the rubbish bags, cans,
bottles and the like, respectively.
[0003] Conventionally, although the rubbish bags after broken have been recovered manually,
in recent years, the following publications have provided bag removing devices for
automatically recovering these bags.
(1) Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI 9-966.
This discloses a bag removing device, in which bags after broken are fed into a rotating
drum provided at its peripheral portion with pipe means, the bags are hooked and then
lifted by hooks formed to the pipe means, the lifted bags are thrown off on a receiving
plate disposed on an upper side in the rotating drum, and the bags on the receiving
plate are thereafter sucked by means of blower.
(2) Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI 9-24916.
This discloses a bag removing device in which bags after broken are hooked by a rotating
brush provided, at its peripheral portion, with elastic hooks and then floating the
bags upward. The thus lifted bags are thereafter sucked by means of blower and collected
by a cyclone collector or separator.
(3) Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI 10-249282.
This discloses a wind power classifier or separator, in which rubbish including broken
bags are conveyed by conveyer means and dropped down at a terminal end of the conveyer
means. Air flow is jetted to the dropped rubbish from a lower side towards an upper
side to thereby selectively float and classify the broken bags from other rubbishes
and then recover the broken bags.
(4) Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI 10-203515.
This discloses a bag removing apparatus provided with a bag breaking device having
a bag breaking wheel, in which a bag removing screen rotating at the same speed in
the same direction as those of the bag breaking wheel is disposed at a bottom portion
of the bag breaking wheel, and highly pressurized air flow is generated by means of
nozzle. The bags are broken and torn by a bag breaking blade having a sharp front
edge and a rotating force of the bag breaking wheel and then pushed against the bag
removing screen and recovered by a recovering chute.
[0004] However, the above-mentioned conventional devices or apparatus have provided the
following defects or problems.
(i) In the device disclosed in the above publication (1), a relatively complicated
mechanical means or the like is needed for hooking and then lifting the bags upward,
and a suction blower having large capacity is also required for sucking the bags by
means of air flow.
(ii) In the device disclosed in the above publication (2), a relatively complicated
mechanical means or the like is needed for hooking and then floating upward the bags,
and a suction blower having large capacity is also required for sucking the floated
bags by means of air flow.
(iii) In the classifier disclosed in the above publication (3), there is the possibility
that the bags may not be surely recovered.
(iv) In the apparatus disclosed in the above publication (4), a relatively large and
complicated mechanical system is needed for pushing the bags against the bag removing
screen and recovering them by the recovery chute.
[0005] The rubbishes, from homes or the like, including cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles
and the like are packaged in bags and then gathered to a rubbish treating site or
plant at which the rubbish bags are broken or torn and then recovered. When only the
broken bag and film are to be separated and removed from the other rubbishes by using
a simple mechanical system or the like, it is preferred to suck up only bags or films
selectively from rubbishes which are conveyed on a conveyer. In a conventional technology
of using a duct having a suction port, it is a matter of common sense that a suction
blower is connected to a discharge port to create a negative pressure state in the
duct and then to suck the bags or films from the suction port. This sucking theory
is common to that of a general cleaning machine (cleaner).
[0006] However, in order to suck up the bags and films conveying on the conveyer by the
method mentioned above, it is necessary to utilize or locate a blower having extremely
large size and capacity. This is because, in a practical suction-type bag removing
device, it is required for the duct to have an opening, for sucking the bags and films,
having a dimension equal to or more than a width of the conveyer, and it is also required
that a height from the conveyer surface to the suction port has a dimension which
dose not obstruct the passing of the resource materials such as bottles, cans or the
like conveying on the conveyer. In order to satisfy the above requirements, it is
necessary for the duct opening to have a dimension of more than 300 mm and also necessary
for the height from the conveyer surface to the suction port to have a dimension more
than 150 mm. It is therefore difficult to effectively suck the bags and films with
the use of such suction system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] An object of the present invention is to substantially eliminate defects or problems
encountered in the prior art mentioned above and to provide a suction device and a
separator capable of surely recovering bags or the like by utilizing a small amount
of vortex air (gas) flow without using a large and complicated mechanical system.
[0008] To achieve the above object, the inventors of the subject application thought out
that the bags and films can be effectively and surely sucked up with a small amount
of air flow by generating a vortex flow in the suction duct, that is, utilizing a
theory of spout.
[0009] That is, the above and other objects can be achieved according to the present invention
by providing, in one aspect, a suction device utilizing a vortex flow of gas such
as compressed air comprising:
a casing having a conical body formed with a conical inner peripheral surface having
a small diameter side end to which a suction port is formed and a large diameter side
end;
nozzle means including at least one nozzle member provided for the conical body so
as to jet air inside the conical body along the inner conical surface thereof as a
vortex flow of air; and
means for supplying air to the nozzle means.
[0010] In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the suction device may further comprise
a cover member formed to the conical body so as to cover the large diameter side end,
the cover member having a side portion to which a discharge port is formed. The cover
member is formed with discharge nozzle means for jetting air towards the discharge
port. The discharge nozzle means includes a first discharge nozzle member disposed
to one side portion of the cover member on a downstream side of a vortex flow of air
generated by the nozzle means formed to the conical body of the casing and a second
discharge nozzle member disposed to another side portion of the cover member on an
upstream side of the vortex flow of air generated by the nozzle means.
[0011] An amount of air jetted through at least one of the nozzle means and discharge nozzle
means is adjustable by a suitable adjusting device.
[0012] Furthermore, the nozzle means includes a plurality of nozzle members which are disposed
on the same circumferential direction with a space from each other in a plane perpendicular
to a central axis of the inner conical surface of the conical body or disposed in
a manner shifted in locations from each other in a direction along the central axis
of the inner conical surface of the conical body.
[0013] Nitrogen gas or carbon dioxide gas may be utilized in place of the compressed air
in case explosion-proof is required.
[0014] According to the suction device of the above aspect, when a gas such as compressed
air is supplied to the nozzle member, the compressed air is jetted at a high speed
along the inner conical peripheral surface of the casing. At this time, the air has
a upward velocity component due to an vertical angle effect, that is, the conical
peripheral surface being widened upward in diameter, so that spiral turning air (vortex
flow of air) is generated, which sucks air outside the casing. For this reason, bags
and films near the suction port are also sucked together with the air inside the casing,
then pushed against the inner peripheral surface by the centrifugal force and then
lifted upward and surely discharge through the discharge port.
[0015] The location of a plurality of nozzle members in the same plane ensures the generation
of the stable turning flow of air, resulting in the smooth sucking and discharging
of the bags and films. Further, in the shifted location thereof, the sucking distance
of the bags and films may be increased.
[0016] Furthermore, when the bags and films are discharged while turning them, there is
the possibility of being caught to the side surface of the discharge port particularly
on the downstream side of the vortex flow. However according to the arrangement of
the discharge nozzle members including first and second ones of the present invention,
since the discharge nozzle is provided for jetting air towards the discharge port,
such bags and films can be forcibly discharged, and moreover, such jetting flow of
air involves neighboring air, increasing the discharging ability, and hence, increased
amount of air can be sucked through the suction port and the sucking and discharging
ability and efficiency of the suction device can be remarkably improved.
[0017] By arranging the first discharge nozzle member so as to jet the air in a direction
reverse to the vortex flow and the second discharge nozzle member so as to jet the
air in the same direction as that of the vortex flow, the airs jetted from those nozzle
members separately act to forcibly discharge the bags and films and increase and induce
the sucked air amount.
[0018] The sucking and discharging ability of the suction device can be adjusted by the
adjustment of the amount of the air jetted through the nozzle means and discharge
nozzle means, and it is possible to improve the purity of selection, that is, only
the bags and films conveyed on the conveyer surface are sucked and other rubbishes
such as cans, bottles are not sucked.
[0019] In another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a separator for
selectively separating bags and films mixed in rubbishes comprising:
a conveyer means having a conveyer surface on which the rubbishes are conveyed; and
a suction device disposed above the conveyer surface of the conveyer means and adapted
to suck bags and films by means of vortex flow of air,
said suction device comprising:
a casing having a conical body formed with a conical inner peripheral surface having
a small diameter side end to which a suction port is formed and a large diameter side
end;
a cover member formed to the conical body so as to cover the large diameter side end,
the cover member having a side portion to which a discharge port is formed;
nozzle means including at least one nozzle member provided for the conical body so
as to jet air inside the conical body along the inner conical surface thereof as a
vortex flow of air; and
means for supplying air to the nozzle means.
[0020] In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the separator further comprises at least
a pair of auxiliary nozzle means disposed on both side portions of the conveyer means
in an opposed arrangement so as to jet air towards the conveyer surface. The auxiliary
nozzle means comprises flat nozzles finely extending in the conveying direction of
the conveyer means.
[0021] The auxiliary nozzle means are disposed upstream side from a central portion of the
suction device in the conveying direction of the conveyer means.
[0022] The conveyer means is at least partially covered by a conveyer cover connected to
the suction port of the conical body of the suction device. The conveyer means is
preferably an endless conveyer belt.
[0023] According to this aspect of the present invention, when the gas, for example, compressed
air, is supplied to the nozzle member, only the bags and films conveyed on the conveyer
surface are sucked up by means of turned air flow in the suction device, with other
rubbishes such as cans, bottles and the like having relatively heavy weight being
not sucked and remaining on the conveyer surface, thus surely recovering only the
bags and films with small amount of air flow and without using any large and complicated
mechanical system.
[0024] Furthermore, since the auxiliary nozzle members are disposed on both the side portions
of the conveyer so as to be directed towards the conveyer surface, cans and bottles
can be slightly moved upward together with the bags and films, so that the bags and
films disposed under the cans or bottles can be taken out. The use of the flat nozzle
members can contribute the increasing of such floating force to the bags and films.
Since the auxiliary nozzle members are disposed upstream side from the central portion
of the suction device, the bags and films will be floated at the suction port and
more easily sucked up.
[0025] The location of the conveyer cover can assist a fine and suitable flow of air jetted
from the auxiliary nozzle members.
[0026] The nature and further characteristic features of the present invention will be made
more clear from the following descriptions made with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0027] In the accompanying drawings:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a separator assembled with a suction device utilizing
a vortex air flow according to first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the suction device of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a sectional view similar to that of FIG. 3 but different therefrom in an
arrangement of nozzles;
FIG. 5 is a plan view similar to that of FIG. 2 but relating to a suction device of
a second embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a perspective view similar to that of FIG. 1 but relating to a separator
having the suction device according to the second embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VII-VII in FIG. 6; and
FIG. 8 is a plan view showing an arrangement of auxiliary nozzles of the separator
of FIG. 6.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0028] FIG. 1 shows a separator assembled with a suction device 1 utilizing a vortex flow
of air according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The separator of
the present invention may be referred to as selector, classifier or the like, and
accordingly, in this application, the term of "separator" means a device for selectively
separate rubbish bags and films from other rubbishes such as bottles, cans or the
like. Further, the term "film" is used herein as a material, other than bags, which
has a light weight such a vinyl tape piece, thin plastic piece or the like which is
easily lifted and floatable by applying air flow from a lower side thereof.
[0029] With reference to FIG. 1, the separator 100 comprises a conveyer 4 conveying rubbishes
including resource rubbishes 2 such as cans, glass bottles and plastic bottles, and
bags and films 3 and a suction device 1 disposed above the conveyer 4 and adapted
to suck the bags and films 3, by using a vortex flow of air, selectively from the
resource rubbishes 2. The separator 100 also includes a gas supply means such as air
pump means P, which has itself known structure, for supplying gas to the suction device
1. Further, although nitrogen gas, carbon dioxide gas or the like gas, or air such
as compressed air may be preferably utilized as gas supplied to the suction device
1, a term "air" is generally used hereinafter. For example, in a case where there
is the possibility of explosion, the nitrogen gas or carbon dioxide gas will be preferably
used.
[0030] The conveyer 4 is a known conveyer belt having a structure in which an annular endless
belt, having a relatively wide width, is engaged with belt wheels at both end portions
and the resource rubbishes are conveyed on the belt surface by circulating the conveyer
belt.
[0031] The suction device 1 utilizing the vortex flow of air, which may be called herein
as vortex flow suction device 1 or merely suction device 1, is utilized as a bag removing
device and adapted to recover only the bags and films 3 selectively from the resource
rubbishes 2 including cans, glass bottles and plastic bottles. The suction device
1 is arranged above the conveyer 4 and comprises a casing 5 having a vertically conical
body portion 9 formed with an inner peripheral surface 9a in a conical shape and a
plurality of nozzles arranged along the inner peripheral surface 9a of the casing
5. Air from the pump means P is jetted into the casing 5 through these nozzles 6 as
vortex flow as mentioned hereinafter.
[0032] The casing 5 in the form of bucket is provided, as shown in FIGs. 2 and 3, with the
conical body portion 9 having a diameter gradually widening from the lower side towards
the upper side thereof. The upper end side of the conical portion 9 is closed by a
cover 7 and the lower end side thereof is formed with a suction port 8. Further, a
discharge port 10 is formed to the side surface of the cover 7.
[0033] The suction port 8 has a circular sectional shape and its opening is set so as to
have a dimension slightly smaller than a conveyance width of the conveyer 4. Further,
the height from the conveying surface of the conveyer 4 to the suction port 8 is set
so as not to prevent the cans, bottles and the like from passing therebetween, and
for example, the width of the suction port opening is set to more than 300 mm and
the height is set to more than 150 mm.
[0034] The conical body portion 9 has an inner conical peripheral surface 9a having an vertical
angle α set to be about 5 to 30° . This conical portion 9 of the casing 5 is, for
example, formed by bending a plate member so as to provide a conical shape. It is
preferred that the diameter and the height of the conical body portion 9 are determined
so that a centrifugal force caused by the vortex flow of air is sufficiently applied
so as to surely discharge the sucked bags and films 3. Further, in the shape of the
conical portion 9 having the vertical angle of near 0° , the shape of the inner conical
peripheral surface of the conical portion 9 approaches a cylindrical shape, the vortex
flow has no upward velocity component and the flow will turn along the cylindrical
inner peripheral surface 9a, thus causing no sufficient sucking function.
[0035] Further, in the embodiment described above, although the cover 7 is disposed to the
upper end of the conical body portion 9 of the casing 5 and the discharge port 10
is formed to the cover 7, in an alternation, the discharge port 10 may be directly
formed to the conical body portion 9 as far as the sucked bags and films 3 can be
surely discharged.
[0036] That is, the upper end of the conical portion 9 of the casing 5 is closed by a discharge
duct (cover) 7. The discharge duct 7 has a cylindrical shape having a diameter larger
than that of the upper end of the conical body portion 9 and is formed with the discharge
port 10 to the side surface thereof so as to discharge the bags and films 3, which
are sucked and turned, in a tangential direction thereof. In this operation, the bags
and films 3 are pushed against the side surface of the discharge duct 7 by the centrifugal
force and then discharged outward through the discharge port 10.
[0037] Further, a suction duct, not shown, may be connected to the discharge duct 7 so as
to forcibly suck or pull the bags and films 3 through the discharge duct 7 and then
gather and treat them by means of cyclone, for example. In this arrangement, a blower
connected to the suction duct is not used as a suction device for sucking the bags
and films 3, so that the blower is operated as an auxiliary means having not so large
capacity, thus making compact the entire structure of the device.
[0038] A pair of nozzles 6, 6 are arranged on the suction port side of the conical body
portion 9 of the casing 5 so as to jet the air from the pump means P along the inner
peripheral surface 9a of the conical body portion 9. The nozzles 6, 6 are arranged
on the same peripheral portion in a plane perpendicular to the central axis 13 of
the inner conical peripheral surface 9a preferably with an equal distance in the circumferential
direction thereof, and that is, in the illustrated example, the nozzles 6, 6 are disposed
with 180° relation so as to cause turning flows of air in the same direction, for
example, in a clockwise direction.
[0039] The pump means is preferably a compressor from which compressed air is fed at a high
speed to the nozzles 6, 6 through which the compressed air is jetted into the conical
body portion 9 of the casing 5 along the inner peripheral surface 9a. Further, since
the sucking force for sucking the bags and films 3 depends on the air flow velocity
rather than air flow amount, in order to increase the sucking ability, it will be
desired to reduce the sectional areas of the front end portions of the nozzles 6,
6 to thereby increase the air flow velocity.
[0040] Although the nozzles 6, 6 of this embodiment are arranged horizontally so as to jet
the air having horizontal velocity component, the front end portions thereof may be
slightly directed upward so as to provide upward velocity component. Further, it is
to be noted that the number of the nozzles 6, 6 is not limited to two and one or more
than two nozzles, for example, six (6), may be disposed. The number of the nozzles
will be determined depending on volume, bulk density or the like of materials to be
sucked.
[0041] FIG. 4 shows another example of the arrangement of the nozzle, in which a plurality
of, for example, two, nozzles 6, 6 are arranged at positions shifted from each other
in the direction of axis 13 to make large the lifting distance of the sucked bags
and films 3.
[0042] The resource rubbishes such as cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles and the like,
which are packaged in bags formed of such as vinyl material or the like thin film
material, are taken out by breaking the bags by a bag breaking apparatus or the like,
not shown, and then conveyed along the conveyer 4, as shown in FIG. 1, together with
the bags and films 3.
[0043] Among these rubbishes, the bags and films 3 having a small bulk density are recovered
by the vortex flow suction device 1. Then, when the compressed air of high velocity
is jetted through the nozzles 6, 6 into the conical body portion 9 of the casing 5,
the jetted air is turned along the conical inner peripheral surface 9a thereof. The
jetted air has an upward velocity component due to the conical shape, i.e. upward
widened sectional shape, of the inner peripheral surface 9a of the casing 5, and as
a result, the air constitutes a spiral air flow directed from the suction port 8 towards
the discharge port 10. This spiral air flow acts to suck an external air through the
suction port 8, and for this reason, the bags and films 3 near the suction port 8
are sucked and lifted upward together with the upwardly directed air flow. The thus
sucked-up bags and films 3 are then floated and lifted upward while being pushed against
the inner peripheral surface 9a of the conical body portion 9 by the centrifugal force
of the air flow, whereby the bags and films 3 can be surely discharged outward through
the discharge port 10 formed to the side surface portion of the casing 5. Further,
during the operation mentioned above, the cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles 2 and
the like each having a bulk density larger than that of the bag or film 3 are conveyed
as they are under no influence of the air flow.
[0044] The thus recovered bags and films 3 are thereafter separated in accordance with gravities
thereof and pelleted as pellets of, for example, vinyl chloride, polyethylene, polypropyrene
and the like. Further, the cans conveyed is classified into steel cans and aluminium
cans by using an induction electromagnetic force. On the other hand, the glass bottles
conveyed are classified in accordance with their colors and the plastic bottles conveyed
are also classified in accordance with their substances.
[0045] FIG. 5 represents a suction device utilizing a vortex flow according to the second
embodiment of the present invention.
[0046] With reference to FIG. 5, the suction device 1 comprises a casing 5 having a conical
body portion 9 formed with a conical inner peripheral surface 9a, nozzles 6, 6 jetting
air from an air pump means P (see FIG.6) along the inner peripheral surface 9a and
a discharge duct (cover) 7 covering an upper end opening having a larger diameter
of the conical body portion 9 of the casing 5. The discharge duct 7 has a side surface
to which discharge port 10 is formed. One side duct portion 7a formed on one side
of the discharge port 10 is throttled towards the discharge port 10. First and second
air discharge nozzles 11 and 12 are disposed on both sides of the discharge duct 7
so as to jet the air towards the discharge port 10.
[0047] The first air discharge nozzle 11 is arranged to a downstream side portion of the
vortex flow of air ① generated by the nozzles 6, 6 so as to jet the air in a direction
reverse to that of the air flow ①. On the other hand, the second air discharge nozzle
12 is arranged to an upstream side portion of the vortex flow of air ① generated by
the nozzles 6, 6 so as to jet the air in the same direction as to that of the air
flow ①. The amounts of airs jetted through these nozzles 6, 6, 11 and 12 can be adjusted
by a regulation valve or the like, not shown, for improving the performance of the
selection of the bags and films 3.
[0048] When the bags and films 3 are discharged while being turned in the casing 5, there
is the possibility that the bags and films 3 may be caught or hooked to portions to
the side surface of the discharge port 10, particularly, a side surface portion 10a
on the downstream side of the vortex flow of air ①. According to the suction device
1 of the present invention, however, since the first and second air discharge nozzles
11 and 12 for jetting the air towards the discharge port 10 are arranged, the bags
and films 3 caught to the side surface 10a of the discharge port 10 can be forcibly
discharged by the first air discharge nozzle 11, and moreover, since the air jetted
through the second air discharge nozzle 12 involves the surrounding air and then induces
it, the amount of air to be discharged from the suction device 1 can be increased.
As a result, the amount of air sucked through the suction port 8 can be increased,
and hence, the sucking and discharging ability or performance of the suction device
1 can be also increased.
[0049] FIGs. 6 and 7 represent a separator 100 assembled with the suction device 1 of the
second embodiment.
[0050] With reference to FIGs. 6 and 7, the separator 100 is also provided with a conveyer
4 for conveying resource rubbishes including cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles
2 and the like and a suction device 1 using the vortex flow of air disposed above
the conveyer 4 and adapted to suck bags and films by means of the vortex flow of air.
[0051] In this separator 100, the conveyer 4 is partially covered by a conveyer cover 13
so as to extend in the upstream and downstream sides by substantially the same length
as that of the suction port 8 as shown in FIG. 6. Further, the suction port 8 of the
vortex flow type suction device 1 is connected to this conveyer cover 13 through a
connection portion 14, as shown in FIG. 7, which has a shape downwardly widened in
diameter and has a circular shape in section.
[0052] On both the sides of the conveyer 4 normal to the conveying direction, are arranged
a pair of auxiliary nozzles 16a and 16b so as to oppose to each other and to jet air
towards the conveying surface 4a, i.e., upper surface of the conveyer belt. The auxiliary
nozzles 16a and 16b penetrate both the side guide surfaces 4b of the conveyer 4 and
are directed downward at angles β of 30 to 60° between the auxiliary nozzle 16a (16b)
and the conveyer surface 4a.
[0053] FIG. 8 is a brief illustration of a plan view of the auxiliary nozzles 16a and 16b.
These auxiliary nozzles are disposed in a pair on both the sides of the conveyer 4
and are each composed of a flat nozzle so as to finely extend along the conveying
direction of the conveyer 4. A pair of the nozzles 16a and 16b are disposed on the
upstream side more than the central portion of the suction device 1 in the conveying
direction C of the conveyer 4 and jet the air from both the side portions of the conveyer
4 in the direction normal to the conveying direction.
[0054] The resource rubbishes include cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles, bags after broken,
films and the like, which are conveyed on the conveyer 4 in an overlapped manner in
some time. In such case, if the bags or films 3 are overlapped, for example, disposed,
below the cans or bottles 2, it is difficult to recover the bags or films 3 disposed
below the cans or bottles 2. According to the separator 100 provided with the suction
device 1 utilizing the vortex flow of the present invention, however, the air jetted
through the auxiliary nozzles 16a and 16b which are directed to the conveyer surface
4a of the conveyer 4, and accordingly, the air jetted against the conveyer surface
4a create the upward air flow which will float up the cans or bottles 2 as well as
the bags or films 3. Hence, even the bags or films 3 disposed below the cans or bottles
2 can be taken out therefrom and then floated upward.
[0055] As can be seen from the above disclosure, it will be found out that the separator
provided with such auxiliary nozzles 16a and 16b are preferably usable for existing
conventional conveyers or the like, and moreover, as a method of floating the bags
or films 3 disposed below the cans or bottles 2, there will be provided a method of
vibrating the conveyer surface of the conveyer or a method of sucking the bags or
films at a connection portion of adjacent conveyers.
[0056] Furthermore, although in the above disclosure, the suction device utilizing vortex
flow of air is utilized as a separator for separating and recovering bags and films
from other resource rubbishes such as cans, bottles or the like, the present invention
is applicable as a separator for a suction device for sucking (incinarated) ash or
a separator for sucking dead leaves fallen in gutters of roads. In the case of being
used as the separator for sucking the ash, the ash can be sucked up even if the separator
is separated by some distance from the ash, so that the separator may be easily constructed
as an easily operable robot, and in the case of being used as the separator for sucking
dead leaves, only the dead leaves can be sucked without sucking other heavy materials
such as stones in the gutters.
[0057] In one preferred example performed by the inventors, there was used a suction device
in which the suction port has a diameter of 400 mm and the casing has a height of
600 mm, and tests whether bag(s) disposed on a plane can be sucked up with how much
distance is separated by changing vertical angles.
[0058] In the test result, the bag disposed on the plane apart by 200 mm from the suction
port can be surely sucked up at the vertical angle of 15° , through the tests, it
was found that the vertical angle of about 15° is desired, but substantially the same
effect could be expected at angle of 5 to 30° . Furthermore, in a case of arranging
two nozzles at opposite portions on the same circle, the bag could be smoothly sucked
up and discharged.
[0059] It is to be noted that the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments
and many other changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scopes
of the appended claims.
1. A suction device utilizing a vortex flow of gas comprising:
a casing having a conical body formed with a conical inner peripheral surface having
a small diameter side end to which a suction port is formed and a large diameter side
end;
nozzle means including at least one nozzle member provided for the conical body so
as to jet gas inside the conical body along the inner conical surface thereof as a
vortex flow of gas; and
means for supplying gas to the nozzle means.
2. A suction device according to claim 1, further comprising a cover member formed to
the conical body so as to cover the large diameter side end, said cover member having
a side portion to which a discharge port is formed.
3. A suction device according to claim 2, wherein said cover member is formed with discharge
nozzle means for jetting gas towards the discharge port.
4. A suction device according to claim 3, wherein said discharge nozzle means includes
a first discharge nozzle member disposed to one side portion of the cover member on
a downstream side of a vortex flow of gas generated by said nozzle means formed to
the conical body of the casing and a second discharge nozzle member disposed to another
side portion of the cover member on an upstream side of the vortex flow of gas generated
by said nozzle means.
5. A suction device according to claim 3 or 4 wherein an amount of gas jetted through
at least one of said nozzle means and discharge nozzle means is adjustable.
6. A suction device according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein said nozzle means includes
a plurality of nozzle members which are disposed on a same circumferential direction
with a space from each other in a plane perpendicular to a central axis of the inner
conical surface of the conical body.
7. A suction device according to claim 6, wherein said nozzle members are arranged with
equally spaced relationship in the circumferential direction.
8. A suction device according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein said nozzle means includes
a plurality of nozzle members which are disposed in a manner shifted in locations
from each other in a direction along a central axis of the inner conical surface of
the conical body.
9. A separator for selectively separating bags and films mixed in rubbishes comprising:
a conveyer means having a conveyer surface on which the rubbishes are conveyed; and
a suction device disposed above the conveyer surface of the conveyer means and adapted
to suck bags and films by means of vortex flow of gas,
said suction device comprising:
a casing having a conical body formed with a conical inner peripheral surface having
a small diameter side end to which a suction port is formed and a large diameter side
end;
a cover member formed to the conical body so as to cover the large diameter side end,
said cover member having a side portion to which a discharge port is formed;
nozzle means including at least one nozzle member provided for the conical body so
as to jet gas inside the conical body along the inner conical surface thereof as a
vortex flow of gas; and
means for supplying gas to said nozzle means.
10. A separator according to claim 9, further comprising at least a pair of auxiliary
nozzle means disposed on both side portions of the conveyer means in an opposed arrangement
so as to jet gas towards the conveyer surface.
11. A separator according to claim 10, wherein said auxiliary nozzle means comprises flat
nozzles finely extending in the conveying direction of the conveyer means.
12. A separator according to claim 10 or 11, wherein said auxiliary nozzle means are disposed
upstream side from a central portion of the suction device in the conveying direction
of the conveyer means.
13. A separator according to any one of claims 9-12, wherein said conveyer means is at
least partially covered by a conveyer cover connected to the suction port of the conical
body of the suction device.
14. A separator according to claim 9, wherein said conveyer means comprises an endless
conveyer belt.