Device for selectively conveying waste in a differentiated waste collection vehicle

Abstract

 Formed in a rear holding wall (8) of a hopper (5) is a lower opening (12) for connection to a lower compartment (4a) of a body (4) of a motor-vehicle (2), as well as an upper opening (13) for connected to an upper compartment (4b). A movable bulkhead (20) operates in the hopper (5), which bulkhead is rotatably hinged in the vicinity of a lower edge (13a) of the upper opening (13) and is movable about its hinging axis (X) between a first operating position at which it allows falling of a first waste material (A) towards the bottom wall (11), and a second operating position at which it extends above the bottom wall (11) for intercepting falling of a second waste material (B) towards the bottom wall (11). A lower pusher (18) and an upper pusher (19) respectively operate on the bottom wall (11) of the hopper (5) and on the movable bulkhead (20) in the second operating position, for conveying the first and second waste materials (A,B) through the lower (12) and upper (13) openings respectively.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a device for selectively conveying waste into a motor-vehicle intended for differentiated waste collection.

[0002] The present invention also pertains to a motor-vehicle to be used for differentiated waste collection and provided with said selective conveying device.

[0003] Known in the art are different types of motor-vehicles suitably equipped for carrying out the differentiated waste collection, in particular collection of solid household waste.

[0004] A motor-vehicle of this type here mentioned as an example of the most relevant known art, is described in the European Patent No. EP718217.

[0005] This motor-vehicle has a holding body divided into a lower compartment and an upper compartment adapted to be filled with a first and a second waste material through respective access openings leading off to a loading hopper disposed between the motor-vehicle body and the driver's cab.

[0006] Mounted on one side of the motor-vehicle, in the vicinity of the hopper, is a lifting and overturning device that is adapted to pick-up a rubbish skip from the ground for emptying it over the hopper and subsequently put it back to the ground.

[0007] Operating within the hopper is transfer means capable of selectively conveying the waste into the lower or upper compartment of the vehicle body, depending on the type of waste. More particularly, waste conveying into the lower compartment takes place by a first pusher element movable at the hopper bottom towards the first opening leading to the lower compartment.

[0008] On the contrary, for conveying the waste to the upper compartment, it is provided that before emptying the waste material from the rubbish skip a movable bulkhead located immediately above the space dedicated to movement of the first pusher element should be extended in the hopper. Therefore the waste material of the second type falls onto the movable bulkhead to be conveyed into the upper compartment upon the action of a second pusher movable on said bulkhead, towards the respective upper opening.

[0009] A gate is operatively installed on the side wall of the hopper carrying the conveying openings, which gate is slidably movable between an open condition at which it clears the waste passage through the upper opening, and a closed condition at which it closes the upper opening.

[0010] When transfer of the second waste into the upper compartment has been completed, the gate is brought to the closed condition to prevent the waste material from flowing back into the hopper.

[0011] It may however happen, above all when the waste conveyed into the upper compartment of the vehicle body reaches a certain degree of clogging, that part of the waste succeeds in flowing back into the hopper as soon as the respective pusher has moved away from the upper opening and before the gate has reached the closed position.

[0012] The waste amount gone back into the hopper will fall to the bottom wall of said hopper as soon as the movable bulkhead is brought back to the rest condition in order to make the device ready for a new loading cycle, thereby giving rise to pollution of the first waste conveyed into the lower compartment of the vehicle body.

[0013] In addition, the waste material laid astride the lower edge of the upper opening hinders correct closure of the gate, which will involve malfunctions and/or damages to the apparatus.

[0014] It is an aim of the present invention to overcome the problems of the known art, by providing a device capable of operating in a very reliable manner.

[0015] Another aim of the invention is to eliminate the risk of pollution of the first waste conveyed into the lower compartment of the vehicle body, with part of the second waste that is to be unloaded into the upper compartment of said body.

[0016] The foregoing and further aims that will become apparent in the following of the present description are substantially achieved by a device for selectively conveying waste into a differentiated waste collection vehicle according to claim 1 and/or one or more of the claims depending thereon.

[0017] A preferred but not exclusive embodiment of a waste conveying device in accordance with the present invention is now illustrated by way of non-limiting example.

[0018] With reference to the drawings:

• Fig. 1 diagrammatically shows in a fragmentary longitudinal section, a motor-vehicle intended for differentiated waste collection, incorporating a device according to the present invention designed to carry out a conveying cycle of a second waste material;
• Fig. 2 shows the device in an operating step following the step in Fig. 1;
• Fig. 3 shows the device in an operating step following the step in Fig. 2;
• Fig. 4 shows the device seen in Fig. 1, designed to carry out a conveying cycle of a first waste material;
• Fig. 5 shows the device in an operating step following the step in Fig. 4;
• Fig. 6 shows the device in an operating step following the step in Fig. 5;
• Fig. 7 diagrammatically shows a cross-section of the device taken along line VII-VII in Fig. 4, during emptying of a rubbish skip.

[0019] With reference to the drawings, a device for selectively conveying waste in accordance with the present invention has been generally identified with 1.

[0020] Device 1 is adapted to be associated with a motor-vehicle 2 intended for waste collection and comprising a driver's cab 3 and a body 4 internally divided into a lower compartment 4a and an upper compartment 4b designed to respectively receive a first type and a second type of waste materials, denoted at "A" and "B" respectively, in Fig. 1.

[0021] Device 1 comprises a loading hopper 5 interposed between the driver's cab 3 and the vehicle body 4 and adapted to receive waste materials of the first and/or the second type that are emptied, at different times respectively, from at least one rubbish skip 7 brought to the overturned position over hopper 5, upon the action of a lifting and overturning apparatus 6 operating on one side of the motor-vehicle 2.

[0022] More particularly, the lifting and overturning apparatus 6, only partly shown as it is known by itself and not of importance to the aims of the invention, picks up a rubbish skip from the ground after the motor-vehicle has stopped to a position alongside the rubbish skip itself, in order to lift said rubbish skip and empty it by overturning over hopper 5, then putting it back to the ground when emptying has been completed, as shown by way of example in Fig. 7.

[0023] The loading hopper 5 is delimited by holding walls 8, 9, 10 peripherally extending from a bottom wall 11. More specifically, in the example shown, there is a rear holding wall 8 facing the vehicle body 4, a front holding wall 9 facing the driver's cab 3 and two side holding walls 10 each extending between the rear 8 and front 9 holding walls.

[0024] In at least one of the holding walls 8, 9, 10 and more particularly the rear holding wall 7, a lower opening 12 is formed for connection to the lower compartment 4a of body 4, as well as an upper opening 13 for connection to the upper compartment 4b, which upper opening is located at a higher position above the lower opening 12.

[0025] The lower and upper openings 12, 13 can be respectively formed in a lower ejection bulkhead 14 and an upper ejection bulkhead 15 altogether constituting the rear holding wall 8 and selectively translatable upon command of respective ejection actuators (not shown in the figures) for ejecting waste from the respective compartments 4a, 4b after opening of one or more doors provided at the rear of the vehicle body 4.

[0026] Operating within hopper 5 are first and second transfer means 16, 17 designed to transfer the waste materials of the first and second type into the lower compartment 4a and the upper compartment 4b of the vehicle body 4, respectively.

[0027] To this aim, the first transfer means comprises a lower pusher 18 that, upon command of one or more fluid-operated cylinders 18a, is driven in a rectilinear reciprocating motion on a bottom wall 11 of hopper 5, in the direction of the lower opening 12 having a lower edge that is substantially coplanar with the bottom wall.

[0028] The second transfer means 17 in turn comprises an upper pusher 19 that, upon command of one or more respective fluid-operated cylinders 19a, is driven in a reciprocating rectilinear motion in the direction of the upper opening 13.

[0029] The upper pusher 19 slides on a movable bulkhead 20 that, upon the action of a respective selection actuator 21 for example, is adapted to be selectively translated between a first operating position at which, as shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, it allows a first waste material A to fall towards the bottom wall, and a second operating position at which, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, it extends above the bottom wall 1 so as to intercept falling of a second waste material B towards said bottom wall.
More particularly, the movable bulkhead 20 has a first end edge 22 rotatably hinged in the vicinity of a lower edge 13a of the upper opening 13, and is movable between the first and second operating positions following angular oscillation about its hinging axis X that is preferably horizontal.

[0030] In the first operating position, the movable bulkhead 20 has a substantially vertical orientation and preferably acts against the rear holding wall 8 of hopper 5, by a second end edge 23 for example, that is carried by said movable bulkhead 20, on the opposite side relative to the first end edge 22.

[0031] In the second operating position, the movable bulkhead 20 extends substantially horizontally starting from the lower edge 13a of the upper opening 13, parallelly above the bottom wall 11 and spaced apart therefrom by an amount sufficient to allow translation of the lower pusher 18 towards the lower opening 12.

[0032] Preferably, translation of the movable bulkhead 20 between the first and second operating positions takes place following an angular travel greater than 90°, in such a manner that said bulkhead in the first operating position takes a slightly inclined orientation sloping towards the bottom wall 11.

[0033] The movable bulkhead 20 further has opposite side edges 24 extending between the first and second end edges 22, 23, each adjacent to one of the side holding walls 10 of hopper 5. Thus, undesirable passages of waste between the sided edges 24 of the movable bulkhead 20 and the side holding edges 10 of hopper 5 are conveniently hindered.
Figs. 1 and 3 show the device of the invention in different steps of an emptying and conveying cycle of the second waste material B. As shown in Fig. 1, the movable bulkhead 20 is put in the second work position, where it extends horizontally above the bottom wall 11 so as to intercept falling of the second waste material B into hopper 5. A rubbish skip 7 containing the second waste material B is then emptied into hopper 5 upon the action of the lifting and overturning apparatus 6, so that the second waste material B is accumulated on top of the second movable bulkhead 20, as shown in Fig. 2.

[0034] The upper pusher 19 is driven in a reciprocating motion on the movable bulkhead 20 so that, after one or more to-and-fro strokes of said pusher, the second waste material B accumulated in hopper 5 is fully transferred into the upper compartment 4b of the vehicle body 4, through the upper opening 13.

[0035] When transfer has been completed, the upper pusher 19 is positioned back to the respective rest condition to allow movement of the movable bulkhead 20 towards the first operating position, as shown in Fig. 4.

[0036] During the backward movement of the upper pusher 19 away from the upper opening 13 and before displacement of the movable bulkhead 20 to the first work position, it may happen that a small part of the second waste material B transferred into body 4 will flow back towards hopper 5 through said upper opening. However, this possible waste flowing back is advantageously collected by the movable bulkhead 20 and pushed again through the upper opening 13 to the inside of body 4, following angular rotation of said bulkhead around its hinging axis X during movement towards the first operating position.

[0037] On reaching the first operating position, the movable bulkhead 20 closes the upper opening 13 preventing any further flowing back of the second waste material B into hopper 5, and the device 1 is ready to receive the first waste material A to be stored in the lower compartment of body 4.

[0038] As shown in Fig. 5 the first waste material A, emptied from a respective rubbish skip 7 by a new operating cycle of the lifting and overturning apparatus 6, can freely reach the bottom wall 11 of hopper 5, to be subsequently transferred into the vehicle body 4 through the lower opening 12, by one or more to-and-fro strokes of the lower pusher 18, as shown in Fig. 6.

[0039] When transfer of the first waste material A into the lower compartment of body 4 has been completed, the movable bulkhead 20 can be brought back to the second operating position to make device 1 ready for a new conveying cycle of the second waste material B. Possible amounts of the first waste material A flown back through the lower opening 12 remain under the movable bulkhead 20 put back to the second operating position, without the risk of polluting the second waste material B emptied into hopper 5.

[0040] The present invention achieves the intended aims. In the device in question in fact undesirable malfunctions due to possible waste material flowing back to hopper 5 through the upper 13 and/or lower 12 openings are not present.

[0041] In addition, the function of closing the upper opening 13 carried out by the movable bulkhead 20 in the first operating position enables achievement of important simplifications in terms of structure and construction as compared with the known art, while at the same time installation of doors or other closing elements to be operated independently of the movable bulkhead 20 for the purpose of hindering waste escape is avoided, being no longer necessary.

Claims

1. A device for selectively conveying waste into a motor-vehicle to be used for differentiated waste collection, comprising:

- a hopper (5) having holding walls (8, 9, 10) peripherally extending from a bottom wall (11), a lower opening (12) being formed in at least one of said holding walls (8, 9, 10) for connection to a lower compartment of a body (4) of a motor-vehicle (2), as well as an upper opening (13) for connection to an upper compartment (4b) of said body (4);

- a bulkhead (20) selectively movable between a first operating position at which it enables falling of a first waste material (A) towards the bottom wall (11), and a second operating position at which it extends above said bottom wall (11) for intercepting falling of a second waste material (B) towards the bottom wall (11);

- first transfer means (16) operating on the bottom wall (11) of the hopper (5) for conveying the first waste material (A) through the lower opening (12);

- second transfer means (17) operating on the movable bulkhead (20) when in the second operating position for conveying the second waste material (B) through said upper opening (13),

characterised in that the movable bulkhead (20) has a first end edge (22) rotatably hinged in the vicinity of a lower edge (13a) of said upper opening (13), and is movable between the first and second operating positions following angular oscillation around its hinging axis (X).

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the first operating position the movable bulkhead (20) has a substantially vertical orientation.

3. A device as claimed in one or more of the preceding claims, wherein in the first operating condition the movable bulkhead (20) closes the upper opening (13).

4. A device as claimed in one or more of the preceding claims, wherein in the first operating position the movable bulkhead (20) acts against the holding wall (8) of the hopper (5) carrying the lower (12) and upper (13) openings.

5. A device as claimed in one or more of the preceding claims, wherein in the second operating position the movable bulkhead (20) has a substantially horizontal orientation.

6. A device as claimed in one or more of the preceding claims, wherein translation of the movable bulkhead (20) between the first and second operating positions takes place following an angular travel greater than 90°.

7. A device as claimed in one or more of the preceding claims, wherein the movable bulkhead (20), on the side opposite to the first end edge (22) has a second end edge (23) that in the first operating position acts against the holding wall of the hopper (5) carrying the lower (12) and upper (13) openings.

8. A device as claimed in one or more of the preceding claims, wherein the movable bulkhead (20) has opposite side edges (24) extending from said first end edge (22), each adjacent to a side holding wall (10) of the hopper (5).

9. A device as claimed in one or more of the preceding claims, further comprising at least one selection actuator (21), to cause translation of the movable bulkhead (20) between the first and second operating positions.

10. A device as claimed in one or more of the preceding claims, wherein said lower opening (12) has a lower edge (12a) that is substantially coplanar to the bottom wall (11).

11. A device as claimed in one or more of the preceding claims, wherein said first and second transfer means (16, 17) respectively comprise a lower pusher (18) and an upper pusher (19) drivable in a reciprocating motion in the direction of said lower opening (12) and upper opening (13), respectively.

12. A device as claimed in one or more of the preceding claims, further comprising a lifting and overturning apparatus (6) for picking up a rubbish skip (7) containing said waste from the ground and emptying it into the hopper (5).

13. A motor-vehicle for differentiated waste collection, comprising a selective conveying device (1) as claimed in one or more of the preceding claims.

Drawing