U.S. patent application number 15/405383 was filed with the patent office on 2019-01-03 for centrifugal pulverizing mill.
The applicant listed for this patent is Mark Christopher Lugowski, Jaroslaw Lutoslawski. Invention is credited to Mark Christopher Lugowski, Jaroslaw Lutoslawski.
Application Number | 20190001336 15/405383 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 64734338 |
Filed Date | 2019-01-03 |
United States Patent
Application |
20190001336 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lutoslawski; Jaroslaw ; et
al. |
January 3, 2019 |
Centrifugal Pulverizing Mill
Abstract
A pulverizer has arms connected to a vertically oriented
rotating shaft at hubs. The arms are angled relative to radians
extending from the shaft to be canted or offset. Pads can be
oversized relative to the arms while being one of coplanar with the
arms or recessed while possibly also having their radially inward
face(s) angled to assist in resisting catching material thereon. A
mechanical fuse connection can assist in connecting arms to the hub
to prevent dangerous situations as well.
Inventors: |
Lutoslawski; Jaroslaw;
(Bradford, CA) ; Lugowski; Mark Christopher;
(Scarborough, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Lutoslawski; Jaroslaw
Lugowski; Mark Christopher |
Bradford
Scarborough |
|
CA
CA |
|
|
Family ID: |
64734338 |
Appl. No.: |
15/405383 |
Filed: |
January 13, 2017 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
62279251 |
Jan 15, 2016 |
|
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|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B02C 13/2804 20130101;
B02C 2201/06 20130101; B02C 13/31 20130101; B02C 13/18 20130101;
B02C 2013/2808 20130101 |
International
Class: |
B02C 13/18 20060101
B02C013/18; B02C 13/28 20060101 B02C013/28; B02C 13/31 20060101
B02C013/31 |
Claims
1. A pulverizer comprising: a head with an input port; a bottom
with a discharge port; a housing extending intermediate the head
and the bottom, said body having a vertically extending rotating
shaft with a plurality of arms extending from hubs connected to the
shaft thereby reducing input from a larger to a smaller size from
the input port to the discharge port with the rotation of the arms
in the housing; wherein at least some of the arms are canted
relative to the hub to which they are connected at a first
connection position whereby they form an angle between 5 and 90
degrees relative to a radian extending through the arm.
2. The pulverizer of claim 1 wherein the at least some of the arms
in the first connection position are angled between 5 and 30
degrees relative to a radian extending through the arm.
3. The pulverizer of claim 1 wherein the at least some of the arms
have a second connection position at the hub whereby when in the
second connection position, the angle relative to the radian is
different than when in the first connection position.
4. The pulverizer of claim 1 further comprising a mechanical fuse
retaining at least some of the arms in their first connection
position whereby if a predetermined force is reached, the at least
some of the arms release without breaking.
5. The pulverizer of claim 4 further comprising first and second
pins connecting the arm to the hub wherein the second pin is the
mechanical fuse and when it releases, the arm rotates about the
first pin.
6. The pulverizer of claim 1 further comprising at least one
coverplate formed of first and second portions interlocking with a
puzzle connection on the hub.
7. The pulverizer of claim 1 wherein the hub further comprises
first and second sandwich halves, with the arms connected between
the first and second sandwich halves to the shaft.
8. The pulverizer of claim 1 further comprising pads connected to
the arms whereby the pads have a front face and the arms have a
front face, both in the direction of rotation, and the front face
of the pads is one of (a) coplanar with the front face of the arms
and (b) recessed relative thereto.
9. The pulverizer of claim 1 further comprising pads connected to
the arms whereby the pads have a height exceeding a height of the
arm.
10. The pulverizer of claim 9 wherein the height of the pads
exceeding the height of the arm is at least by about 150
percent.
11. The pulverizer of claim 10 wherein the height of the pads
exceeding the height of the arm is no more than about 300
percent.
12. The pulverizer of claim 9 wherein the pads are angled at a
radially inner position of the pad to increase in height proceeding
radially outwardly to assist in shedding material off the pad which
might otherwise be entangled thereon.
13. The pulverizer of claim 1 further comprising shelves connected
to the body with at least some of the shelves being positionably
adjustable.
14. The pulverizer of claim 13 wherein the angle of at least some
of the shelves can be adjusted.
15. The pulverizer of claim 13 wherein the height of at least some
of the shelves can be adjusted.
16. The pulverizer of claim 13 wherein the adjustment of the
shelves is automatedly controlled with a processor.
17. The pulverizer of claim 16 wherein the processor can adjust the
speed of the rotation of the shaft with the shelf position to
increase efficiency of output relative to energy consumption.
18. A pulverizer comprising: a head with an input port; a bottom
with a discharge port a housing extending intermediate the head and
the bottom, said body having a vertically extending rotating shaft
with a plurality of arms extending from hubs connected to the shaft
thereby reducing input from a larger to a smaller size from the
input port to the discharge port with the rotation of the arms in
the housing; wherein at least some of the arms have pads connected
to the arms whereby the pads have a front face and the arms have a
front fact, both in the direction of rotation, and the front face
of the pads is one of (a) coplanar with the front face of the arms
and (b) recessed relative thereto.
19. The pulverizer of claim 18 wherein the height of the pads
exceeding the height of the arm is at least by about 150
percent.
20. The pulverizer of claim 18 wherein at least some of the arms
are canted relative to the hub to which they are connected at a
first connection position whereby they form an angle between 5 and
30 degrees relative to a radian extending through the arm.
Description
CLAIM OF PRIORITY
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Patent Application No. 62/279,251 filed Jan. 15, 2016, which is
incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to a refuse treatment machine
and more particularly to a centrifugal pulverizing mill for
treatment of materials, for example refuse for use in managing
waste and recycling or other materials, including pulverizing,
aerating, homogenizing and/or separating.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Solid materials such as garbage, rubbish or other solid
materials have been collected by trucks and transported for
disposal or recycling, or repurpo sing for many years.
[0004] Burkett developed a centrifugal mill sometime around in the
mid-1970s and ended up with U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,970 and others.
[0005] The applicant's predecessor-in-interest filed Canadian
Patent Application Nos. 2,125,797 and 2,147,666 for use with
various equipment and methods for pulverizing rock and remediating
soil utilizing an improved pulverizer configuration.
[0006] Still others have commercialized an embodiment of the
Burkett mill and are trying to sell that design in the marketplace
today. However, when attempting to build a Burkett mill with
improvements, the applicant discovered there were components of
that basic design which could be improved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] It is an object of the present invention to provide an
improved centrifugal mill also known as a vertical gyroscopic mill
or pulverizer.
[0008] It is another object of many embodiments of the present
invention to provide an improved pulverizer having a mechanical
fuse or at least an improvement designed to allow an arm to move
out of the way rather than being ripped off and/or seriously
damaged as a result of striking a particularly unyielding object.
Sometimes unyielding materials are placed in pulverizers like fire
hydrants or other items that are unyielding when they contact
surfaces.
[0009] It is another object of many embodiments of the present
invention to provide an improved pulverizer having arms constructed
and designed to preferentially absorb impact and/or move out of the
way rather than fail in the event of striking too resistant of an
object.
[0010] It is another object of many embodiments of the present
invention to provide an antiwrapping arm construction which
preferentially sheds objects which otherwise might become fouled on
the arm.
[0011] It is another object of many embodiments of the present
invention to provide an improved raked arm configuration which is
believed to assist in preventing fouling of the arm.
[0012] It is another object of many embodiments of the present
invention to provide an improved arm pad which preferentially
reduces the likelihood of material wrapping about the arm and/or
arm pad.
[0013] It is another object of many embodiments of the present
invention to provide an improved arm/arm pad combination which
preferentially reduces a likelihood of wrapping.
[0014] It is another object of many embodiments of the present
invention to provide an improved hub/arm interface which provides a
more cost effective way to connect arms to hubs while still
allowing the arms to provide a fail-safe style connection for many
embodiments while also providing a way to reduce manufacturing
costs.
[0015] One or more adjustable shelves can be provided for many
embodiments to increase the residence time of material treated
inside the pulverizer of many embodiments.
[0016] Adjustment of shelf location(s) affects material reduction
and/or residence time for many embodiments.
[0017] Changing the speed of the arm rotation with shelf height has
been found to increase efficiency for at least some processes.
[0018] Accordingly, in accordance with at least some presently
preferred embodiments of the present invention, an improved
pulverizer construction is provided in which the arms take on new
constructions not previously provided in pulverizers.
[0019] Specifically, the arms are designed so that upon striking a
particularly difficult object (the applicant has had an arm strike
a brake rotor before which sheared off some of the pads), the arms
preferably move out of the way before being broken (or hopefully
before being seriously damaged). Arms or arm pads breaking in
pulverizers before can create a significant hazard as the tips of
the arms are normally moving through the pulverizer at over 200
miles per hour. If a broken arm were to breach the cylindrical
housing, that could create a significant safety concern around the
pulverizer. Accordingly, the applicant has designed a system
whereby the arms can preferentially rotate out of the way before
reaching a breaking point upon contacting a sufficiently immovable
or resistant object. This can be performed with a mechanical fuse
mechanism or other mechanism, to allow the arm to rotate out of the
way before an arm and/or arm pad fails such as upon reaching a
predetermined force before failure force to "fail safe." A safety
margin of 1/2 of failure force for the predetermined force may be
used or other factor.
[0020] In addition to a "fail safe" feature arms of the presently
preferred embodiment of the present invention, some preferred
embodiments may also and/or alternatively provide an ability to
provide raked arms and/or otherwise provide anti-wrapping
tendencies.
[0021] Specifically, with a raked arm, instead of extending
radially along radial axes from the shaft (i.e., radial axes), the
arms are preferably angled relative to those axes at least about 5
degrees if not up to about 90 degrees, but more preferably in a
range of about 5 to about 20 degrees if not at about 15 degrees. By
allowing the arm to be raked (off of radial axes) in this manner,
material tends to shed off the end of the arms through centrifugal
force rather than becoming an entanglement thereabout (plastic
fibers, straps, hose, wires and textiles have been found to have a
tendency to wrap as well as other items on the Burkett arm
configuration). Additionally, if one looks at the prior art, such
as Canadian Patent Application No. 2,147,666 or even some of the
really old technology such as U.S. Pat. No. 1,636,033, one will see
that the pads are bolted to a front face of the radially extended
arms which provides a catch point at the radially inwardly facing
surface of the arm pads.
[0022] Instead of providing this construction, the applicant has
found that for many embodiments recessing the pads into the arms
can be desirable relative to the front face of the arms or at least
providing them flush so that material at the front faces to shed
material contacting the arm. In the event contact occurs, material
tends to shed off the arm rather than be entrapped there against.
In a similar non-wrapping effort, the arm pads may also have angled
radially interior upper and lower edges to assist in this endeavor.
Notches may also be utilized internal to the arms so as to be able
to accept portions of the arm pad and/or relieve stress.
[0023] The hub where the arms connect to the shaft can also be
improved upon over prior designs. In prior art designs, a
cylindrical piece of metal as a hub was machined to effectively
permit recessed placement of the arms internal to a said
cylindrical piece so the upper surface of the arm was flush with
the upper surface of the hub. This was a particularly expensive way
to construct the hub and arm construction.
[0024] Accordingly, instead of that style construction, a sandwich
style construction is provided where the arms are disposed between
two plates and then preferably retained therebetween. In addition,
a spacing plate can then provide to space over the pin heads
holding the arms to the plates. A cover plate can then cover the
spacer plates. The spacer plates preferably provide a semi-circular
jigsaw style construction so that they can connect together to
provide a rigid ring connection when installed, but also be able to
be assembled in a relatively easy manner about the rotating shaft
drive of the pulverizer.
[0025] One or more adjustable shelves can be provided for many
embodiments which can be mechanized for adjusting height relative
to the arms. The adjustable shelf feature, if utilized, can be
coupled with a variable drive frequency of the variable speed motor
for additional effects.
[0026] Still other embodiments may incorporate some, or even all,
of the features described above.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0027] 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:
[0028] FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a pulverizer constructed in
accordance with a presently preferred embodiment of the present
invention;
[0029] FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of a portion of the
pulverizer shown in FIG. 1;
[0030] FIG. 3 is a detailed view of one of the arms with the arm
pads installed as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;
[0031] FIG. 4 is a top perspective exploded view of a portion of
the arm retainer system removed from the arms and shaft for
clarity;
[0032] FIG. 5 is a top plan view taken along the line A-A of FIG.
1;
[0033] FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view taken along the line B-B of
FIG. 3;
[0034] FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional detailed exploded view of detail
A shown in FIG. 1;
[0035] FIG. 8 is a plan view of the adjustable shelf of a portion
of the mechanism shown in FIG. 2 from outside the housing of the
pulverizer; and
[0036] FIG. 9 is a top plan view of an alternatively preferred
embodiment of a portion of the arm retainer system shown in FIG. 4
above.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0037] FIG. 1 shows a pulverizer 10 of the presently preferred
embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, a rotating shaft
12 is shown extending along a vertical axis 14. The saft 12 can be
driven by a motor 16 such as being belt driven, chain driven, gear
or belt driven such as by belt 18 to driver 20 (such as a shaft
pulley being the "driver" pulley) which could be a gear, pulley or
other cooperating system. Of course, the motor 16 may be directly
coupled to shaft 12 as would be understood by those of ordinary
skill in the art as well.
[0038] Pulverizer 10 typically has a drum or cylindrical housing 22
which can be constructed in various ways. The housing 22 preferably
has a head section 24 with an input port 26 which permits the
introduction of material to be ground inside the housing 22 as will
be described below.
[0039] The shaft 12 is preferably rotated about the axis 14 by the
motor 16 and is suspended by bearings 28 for rotation such as is
shown. Bearing 28 may be supported in a variety of ways as would be
understood by those of ordinary skill in the art. Output is
discharged via discharger port 25.
[0040] As the material, illustrated as particulate 30, although it
could be virtually any material including, but not limited to,
railway ties, concrete, shingles, organic waste, municipal waste,
glass, tree portions, and/or other waste or even other non-waste
materials, is directed into the inlet 26, the rotors 32,34 and 36,
each of which having arms as described below extending from hubs
rotate such as up to 1,050 rpm to generate vortices inside the
pulverizer 10 with deflectors 38 along with the shelves 40,41,42 to
direct the vortices so that the vortices create a rather crushing
environment inside of the pulverizer 10. The illustrated design
provides six counter rotating vortices. Other designs may have
other air flow characteristics.
[0041] Accordingly, the particulate 30 generally becomes smaller
and smaller principally due to the particulate contacting itself
inside the pulverizer 10. Of course, some particulate 30 does
contact the arms 32,34,36 as well as deflectors 38 as well as
shelves 40,42 and interior walls 44 of the housing 22 from time to
time, but it is believed that the majority of the diminution in
size is the result of the particulate 30 contacting itself. The
speed at the end of the arms 46 can approach roughly 200 meters per
second (or more) and thus separate vortices are created. Material
contacting where the vortices intersect is quite a significant
experience.
[0042] In the prior art, the arms were countersunk into a solid hub
which was connected to the shaft to provide a planar upper surface.
The applicant discovered that in this design, the arms did not have
any way to give when contacting a virtually immovable object. In
fact, the applicant had the misfortune of having pads stripped off
of the arms 32,34,36 (which were extremely high quality metal) to
then rotate at extremely high speeds through the pulverizer, thus
damaging the internal surface of the housing as well as deflectors
38 and arms and other arm pads and also the arms.
[0043] Arms such as arm 48,49,50,51,52 and 53 are shown in detail
in FIG. 2 and others of the presently preferred design. The basic
arm construction can be the same or different amongst the various
arms 48-53. FIG. 2 shows the arms 48-53 connected to a hub such as
hub 32 in a different manner than prior art hubs. Specifically, hub
32 connects to shaft 12 with top and bottom plates 54,56. The top
and bottom plates 54,56 effectively sandwich the arms 48-53
therebetween. The arms 48-53 connect to the top and bottom plates
such as with first and second pins 58,60. This connection secures
the arms 48-53 in a desired position relative to the plates 54,56.
Other connections could be used with other embodiments.
[0044] As illustrated in FIG. 2, the arms 48-53 can extend radially
away from shaft 12 as occurs with the prior art. Alternatively,
FIG. 5 shows an alternatively preferred configuration in which the
arms 48-53 are oriented slightly differently, namely, with the
second pin 60 being located in outer bore 62 instead of in an inner
bore 60 as illustrated in FIG. 2 whereby the arms 48-53 are now
raked (i.e., backwardly angled relative to radial axis such as
about 5 to about 90 degrees and more particularly, about 5 to about
30 degrees such as at about 15 degrees as illustrated in FIG. 5
with angle .alpha. at about 15 degrees relative to a radial axis 64
as would occur if the second pin 60 is located in the outer bore 62
to achieve the 15 degree rake as shown in FIG. 5). Other ways to
rake the arms 48-53 also could be employed with other
embodiments.
[0045] Raking has an advantage in that when the arms 48-53 are
rotating when material which might otherwise become entangled about
the arm 48-53 encounters the angular nature of the rake, then the
material tends to be directed off an end of the arms 48-53 rather
than tangling about the affected arm 48-53.
[0046] By providing the configuration shown in FIG. 2, the
applicant can select at least one of two different angular
positions of the arms 48-53 relative to the radial axis 64. Other
embodiments may have even more angular relationship choices and/or
other angular relationship selection capability depending on which
how the arms 48-53 and/or plates 54,56 attach.
[0047] In addition to raked arms 48-53, the applicant has provided
first and second pins 58,60 in different diameters whereby the
second pin 60 is designed to be a shear pin (i.e., a mechanical
fuse) so that should any of the arms 48-53 strike an object which
is not likely to be broken by contact, the arms 48-53 can at least
partially rotate out of the way to reduce the likelihood of serious
damage and/or breakage of the arms 48-53 or pads 66,68 or housing
wall 44 or deflectors 38 or shelves 40,41,42 which are likely to be
made of a relatively high strength steel and/or other materials),
and therefore, when rotating at 100 meters per second or more could
create a significant hazard particularly if they might puncture
through the housing wall 44. Pads such as pads 66,68 may also be
broken off and then by contacting such structure be more likely to
inflict internal damage to the components of the pulverizer 10.
Accordingly, pulverizer 10 of some embodiments has "fail safe" arms
which preferably rotate out of the way when encountering a force
which exceeds a predetermined amount (some fraction of an
anticipated breakage force, such as 1/2, 1/3, etc.).
[0048] Also, while other prior art designs use arm pads, such as
Canadian Patent Application No. 2,147,666, these arm pads extend
forward of a front face such as face 70 so that a radially inwardly
directed surface 72 of the arm pad 74 would tend to catch material
as it might be being shed off of front face 70 as the material
passed radially outward due to the radial spinning nature of the
device. This proved to be a problem as a way to wrap some items
like textiles.
[0049] Accordingly, the applicant has provided two embodiments
shown in FIG. 3, namely, a first embodiment with the arm 52 having
a front face 70 from which a front face 74 of the arm pad 66 is
recessed relative thereto such as spaced by toe 80 or otherwise
with the radially inwardly directed face 72 possibly being received
at least partially within recess 82 to assist in preventing the
hang up of materials on the arm pad 74. Recess 82 may assist in
relieving stresses and/or provide other benefits.
[0050] With arm 51, the front face 70 of the pad 68 is shown being
coplanar with the front face 76 with the arm 51. This design
feature, if implemented, also reduces the likelihood of hang up or
wrapping. In addition, the radially inward face 84 of the arm pad
78 is shown as being angled in nature (at the top and bottom) so
that should material contact those surfaces, the material can then
go up and away from the angled portion 84 and down and away from
the downward angled portion 86. These angles are shown at
approximately 45 degrees but other angles could be utilized with
other embodiments.
[0051] Additionally, arm pads 66,68 are shown with a vertical
groove 88 which is received on shoulder 90 shown in FIG. 2 along
with post 92 and 94 which received the corresponding bores which
are not shown on the rear side of arm pads 74,70 as well as
connector shown as screws 96,98 which are shown as being directed
through bores 100,102 in arm 52 to then connect into the reverse
side of arm pad 74,78 as would be understood by those of ordinary
skill in the art. This design can also reduce a likelihood of
material being hung up on arm pads as can happen with prior art
construction.
[0052] The pin design of first and second pins 58,60 can be used
with many embodiments. The second pin 62 can be manufactured to
shear before the first pin 58 and before the possibility of
damaging arm 48-53 and/or pads 74,78 such as by having a small
diameter and also having circumferential grooves 104,106. FIG. 6
shows a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention of
the second pin 60 which could take on other constructions. In this
construction as it is configured, somewhat akin to a mechanical
fuse in that first and second circumferential grooves 104,106 can
provide a failure location of the second pin 60 so that if shears
such as at either of those locations and/or other locations through
shaft 108 of the pin 60 so that the arm, such as arm 51 can then
rotate about first pin 58 as an axis of rotation out of the way of
a difficult object which might otherwise create extreme issues
internal to the pulverizer 10 such as breaking off at least
portions of the arms 48-53 and/or arm pads 66,68 contact such. The
second pin 60 is thus designed to fail at a predetermined force
(stress) value. There are other mechanical fuse and/or friction
systems which could be utilized other than this so that the arms
rotating at roughly 200 miles per hour and with the pads 68,70
possibly rotating at roughly 300 miles per hour do not create any
significant damage to the pulverizer 10 when contacting a
particularly difficult object to pulverize. The second pin 60 can
shear through at a predetermined force which is designed to be less
than a failure force on the arms 48-53 or arm pads 68,70, such as
about 1/2 or less.
[0053] It is not the arms 48-53 or even the pads 68,70 which
preferentially contact most of the material to be ground, but the
vortices themselves which are created with air flow coming off of
the arms 48-53 and/or pads 68,70 as directed at least partially by
deflectors 38 and shelves 40,41,42 which create the airflow within
the pulverizer 10 for many embodiments.
[0054] Additionally, the arm pads 66,68 are also shown having a
predetermined height 110,112 above and below the upper surface 114
and the lower surface 116 of the arm 52. This additional thickness
above and below the arm 52 is believed to provide larger vortices
for at least some embodiments while reducing wind resistance of
having the arm 48-53 have a larger cross section. The heights
110,112 with the height of the arm 52 is preferably at least about
150% of the height of the arm 52, if not twice that distance.
[0055] When assembling the arms 48-53 to the shaft 12, one of the
first and second plates 54,56 is preferably placed on the shaft 12
with the arms 48-53 placed in relation thereto along with the
second of the first and second plates 54,56 and the pins 58,60 can
then be placed in position. With this construction, possibly such
as with the plates 54,56 being wedged into place or otherwise
secured to the shaft 12 as would be understood by one of ordinary
skill in the art, the heads of the pins 58,60 illustrated as pin
head 118 in FIG. 6 overlapping a top of top plate 54 can then be
covered with one of a first and second spacing plates illustrated
as first spacing plate portion 120 in FIG. 4 shown with male
extension 122 and female receiver 124 with the second cover portion
being similarly constructed thereto with the first male portion 122
of a first portion 120 can be received in a female portion 124 of a
second similarly constructed cover portion 128 as would be
understood from the drawings and with reference to FIG. 2. In fact,
a first male portion 126 of the second spacing portion 128 is
illustrated along with a female portion 130 with the first portion
120 not installed. This construction can provide a secure ring for
the spacing portions 120,128 while also being easy to assemble
about shaft 12. The puzzle construction of male/female portions
122,124 provides a ring of interlocking portions. One will observe
that the bores 132 for receiving first pins they only have a
diameter at or slightly greater than the head of the first pin 52
while the bore is illustrated as an elongated slot 134 for
receiving a second pin 60 so that either of the two positions
illustrated can be selected for raking of the arms 48-53.
[0056] With the spacing plate installed (with portions 120,128) (or
more), cover plates illustrated as first cover plate 136 and second
cover plate 138 and/or others can then be installed to cover the
heads 102 of the pins 58,60. Connecting bolts such as bolts 140 can
secure the cover portions 136,138 through the spacing portions
120,128 to the upper or first plate 54.
[0057] The arms 48-53 could be made of S7 steel or other
appropriate steel material. AR steel could be utilized (or another
impact resistant material) for the pads 70,74 or even the arms
48-53 in various other embodiments. Still other embodiments may
have various materials selected for the housing, deflectors 38,
shelves 40,41,42 and/or other components.
[0058] In order to be able to address the shape of internal
vortices, it may be that any of the shelves such as shelves 40,41
and 42 and/or others are elevationally adjustable. FIG. 7 provides
a first preferred embodiment of the present invention in which
elevational adjustment of the shelf 40 may be achieved such as by
driving carriage 384 along track 386 so that bolts 388,390 can
travel along slot 392 in wall 44 as shown in FIG. 8 in an
elevational manner. Of course, the bolts 388,390 could be connected
to nuts 391,393 on the outside of housing 22 of pulverizer 310 as
well for elevation adjustment. A plate 396 may be useful to cover
remaining portions of slot 392 in wall 44 and for which are not
directly covered by the nuts such as a first nut 391 illustrated.
Carriage 384 may be manually moved, if used, as it may be possible
to omit carriage 384 and/or track 386 for some embodiments.
[0059] In addition to elevation adjustment, it may be possible to
change the relative angle of the shelves such as by having the
ability for carriage 384 or other component to be able to rotate
the post 388 relative to receiver 300 for the ability to pull in
the bottom end 302 relative to the top end 304 closer to or farther
away from wall 44. Of course, other embodiments may have other
constructions and without additional movement of the shelf, such as
shelf 40, in other ways as well. Furthermore, any of the shelves,
whether it be shelf 40,41 and/or 42, could be adjustable in a
similar manner. Furthermore, deflectors such as deflector 38 may
also be adjustable in either angular relationships and/or distance
internal from the wall 44 of the pulverizer 10.
[0060] Referring back to FIG. 1, the shelves 40,41,42 may be
adjustable elevationally manually and/or possibly automatically
with a processor 26. It may be that for different types of
throughput, the shelves are set to a specific position which may be
different for various throughput of waste. Accordingly, for at
least in some embodiments not only is the elevational height of
shelves such as shelves 40,41 and 42 adjustable as well as the
speed of the shaft 12, but possibly also the amount of vacuum
and/or pressure internal to the pulverizer 10 as well as the rate
of flow into the inlet 14 of the waste product.
[0061] By contrasting such variables, it has been discovered that
the input and output can be increased roughly 20% while providing a
consistent power consumption by motor 16 for at least some waste
streams. This could be described as increasing the efficiency by
20% by adjusting the position or height of the shelf 40 (along with
either or both of 41 and 42) to change the vortices within the
housing 22 on at least one level.
[0062] A pulverizer 10 can be constructed to have a head 24 with an
input port 26, a bottom 23 with a discharge port 25, and a housing
22 extending intermediate the head 24 and the bottom 23, said
housing 22 having a vertically extending rotating shaft 12 with a
plurality of arms 48,49,50,51,52,53 extending from hubs 32,34,36
connected to the shaft 12 thereby reducing input such as
particulate 30 from a larger to a smaller size from the input port
26 to the discharge port 25 with the rotation of the arms 48-53 in
the housing.
[0063] At least some of the arms 48-53 can be canted relative to
the hub 32,34, or 36 to which they are connected at a first
connection position whereby they form an angle between 5 and 90
degrees relative to a radian 64 extending through the arm 51. Some
embodiments may provide a first connection position with at least
some of the arms are angled between 5 and 30 degrees relative to
the radian 64 extending through the arm 51. Some embodiments may
have a second connection position at the hub 32,34 or 36 whereby
when in the second connection position, the angle of the arm 51
relative to the radian 64 is different than when in the first
connection position. None of the prior art constructions are
believed to have an ability to change an angle of the arm 51
relative to a radian extending through the arm 51 (i.e., be
multi-angular). While some embodiments have canted arms, others do
not require such a feature.
[0064] Some pulverizers 10 provide a mechanical fuse, such as by
using first and second pins 58,60 retaining at least some of the
arms 51 in a first connection position whereby if a predetermined
force is reached, then at least some of the arms 51 release without
breaking such as by having the second in 60 release, i.e., possibly
by shear, thus allowing the arm 51 to rotate about the first pin
58. The pins 58,60 and/or other connections of the arms 48-53 to
the hubs can be covered with a coverplate, such as one having first
and second portions interlocking with a puzzle connection on the
hub 32,34 or 36. Additionally, some arms 48-53 can be retained to
hubs 32,34 or 36 in a sandwich style configuration, such as one
having the arms 48-53 connect between the first and second sandwich
halves to the shaft 12.
[0065] Additionally some pulverizers 10 can have arms with improved
pad constructions. Instead of sticking out in front of the front
face of the arms like prior art constructions, the arm pads 66 have
a front face 74 which can be one of either coplanar with the front
face 70 of the arms 52 or recessed relative thereto. The pads 66
can also be manufactured to be higher (i.e., have a height greater
than a height of the arms 52), such as at least about 150 percent,
if not up to about 300 percent for at least some embodiments.
Additionally, some arm pads 66 are angled at a radially inner
position of the pad 66 to increase in height proceeding radially
outwardly to assist in shedding material off the pad 66 which might
otherwise be entangled thereon.
[0066] Still these, or other pulverizers 10 have shelves 40,41 or
42 connected to the housing 22 which are positionally adjustable,
such as elevationally adjustable within the housing 22 and/or
angularly adjustable within the housing 22. Some of these type
pulverizers 10 can have the positioning or adjustment of the
shelves 40,41 or 42 automatedly controlled with a processor 26. For
some of these embodiments, the processor 26 can adjust the speed of
the rotation of the shaft 12 along with the shelf position to
increase efficiency of output relative to energy consumption, some
embodiments have been able to achieve up to a 20% increase in
efficiency.
[0067] Some embodiments may provide a pulverizer 10 constructed to
have a head 24 with an input port 26, a bottom 23 with a discharge
port 25, and a housing 22 extending intermediate the head 24 and
the bottom 23, said housing 22 having a vertically extending
rotating shaft 12 with a plurality of arms 48,49,50,51,52,53
extending from hubs 32,34,36 connected to the shaft 12 thereby
reducing input such as particular 30 from a larger to a smaller
size from the input port 26 to the discharge port 25 with the
rotation of the arms 48-53 in the housing. The arms 48-53 may or
may not be canted as described herein for some embodiments.
[0068] At least some of the arms 52 may have pads 66 connected to
the arms whereby the pads 66 have a front face 74 and the arms 52
have a front face 70, both in the direction of rotation, and the
front face 74 of the pads 66 is one of (a) coplanar with the front
face 70 of the arms 52 and (b) recessed relative thereto. These
pads 66 could also extend up to or more than 150 percent of a
height of the arm 54 for some embodiments.
[0069] Some embodiments may provide a retaining plate 400 to be
used (one per pin pair 58,60) possibly instead of jigsaw or puzzle
male/female portions 122,124. In an event of retainer fastener
failure, shaft angular velocity and/or retaining plate inertia,
both designs can use retaining pins 58,60. Six retaining plates 400
would be used with the embodiment illustrated.
[0070] 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.
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