EP1146965B1 - Device for treating composite elements - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a device (10) for treating composite elements made of solid organic and/or inorganic composite materials. Said device (10) contains a flow path situated between a feed channel (34) and a tube-like outlet (38, 38a) in a housing. Said flow path is used for a transport fluid which is produced by disintegrating the composite materials and which carries particles made of solid matter. A conveyor element (78) is allocated to the cross section of the tube-like outlet. Said conveyor element (78) contains plate-like surface agents (76) which extend in the direction of the flow. A grid element or sieve element (86) which extends at least partially through said cross section is also allocated to said cross section. Plates (76) which are configured as surface agents protrude radially and parallel in relation to the longitudinal axis of a shaft from the shaft (74) that extends in the direction of flow and is pivotably mounted. Said plates are adjusted to the longitudinal section of the interior (84) of a tube-like housing (72) and can be pivoted like paddles in said interior.

Description

The invention relates to a device for treating composite elements made of solid organic and / or inorganic composite materials such as metal / metal, plastic / plastic, metal / plastic or mineral compounds with metals and / or plastics, with - a feed channel and a tubular discharge in a housing of the device connecting - flow path for a transport fluid carrying solid particles produced from the composite element (s) by disintegration. A preferred embodiment of the device is intended to be provided with a family of accelerating tools as a rotor, relative to a stator about a shaft rotating them on plates arranged one above the other, spaced apart on a construction circle, each having a tear-off edge in the direction of flow for generating a vortex form from the transport fluid and its solids load, the plates determining several superimposed acceleration planes within a cylindrical wall of the housing as a stator; the housing, with the plates carrying the acceleration tools, delimits the flow path designed in the manner of an annular space.

Composite elements of the type mentioned are, for example, tinned copper conductor tracks of circuits, fiber-reinforced plastics or copper-plated aluminum wires in coextruded or laminated form. For example, metal-metal composites - for coaxial cables, for example - primarily consist of a metal carrier, for example an aluminum wire, with a galvanically or thermally applied copper layer, plastic-plastic composites for packaging packaging foodstuffs made of a plastic carrier made of polyamides (PA) with laminated, laminated or co-extruded polyethylene (PE). Also synthetic fiberglass epoxy sheet as a carrier with copper coating as the base material for printed circuits. Metal-plastic composites include, among other things, a carrier made of aluminum sheet with a glued-on protective film made of polypropylene (PP) for facade panels and weather protection cladding.

These composite elements are particularly problematic when it comes to disposal, as the substances in the composite have not yet been separated. These composite elements are almost exclusively incinerated or landfilled - in an environmentally incompatible manner - and thus removed from the economic cycle.

The composite elements that must be disposed of in an orderly manner also include residues from the packaging area; It is precisely there that co-extruded and laminated products have so far been irreplaceable, since the materials in the combination have excellent packaging properties.

In conventional processing, the composite element is disintegrated by means of the grain or particle size, which is smaller than the respective layer thickness of the components. This digestion is generally carried out by means of at least one-stage micronization in appropriate mills, such as hammer, impact or countercurrent mills, optionally with the support of nitrogen for inerting and deep-freezing.

DE-A-195 09 808 of the applicant describes a method by means of which solid particles are produced from the composite elements mentioned and these are fed to a transport fluid, such as air, with at least one flow obstacle crossing the flow relative to the flow of the mixture of solid particles and transport fluid is moved as a tear-off edge to form rear vortices which accelerate the mixture. There is a sudden increase in the transition to this rear swirl the acceleration of the solid particles as well as their - which unlocks them - friction against each other. The mixture of transport fluid and solid particles is fed to the separation or disintegration process at the tear-off edges with an acceleration of 20 to 25 m / sec ² after the composite elements to be treated have been roughly crushed or compressed before the separation or disintegration process.

According to DE-A-195 09 808, the composites are pre-comminuted into particles that are above the grain size of fine comminutions, and then fed to the separation or disintegration zone, thus accelerated in the air stream. The individual substances in the composite are released, the physically different metallic layers as well as the plastic layers separate from one another. This detachment takes place along the phase boundaries.

The device according to DE-A-195 09 808 has in a tubular housing a rotor with a vertically standing shaft, which delimits a flow path between a feed channel connected to the lower region of the housing and a tubular discharge provided in the ridge region.

From FR-A-1 562 613, a comminution mill with a rotor comprising several turntables and this extensive cylindrical housing has become known, in which the material to be ground is guided by a screw to the lower end of the rotor and then by the air flow one above the rotor a sieve plate and below the rotor bearing - spanning fan is detected. The upward migrating regrind is chopped up by so-called plaques de broyage, that is to say from grinding or crushing plates which protrude radially from rotating rotor plates and are arranged close to the housing wall. Those interacting with the housing wall Grinding or crushing plates are each equipped with an elliptical frame at their end; these frames run on a construction circle on the inside of the housing and are intended to help increase the grinding and crushing effect. In addition, according to the author of that FR-A-1 562 613, turbulence should also be involved in this shredding process. A bypass is attached to the housing of this shredding mill below the fan, which re-feeds coarse particles to the lower inlet. DE-A-42 00 827 also describes such a grinding mill, the first outlet opening of which is followed by two cyclones connected in series as separators. The regrind accumulated in the first cyclone is brought together with the regrind of the second cyclone via a screw, and both components are removed by a rotary valve.

A plant according to DE-A-42 13 274 contains the comminution mill of FR-A-1 562 613 as one of the units and describes a special design of grinding plates attached to the stator and a radial discharge channel near the grinding plates. In the discharge channel, a triangular baffle bar for the regrind is arranged in plan view.

Knowing this state of the art, the inventor has set himself the goal of developing a device of the type mentioned at the outset, with which a favorable separation of composite elements into fractions, particularly for the recovery of valuable materials, can take place; the composite materials should be able to be brought back into the economic cycle without polluting the environment. In addition, the device should be easy to adapt to the process conditions.

The teaching of the independent claims leads to the solution of this problem; the subclaims indicate favorable further training.

According to the invention, the cross-section of the tubular discharge is assigned, on the one hand, a conveying element with plate-like surface elements which are movable in cross-section and run in the flow direction, and, on the other hand, a grating or sieve element which at least partially spans the cross-section. The surface elements are advantageously radially of a rotatably mounted one running in the flow direction Shaft protruding plates aligned with two of their edges parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shaft, which are adapted to the longitudinal section of the interior of a tubular housing and can be rotated like a paddle in this interior.

It has proven to be advantageous to choose the diameter of the housing interior longer than twice the diameter of the discharge tube. The disk-like housing is inserted between two — preferably coaxial — sections of the discharge pipe in such a way that the plates of the shaft run over the mouths of the pipe sections located in the upper housing area. It has proven to be advantageous for the shaft, which is mounted in the end walls of the housing, to be provided outside the housing interior in order to be able to adapt the plate size to the longitudinal section of this housing interior following the diametrals.

The solid particles traveling through the pipe cross section in the flow direction reach a sieve element in front of the opposite mouth of the pipe section that continues the discharge path; Within the scope of the invention, the flat sieve element is assigned to the edges of the plates pointing in the direction of flow, preferably spanned and fixed on them, and retains the larger particles in the interior of the housing in accordance with its mesh size.

According to a further feature of the invention, to accommodate the particle, two plates projecting adjacent to the shaft with the sieve element or grating extending transversely to one end form a movable receiving space for the solid particles retained by the sieve element. These are transported by the rotating plates around the shaft to an outlet opening which is located in the cylindrical wall of the housing, preferably at the deepest part of the interior below the mouths of the sections of the discharge tube.

Overall, the device according to the invention allows a simple separation of solid particles from the remaining flow.

Fig. 1:

eine teilweise geschnittene Seitenansicht einer Vorrichtung zum Behandeln von Verbundelementen mit Zu- und Ableitungen für diese;

Fig. 2:

die Draufsicht auf Fig. 1;

Fig. 3:

eine gegenüber Fig. 1 vergrößert geschnittene Frontansicht einer Vorrichtung;

Fig. 4:

eine der Fig. 3 etwa entsprechende Darstellung einer anderen Ausgestaltung der Vorrichtung;

Fig. 5:

den Querschnitt durch Fig. 3 nach deren Linie V - V, in welchem zentrale Einbauten -- der Übersichtlichkeit halber -- vernachlässigt sind;

Fig. 6:

eine geschnittene Seitenansicht eines Teiles einer Ableitung der Vorrichtung mit einer integrierten Behandlungseinrichtung;

Fig. 7:

eine Frontansicht der Behandlungseinrichtung gemäß Pfeil VII in Fig. 6.

Further advantages, features and details of the invention result from the following description of preferred exemplary embodiments and from the drawing; this shows in:

Fig. 1:

a partially sectioned side view of a device for treating composite elements with inlets and outlets for them;

Fig. 2:

the top view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3:

a compared to Figure 1 enlarged sectional front view of a device.

Fig. 4:

one of FIG. 3 approximately corresponding representation of another embodiment of the device;

Fig. 5:

the cross section of Figure 3 along the line V - V, in which central fittings - for the sake of clarity - are neglected;

Fig. 6:

a sectional side view of part of a derivative of the device with an integrated treatment device;

Fig. 7:

6 shows a front view of the treatment device according to arrow VII in FIG. 6.

Composite elements made of solid organic and / or inorganic composite materials - such as composites made of metal / metal, plastic / plastic, metal / plastic or mineral composites with metals and / or plastics - are crushed to a grain size of about 5 to 50 mm and then in a separating or unlocking device 10 selectively unlocked by an acceleration process.

The unlocking device 10 has, above a cuboid base frame 12, a rotor 14 with a vertically arranged rotor shaft 16 engaging in the base frame 12 and a base attachment 18 with adjustable supports 19 for a drive unit 20; the lower end 15 of the rotor shaft 16 carries a V-groove sleeve 22 which is connected to a drive shaft 21 of the drive unit 20 by means of several narrow V-belts indicated at 23. The distance a between the rotor axis A and the drive axis B is variably adjustable by moving the drive unit.

Surrounding the rotor 14, for example the outside diameter d of 1200 mm, above the base frame 12 is a cylindrical wall 24 of a housing 25, the housing interior 26 of which is closed at the top by means of an exchangeable housing cover 27; on the inside, this carries a central shoulder 28 of diameter b of approximately 600 mm. The disc-like bottom 28 _{a of} this approach 28 runs near the upper end 17 of the rotor 16 and offers a receptacle 29 for this in FIG. 1.

In a cover plate 30 of the base frame 12 which also serves as the housing base, the mouth 32 of a feed channel 34 for the air-controlled flow of pre-comminuted composite elements is provided near the rotor shaft 16 which passes through the cover plate 30 with play. In an embodiment of the unlocking device 10, not shown, the feed channel 34 is equipped with at least two openings 32. In addition to this feed channel 34, a heavy material discharge 36 runs; Heavy suspended parts fall downward from the air-controlled material flow and are removed from the cover plate 30 thanks to the heavy material discharge 36. In the head region of the rotor 14, a discharge pipe 38 with a connecting flange 39 protrudes tangentially from the housing wall 24. Since the discharge tube 38 is fixed on the housing 25, that housing cover 27 can be raised without any problems — for example for replacing the rotor 14. Housing doors and control boxes or similar attachments attached to the housing 25 are not shown.

The rotor shaft 16 is supported in the area of that cover plate 30 by means of an angular contact ball bearing 40 in a shaft tube 42, its lower end, which cannot be seen, rests in a further ball bearing.

In FIG. 3, a collar 44 of the free upper part of the rotor shaft 16 overlying the fixed bearing 40 can be seen. This free rotor part defines the active rotor area with the acceleration plates 46 surrounding it.

The acceleration plates 46 each offer an acceleration plane and carry a plurality of radially projecting acceleration fins 48 as tools on their peripheral edge. Accelerating fins 48 adjacent to an acceleration plate 46 determine a center point angle of approximately 10 ° here. The plate-like acceleration fins 48 are specially designed depending on the respective application. The lowest of the acceleration plates 46 forms a structural unit with a distribution disk 50.

With the interposition of an intermediate plate 52, the lower assembly 46/50 mentioned is spanned by four - or more - further plate-like acceleration planes 46, which axially lie on the free part of the rotor shaft 16 by means of hub bushes 47. On the intermediate plate 52 of the uppermost acceleration plane 46, a baffle plate 54 forms a baffle plane from two disks fixed to a central holding bush. The upper disk of the storage plate 54 is of smaller diameter than the lower disk. Spacers 56 are located between the disks at a distance from the rotor axis A.

The retaining sleeve of the storage plate 54 is spanned by a shoulder cover 58 screwed to the rotor shaft 16 in the rotor axis A. Tensioning rods 59 running parallel to the rotor axis A penetrate both the shoulder cover 58 and thrust channels in the hub bushes 47 lying one on top of the other and are seated at the end in the distribution disk 50.

The cylindrical wall 24 of the housing 25 serving as a stator delimits the outside of the flow path for a mixture of solid particles and carrier fluid, for example air, introduced through the feed channel 34 near the rotor shaft 16; the other side of the flow path is delimited by the acceleration fins or plates 46 in the five floors indicated in FIG. 3. The mixture of solid particles and transport air is fed on the distribution disk 50 to a narrow annular space in the area of the acceleration fins 48 of the assembly 46/50, which is present between the housing wall 24 and the rotor 14, in such a way that it flows against the direction of rotation x of the rotor 14. This creates - in the direction of rotation x - a rear vortex behind each acceleration fin 48, which produces a tear-off edge. In this the mixture flow is accelerated abruptly, the solid particles are rubbed against each other and thereby dissolved into their components. For this purpose, the peripheral speeds of the tear-off edge, process temperature and air flow rate can be preselected and adjusted. Before entering the next floor, the mixture flow can briefly expand in order to then reach the downstream annular space. In the region of the storage plate 54, the portions of the solid particles which are guided upwards and thereby broken down are passed to the discharge pipe 38.

In FIG. 3, an annular element 60 is inserted into the housing wall 24 above the storage plate 54, from which a radial tube 62 flanged on the outside extends. A guiding device 64, which projects approximately radially into the housing interior 26 and is sketched in FIG. 5, is inserted into this. This guide insert 64 protrudes into the housing interior 26 with a cantilever 68, which offers a vane surface 66 curved in plan view against the flow direction y. The free radial collar length e of this guide or steering insert 64 is adjustable; the latter is provided with a strip-like stop section 69 here, which can be screwed laterally in the radial tube 62 in different insertion lengths t. This cantilever length e is selected such that the end edge 67 of the blade surface 66, which is parallel to the rotor axis A, on the one hand on the cantilever head 68, which is approximately triangular in plan view, in the boundary region between the outer movement path of coarse particles Q which can be seen in FIG. 5 and on the other hand the inward trajectory of fine particles Q ₁ runs; the coarse particles Q are skimmed off from the guide insert 64 and discharged through the radial tube 62 serving as particle discharge.

The unlocking device 10 _a of FIG. 4 has several — at least two — of the described ring elements 60 one above the other; the different types of particles Q, Q ₁ are discharged separately.

The composite element given to the unlocking device 10, 10 _a is released by releasing the different physical properties of the composite materials - in particular the density, elongation at break, restoring force, thermal expansion and heat transfer as well as the elasticity and thus connected molecular structural differences - selectively unlocked, and the adhesions of the composite materials are removed from each other.

The treatment in the unlocking device 10, _10a results in the composite element being broken down into different structures, the individual components also behaving differently in terms of dimension and geometry owing to their different physical characteristics.

As already mentioned, the composite elements can be compressed before digestion. It has been shown that with this selective digestion, the components made of polyethylene remain essentially unchanged, while metallic components, for example made of aluminum - which were previously in flat form - are deformed into onion-like structures. Plastic composites, for example polystyrene / polyethylene, break down into different structures without any significant deformation with discernible differences in particle sizes; these are considerably larger than the aluminum onion structures mentioned.

The selective digestion removes the individual layers of the composite element without reducing the layer thickness of the components.

According to FIG. 6 _, a separating or catching device 70 is installed in a discharge pipe 38 _a , with which larger particles - indicated at Q - are removed from the material flow, in which only the smaller particles Q _{1 then} remain. Between two flanged pipe sections 39 of the discharge 38 _a an inner diameter of a tubular housing in turn is inserted i 72 the inner diameter of n; the latter is longer than twice the inner diameter i of the discharge tube 38 _a .

In the housing axis E, a shaft 74 with paddle-like plates 76 oriented along the housing axis E and projecting radially therefrom - one of which is optically highlighted in FIG. 6, partially hatched - is rotatably mounted in bearings 75 as a conveying element 78; the bearings 75 are located in the end walls 73 of the housing. The shaft 74 is connected via an endless belt 80 to a drive 82, which stands on a side base 79, and can be rotated by the latter so that the plates 76 filling the longitudinal section of the housing interior 84 fill the latter move evenly.

A grid or sieve 86 is spanned at the rear edges 77 of the plates 76 in the flow direction y, which separates those coarse particles Q from the particles Q _{1 of} smaller grain sizes; the retained coarse particles Q are carried within the housing 72 and fed to a discharge opening 88 located in its base area, which is delimited laterally by angle profiles 90 in FIG. 7.

Claims (11)

1. Device for treating composite elements made of solid organic and/or inorganic composite materials, such as metal/metal, plastic/plastic, metal/plastic composites or mineral composites with metals and/or plastics, comprising a flow path for a transport fluid carrying solid particles produced by breaking down the composite element(s) connecting a feed channel (34) and a tubular outlet (38, 38_a) in a housing (25) of the device (10), characterised in that associated with the cross section of the tubular outlet (38, 38_a) are a conveying element (78) with plate-like surface members (76) extending in the flow direction (y) and movable in this cross section, and at least one grid element or sieve element (86) extending at least partially through the cross section.
2. Device according to claim 1, characterised by plates (76) projecting radially from a rotatable shaft (74) extending in the flow direction (y) and aligned in parallel with the longitudinal axis of the shaft serving as surface members which are adapted to the longitudinal section of the interior (84) of a tubular outlet housing (72) and can rotate like paddles in this interior.
3. Device according to claim 2, characterised in that the diameter (n) of the interior (84) of the outlet housing (72) is longer than twice the diameter (i) of the outlet tube (38, 38_a).
4. Device according to either of claims 2 or 3, characterised in that the shaft (74) is supported at both ends in end walls (73) of the outlet housing (72).
5. Device according to one of claims 2 to 4, characterised in that the outlet housing (72) is inserted in an eccentrically axially parallel manner into the outlet tube (38, 38_a) and the cross sections of the two portions of the outlet tube are situated opposite one another in the upper part of the interior (84) of the housing.
6. Device according to one of claims 2 to 5, characterised in that the shaft (74) is arranged outside the cross section of the outlet tube (38, 38_a).
7. Device according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the sieve element (86) is associated with the edges (77) of the plate-like surface members or plates (76) pointing in the flow direction (y).
8. Device according to claim 1 or claim 7, characterised in that the flat sieve element (86) is mounted on and fixed to the edges (77) of the plates.
9. Device according to one of claims 2 to 8, characterised in that two plates (76) projecting from the shaft (74) adjacent to one another, together with the sieve element (86) extending transversely thereto, form a movable receiving space for solid particles (Q, Q₁) retained by the sieve element.
10. Device according to one of claims 2 to 9, characterised in that the cylindrical wall of the outlet housing (72) is provided with at least one outlet opening (88) formed by the cross section of a portion of the outlet tube (38, 38_a).
11. Device according to one of claims 5 to 10, characterised in that the outlet opening (88) is arranged below the orifices of the portions of the outlet tube (38_a) in the base region of the outlet housing (72) or at the bottom of the interior (84) of the housing.