FR2804083A1 - DRAINAGE SYSTEM FOR FLEXIBLE CONTAINERS - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to an installation for emptying flexible containers (in particular IBCs) comprising a bottom provided with a central zone. The installation comprises means (22) for supporting the container (18); knife means (30, 32) adapted to perforate and tear the material constituting said containers; means (22) for causing a substantially vertical relative movement of said knife means relative to the bottom of said container, whereby the knife means (30, 32) perforate the central area of the bottom of said container; and means (32, 34, 50) for thereafter moving said knife means in directions having a radial horizontal component with respect to the vertical axis of said container, whereby the bottom of said container is torn and its contents can flow out .

Description

The subject of the present invention is a drainage installation for

  flexible containers and in particular, but not exclusively large

  flexible containers, or FIBC (Large Flexible Bulk Containers).

  In the present description, by large flexible containers is meant a large capacity container made of a material

  woven plastic whose trade name is the Anglo-Saxon term big bag.

  The present invention relates to the emptying of such containers in the case where these containers contain pulverulent waste such as residues from the purification of incineration fumes, household waste or any other special industrial waste which are sent to a class storage center. 1 for stabilization treatment. In this case, French law considers that the packaging is soiled by the

  waste and therefore no reuse is possible.

  For this reason, manufacturers send their pulverulent waste to containers that do not have a discharge chute, which saves on manufacturing costs

of the container.

  The invention also relates to the emptying of such containers regardless of their content, since these containers are not

reused.

  Apparatus are known for emptying containers in which the bottom of the container is torn under the action of its own weight on a hollow pyramid, the edges of which are formed by sharp and sharp knives. However, such a system is insufficient in the case of small flexible containers, that is to say those whose weight is less than 500 kg which are too light to be able to effectively burst under their own weight when meet the sharp and sharp edges of the pyramid allowing tearing. These installations are also insufficient for flexible containers which are equipped with a drain chute which is sewn on reinforcements, the flexible container being too light to allow the tearing of the bottom of the container under the action of its own weight due to the presence

  hems used to fix the drain chute.

  The object of the present invention is to provide an installation for emptying large or small flexible containers which make it possible to automatically obtain the opening of the bottom of the container under conditions such that they effectively allow the emptying of the container without it it is necessary to perform additional manual operations. It is in fact understood that in the prior techniques, cuts had to be made by execution operators using a pruning knife mounted on a handle or any other cutting tool to obtain a sufficient opening of the bottom of the container. The health and safety conditions are in this case

clearly insufficient.

  To achieve this object according to the invention, the installation for emptying flexible containers comprising a bottom provided with a central zone is characterized in that it comprises: - means for supporting the container, - means by knife capable of perforating and tearing the material constituting said containers, means for causing a substantially vertical relative movement of said means by knife with respect to the bottom of said container, whereby the means by knife perforate the bottom of said container; and means for then moving said means by knife in directions having a horizontal radial component relative to the vertical axis of said container, whereby the bottom of said

  container is torn and its contents may leak.

  It is understood that, by virtue of the displacement in radial directions of the knife-forming means, the tearing of the bottom of the container is effectively obtained over a distance sufficient to effectively allow the emptying of the container without any additional manual operation being necessary. We understand

  also that the installation remains relatively simple.

  Preferably, the installation further comprises a sealed hopper having an upper opening surrounding said container when the latter is in its position where the knife means cause it to be perforated, said opening being equipped with means for extracting the dust produced in the deformable hopper and sealing means disposed between said suction means and the

side wall of said container.

  It is understood that, in this embodiment, there is substantially a seal between the container being emptied and the hopper for recovering pulverulent materials. The suction means, which preferably form a crown around the container, make it possible to recover the dust which is necessarily caused when the contents of the

  container towards the bottom of the hopper where these materials are recovered.

  According to a first embodiment, the perforation by the knife-forming means of the central zone of the bottom of the container is obtained by keeping the knife-forming means in a substantially vertical position and allowing it to descend by gravity, under the effect of its own weight, the container on the end of the means

forming knife.

  According to a second embodiment, the container occupies a fixed vertical position and causes the vertical upward displacement of the knife-forming means towards the bottom of the container to

get its initial perforation.

  Others. characteristics and advantages of the invention

  will appear better on reading the following description of several

  modes of implementing the invention given by way of examples not

  limiting. The description refers to the appended figures in which:

  - Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the entire installation for emptying large flexible containers; - Figure 2 is a partial top view showing the guiding of the knives of the drain installation; - Figure 3a is a partial view of the emptying installation showing the knives in their perforation position; and - Figure 3b shows the movement of the knives to obtain

tearing of the bottom of the container.

  Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, we will describe a first embodiment of the installation for emptying large flexible containers. In Figure 1, there is shown the support structure of the installation which carries a drain hopper 12, this hopper having a generally cylindrical shape with vertical axis. Below the frustoconical lower end 14 of the hopper 12, there is preferably arranged a vibrating box 16 preferably equipped with a grid for retaining the elements of dimensions greater than 40 mm in order to facilitate the recovery of the pulverulent materials. contained in the container to

  inside a suitable device.

  This same figure also shows a large flexible container 18 which has a bottom 20 with a central zone 20a. The container 18 is suspended from support means 22 which may for example be constituted by the fork of a forklift or any other suitable means. Inside the hopper 12 are arranged three knives to cause the opening of the bottom of the container, these knives being respectively referenced 24, 26 and 28. The knives are preferably regularly angularly distributed. It goes without saying that the number of knives could be different from three. However, it seems that three is the minimum number of knives to obtain a sufficient opening of the bottom of the container. Each knife has a tapered end 30, a running part 32 of which at least the upper end of the edge 34 constitutes a blade. The second end 36 of the main part is connected to a lever arm 38 whose central region is pivotally mounted around a horizontal axis 40 integral with the structure of

support 10.

  The hopper 12 also includes a structure for guiding and holding the knives 24 to 28. This structure consists of a vertical rod 42 disposed along the vertical axis of the hopper 12. The upper end 42a of the rod 42 is equipped with three pairs of lateral flanges 44 arranged on either side of the end 30 of each knife. The end of each knife is therefore guided laterally by these flanges and rests on the end 42a of the rod 42. Inside the hopper 12, there are also pairs of guide plates such as 48 which, as we will explain later, serve to guide the middle parts of the knives during their movement. The end 38a of the arms 38 of the knives is integral with the end of the rods 50a of the jacks 50. By actuating the jacks 50, the end 30 of the

  knives as will be explained later.

  The open upper part 12a of the hopper 12 is equipped with annular suction means 52. The internal face 52a of the suction means is equipped with deformable lips 54 ensuring a seal between the side wall of the container 18 and the means of aspiration. The suction means 52 are connected to a set of

  filters 54 associated with a vacuum cleaner 56.

  Referring now to Figures 3a and 3b, we will describe the mode of use of the container emptying installation according to the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2. The knives 24 to 28 are in their initial position as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3a, that is to say in a position in which the tapered ends 30 of the knives occupy a central vertical position bearing on the end of the rod 42. The container 18 suspended from the support means 22 is left free under the effect of gravity and its bottom 20 thus comes into contact with the tapered points 30 of the knives thus allowing the perforation of the central zone of the bottom of the container under the effect of gravity. Simultaneously, the elastic sealing elements 54 ensure the confinement of the upper part of the hopper 12. The suction means 56 are put into operation. After having obtained the perforation of the central zone of the bottom of the container by the ends 30 of the knives, the jacks 50 are controlled to cause the arms 38 to pivot around the pivot axes 40. This results in radial displacement or at least one displacement having a radial component in the direction F of each knife. The blade edge 34 of the knives causes tearing in radial directions from the bottom 20 of the container. During this pivoting movement, the knives are guided by the pairs of guide plates 48. When the knives arrive in their final position, the three tears made in the bottom of the container allow proper flow of the pulverulent material contained in the container 18 towards the bottom of the hopper 12 whatever the nature of the

  material inside the container.

  In a second embodiment not shown in the figures, the entire hopper 12 with its knives 24 to 28 can be driven in a vertical movement upward relative to the support structure 10. The support means 22 of the container hold the container in a fixed position in which the knives are set back from the bottom of the container. The vertical upward movement of the hopper 12 causes the central zone of the bottom of the container to be perforated by the ends 30 of the knives. In this upper position occupied by the hopper, the jacks 50 are then controlled to cause the radial movement of the knives and thus

  complete tearing of the bottom of the container.

Claims (7)

  1. Installation for emptying flexible containers (18) comprising a bottom provided with a central zone, characterized in that it comprises: - support means (22) for the container, - knife means (24 to 28) capable of perforating and tearing the material constituting said containers, means (22) for causing a substantially vertical relative movement of said means by knife (24 to 28) relative to the bottom (20) of said container, whereby the means by knife perforate the central zone of the bottom of said container; and - means (38, 50) for then moving said means by knife in directions having a horizontal radial component relative to the vertical axis of said container, whereby the bottom of said   container is torn and its contents may leak.   2. Installation according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises a sealed hopper (12) having an upper opening (12a) surrounding said container (18) when the latter is in its position o the knife means ( 24 to 28) cause it to be perforated, said opening being equipped with suction means (52) for dust in the hopper and deformable sealing means (54) disposed between said suction means and the side wall of said container.   3. Installation according to any one of claims 1 and 2,   characterized in that the means for causing the substantially vertical relative movement comprise means for holding the knife means (24 to 28) in a substantially vertical position facing the central zone of the bottom of said container and means associated with the support means (22) to release said container, the gravitational descent of said container on the knife means   causing the perforation of said central area of the bottom of the container.   4. Installation according to any one of claims 1 and 2,   characterized in that said means for causing said substantially vertical relative movement comprises means for moving the knife means (24 to 28) along a path having an 8 'vertical component between a rest position in which they are at a distance from the bottom of said container and an active position in which said knife means perforate said bottom and penetrate into   said container and means for holding said container fixed.   5. Installation according to any one of claims 3 and 4,   characterized in that the means for moving in directions having a radial component comprise means (38, 40, 50) for moving each knife means (24 to 28) between its position in which it causes the perforation of said bottom and a position dismissed of the vertical axis of said container.   6. Installation according to any one of claims 1 to 5,   characterized in that: the knife-forming means comprise at least three knives (24 to 28) having a first end forming a tapered part (30), a second fixing end (36) and an edge (34) forming a blade, - the means for moving the knife-forming means comprise at least three arms (38) forming a lever, the central part of which is pivotally mounted about a horizontal axis (40) and the first end of which is integral with the fixing end (36) a knife and the second end of which is secured to actuating means (50), the pivoting of said arms around said axis causing the blades to move in directions having a horizontal component   radial, whereby said blades tear the bottom of said container.   7. Installation according to claims 2 and 4, characterized in   that the means for causing the vertical movement of the knife means in a substantially vertical direction include means for vertically moving the assembly formed by said   hopper (12) and the knife means (24 to 28).