Optimised drive system for the rotor of a shredding machine

Abstract

The present invention relates to a shredding machine (1) that comprises at least one feeding system (9) of the material to be shredded, the rotor (7) to which hammers are rigidly connected located inside an internal chamber (8) in which the material is shredded during the rotation of the rotor (7), an evacuation system (10) for evacuating the material that has been shredded inside the internal chamber (8), and a combustion engine (2) to operate the shredding machine (1). The drive of the rotor (7) comprises a hydraulic motor (5, 5') fed with hydraulic fluid provided by at least one drive pump (3a) that rotates by means of a transmission connected to the combustion engine (2); wherein the drive pump (3a) feeds fluid to the hydraulic motor (5, 5') through hoses.

Description

Object of the invention

[0001] The present invention relates to an optimised drive of the rotor of a shredding machine, both mobile and fixed. Thus, the object of the present invention is based on a drive for use in a rotor of the shredding machine that optimises both the rotation speed and the rotation torque, without being conditioned by the design and / or installation of the shredding machine.Background of the invention

[0002] A shredder is a machine that processes building materials, metal materials, various waste products, etc. with the aim of reducing the size and increasing the density thereof. In this way, a material is obtained that is suitable for a series of applications in the industrial field; as such, the shredder is mainly focused on the recycling of these materials.

[0003] In principle, a shredder comprises a drive system using a fuel engine, a feeding system, a shredding system and an evacuation system.

[0004] The drive system is responsible for supplying mechanical power to the shredding process, and in turn (depending on the case) supplying the hydraulic and electrical power necessary for other systems of the machine, such as driving the feeding system, cooling motors, outlet conveyor belts, etc.

[0005] The feeding system is responsible for feeding the machine with the material to be shredded, once it has been placed therein by other means.

[0006] The shredding system is responsible for shredding the material and reducing it in size, which results in a relative increase in the density of said material due to a reduction in volume. This is achieved by means of hammers arranged on a rotor, which, when rotating, hit the material inside an internal shredding chamber, until said material has a size that allows it to exit to the evacuation area by passing through grates of a determined passage aperture (space).

[0007] The evacuation system is responsible for transporting the now shredded material to the outside, and conveying it to the following processes of the facility, which are usually classification processes, such as separation between ferrous and non-ferrous, metals and non-metals, etc.; all of this depending on the needs of the client to obtain the separation of materials they desire.

[0008] The shredding process is generated with the corresponding hammers rotating at high speed (around 600 rpm), and with high engine torque that, when hitting the material against an anvil, shreds said material and reduce in size. Both the rotation speed and the torque are transmitted to the hammers via the rotor where they are arranged.

[0009] Therefore, it is the rotor to the element that must be supplied with the preset speed and engine torque depending on the type of material to be shredded.

[0010] Currently, a combustion engine (which rotates at around 1800 rpm, to provide the necessary torque) is used to supply the speed and torque to the rotor, which is connected to a clutch, and the latter transmits movement to the rotor via a system of pulleys and belts, thereby reducing its rotation speed.

[0011] The rotor must rotate at around 600 rpm, so it is necessary to reduce the revolutions of the combustion engine, using a reduction system made up of pulleys and belts.

[0012] The problem with using this system of pulleys and belts is that it conditions the design of the shredder and, in particular, the final position of the combustion engine, because said combustion engine has to be in the same plane as the drive of the rotor to be able to use the pulleys and belts.

[0013] The connection by means of belts and pulleys determines, on the one hand, an assembly in parallel to the drive, as well as its positioning at a distance depending on the different ranges of belt dimensions.

[0014] The latter makes it even more difficult to alternate with different sizes of pulleys to try to achieve different speeds.

[0015] Likewise, the location and side of the rotor shaft by which it is driven are also conditioned by the direction of rotation of the combustion engine.

[0016] On the other hand, the rotor of a hammer shredding machine usually works at speeds between approximately 575 and 700 rpm. For reasons such as uneven wear or breakage of a hammer, the rotor can become unbalanced, transmitting the vibration generated to the adjacent structures of the shredder.

[0017] It is mainly in mobile equipment where this effect tends to be more pronounced, causing problems to more sensitive elements such as those found in drives (coolers, electrical components, hydraulic components, etc.).

[0018] In the event of working with belt transmission, the existence of radial load complicates the insulation of the drive by subjecting the anti-vibration elements to a shear effect.

[0019] To all this, it is necessary to add that the pulley and belt system is a rigid design that does not allow modifications, that is, it is designed to make a specific reduction depending on the speed necessary in the rotor according to the type of material to be shredded, and cannot undergo one-off modifications, such that any modification entails having to change the entire pulley system to achieve the reduction and therefore the required speed.

[0020] Likewise, it is not possible to lower the speed of the combustion engine, since if its speed is reduced (directly in the engine), the torque supplied by the combustion engine is reduced, not reaching the engine torque necessary to shred the material.Description of the invention

[0021] In order to achieve the objectives and avoid the drawbacks mentioned in the previous sections, the invention proposes an optimised drive of the rotor of a shredding machine, which comprises at least one feeding system of the material to be shredded; the rotor to which hammers are rigidly connected located inside an internal chamber in which the material is shredded during the rotation of the rotor, an evacuation system for evacuating the material that has been shredded inside the internal chamber by means of hitting with the hammers, and a combustion engine to operate the shredding machine.

[0022] The drive of the rotor comprises a hydraulic motor fed with hydraulic fluid provided by at least one drive pump that rotates by means of a transmission connected to the combustion engine; wherein the drive pump feeds fluid to the hydraulic motor through hoses.

[0023] In a first embodiment of the invention, the hydraulic motor is connected directly to the rotor to transmit rotary movement to said rotor; wherein the rotation speed of the rotor is varied by varying the flow rate of hydraulic fluid provided by the drive pump.

[0024] In a second embodiment of the invention, the hydraulic motor is connected to a first multiplier mechanism, which is in turn connected to the rotor to transmit rotary movement to said rotor; wherein in this case the variation in the speed of the rotation of the rotor is controlled by control means selected from control means with the variation of the flow rate of hydraulic fluid provided by the drive pump; and control means with the variation in the transmission of the first multiplier mechanism that comprises a gear box.

[0025] In a third embodiment of the invention, the hydraulic motor is connected to the rotor by means of a second multiplier mechanism, which instead of being a gear box as described in the preceding paragraph, is a drive pulley, a second driven pulley and a transmission belt that is coupled to both pulleys; wherein the drive pulley with a larger diameter is fastened to a transverse shaft that receives movement via the hydraulic motor; and wherein the driven pulley with a smaller diameter is connected to the rotor to thus achieve the multiplication of revolutions that are transmitted to said rotor.

[0026] Some differences of the optimised drive of the invention with respect to current systems of the state of the art are described below.

[0027] The combustion engine can be installed in any part of the shredding machine in the three described embodiments of the invention, which from the point of view of the design of the shredding machine is an advantage due to the dimensions of the combustion engine.

[0028] Considering the third embodiment of the invention, given that the hydraulic motor has reduced dimensions, it should be noted that this arrangement does not affect the design of the shredding machine (the hydraulic motor is connected to the combustion engine in the same way as indicated in the other described embodiments).

[0029] Since it is the hydraulic motor that is connected to the pulleys and since the speed of said hydraulic motor can be adjustable, it is still possible to regulate the rotation of the rotor with the established design of the two pulleys and the belt.

[0030] The current systems, wherein the combustion engine is used, the speed of the combustion engine is not adjustable, the design of the pulley and belt system is rigid, and it is not possible to modify the speed of the rotor, unless the ratio between the pulleys is changed, which would imply a change in the design. Likewise, in current systems where the combustion engine is used, a reduction is made in the transmission of rotary motion with the pulleys and belt and not a multiplication as occurs in the optimised drive of the invention.

[0031] It would also be possible to vary the speed of rotation of the rotor by simultaneously varying the flow rate of the fluid provided by the drive pump and by varying the transmission of the multiplier mechanism.

[0032] Next, to help better understand this specification and as an integral part thereof, a series of figures is attached in which the object of the invention is depicted in an illustrative and non-limiting manner.Brief description of the figures

[0033] Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the shredding machine that incorporates the optimised drive of a rotor of the machine, object of the invention. Figure 2 shows another perspective view of a part of the shredding machine. Figure 3 shows another perspective view of the shredding machine similar to that shown in Figure 1, where the rotary movement is transmitted to the rotor by means of a first transmission mechanism. Figure 4 shows a view similar to that shown in Figure 3, where in this case the rotating movement to the rotor is transmitted by means of a second transmission mechanism. Description of an exemplary embodiment of the invention

[0034] Considering the numbering adopted in the figures, the optimised drive of the rotor (7) of a shedding machine (1) comprises a combustion engine (2), a pump case (3) to drive the flow of hydraulic fluid, a hydraulic system (4), a hydraulic motor (5, 5') and an intermediate device selected from a first multiplier mechanism (6) (figures 1-3) formed by a gear box, and a second multiplier mechanism (6') (figure 4) formed by a belt (13), a drive pulley (11) and a driven pulley (12) with a smaller diameter than the drive pulley (11).

[0035] Considering the second multiplier mechanism (6'), the drive pulley (11) with a larger diameter is connected to the hydraulic motor (5') by means of a transverse shaft (14); wherein the driven pulley (12) is connected to the rotor (7) to thereby achieve the multiplication of revolutions that are transmitted to said rotor (7).

[0036] The machine itself comprises at least one feeding system (9) of the material to be shredded; the rotor (7) to which hammers are rigidly connected located inside an internal chamber (8) in which the material is shredded during the rotation of the rotor (7), an evacuation system (10) for evacuating the material that has been shredded inside the internal chamber (8), and the combustion engine (2) to operate the shredding machine (1).

[0037] The pump case (3) includes at least one drive pump (3a) to provide the hydraulic fluid (oil) that feeds the hydraulic motor (5, 5') through hoses (4a) that form part of the hydraulic system (4).

[0038] The combustion engine (2) acts on the drive pump (3a) increasing the pressure of the hydraulic fluid, subsequently distributing it through the hydraulic system (which mainly includes the hoses (4a) or tubes that transfer the hydraulic fluid to the different drives) until feeding the hydraulic motor (5, 5') which transmits its rotary movement to the rotor (7) of the shredding machine (1) by means of the multiplying mechanism (6, 6'); wherein hammers rigidly connected to said rotor (7) hit the material inside an internal shredding chamber (8), until said material has a size that allows it to exit to the evacuation area by passing through grates of a determined passage aperture (space).

[0039] The hydraulic motor (5, 5') is the device that provides the required speed and engine torque to the rotor (7) by means of the multiplier mechanism (6, 6').

[0040] In this way, it is first possible to make the position of the combustion engine (2) independent from the rotor (7), which is an important design advantage when configuring the design of the shredding machine (1).

[0041] Furthermore, the hydraulic motor (5, 5') provides a very high engine torque at low speeds, so it is necessary to include the multiplier mechanism (6, 6') to increase the speed of the rotor (7) until the required speed is reached.

[0042] This increase in speed entails a decrease in the engine torque, but given that the torque that the hydraulic motor (5, 5') is capable of supplying is high, despite the torque being reduced, as the speed increases, this torque still allows its use to transmit the rotary movement to the rotor (7).

[0043] Likewise, by means of the present invention, the rotation speed of the rotor (7) can be modified, without any change in design or system, according to the needs of the shredding process, improving the quality of the final products obtained after shredding.

[0044] By way of example, when an aluminium material or CDW (construction and demolition waste) is shredded, low rotor (7) speeds are of interest; in the case of aluminium material to avoid generating dust (which is highly flammable and therefore can lead to explosions in the shredding process), and in the case of construction and demolition waste, low rotor (7) speeds are of interest to avoid rapid wear of the hammers rigidly connected to said rotor (7).

[0045] Furthermore, the possibility of being able to modify the rotation speed of the rotor (7) also prevents resonance from entering into some of the elements of the shredding machine (1).

[0046] In one embodiment of the invention, the multiplying mechanism (6, 6') has a multiplication range between four and seven, such that if, for example, the hydraulic motor rotates at 90 rpm, the rotor (7) can rotate between 360 rpm and 630 rpm.

[0047] The hydraulic motor (5, 5') provides a speed comprised between 90 rpm and 150 rpm, with an engine torque between 34000 and 120000 Nm.

Claims

1. An optimised drive of a rotor of a shredding machine, wherein the shredding machine (1) comprises at least one feeding system (9) of the material to be shredded; the rotor (7) to which hammers are rigidly connected located inside an internal chamber (8) in which the material is shredded during the rotation of the rotor (7), an evacuation system (10) of the material that has been shredded inside the internal chamber (8), and a combustion engine (2) to operate the shredding machine (1); characterised in that the drive of the rotor (7) comprises a hydraulic motor (5, 5') fed with an hydraulic fluid provided by at least one drive pump (3a) that rotates by means of a transmission connected to the combustion engine (2); wherein the drive pump (3a) feeds fluid to the hydraulic motor (5, 5') through hoses.

2. The optimised drive of the rotor of a shredding machine, according to claim 1, wherein the hydraulic motor (5) is connected directly to the rotor (7) to transmit rotary movement to said rotor (7); the rotation speed of the rotor (7) is varied by varying the flow rate of hydraulic fluid provided by the drive pump (3a).

3. The optimised drive of the rotor of a shredding machine, according to claim 1, wherein the hydraulic motor (5, 5') is connected to an intermediate device selected from a first multiplying mechanism (6) and a second multiplying mechanism (6'), which is in turn connected to the rotor (7) to transmit rotary movement to said rotor (7); wherein the variation in speed of the rotation of the rotor (7) is controlled by control means selected from control means with the variation of the hydraulic fluid flow rate provided by the drive pump (3a); and control means with the variation in the transmission of the respective multiplier mechanism (6, 6').

4. The optimised drive of the rotor of a shredding machine, according to claim 3, wherein the first multiplier mechanism (6) comprises a gear box.

5. The optimised drive of the rotor of a shredding machine, according to claim 3, wherein the second multiplying mechanism (6') comprises a belt (13), a drive pulley (11) and a driven pulley (12) wherein said driven pulley (12) comprises a smaller diameter than a diameter of the drive pulley (11); wherein the drive pulley (11) is connected to the hydraulic motor (5') by means of a transverse shaft (14); and wherein the driven pulley (12) is connected to the rotor (7).

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