Volume reduction treatment facility

Abstract

To provide a new volume reduction treatment facility capable of achieving refinement matching a legislative requirement even when an object to be treated is human remains.SOLUTION: A volume reduction treatment facility A is constructed by disposing a rotary crushing blade unit having a plurality of rotary crushing blades 23 attached to a rotary drive shaft 21 in a treatment tank B, and performs volume reduction treatment while rotary-crushing remains which are an object to be treated. A plurality of fixed crushing blades 7 are attached to a bottom plate 5 semicircular in section constituting the treatment tank B. Each fixed crushing blade 7 is provided with a fixed plate 7a fixed to the bottom plate 5 of the treatment tank B and a blade plate 7b erected from the fixed plate 7a. The fixed crushing blades 7 is attached such that the blade plate 7b is orthogonal to the axial center of the rotary drive shaft 21, and a crushing rotor 8 supported to be rotatable is provided at the tip of each rotary crushing blades 23.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a volume reduction processing facility for reducing the volume of human bones after cremation at the request of the bereaved family.

Background Art

[0002] Recently, with the aging and declining birthrate of the nation, funerals and customs have also changed. Specifically, instead of burying the bones in a cemetery as was generally done in the past, the bones are granulated and scattered in the ocean, or buried around a specific tree in memory of the deceased as a tree burial. With such changes in funeral customs, there has been a demand for equipment to further pulverize and reduce the volume of bones after cremation. In response to such a demand, it is conceivable to apply a processing device developed by the present inventor for treating waste chickens and the like. However, when targeting human bones after cremation, the device (a processing device for biological waste; Patent No. 4516556; Patent Document 1) cannot be applied as it is. The reason is that legally, in the treatment of bones, sufficiently fine granulation is required, and the Patent Document 1 cannot effectively cope with this.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] The present invention has been made in consideration of such a background, and aims to develop a volume reduction processing facility that can achieve fine pulverization that meets legal requirements even when the object to be processed (the object to be treated) is human bones, and makes this a technical problem.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] That is, the volume reduction processing equipment described in claim 1 is a volume reduction processing equipment in which a rotary pulverizing blade unit having a plurality of rotary pulverizing blades attached to a rotary drive shaft is disposed in a processing tank, and the volume reduction processing is performed while rotating and pulverizing the cremated human bones as the object to be processed. On the bottom plate having a semicircular cross section that constitutes the processing tank, a plurality of fixed pulverizing blades are attached so that the blade plate portion is orthogonal to the axis of the rotary drive shaft. Further, the fixed pulverizing blade includes a fixing plate portion fixed to the bottom plate of the processing tank and a blade plate portion standing up from the fixing plate portion. The end face of the fixing plate portion located on the front side along the rotation direction of the rotary pulverizing blade is formed to be inclined with respect to the axis of the rotary drive shaft so that the object to be processed in contact with the end face moves to the side of the blade plate portion by the rotation of the rotary pulverizing blade. Also, the end face of the blade plate portion located on the front side along the rotation direction of the rotary pulverizing blade is formed to be inclined downward in the front with respect to the plate surface of the fixing plate portion. Furthermore, the rotary pulverizing blade is characterized in that it has a pulverizing rotor rotatably supported at its tip.

[0006] Also, the volume reduction processing equipment described in claim 2, in addition to the requirements described in claim 1, the pulverizing rotor is characterized in that pulverizing protrusions are provided on its outer peripheral portion.

[0007] Also, the damage reduction processing equipment described in claim 3, in addition to the requirements described in claim 2, the pulverizing protrusions are characterized in that they are a plurality of parallel ridges or single or multiple spiral ridges.

[0008] Also, the damage reduction processing equipment described in claim 4, in addition to the requirements described in claim 2 or 3, the pulverizing protrusions are characterized in that they are ridges having a square cross section or a pointed cross section.

[0009] Also, the damage reduction processing equipment described in claim 5, in addition to the requirements described in claim 3, The parallel ridges or spiral ridges constituting the pulverizing protrusions are formed in a segmented state in the circumferential direction.

[0010] In addition, the mitigation treatment facility according to claim 6, in addition to the requirements according to claim 3 or 5, the pulverizing protrusions are formed as a plurality of spiral ridges, and the plurality of spiral ridges are configured to include ridges having different spiral directions.

[0011] In addition, the mitigation treatment facility according to claim 7, in addition to the requirements according to claim 1 or 2, a plurality of the pulverizing rotors are provided at the tip of a single rotary pulverizing blade.

[0012] In addition, the mitigation treatment facility according to claim 8, in addition to the requirements according to claim 7, the plurality of pulverizing rotors provided for the single rotary pulverizing blade are provided in combination with pulverizing rotors of different specifications.

[0013] In addition, the mitigation treatment facility according to claim 9, in addition to the requirements according to claim 1 or 2, the pulverizing rotors are elastically supported at the tip of the rotary pulverizing blade so as to be able to project forward freely.

[0014] In addition, the mitigation treatment facility according to claim 10, in addition to the requirements according to claim 1 or 2, a plurality of rotary pulverizing blades provided on the rotary drive shaft are provided radially at regular intervals along the axial direction and having an appropriate angular difference when viewed from the axial direction, at the tips of the plurality of rotary pulverizing blades, among a plurality of pulverizing rotors that make a full circle of 360° when viewed from the axial direction, pulverizing rotors of different specifications are provided respectively. And, by means of the configurations described in each of these claims, the above problems are solved.

Effect of the Invention

[0015] First, according to the invention described in claim 1, since a rotatable grinding rotor is provided at the tip of the rotary grinding blade, even if the object to be processed is the human remains after cremation, it is possible to achieve the fineness that meets the legal requirements.

[0016] Also, according to the invention described in claim 2, since grinding protrusions are provided on the outer peripheral portion of the grinding rotor, even if the object to be processed is human bone, efficient fineness and granulation can be achieved.

[0017] Also, according to the invention described in claim 3, since the grinding protrusions are constituted by parallel ridges or spiral ridges, the grinding protrusions that mainly bear the action of crushing the object to be processed can be simply configured, and a large grinding strength can also be obtained.

[0018] Also, according to the invention described in claim 4, since the grinding protrusions are formed as ridges with a square cross-section or a pointed cross-section at the working tip, for example, when it is desired to have a cutting action in addition to the crushing action, the grinding protrusions can be formed as ridges with a pointed cross-section shape, etc., and the shape can be selected according to the processing situation.

[0019] Also, according to the invention described in claim 5, since the grinding protrusions are notched in the middle in the circumferential direction and formed in a segmented state, for example, even if a large amount of the object to be processed enters between the bottom plate of the processing tank and the grinding rotor, the excessive object to be processed can be excluded from the notch, effectively preventing the bridging phenomenon of the object to be processed and contributing to the promotion of smooth volume reduction processing.

[0020] According to the invention described in claim 6, in the plurality of spiral ridges constituting the crushing projections, since the ridges include ridges having different inclination angles when viewed from the spiral direction, that is, the side (the side of the crushing rotor), for example, an object to be processed that has entered between the crushing projections (groove portion) can be guided in a direction that appropriately aggregates or separates it as the crushing rotor rotates. In addition to the crushing action by the crushing rotor, an action of flowing the object to be processed in an appropriate direction can also be added. Further, for this reason, the crushing action by the crushing rotor can be further promoted, and the volume reduction process can be performed more efficiently.

[0021] According to the invention described in claim 7 or 8, since a plurality of crushing rotors are installed for one rotating crushing blade, the fine pulverization process work performed by one crushing rotor can be divided among the plurality of crushing rotors. Also, by providing a plurality of crushing rotors on one rotating crushing blade, the load on one crushing rotor can be reduced.

[0022] According to the invention described in claim 9, since the crushing rotor is elastically supported so as to be able to project forward freely at the tip of the rotating crushing blade, for example, even when a relatively large amount of the object to be processed enters between the crushing rotor and the bottom plate, the crushing rotor can be retracted toward the rotary drive shaft, and an excessive bridging phenomenon of the object to be processed can be prevented.

[0023] According to the invention described in claim 10, in the plurality of crushing rotors that make a full circle of 360° when viewed from the axial direction of the rotary drive shaft, different types of crushing rotors are provided respectively. For example, when crushing the object to be processed into a fine powder granule state, the process of gradually subdividing can be divided into several steps, and each of these steps can be assigned to each crushing rotor, so that the volume reduction process can be performed more efficiently.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0024]

Figure 1

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Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0025] The embodiments for carrying out the present invention take the following-described examples as a preferred example, and further include various forms modified based on this technical idea.

Examples

[0026] As described above, the volume reduction processing equipment A of the present invention uses cremated human bones as the main object to be processed S, and processes this object to be processed S by cutting, crushing, pulverizing, etc., and finally reduces it to a fine pulverized state. Here, as the object to be processed S, mainly human bones are applied, but it is also possible to apply the bones of pets (animals other than humans). In addition, in the volume reduction treatment of bones, a moisture adjusting material such as wood chips and a heat-resistant bacterium responsible for fermentation may be mixed and put into the treatment tank B (volume reduction processing equipment A) together with the bones and subjected to fermentation and decomposition treatment. In this specification, these bones and each material (materials to be mixed) are collectively referred to as the object to be processed S. As an example, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the volume reduction processing equipment A is configured by assembling a frame body 1 composed of a plurality of angle members into a rectangular parallelepiped frame shape, and the remaining five sides except the bottom surface are covered with a top plate 2 and side plates 3. Casters 15 are attached to the four corners of the bottom of the frame body 1 so as to be movable. In addition, the volume reduction processing equipment A is divided into a treatment tank B and an equipment storage room C along the longitudinal direction (the left-right direction in the front view). Among these, the treatment tank B has both side plates 4a and 4b attached to the frame body 1 by welding or the like to the angle members 1a constituting the frame body 1, and a rotary pulverizing blade unit U is rotatably supported in the treatment tank B.

[0027] Next, the rotary pulverizing blade unit U will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4 and FIG. 9. The rotary pulverizing blade unit U has a rotary drive shaft 21 passing through the side plates 4a and 4b of the treatment tank B and horizontally supported by bearings 22a and 22b at both ends (see FIG. 2). These bearings 22a and 22b are supported by angle members 1b constituting the frame body 1. One end of the rotary drive shaft 21 enters the equipment storage room C and is also supported by a bearing 22c installed in the equipment storage room C. This bearing 22c is fixed to the central portion along the short direction (the front-rear direction in the front view) of the angle member 1c constituting the frame body 1, and the central portion of the angle member 1c is reinforced from below by a standing angle member 1d. A number of rotary grinding blades 23 are attached to the rotary drive shaft 21 at regular intervals along the axial direction and with a 90° phase shift along the rotational direction via an attachment cylinder 25. As an example, as shown in Fig. 9, the rotary grinding blade 23 has a configuration in which a grinding blade body 23b is fixed to the front side along the rotational direction P of the attachment plate portion 23a, and a balance plate portion 23c is fixed to the rear side of the attachment plate portion 23a.

[0028] Furthermore, as an example, as shown in Fig. 10, the shape of the grinding blade body 23b is formed such that the blade width dimension h1 on the fixed side closer to the rotary drive shaft 21 is large and the blade width dimension h2 on the tip side is small. Further, at the fixed side portion closer to the rotary drive shaft 21, it has a shape that converges while drawing a smooth arc from the maximum blade width dimension h toward the rotary drive shaft 21 side. Among the plurality of (multiple sets of) rotary grinding blades 23, scraper plates 26 for removing deposits on the inner surfaces of both side plates 4a and 4b constituting the treatment tank B are attached to the tip portions of each rotary grinding blade 23 attached to both axial ends of the treatment tank B (see Fig. 2). In addition, a grinding rotor 8 having a columnar general shape for making the bones in the object to be treated S finer is rotatably supported at the tip portion of each rotary grinding blade 23 attached at a position other than both axial ends. The object to be treated S is pressed in a sandwiched state between the grinding rotor 8 and the bottom plate 5 of the treatment tank B, and is thus crushed until it becomes a fine state. Also, in the volume reduction treatment, for example, as shown in Fig. 10 above, since the tip portion of the grinding blade body 23b and the grinding rotor 8 directly contact the object to be treated S (human bone), these grinding members are applied with metals, ceramics, etc. that are relatively harder than bone. And the object to be treated S mainly composed of such human bone is gradually and finely ground by the action of the fixed grinding blade 7, the grinding blade body 23b, or the grinding rotor 8 described later, and is finally crushed into a granular or powder-like state.

[0029] Hereinafter, the grinding rotor 8 will be described. The crushing rotor 8 is rotatably attached to the tip of the rotary crushing blade 23 as described above. As an example, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 11(a) to (c), crushing protrusions 81 are provided on the outer peripheral portion of the rotor. When forming the crushing protrusions 81 on the outer peripheral portion of the crushing rotor 8, the side peripheral surface of the rotor main body 82 having a cylindrical general shape can be engraved in a groove shape from the outside, and the portions other than the groove portion can be formed as relative crushing protrusions 81. Here, reference numeral 83 in the figure is the rotation axis of the rotor main body 82. Also, in FIGS. 9 and 11(a) to (c) above, the crushing protrusions 81 are formed such that a plurality of ridges are orthogonal to the rotation axis 83 when viewed from the side and the ridges are spaced apart at regular intervals along the rotation axis 83. Such ridges are referred to as parallel ridges 81p.

[0030] Next, the treatment tank B and the fixed crushing blades 7 attached to the inner peripheral surface of the treatment tank B will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 5 to 8. The lower half of the treatment tank B is constituted by a bottom plate 5 having a semicircular cross section as shown in FIG. 3 as an example. A sheet-shaped heater HT having an arcuate cross section is stretched on the outer peripheral side of the bottom plate 5. And on the inner peripheral surface of the bottom plate 5 excluding the bottommost part 5a, as shown in FIG. 5 as an example, a large number of fixed crushing blades 7 are welded at predetermined intervals along both the axial direction (the same as the direction of the bottommost part 5a) of the rotary drive shaft 21 and the rotational direction at positions where they do not interfere with the respective rotary crushing blades 23. Further, in a state where the inner peripheral surface of the bottom plate 5 is developed along the rotational direction P of the rotary crushing blade 23 (FIG. 5), all the fixed crushing blades 7 are arranged in a staggered manner in the same direction, but the axial pitch of the fixed crushing blades 7 arranged at both ends, that is, at positions farthest from the bottommost part 5a of the bottom plate 5, is halved and they are densely arranged.

[0031] The shape of the fixed grinding blade 7 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8. First, as shown in FIG. 8 for example, the fixed grinding blade 7 is cut to a predetermined width at an angle θ0 of 45° with respect to the longitudinal direction with the orthogonal part of the angle member 51 having an L-shaped cross section facing directly above. As shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the fixed grinding blade 7 is formed such that the blade plate portion 7b provided so as to protrude into the processing tank B from the fixing plate portion 7a fixed to the bottom plate 5 has an irregular L-shape that is substantially orthogonal. Therefore, the end face 7b1 located on the front side along the rotation direction P (the rotation direction P of the rotary grinding blade 23) of the blade plate portion 7b is inclined downward in front with an angle θ with respect to the plate face 7a2 of the fixing plate portion 7a. Also, the plate face 7b2 of the blade plate portion 7b is fixed to the bottom plate 5 so as to be orthogonal to the axial direction of the rotary drive shaft 21 (see FIG. 5). Further, the end face 7a1 located on the front side along the rotation direction P of the fixing plate portion 7a is inclined with respect to the axis of the rotary drive shaft 21 so that the workpiece S in contact with this end face 7a1 is moved to the side of the blade plate portion 7b by the rotation of the rotary grinding blade 23, and the workpiece S can be efficiently ground between the end face 7b1 located on the front side along the rotation direction P of the blade plate portion 7b and the grinding blade body 23b of the rotary grinding blade 23. In FIG. 6, for comparison with the shape of the fixed grinding blade 7, a simple L-shaped member made by cutting along the short direction with the orthogonal part of the angle member 51 facing directly above is shown by a two-dot chain line. Also, a temperature sensor TS for measuring the temperature of the workpiece S that has undergone volume reduction processing or the like can be provided in the processing tank B. For example, it can be provided near the central portion in the longitudinal direction of the bottom plate 5 and at a position slightly higher than the bottommost part 5a, and moreover, at a portion between adjacent fixed grinding blades 7. Incidentally, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3 above, the temperature sensor TS is attached in such a form that the detection part (upper part) of the sensor slightly faces the inside of the processing tank B.

[0032] Next, the equipment storage room C and the equipment arranged in this room will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 4. In the machine storage chamber C, there is a drive motor 31 for driving the rotary drive shaft 21 of the rotary grinding blade unit U, a blower 32 for sending high-temperature hot air W into the treatment tank B, and a control panel 33 for controlling the intermittent operation of the blower 32 according to the temperature in the treatment tank B. A chain gear 34 attached to the drive shaft 31a of the drive motor 31 and a chain gear 35 attached to one end of the rotary drive shaft 21 are connected by an endless chain 36. Also, the air supply pipe 32a of the blower 32 penetrates the side plate 4b of the treatment tank B and enters the treatment tank B through the hot air inlet hole 6, and the intake pipe 32b of the blower 32 is connected to the hot air generator H and is configured to suck the high-temperature hot air W generated by the hot air generator H and send it into the treatment tank B.

[0033] Also, on the top plate 2 of the volume reduction treatment facility A, as shown in FIG. 1(a) as an example, an inlet 12 for the object to be treated S that can be closed by a cover plate 11 is formed on the front near side. Further, an exhaust pipe 13 is provided at the portion farthest from the hot air inlet hole 6. This is for exhausting the airflow containing water vapor and gas components generated from the object to be treated S in the treatment tank B. Note that water vapor and gas components are generated from the object to be treated S during the treatment, for example, when performing a fermentation treatment along with the grinding (volume reduction treatment) of the object to be treated S such as human bones. When only the volume reduction treatment is performed and almost no water vapor or gas components are generated, or even if these are generated, they do not adversely affect the volume reduction treatment, the exhaust pipe 13 can be omitted. Incidentally, reference numeral 11a in the figure is a handle for opening and closing the cover plate 11. Also, the side plate 3 that constitutes the side surface of the volume reduction treatment facility A, more specifically, the side surface on the machine storage chamber C side, is a removable inspection door 3a. On the opposite side of this inspection door 3a, that is, on the side plate 3b that constitutes the other side surface (side plate 4a) of the volume reduction treatment facility A, an outlet 14 for taking out the object to be treated S (hereinafter referred to as "treated object to be treated") that has been ground and volume-reduced is provided. Here, reference numeral 14a in the figure is an outlet cover that covers the periphery of the outlet 14. In addition, the volume reduction processing equipment A is equipped with a timer for automatically ending the operation when the operation time has elapsed, and a safety device for stopping the operation when the cover plate 11 is opened during the operation of the volume reduction processing equipment A. However, these are all omitted from the illustration.

[0034] Next, an operation mode (process) of applying the volume reduction processing equipment A of the present invention to grind the object to be processed S such as human bones while stirring and perform volume reduction processing on the object to be processed S will be described. FIG. 10 shows a state where the object to be processed S such as human bones is cut and ground by the rotary grinding blades 23. Here, when the rotary grinding blades 23 rotate along the rotation direction P in the processing tank B, the object to be processed S starts to rotate together with the rotary grinding blades 23 along the inner peripheral surface of the bottom plate 5 of the processing tank B. At this time, the object to be processed S collides with the end face 7b1 on the front side in the rotation direction P at the blade plate portion 7b of the fixed grinding blade 7 attached to the inner peripheral surface of the bottom plate 5, and the object to be processed S is cut between the end face 7b1 and the grinding blade body 23b of the rotary grinding blade 23. Each rotary grinding blade 23 is attached with a phase shift of 90° along the rotation direction P and at a predetermined interval in the axial direction when viewed from the axial direction. Therefore, the object to be processed S efficiently collides with the end face 7b1 of the blade plate portion 7b and is cut and ground. It should be noted that the object to be processed S (human bones) immediately after being put into the processing tank B does not progress to grinding only by colliding with the fixed grinding blade 7 at first. Actually, it starts from cutting (fragmentation), and the fragmented object to be processed S is further cut smaller (crushed) in the next collision. These crushed pieces are further ground smaller, gradually becoming finer and undergoing volume reduction. Finally, the object to be processed S is refined into a granular or powdery state. Here, the process from cutting (fragmentation) to refinement is collectively referred to as "cutting and grinding".

[0035] In addition, since a large number of fixed grinding blades 7 are arranged in a staggered pattern in the developed state of the bottom plate 5 (see FIG. 5), the object to be processed S collides with a large number of fixed grinding blades 7 dispersedly due to being carried around by the rotary grinding blades 23. Therefore, the rotational resistance of each rotary grinding blade 23 becomes uniform, and the object to be processed S can be smoothly cut and ground. Even when the workpiece S is repeatedly cut and the cut pieces of the workpiece S become small to a certain extent, the end face 7a1 on the front side with respect to the rotation direction P of the fixed plate portion 7a of the fixed crushing blade 7 is inclined with respect to the axis of the rotary drive shaft 21, so that the cut pieces of the workpiece S are moved toward the blade plate portion 7b while successively coming into contact with the end face 7a1 from the tip portion to the base end portion as the rotary crushing blade 23 rotates. This makes it possible to increase the frequency of cutting and crushing at the end face 7b1 of the blade plate portion 7b.

[0036] In addition, the end face 7b1 of the blade plate portion 7b is inclined downward at an angle of 45° relative to the plate surface 7a2 of the fixed plate portion 7a. As a result, as the rotary crushing blades 23 rotate, the workpiece S gradually comes into contact with the end face 7b1 from the base end to the tip end. As a result, the workpiece S is cut more smoothly than if the end face 7b1 were perpendicular to the plate surface 7a2 and the workpiece S came into contact with the entire end face 7b1 at one time. Furthermore, if the end face 7a1 of the fixed plate portion 7a were parallel to the axis of the rotary drive shaft 21 and the end face 7b1 of the blade plate portion 7b were perpendicular to the plate face 7a2 of the fixed plate portion 7a, the workpiece S would collide with each end face 7a1, 7b1 of the fixed crushing blade 7 at the same time, and the collision force would be extremely large. However, since the end faces 7a1, 7b1 are configured in an inclined and forward-leaning state as described above, the collision force of the workpiece S colliding with the fixed crushing blade 7 is mitigated, and the fixed crushing blade 7, which is fixed to the bottom plate 5 by welding, will not come off due to the collision force.

[0037] Furthermore, since all the fixed crushing blades 7 provided in the treatment tank B are arranged with the fixing plate portions 7a in the same direction in the deployed state of the bottom plate 5, when the rotary crushing blades 23 rotate, when the rotary crushing blades 23 rotate upward while lifting the object to be treated S from the bottommost part 5a of the bottom plate 5, the end face 7a1 of the fixed crushing blade 7 and the blade plate portion 7b with the end face 7b1 tilted forward cause the object to be treated S to be smoothly and efficiently cut and crushed. At the same time, when the rotary crushing blades 23 rotate downward from above toward the bottommost part 5a, even if the object to be treated S abuts on the end face 7a1 of the fixing plate portion 7a or the plate surface 7b2 of the blade plate portion 7b, the end face 7a1 of the fixing plate portion 7a is inclined and the end face 7b1 of the blade plate portion 7b is inclined downward toward the front, so the object to be treated S does not stay on the end face 7a1 or the plate surface 7b2 and slides down to the bottommost part 5a. For this reason, the object to be treated S does not accumulate on the fixed crushing blade 7, easily gathers at the bottommost part 5a, and is evenly crushed and further subdivided.

[0038] Furthermore, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 10 above, a crushing rotor 8 having a substantially circular cross-section is rotatably supported at the tip of the mounting plate portion 23a of each rotary crushing blade 23 at a position other than both axial ends. Since this crushing rotor 8 is configured such that the tip of each rotary crushing blade 23 (crushing blade body 23b) moves along the inner peripheral surface of the bottom plate 5 and the crushing rotor 8 itself can rotate (self-rotate), the object to be treated S that has been cut and crushed can be further finely ground. That is, when the object to be treated S (bones) is fragmented to a certain extent, it becomes difficult to further finely crush it only with the rotary crushing blades 23. Also, when the crushing rotor 8 itself does not rotate (self-rotate), the cut object to be treated S may be pinched between this and the inner peripheral surface of the bottom plate 5 and may easily become clogged (so-called bridge phenomenon). However, in the present invention, since the crushing rotor 8 formed in a substantially columnar shape is attached so as to be freely rotatable at the tip of the crushing blade body 23b, the above-described bridge phenomenon is prevented, and the object to be treated S is further finely ground between the crushing rotor 8 and the inner peripheral surface of the bottom plate 5. Incidentally, the cremated remains (human bones) are already somewhat reduced in size at that point (to the extent that they can be placed in an urn), and the opposing distance between the outer peripheral surface of the grinding rotor 8 and the inner peripheral surface (the bottommost part 5a) of the bottom plate 5 is preferably made narrow to the extent of the thickness dimension of the above-mentioned remains. Specifically, as an example, as shown in conjunction with FIG. 10 above, it is desirable to make it 3 cm or less. Incidentally, this dimension is the gap dimension for accommodating one of the above-mentioned remains (for example, a thick thigh bone), and is a narrower dimension compared to the treatment of biological waste shown in Patent Document 1.

[0039] Also, in this embodiment, since the grinding protrusions 81 of the rotor main body 82 include a plurality of parallel ridges 81p, it is suitable for further subdividing (grinding into a smaller state) the processed object S that has been ground. That is, since the grinding protrusion 81 has a plurality of parallel ridges 81p, the spacing dimension between the rotor main body 82 and the bottom plate 5 has a large part and a small part. More specifically, at the top of the grinding protrusion 81 (parallel ridge 81p), the gap formed between the outer peripheral surface of the rotor main body 82 and the inner peripheral surface of the bottom plate 5 becomes smaller, while in the groove portion between the parallel ridges 81p, the gap formed between the outer peripheral surface of the rotor main body 82 and the inner peripheral surface of the bottom plate 5 becomes larger. And in the processed object S during the volume reduction process, the processed object S in a relatively large particle state enters the portion where the gap is large, while the processed object S in a relatively small particle state enters the portion where the gap is small (since it naturally enters), so that the processed object S can be efficiently crushed. Conversely, if the grinding protrusion 81 is not formed, that is, when the rotor main body 82 is simply formed in a cylindrical shape, the processed object S that has become relatively large particles is sandwiched between the outer peripheral surface of the rotor main body 82 and the inner peripheral surface of the bottom plate 5, and this sandwiched processed object S may lose its way and cause a bridging phenomenon. Here, due to the presence of the above-mentioned grinding protrusion 81 (parallel ridge 81p), such a bridging phenomenon can be effectively prevented, and the crushing operation by the grinding rotor 8 can proceed smoothly.

[0040] When each rotary grinding blade 23 is rotating, the deposits (objects to be processed S) adhering to the side plates 4a and 4b of the processing tank B are removed by the rotation of the scraper plates 26 attached to the tip portions of the rotary grinding blades 23 located at both axial ends. Also, the fixed grinding blade 7 that is farthest from the bottommost part 5a of the bottom plate 5, that is, the fixed grinding blade 7 arranged at the highest position in the processing tank B, is arranged with a dense pitch (see FIG. 5). Therefore, the object to be processed S carried around by the rotary grinding blade 23 is lifted above the lower half of the processing tank B as it rotates, preventing it from adhering to the upper part of the processing tank B or the back surface of the cover plate 11 of the volume reduction processing facility A. Of course, in order to enhance such a preventive effect, the width dimension of the blade plate portion 7b of the fixed grinding blade 7 arranged at the above position may be increased.

[0041] As described above, the object to be processed S such as human bone is, in the processing tank B, while each rotary grinding blade 23 rotates in the rotational direction P by the low-speed rotation of the rotary drive shaft 21 and is rotated around, it is caught by each fixed grinding blade 7 provided on the bottom plate 5 and gradually cut and ground. Further, since a grinding rotor 8 rotatably supported is provided at the tip portion of each rotary grinding blade 23, the object to be processed S is crushed by this action and becomes finer.

[0042] 〔Other embodiments〕 The present invention is based on the above-described embodiment as one basic technical idea, but further modifications as follows are conceivable. First, in the above-described basic embodiment, the grinding protrusions 81 of the rotor body 82 were formed as a plurality of parallel ridges 81p. However, the grinding protrusions 81 are not necessarily formed only as such parallel ridges 81p. For example, as shown in FIGS. 11(d) and (e), one or a plurality of ridges may be formed in an inclined state with respect to the rotation axis 83 when viewed from the side (the side of the grinding rotor 8), and the ridges may be formed so as to maintain a certain interval between them. This is referred to as a spiral ridge 81s. In addition, when the crushing protrusions 81 of the rotor body 82 are formed as spiral ridges 81s, the workpiece S in a relatively large particulate state that enters between the groove portion of the spiral ridge 81s and the inner peripheral surface of the bottom plate 5 can be sent out not only in a direction orthogonal to the rotation drive shaft 21 but also in the thrust direction along the rotation drive shaft 21, and the pulverization process can proceed more efficiently. Incidentally, even in the configuration of the spiral ridge 81s or the parallel ridge 81p, the crushing protrusions 81 can be simply formed, and a large strength can also be obtained as the crushing strength.

[0043] Further, as an example, as shown in FIGS. 11(f) and (g), the crushing protrusions 81 can be ridges having a pointed cross-sectional shape with the outer peripheral tip formed in an acute angle shape. Incidentally, the ridges with the outer peripheral tip formed flat as shown in FIGS. 11(a) to (e) are called ridges having a square cross-sectional shape. Note that, by forming the crushing protrusions 81 as ridges having a pointed cross-sectional shape, when the workpiece S is sandwiched between the bottom plate 5 and the crushing rotor 8, it is expected that, along with the crushing of the workpiece S, the large particulate workpiece S can be actively cut. Also, it is possible to make some of the plurality of crushing rotors 8 have crushing protrusions 81 with a square cross-sectional shape and the other crushing rotors 8 have crushing protrusions 81 with a pointed cross-sectional shape. Alternatively, in one crushing rotor 8, it is also possible to mix the crushing protrusions 81 with a square cross-sectional shape and the crushing protrusions 81 with a pointed cross-sectional shape. For example, both ends of the crushing rotor 8 can be made to have crushing protrusions 81 with a square cross-sectional shape and the rest can be made to have crushing protrusions 81 with a pointed cross-sectional shape.

[0044] Also, in the basic embodiment described above, the crushing protrusions 81 basically showed ridges formed continuously in the circumferential direction. However, as shown in FIGS. 12(a) and (b) for example, the ridges of the crushing protrusions 81 can also be notched in the middle of the circumferential direction and formed in a segmented state. That is, this form forms the crushing protrusions 81 in a segmented state by forming one or more circumferential notches 84 in the circumferential direction of the crushing protrusions 81. In FIGS. 12(a) and (b) above, when viewed from the axial direction, the circumferential notches 84 are arranged at three equal positions in the circumferential direction so that the crushing protrusions 81 and the circumferential notches 84 are alternately arranged at equal angles in the circumferential direction. Therefore, the angles of the crushing protrusions 81 and the circumferential notches 84 (circumferential angles viewed from the axial direction) in this case are both 60°. In addition, when a plurality of crushing protrusions 81 (ridges) are formed in the axial direction of the crushing rotor 8, as shown in FIG. 12(c) for example, the crushing protrusions 81 and the circumferential notches 84 can be provided so as to be offset or staggered when viewed from the axial direction in adjacent ridges. With such a configuration, the bridging phenomenon of the object S to be processed can be more reliably avoided. Of course, the configuration of forming the circumferential notch 84, in other words, the configuration of forming the ridges of the crushing protrusions 81 in a segmented state in the middle of the circumferential direction, is also an applicable configuration for the crushing rotor 8 having spiral ridges 81s, as shown in FIGS. 12(d) and (e) as an example.

[0045] Also, when the crushing protrusions 81 are formed by a plurality of spiral ridges 81s, the spiral directions (the inclination angles of the spiral ridges 81s when the crushing rotor 8 is viewed from the side) do not necessarily have to be the same angle. For example, as shown in FIGS. 12(f) and (g), it is also possible to form them so that the inclination angles (spiral directions) are different. Here, FIG. 12(f) is a configuration example in which the left and right spiral ridges 81s are formed in a line-symmetrical state so that the left and right spiral ridges 81s intersect in a V shape (V shape when viewed from the side) at the axial center of the crushing rotor 8. FIG. 12(g) is a configuration example in which the spiral ridges 81s of the crushing rotor 8 intersect obliquely when viewed from the side, and the spiral ridges 81s are formed so as to exhibit an overall herringbone pattern. By varying the spiral directions of the spiral ridges 81s in this way, during the volume reduction process, the object to be processed S can be fed not only in the direction perpendicular to the rotary drive shaft 21 but also in the thrust direction along the rotary drive shaft 21, enabling the volume reduction process to be carried out smoothly. That is, with such spiral ridges 81s, the movement of the object to be processed S in the direction along the rotary drive shaft 21 can be controlled, and the volume reduction process can be performed more effectively.

[0046] In the basic embodiment described above, a single grinding rotor 8 was provided at the tip of a single (one unit) rotary grinding blade 23. However, for example, as shown in Fig. 13(a), a plurality of grinding rotors 8 can be provided at the tip of a single rotary grinding blade 23. In Fig. 13(a) above, a configuration example is shown in which two grinding rotors 8 are provided on a single rotary grinding blade 23, but it is also possible to provide three or more grinding rotors 8. Also, the plurality of grinding rotors 8 provided on a single rotary grinding blade 23 can have different specifications. Specifically, for example, as shown in Figs. 13(b) and (c), on the front side in the rotation direction P, a grinding rotor 8 with a short axial (width direction) length is positioned, while on the rear side in the rotation direction P, a grinding rotor 8 with a long axial length can be positioned. By providing grinding rotors 8 with different specifications before and after in the rotation direction for a single rotary grinding blade 23 in this way, for example, the crushing of the object to be processed S can be carried out in two stages. Specifically, for the object to be processed S that has entered the groove between the grinding protrusions 81 of the front grinding rotor 8 and has not been significantly affected by the crushing action, the ridges (parallel ridges 81p) of the rear grinding rotor 8 come into contact, and the object to be processed S can be made finer and more uniform. Of course, by providing a plurality of grinding rotors 8 for a single rotary grinding blade 23, the load on each grinding rotor 8 (one grinding rotor 8) in the volume reduction process can also be reduced. Also, at the tip of a single rotary grinding blade 23, as different types of grinding rotors 8 provided before and after it, for example, as shown in FIGS. 13(d) and (e), a grinding rotor 8 having parallel ridges 81p may be provided on the front side in the rotation direction P, while a grinding rotor 8 having spiral ridges 81s may be provided on the rear side in the rotation direction P. In this case, a processing mode can be adopted in which after the workpiece S is crushed by the grinding rotor 8 with the parallel ridges 81p on the front side, the workpiece S is guided in the thrust direction by the spiral ridges 81s on the rear side.

[0047] Also, in the basic embodiment described above, although the grinding rotor 8 is allowed to freely rotate at the tip of the rotary grinding blade 23, the advancement and retraction of the grinding rotor 8 in the longitudinal direction (radial direction) of the rotary grinding blade 23 are not considered. This is because the workpiece S that enters between the grinding rotor 8 and the bottom plate 5 is forcibly sandwiched by the rotating rotary grinding blade 23, and the workpiece S is cut and crushed (miniaturized) by the clamping pressure. However, as an example, the grinding rotor 8 can also be supported at the tip of the rotary grinding blade 23 so as to be elastically extendable. That is, this configuration includes a support arm 85 that rotatably supports the grinding rotor 8, a pivot 86 that rotatably holds the support arm 85 at the tip of the rotary grinding blade 23, and a biasing spring 87 provided between the support arm 85 and the balance plate portion 23c (rotary grinding blade 23), and is configured such that the support arm 85 can be appropriately rotated along the longitudinal direction (radial direction) of the rotary grinding blade 23. By adopting such a configuration, for example, even when a relatively large amount of the workpiece S enters between the grinding rotor 8 and the bottom plate 5, the grinding rotor 8 can be retracted toward the rotary drive shaft 21, and an excessive bridging phenomenon of the workpiece S can be prevented. Even in such a configuration, for example, as shown in FIG. 13(g), if two support arms 85 are provided in the front and rear in the rotational direction and each is biased by a separate biasing spring 87, two grinding rotors 8 that elastically project can be provided at the tip of the rotary grinding blade 23, and they can be rotated with different biasing forces and independently. Of course, the two grinding rotors 8 in this case may have the same specifications or different specifications.

[0048] In the above-described basic embodiment, a plurality of (four in the basic embodiment, where 360°÷90° = four) rotary grinding blades 23 are radially provided at regular intervals along the axial direction of the rotary drive shaft 21 and have a phase difference of the same angle (90° in the basic embodiment) when viewed from the axial direction. The tip portions of the plurality of (four in the basic embodiment) rotary grinding blades 23 are shown in a form where grinding rotors 8 of the same specification are provided. However, the grinding rotors 8 do not necessarily have to be limited to those of the same specification. For example, as shown in FIG. 14, it is possible to provide different types of grinding rotors 8 for the four rotary grinding blades 23 that make one full rotation of 360° when viewed from the axial direction. That is, in the configuration example of FIG. 14, the first grinding rotor 8 in the rotational direction P is composed of grinding protrusions 81 having parallel ridges 81p, the second grinding rotor 8 in the rotational direction P is composed of grinding protrusions 81 having spiral ridges 81s, the third grinding rotor 8 in the rotational direction P is composed of grinding protrusions 81 having spiral ridges 81s with an inclination different from that of the second one, and the fourth grinding rotor 8 in the rotational direction P is composed of grinding protrusions 81 in a form where the spiral ridges 81s located on the left and right (front and rear in the rotational direction P) shown in FIG. 12(f) intersect in a V shape at the center in the width direction of the grinding rotor 8. In this way, in the grinding rotor 8 that makes one full rotation of 360° when viewed from the axial direction, by providing different types of ones respectively, when pulverizing the object to be processed S into a fine pulverized state, the process of gradually subdividing can be divided into several (here, four) steps, and each of these steps can be assigned to each grinding rotor 8. Specifically, in FIG. 14 above, the first grinding rotor 8 in the rotational direction P mainly performs cutting (rough segmentation) of the object to be processed S, the second grinding rotor 8 feeds the object to be processed S in the thrust direction while crushing it (subdividing it into a coarser particle size than pulverization), the third grinding rotor 8 feeds the object to be processed S further in the thrust direction while pulverizing it (subdividing it into a finer particle size than crushing), and the fourth grinding rotor 8 is intended to feed the object to be processed S further in the thrust direction while grinding it more finely. In the above-described FIG. 14, the process of reducing the volume of the object S to be processed is divided into four steps. However, when three rotating pulverizing blades 23 (three blades obtained by dividing 360° by 120°) are provided radially with a 120° phase difference when viewed from the axial direction, the process of pulverizing the object S to be processed can also be divided into three steps, and three types of pulverizing rotors 8 corresponding to their respective functions can be arranged in sequence.

Explanation of Signs

[0049] A Volume reduction processing facility B Processing tank C Equipment storage room H Hot air generator 1 Frame 2 Top plate 3 Side plate 3a Inspection door 3b Side plate 4a Side plate 4b Side plate 5 Bottom plate 5a Lowest part 6 Hot air inlet hole 7 Fixed pulverizing blade 7a Fixed plate part 7a1 End face of the front-side fixed plate part along the rotation direction 7a2 Plate surface of the fixed plate part 7b Blade plate part 7b1 End face of the front-side blade plate part along the rotation direction 8 Pulverizing rotor 1a Angle material 1b Angle material 1c Angle material 1d Angle material 11 Cover plate 11a Handle 12 Inlet 13 Exhaust pipe 14 Outlet 14a Outlet cover 15 Caster 21 Rotation drive shaft 22a Bearing 22b Bearing 22c Bearing 23 Rotating pulverizing blade 23a Mounting plate part 23b Crushing blade body 23c Balance plate part 25 Mounting cylinder 26 Scraper plate 31 Drive motor 31a Drive shaft 32 Blower 32a Air supply pipe 32b Air intake pipe 33 Control panel 34 Locking gear 35 Locking gear 36 Endless chain 51 Angle material 81 Crushing protrusion 81p Parallel rib 81s Spiral rib 82 Rotor body 83 Rotating shaft 84 Circumferential notch 85 Support arm 86 Pivot 87 Biasing spring h Blade width dimension h1 Blade width dimension (on the fixed side) h2 Blade width dimension (on the tip side) P Rotation direction of the rotating crushing blade S Workpiece U Rotating crushing blade unit W High-temperature hot air HT Heater TS Temperature sensor

Claims

1. A volume reduction processing facility in which a rotary pulverizing blade unit having a plurality of rotary pulverizing blades attached to a rotary drive shaft is disposed in a processing tank, and the volume of the cremated human remains, which are the objects to be processed, is reduced while being rotationally pulverized, wherein a plurality of fixed pulverizing blades are attached to the bottom plate having a semi-circular cross section that constitutes the processing tank so that the blade plate portion is orthogonal to the axis of the rotary drive shaft, and each of the fixed pulverizing blades includes a fixing plate portion fixed to the bottom plate of the processing tank and a blade plate portion standing up from the fixing plate portion, wherein an end face of the fixing plate portion located on the front side along the rotation direction of the rotary pulverizing blade is formed to be inclined with respect to the axis of the rotary drive shaft so that the object to be processed contacting the end face moves to the side of the blade plate portion by the rotation of the rotary pulverizing blade, and an end face of the blade plate portion located on the front side along the rotation direction of the rotary pulverizing blade is formed to be inclined downward toward the front with respect to the plate surface of the fixing plate portion, and further, the rotary pulverizing blade is characterized in that it includes a pulverizing rotor rotatably supported at its tip end.

2. The volume reduction processing facility according to claim 1, wherein the pulverizing rotor is provided with pulverizing protrusions on its outer peripheral portion.

3. The volume reduction processing facility according to claim 2, wherein the pulverizing protrusions are a plurality of parallel ridges or one or more spiral ridges.

4. The volume reduction processing facility according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the pulverizing protrusions are ridges having a square cross section or a pointed cross section.

5. The volume reduction processing facility according to claim 3, wherein the parallel ridges or spiral ridges constituting the pulverizing protrusions are formed in a segmented state in the circumferential direction.

6. The volume reduction processing facility according to claim 3 or 5, wherein the pulverizing protrusions are formed as a plurality of spiral ridges, and the plurality of spiral ridges include ridges having different spiral directions.

7. The volume reduction processing facility according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a plurality of the pulverizing rotors are arranged at the tip end of one rotary pulverizing blade.

8. The volume reduction processing facility according to claim 7, wherein the pulverizing rotors arranged in a plurality of groups with respect to one rotary pulverizing blade are provided in combination with different types of pulverizing rotors.

9. The volume reduction processing facility according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the pulverizing rotor is elastically supported at the tip end of the rotary pulverizing blade so as to be able to project forward.

10. The plurality of rotary grinding blades provided on the rotary drive shaft are radially provided at regular intervals along the axial direction and with an appropriate angular difference when viewed from the axial direction. The tip portions of the plurality of rotary grinding blades are provided with grinding rotors of different specifications in a plurality of grinding rotors that make a full 360° rotation when viewed from the axial direction. The volume reduction processing equipment according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that.

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