Recycling Management System

Abstract

This invention relates to a technology for improving the efficiency of heat treatment for recycling used absorbent materials. [Solution] The recycling management system comprises a batch-type heat treatment device installed at the facility and a management device located outside the facility that manages the heat treatment device. The control unit of the management device receives from the heat treatment device the initial weight of the materials to be treated at the start of the heat treatment in the storage section of the heat treatment device, which contains the materials to be treated, including used absorbent articles. It receives from the heat treatment device the temperature and weight in the storage section during the heat treatment, measured at predetermined intervals, in association with time information. It calculates the change in the weight of the materials to be treated relative to the initial weight at predetermined intervals. Based on the calculated change in weight, it generates feedback information for controlling the heat treatment unit and transmits the feedback information to the heat treatment device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a recycling management system for managing the recycling of used absorbent articles.

Background Art

[0002] From the viewpoints of effective utilization of resources and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, technologies for recycling used absorbent articles such as diapers have been studied. For example, in Patent Document 1, an acquisition unit that acquires acquisition information regarding the collection of used absorbent articles from a device such as a carbonization device that performs a pretreatment for performing a recycling process installed in a facility, and based on the acquisition information, a management unit that manages recycling information regarding the recycling process, and a provision unit that provides work information for use in work on a recycling target based on the recycling information are described.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, Patent Document 1 does not describe a technique for improving the efficiency of the carbonization process of a device installed in a facility.

[0005] The present invention relates to a technique for improving the efficiency of heat treatment for recycling used absorbent articles.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] A recycling management system according to one aspect of the present invention is a recycling management system for managing the recycling of used absorbent articles, a batch-type heat treatment device installed in a facility, A control device located outside the aforementioned facility for managing the heat treatment apparatus, It is equipped with. The aforementioned heating apparatus is A storage section for storing the materials to be processed, including the used absorbent articles, A heating section for heating the object to be processed in the storage section, A weight measuring unit for measuring the weight of the object to be processed in the storage unit, A temperature measuring unit for measuring the temperature inside the aforementioned storage section, The First Communications Department, which is responsible for communication processing, The system includes a first control unit that controls the heating unit, the weight measuring unit, the temperature measuring unit, and the first communication unit. The aforementioned control device is The Second Communications Department, which is responsible for communication processing, It includes a second control unit that controls the second communication unit. The second control unit is: The initial weight of the object to be processed in the containment section at the start of the heat treatment is received from the heat treatment apparatus. The temperature inside the container and the weight of the object to be processed, measured at predetermined intervals, are associated with time information regarding the time from the start of the heat treatment to the measurement of the temperature and weight, and are received from the heat treatment apparatus. The amount of change in the weight of the object to be processed relative to the initial weight at each predetermined time interval is calculated. Based on the calculated change in weight, feedback information for controlling the heating processing unit is generated. The feedback information is transmitted to the heating apparatus.

[0007] Another embodiment of the present invention is a control device located outside the facility for managing a batch-type heat treatment apparatus installed in the facility, The Second Communications Department, which is responsible for communication processing, The system comprises a second control unit that controls the second communication unit. The second control unit is: The initial weight of the object to be processed at the start of the heat treatment is received from the heat treatment apparatus in the storage section of the heat treatment apparatus which contains the object to be processed, including used absorbent articles. The temperature inside the container and the weight of the object to be processed, measured at predetermined intervals, are associated with time information regarding the time from the start of the heat treatment to the measurement of the temperature and weight, and are received from the heat treatment apparatus. The amount of change in the weight of the object to be processed relative to the initial weight at each predetermined time interval is calculated. Based on the calculated change in weight, feedback information for controlling the heating processing unit is generated. The feedback information is transmitted to the heating apparatus.

[0008] A management method according to yet another embodiment of the present invention is a management method in which batch-type heat treatment equipment installed in a facility is managed by an information processing device located outside the facility. The control unit of the information processing device, The initial weight of the object to be processed at the start of the heat treatment is received from the heat treatment apparatus in the storage section of the heat treatment apparatus which contains the object to be processed, including used absorbent articles. The temperature inside the container and the weight of the object to be processed, measured at predetermined intervals, are associated with time information regarding the time from the start of the heat treatment to the measurement of the temperature and weight, and are received from the heat treatment apparatus. The amount of change in the weight of the object to be processed relative to the initial weight at each predetermined time interval is calculated. Based on the calculated change in weight, feedback information for controlling the heating processing unit is generated. The feedback information is transmitted to the heating apparatus. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the efficiency of heat treatment for recycling used absorbent articles. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] It is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of the recycling management system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] It is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of the heat treatment apparatus of the recycling management system. [Figure 3] It is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the heat treatment apparatus. [Figure 4] It is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the management apparatus of the recycling management system. [Figure 5] It is a sequence diagram showing the processing flow of the recycling management system. [Figure 6] It is a graph showing the relationship between time and the weight of the object to be processed in the heat treatment by the heat treatment apparatus. [Figure 7] It is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of the heat treatment apparatus according to the modified example of the above embodiment. [Figure 8] It is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the recycling management system (management apparatus) according to the second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] It is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of the recycling management system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 10] It is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the management apparatus of the recycling management system. [Figure 11] It is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the recycling management system (management apparatus) according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0011] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0012] <First Embodiment> [Overview of Recycling Management System] The first embodiment of the present invention, a recycling management system (hereinafter simply referred to as "the system"), is a system for efficiently recycling used absorbent materials. As illustrated in Figure 1, the system of this embodiment comprises a heat treatment device 100 and a management device 200 connected to the heat treatment device 100 via the Internet 50.

[0013] The heat treatment apparatus 100 is a batch-type device installed in the facility. In this embodiment, the facility is one in which users of the facility use absorbent materials and used absorbent materials are generated within the facility. Examples of such facilities include child welfare facilities (nursery facilities, etc.), elderly care facilities, commercial facilities, and educational facilities.

[0014] As illustrated in Figure 1, in the facility, for example, an employee of the facility who is a user of the heat treatment device 100 puts the materials to be treated, including used absorbent articles 1 generated within the facility, into the input port 101d of the heat treatment device 100. The heat treatment device 100 heats the materials to be treated under predetermined conditions. For example, the employee removes granular material G, which is recycled material from the materials to be treated, from the discharge port 101e at a predetermined timing after the heat treatment. Note that the person who removes the granular material G may be a collection company or the like, as described later.

[0015] The recycled material, which is the material to be treated after heat treatment, may be in granular form or other forms, but in the following embodiment, an example in which the recycled material is in granular form will be described.

[0016] In this embodiment, an absorbent article refers to an article that absorbs excrement. The absorbent article includes, for example, at least one selected from sanitary products (sanitary napkins, tampons, etc.), disposable diapers, incontinence pads, urine pads, and panty liners. Incontinence pads refer to absorbent pads for mild to moderate incontinence that are attached to regular underwear, and urine pads refer to absorbent pads for moderate to severe incontinence that are mainly attached to disposable diapers.

[0017] The material to be treated may include materials other than used absorbent articles. For example, the material to be treated may include waste generated from a facility. From the viewpoint of increasing the efficiency of the heat treatment, it is preferable that the waste includes combustible waste. Combustible waste as used herein refers to waste mainly containing organic matter classified as combustible waste, and examples include food waste, paper, cloth, resin products, plants, wood products, rubber products, leather products, and mixtures thereof. Thus, combustible waste may include cellulose such as paper, some cloth, plants, and wood products. From the viewpoint of increasing the carbonization ratio of the generated granular material, the content of combustible waste in the above waste is preferably 30% by mass or more, more preferably 40% by mass or more, and even more preferably 50% by mass.

[0018] Furthermore, it is preferable that the combustible waste contained in the above-mentioned materials to be treated contains thermoplastic resin. Examples of waste containing thermoplastic resin include, in addition to the used absorbent articles mentioned above, used packaging containers (food containers, bottles, etc.) and marine debris. The thermoplastic resin contained in the waste is not limited to a specific type, but examples include polyolefin, polyester, polyacrylic acid, and sodium polyacrylate (absorbent resin). In addition, the waste may contain two or more types of thermoplastic resin.

[0019] Furthermore, the combustible waste included in the materials to be processed in this embodiment may include, for example, infectious waste discharged from a facility. Such infectious waste is sterilized and rendered harmless by the heat treatment described later. The infectious waste mentioned above includes waste containing pathogens that infect or may infect humans, waste to which such pathogens are attached, and waste that may be so. Specifically, examples include used absorbent articles used by patients with infectious gastroenteritis, etc., as well as disposable products such as syringes contaminated with blood or bodily fluids.

[0020] In this embodiment, "granular" refers to a shape resembling fine grains, and "granular body" refers to an aggregate of granular fragments that are separated from each other. The particle size of the granular body G is preferably 10 μm or more, more preferably 30 μm or more, preferably 5 cm or less, more preferably 1 cm or less, and even more preferably 0.5 cm or less. The particle size of the granular body is defined as the maximum diameter of each fragment constituting the granular body.

[0021] The control device 200 is located outside the facility and manages the heat treatment device 100. The control device 200 receives information on the weight and temperature of the material being treated from the heat treatment device 100 during the heat treatment process and monitors this data. Based on the information obtained from the monitoring, such as the change in the weight of the material being treated, the control device 200 generates feedback information for controlling the heat treatment device 100 and transmits it to the heat treatment device 100.

[0022] The management device 200 is configured as an information processing device (computer) and may be, for example, an information terminal such as a mobile phone, tablet PC (Personal Computer), notebook PC, or desktop PC used by the administrator of the heat treatment device 100, or it may be a server managed by the administrator. The management device 200 can remotely monitor the weight and temperature of the workpiece being processed by the heat treatment device 100 during the heat treatment process, and based on the monitored information, it can generate feedback information to improve the efficiency of the heat treatment process in the heat treatment device 100.

[0023] [Configuration of the heat treatment apparatus] As illustrated in Figure 2, the heat treatment apparatus 100 of this embodiment comprises a treatment tank 101, a first heat treatment unit 110, a second heat treatment unit 120, a weight measuring unit 130, a temperature measuring unit 140, a stirring unit 150, and a control unit 160. In this embodiment, the first heat treatment unit 110 and the second heat treatment unit 120 function as "heat treatment units that heat the object to be treated in the containment unit 101b". The heat treatment apparatus 100 may also further include an exhaust treatment unit for exhausting, although this is not shown in the figure.

[0024] The processing tank 101 has a wall portion 101a and a storage portion 101b. In this embodiment, the storage portion 101b is configured as the internal space of the processing tank 101 surrounded by the wall portion 101a, and contains the materials to be processed, including used absorbent articles. Figure 2 shows the interior of the storage portion 101b by showing a vertical cross-section obtained by vertically cutting the wall portion 101a. Furthermore, as shown in Figure 1, the processing tank 101 includes an inlet 101d and an outlet 101e (not shown in Figure 2) in which a part of the wall portion 101a is configured to be openable and closable.

[0025] The first heating section 110 heats the wall portion 101a of the processing tank 101. In other words, the first heating section 110 has the function of heating the containment section 101b from the outside. In this embodiment, the first heating section 110 has a heater 111 that heats the wall portion 101a. The heating method of the heater 111 is not limited, but from the viewpoint of facilitating temperature control, an electric heater is preferred. The various configurations of the heater 111, such as the installation position, can be determined in various ways depending on the configuration of the processing tank 101 and the properties of the raw materials. For example, in Figure 2, the heater 111 is located at the bottom of the wall portion 101a, but it may also be located to the side or above the wall portion 101a.

[0026] The second heating section 120 supplies heated gas to the containment section 101b. In other words, the second heating section 120 has the function of directly heating the inside of the containment section 101b with hot air. In this embodiment, the second heating section 120 has an air supply section 121, an exhaust section 122, a blower section 123, and a heating section 124. In this embodiment, the second heating section 120 is a hot air circulating type heating section that heats the gas exhausted from the containment section 101b and supplies it to the containment section 101b by operating the blower section 123. By supplying the circulated gas to the containment section 101b, waste heat can be recovered and energy efficiency can be improved. The gas used in the second heating section 120 is not particularly limited and may be air or an inert gas such as nitrogen.

[0027] The air supply unit 121 supplies gas to the containment unit 101b. In this embodiment, the air supply unit 121 is configured as a gas passage connecting the containment unit 101b and the blower unit 123 (heating unit 124). The air supply unit 121 is composed of one or more tubular members, including, for example, a tubular member provided to penetrate the wall portion 101a of the processing tank 101.

[0028] The exhaust section 122 exhausts gas from the containment section 101b. In this embodiment, the exhaust section 122 is configured as a gas passage connecting the blower section 123 and the containment section 101b. The exhaust section 122 is composed of one or more tubular members, including, for example, a tubular member provided to penetrate the wall section 101a of the processing tank 101. From the viewpoint of efficiently circulating the gas, it is preferable that the exhaust section 122 is positioned in the wall section 101a so as to face the supply air section 121 with the containment section 101b in between.

[0029] The air blower 123 blows gas to the air supply 121. The air blower 123 is composed of a blower such as a fan, blower, or compressor. The air blower 123 is positioned between the air supply 121 and the exhaust 122.

[0030] The heating unit 124 heats the gas supplied to the containment unit 101b. The heating unit 124 may be located on the exhaust side of the air blower unit 123 or on the supply side, as shown in Figure 2. Also, the heating unit 124 may be connected to the air blower unit 123 or located at a distance from it, as shown in Figure 2. The heating unit 124 consists of a heater that heats the gas, and from the viewpoint of facilitating temperature control, it is preferable that it consists of an electric heater. The heating method and installation position of the heater constituting the heating unit 124 can be determined in various ways depending on the configuration of the processing tank 101 and the properties of the raw materials.

[0031] Furthermore, the second heating section 120 may, if necessary, have a component (e.g., a damper, a valve, etc.) to adjust the flow rate of the gas supplied to the housing section 101b, or a valve component that allows for the intake or exhaust of outside air. In addition, an exhaust section may be connected to an exhaust passage branching off from the second heating section 120.

[0032] The weight measuring unit 130 measures the weight of the object to be processed in the storage section 101b. The weight measuring unit 130 is composed of, for example, a digital scale or an electronic balance. In Figure 2, the weight measuring unit 130 is positioned in contact with the bottom of the storage section 101b for illustrative purposes, but the arrangement is not limited to this. For example, the weight measuring unit 130 may be configured to measure the weight of the bottom of the wall section 101a where the object to be processed is placed, and may be positioned below the bottom of the wall section 101a. The weight of the object to be processed measured by the weight measuring unit 130 is transmitted to the CPU 11 (first control unit) of the control unit 160.

[0033] The temperature measuring unit 140 measures the temperature inside the housing unit 101b. The temperature measuring unit 140 is composed of a heat-resistant temperature sensor or thermometer, such as a thermocouple, infrared thermometer, or radiation thermometer. The temperature inside the housing unit 101b measured by the temperature measuring unit 140 is transmitted to the CPU 11 (first control unit) of the control unit 160.

[0034] The stirring section 150 stirs the material to be heated in the containment section 101b. The stirring section 150 includes, for example, one or more stirring shafts 151 and a drive unit 152 that rotates the stirring shafts 151.

[0035] The stirring shaft 151 has a shaft portion 151a and a plurality of blade portions 151b. The shaft portion 151a is configured as a rod-shaped member that can rotate around a rotation axis C extending horizontally to the side. Both ends of the shaft portion 151a are supported by the wall portion 101a on the side of the housing portion 101b, and the portion between the ends supported by the wall portion 101a is located inside the housing portion 101b. The plurality of blade portions 151b are provided at intervals along the longitudinal direction. In addition, each blade portion 151b protrudes from the outer circumferential surface of the shaft portion 151a in various radial directions.

[0036] From the viewpoint of improving the efficiency of stirring, the stirring section 150 preferably has a plurality of stirring shafts 151. These stirring shafts 151 are preferably arranged, for example, along a horizontal direction perpendicular to the vertical direction, such that the shaft portions 151a are substantially parallel.

[0037] The drive unit 152 is configured as a rotation mechanism for rotating the stirring shaft 151 and includes, for example, a power source such as an electric motor, hydraulic motor, or pneumatic motor, and a power transmission member (belt, pulley, gear, etc.) that transmits power from the power source to the stirring shaft 151. The drive unit 152 is controlled by the CPU 11 of the control unit 160.

[0038] As illustrated in Figure 3, the control unit 160 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, an input / output interface 15, and a bus 14 connecting these to each other.

[0039] The CPU 11 accesses RAM 13 and other memory as needed, performing various calculations and comprehensively controlling each block of the heating apparatus 100. In this embodiment, the CPU 11 functions as the "first control unit." Multiple CPUs 11 may be provided depending on the processing. ROM 12 is a non-volatile memory in which the OS, programs, and firmware such as various parameters to be executed by the CPU 11 are permanently stored. RAM 13 is used as a working area for the CPU 11 and temporarily holds the OS, various applications currently running, and various data being processed.

[0040] The input / output interface 15 is connected to the display unit 16, the operation reception unit 17, the storage unit 18, the communication unit 19, and the like.

[0041] The display unit 16 displays information about the heat treatment apparatus 100. The display unit 16 is a display device that uses, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), etc.

[0042] The operation reception unit 17 may be, for example, an operation button, a touch panel, or another input device. If the operation reception unit 17 is a touch panel, the touch panel may be integrated with the display unit 16.

[0043] The storage unit 18 is a non-volatile memory such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), flash memory (SSD; Solid State Drive), or other solid-state memory. The storage unit 18 stores the OS, various application programs, and various data. For example, the storage unit 18 stores programs for the heating process in the first heating processing unit 110 and the second heating processing unit 120, and programs for the stirring process in the stirring processing unit 150.

[0044] The communication unit 19 is, for example, a NIC (Network Interface Card) for Ethernet or various modules for wireless communication such as wireless LAN, and is responsible for communication processing with the management device 200. In this embodiment, the communication unit 19 functions as the "first communication unit".

[0045] As illustrated in Figure 3, the first heating section 110, the second heating section 120, the weight measuring section 130, the temperature measuring section 140, and the stirring section 150 are connected to the input / output interface 15 and connected to the CPU 11 via the input / output interface 15.

[0046] [Overview of heat treatment in heat treatment equipment] The following describes the overview of the heat treatment performed by the heat treatment apparatus 100 having the above configuration. The heat treatment apparatus 100 starts the heat treatment after the material to be treated is introduced from the input port 101d, by receiving a predetermined input operation such as pressing the operation button on the operation reception unit 17, and stops after the heat treatment of the material to be treated is completed. Since the heat treatment apparatus 100 is a batch-type heat treatment apparatus, no other material to be treated is added while the material that has been introduced is being heated.

[0047] The CPU 11 of the heating apparatus 100 heats the inside of the storage section 101b by controlling the first heating section 110 and the second heating section 120 while stirring the material to be processed by rotating the stirring shaft 151 with the stirring section 150. The CPU 11 controls the first heating section 110 and the second heating section 120 based on a heating program that includes heating conditions stored in the storage section 18.

[0048] As an example, CPU 11 starts cooling the contents of the containment section 101b after the temperature inside the containment section 101b reaches 180°C to 400°C (the second temperature described later) and a predetermined maintenance time has elapsed. By heating at such a temperature for a predetermined maintenance time (for example, 1 hour to 5 hours) while stirring, granular material is produced in which the material to be processed has been slowly carbonized. In this embodiment, the granular material is a recycled material generated from the material to be processed and can be effectively utilized as, for example, fuel, paper composition, fiber composition, soil modification composition, water treatment composition, fuel, fertilizer, building materials such as insulation materials, adsorbents, detoxifiers, deodorants, etc.

[0049] In the cooling process, for example, cooling gas may be supplied from the air supply section 121 of the second heating section 120 to the containment section 101b by operating the air blower section 123 of the second heating section 120. The material to be processed may also be stirred while cooling by rotating the stirring shaft 102. This makes it possible to form finely crushed granular material with low viscosity, even if the material to be processed contains a thermoplastic resin that tends to increase in viscosity during the cooling process. In addition, the cooling process has the advantage of increasing cooling efficiency by cooling the material to be processed while stirring it. The cooling process is not limited to the above examples, and cooling may also be performed by introducing outside air, for example, or the material may be allowed to cool naturally without active cooling.

[0050] The CPU 11 may also control the heating process based on other heating conditions. For example, the CPU 11 may stop heating when the material to be processed becomes completely dry. This also makes it possible to reduce the volume of the material to be processed, including used absorbent articles. In this case, it is preferable to lower the temperature in the containment section 101b after the temperature inside the containment section 101b reaches a first temperature of 100°C to 170°C, or after the rate of change of the weight of the material to be processed per unit time falls below a predetermined value. This predetermined value will be described later. After stopping the heating, a cooling process with cold air and stirring as described above may be performed, or the cooling process may be performed by introducing outside air, etc. Alternatively, the temperature may be allowed to cool naturally without performing an active cooling process.

[0051] After the series of processes is completed, the heat treatment device 100 stops operating. Then, the next batch of waste (material to be treated) is introduced, and the next process begins in the same manner. The heat-treated material may be left in the storage section 101b and used as a stirring medium for subsequent processes. Alternatively, at least a portion of the heat-treated material may be discharged from the outlet 101e (see Figure 1).

[0052] In this embodiment, the heating conditions of the heat treatment apparatus 100 are set based on feedback information generated by the control device 200. The configuration of the control device 200 will be described below.

[0053] [Hardware configuration of the management device] As illustrated in Figure 4, the management device 200, like the control unit 160 described above, includes a CPU 21, ROM 22, RAM 23, input / output interface 25, and a bus 24 connecting these to each other.

[0054] The CPU 21 accesses RAM 23 and other memory as needed, performing various calculations and comprehensively controlling each block of the management device 200. In this embodiment, the CPU 21 functions as a "second control unit." Multiple CPUs 21 may be provided depending on the processing. ROM 22 is a non-volatile memory in which the OS, programs, and firmware such as various parameters to be executed by the CPU 21 are permanently stored. RAM 23 is used as a working area for the CPU 21 and temporarily holds the OS, various applications currently running, and various data being processed.

[0055] The input / output interface 25 is connected to the display unit 26, the operation reception unit 27, the storage unit 28, the communication unit 29, and the like.

[0056] The display unit 26 is a display device such as an LCD, OLED (Organic ElectroLuminescence Display), or CRT.

[0057] The operation reception unit 27 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, or other input device. If the operation reception unit 27 is a touch panel, the touch panel may be integrated with the display unit 26.

[0058] The storage unit 28 is a non-volatile memory such as an HDD, flash memory (SSD), or other solid-state memory. The OS, various application programs, and various data are stored in the storage unit 28. The storage unit 28 has application programs necessary for the monitoring process described later.

[0059] The communication unit 29 is, for example, a NIC for Ethernet or a wireless LAN, or other various modules for wireless communication, and is responsible for communication processing with the heating treatment device 100.

[0060] [Example of a recycling management system in operation] Next, the operation of the recycling management system configured as described above will be explained. The operation of the heating apparatus 100 is performed by the cooperation of hardware such as the CPU 11 (first control unit) and the communication unit 19 (first communication unit) and software including the program stored in the storage unit 18. For convenience, in the following explanation, the CPU 11 will be considered the main operator. Similarly, the operation of the management device 200 is performed by the cooperation of hardware such as the CPU 21 (second control unit) and the communication unit 29 (second communication unit) and software including the program stored in the storage unit 28.

[0061] As a prerequisite for this example, it is assumed that an employee of a childcare facility or similar facility puts waste, including used absorbent materials, into the input port 101d of the heat treatment device 100, and the heat treatment device 100 starts processing when the employee presses an operation button on the operation reception unit 17 or performs other input operations. The following operations are for one heat treatment cycle.

[0062] Specifically, first the CPU 11 of the heat treatment apparatus 100 receives an input from the operation reception unit 17 for the start of the heat treatment (S101). Next, the CPU 11 transmits the initial weight of the object to be treated in the storage unit 101b at the start of the heat treatment, as measured by the weight measuring unit 130, to the management device 200 (S102). The CPU 21 of the management device 200 receives the initial weight of the object to be treated in the storage unit 101b at the start of the heat treatment (S201) and stores it in the storage unit 18 (not shown).

[0063] Next, the CPU 11 of the heating apparatus 100 transmits to the management device 200 the temperature inside the storage unit 101b and the weight of the object being processed, measured at predetermined intervals by the weight measuring unit 130 and the temperature measuring unit 140, along with time information regarding the time from the start of the heating process to the measurement of the temperature and weight (S103). The CPU 21 of the management device 200 receives from the heating apparatus 100 the temperature inside the storage unit 101b and the weight of the object being processed, measured at predetermined intervals, along with time information regarding the time from the start of the heating process to the measurement of the temperature and weight (S202). The predetermined interval can be set as appropriate, but from the viewpoint of accurate monitoring, it is preferably 30 seconds or more and 90 seconds or less. In addition, in the transmission in S103 and the reception in S202, multiple measurements may be sent and received together, but from the viewpoint of monitoring weight and temperature in real time, it is preferable to send and receive each time a measurement is taken (i.e., at predetermined intervals).

[0064] Furthermore, the above time information can be any information that allows for the calculation of the time from the start of the heat treatment to the measurement of temperature and weight, such as the time from the start of the heat treatment to the measurement of temperature and weight, or the measurement time. If the time information is the measurement time, the time the heat treatment started is received in S201 along with the initial weight.

[0065] On the other hand, the CPU 11 of the heating apparatus 100 controls the first heating processing unit 110 and the second heating processing unit 120, etc., based on a program that includes predetermined heating conditions, as described in the "Overview of Heating Process in Heating Apparatus" above, to perform the heating process (not shown).

[0066] The CPU 11 of the heating apparatus 100 determines whether to terminate the heating process after transmitting the temperature and weight (S104). If it determines not to terminate the process (No in S104), it transmits the temperature and weight measured at predetermined intervals again (S103). In other words, the CPU 11 continues to transmit the temperature and weight measured at predetermined intervals until the process is completed.

[0067] Meanwhile, the CPU 21 of the control device 200 calculates the change in the weight of the object to be processed relative to its initial weight at predetermined intervals (S203). In this embodiment, the change in weight is, for example, the difference between the initial weight and the weight during the heat treatment, but as another example, it may be the percentage of the difference (rate of change) when the initial weight is set to 100%.

[0068] Figure 6 is a graph illustrating the relationship between time and the weight of the object being processed, as received from the heat treatment apparatus 100. The horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents the weight of the object being processed. The graph shows the weight change over multiple heat treatments in the heat treatment apparatus 100. For example, in the figure, Tik is the start of the kth heat treatment (where k is a natural number), Wik is the initial weight at time Tik, and Wk is the weight during the kth heat treatment. In the example shown in the figure, for example, the change in weight during the first heat treatment is represented by Wi1-W1.

[0069] Next, the CPU 21 predicts the moisture content of the object to be processed based on the calculated change in weight (S204). In this embodiment, the moisture content of the object to be processed refers to the percentage of the weight accounted for by water (moisture content) when the weight of the object to be processed before heat treatment (initial weight) is set to 100% by mass. In this embodiment, for example, the CPU 21 predicts the weight of the object to be processed in a completely dry state based on the change in weight, and defines the moisture content of the object to be processed as the percentage of the difference between the initial weight of the object to be processed and the weight in a completely dry state, when the initial weight of the object to be processed is set to 100%.

[0070] The weight of the processed object in a completely dry state may be, for example, the weight when the inside of the containment section 101b reaches the first temperature described above (100°C to 170°C, preferably 130°C to 160°C), which is when the processed object can become completely dry. Alternatively, the weight of the processed object in a completely dry state may be the weight Wd1 when the rate of change of the processed object's weight per unit time falls below a predetermined value (see Figure 6). In Figure 6, Td1 indicates the time from the start of processing when the weight Wd1 is reached. The rate of change of the processed object's weight per unit time can be, for example, the time derivative of the above change in weight. When the object becomes completely dry, almost all of the moisture in the processed object is gone, and the rate of change of the processed object's weight per unit time decreases rapidly, so the completely dry state can be determined by the rate of change of weight per unit time. The "predetermined value" can be a value close to 0, for example, 10 g / min to 100 g / min. In this example, the specific processing involves, for instance, the CPU 11 determining whether the time derivative of the weight change at predetermined intervals is less than or equal to a predetermined value. If it is less than or equal to the predetermined value, the weight of the workpiece at that time can be set to the weight Wd1 of the workpiece in its completely dry state.

[0071] Here, if the moisture content of the material being treated is relatively high, the weight change during the drying process up to the first temperature (100-170°C) where it becomes completely dry will be relatively large. On the other hand, materials with high moisture content are less energy efficient for heating, so the energy consumed to reach the second temperature (180-400°C) will be relatively high. Therefore, for materials with high moisture content, limiting the heat treatment to a completely dry state will allow for efficient volume reduction of the material while suppressing energy consumption.

[0072] In contrast, if the moisture content of the material to be treated is relatively low, the volume may not be sufficiently reduced by heating to the first temperature, which results in a completely dry state. On the other hand, materials with a relatively low moisture content require relatively low energy consumption for heating. Therefore, by performing a heat treatment to reach a second temperature (180-400°C) and generating granular recycled material, it is possible to reduce the volume of the material to be treated without increasing energy consumption.

[0073] From this perspective, the CPU 21 determines whether the predicted moisture content is above a predetermined value (S205). The "predetermined value" of moisture content used as the criterion in S205 can be set appropriately according to the type of material to be processed in the facility and the processing capacity of the heat treatment device 100, but for example it can be 60% by mass or more and 90% by mass or less. It is said that the moisture content of food waste (e.g., kitchen waste) is about 70-90% by mass, and the moisture content of used absorbent articles is about 60-80% by mass.

[0074] If the predicted moisture content is greater than or equal to a predetermined value (Yes in S205), the CPU 21 generates feedback information including first heating conditions for drying the workpiece (S206). In this embodiment, the first heating conditions include rapidly lowering the temperature inside the containment section 101b after the temperature inside the containment section 101b reaches a first temperature of 100°C to 170°C or after the rate of change of the weight of the workpiece per unit time decreases.

[0075] If the predicted moisture content is less than a predetermined value (No in S205), the CPU 21 generates feedback information including a second heating condition for generating recycled material from the material to be processed (S207). In this embodiment, the second heating condition includes lowering the temperature inside the containment section 101b after a predetermined maintenance time has elapsed at a second temperature of 180°C to 400°C inside the containment section 101b. The predetermined maintenance time may be any time required to carbonize at least a portion of the material to be processed, preferably 1 hour to 5 hours, and more preferably 2 hours to 4 hours.

[0076] The CPU 21 then transmits the generated feedback information to the heating device 100 (S208). The CPU 11 of the heating device 100 receives the feedback information (S105), stores the received feedback information in the storage unit 18 (S106), and reflects the heating conditions included in the feedback information in the heating program.

[0077] As a result, the CPU 11 of the heat treatment apparatus 100 can perform heat treatment according to the heat conditions included in the feedback information. Therefore, through the processing of the above system, appropriate conditions can be selected as the heat treatment conditions for the workpiece according to the moisture content of the workpiece, and the volume of the workpiece can be reduced with high energy efficiency.

[0078] In particular, in the system according to this embodiment, the heating conditions of the heating treatment device 100 installed in the facility can be controlled by a control device 200 located outside the facility. By installing the heating treatment device 100 in a facility where used absorbent materials are generated, or in a facility related to such a facility, the volume of waste containing used absorbent materials can be reduced, thereby reducing the space required for storage. In addition, the sterilizing effect of the heating treatment allows for hygienic management of the materials to be treated. As a result, the cost and effort required for recycling can be reduced.

[0079] On the other hand, it is difficult to impose the burden of operating the heat treatment device 100 or optimizing the heat treatment conditions on facility employees. Furthermore, increasing the specifications of the CPU 11 and memory unit 18 of the heat treatment device 100 would lead to an increase in the cost of the heat treatment device 100, potentially making its introduction difficult. For this reason, in the system according to this embodiment, by providing a management device 200 that remotely controls the heat treatment device 100, the heat treatment of the heat treatment device 100 can be made more efficient while reducing the burden on facility employees and the processing load on the CPU 11 of the heat treatment device 100.

[0080] As described above, the system of this embodiment allows for multifaceted management of the efficiency of recycling used absorbent materials.

[0081] [Differentiation] As a modification of this embodiment, the feedback information may include heating conditions set based on moisture content, in addition to the examples described above. Specifically, the CPU 21 of the control device 200 may predict the moisture content value in S204 and then set heating conditions according to the predicted moisture content. Specifically, the CPU 21 may, for example, use a calculation formula to derive heating conditions from the moisture content of the object to be processed, or it may set heating conditions using a table that lists the moisture content of the object to be processed and the corresponding heating conditions. Alternatively, the CPU 21 may derive heating conditions using a machine learning model that derives heating conditions from the moisture content of the object to be processed. In this case, the heating conditions preferably include, for example, the maximum temperature reached and the duration of maintenance at that maximum temperature, and may also appropriately include the heating rate and the output of the heating processing unit. This allows the CPU 21 to set more appropriate heating conditions based on the moisture content.

[0082] Alternatively, the CPU 21 may generate feedback information directly from the weight change data without predicting the moisture content of the object being processed. For example, the CPU 21 may derive heating conditions using a machine learning model that derives heating conditions from the weight change data over time. This eliminates the need to predict the moisture content of the object being processed, thereby reducing the processing load on the CPU 21.

[0083] Furthermore, as mentioned above, the feedback information may control the heat treatment itself by calculating the change in the weight of the material being treated, or it may control subsequent heat treatments. If the type and composition of waste generated at the facility are not expected to change significantly from one treatment to the next, it can be assumed that the moisture content of the material to be treated in the next heat treatment will be about the same as the moisture content of the material to be treated in the previous heat treatment. Therefore, by generating feedback information that includes the heat treatment conditions for the material to be treated next, it is possible to select appropriate conditions according to the moisture content of the material to be treated, which is thought to contribute to the efficiency of the heat treatment.

[0084] Furthermore, the CPU 21 of the control device 200 may predict the constituent materials of the object to be processed at the start of the heat treatment based on the change in weight of the object to be processed relative to its initial weight. For example, it may predict the constituent materials of the object to be processed based on the predicted moisture content. The constituent materials of the object to be processed referred to here are the materials that make up the object to be processed at the start of the heat treatment, and examples include used absorbent articles, food waste, paper, etc. As described above, since the approximate moisture content of each constituent material is known, the constituent materials of the object to be processed can be predicted from the moisture content of the object to be processed, or the change in weight of the object to be processed related to the moisture content.

[0085] In this example, the CPU 21 may predict the types of constituent materials of the object to be processed, or it may predict the content (percentage) of each constituent material. For example, if the types of objects to be processed are generally known, it is preferable to predict the content of each of them. As for specific prediction methods, a formula may be used that can derive the content of the constituent materials of the object to be processed by substituting the moisture content of the object to be processed, or a machine learning model may be used that can derive the types and / or content of the constituent materials of the object to be processed from the moisture content (or weight change data) of the object to be processed.

[0086] The CPU 21 stores the prediction results in the memory unit 18 and can use these prediction results when needed. For example, as will be described in detail later, when recovering a heat-treated workpiece, it can provide the recoverer with prediction results regarding the constituent materials of the workpiece.

[0087] Furthermore, the configuration of the heating apparatus 100 is not limited to the configuration shown in Figure 2 above. For example, as shown in Figure 7, the first heating section 110 may be configured to heat the inside of the wall portion 101a with gas. Note that in the heating apparatus 100 shown in Figure 7, the same or corresponding configuration as the heating apparatus 100 shown in Figure 2 will not be described.

[0088] The first heating section 110 shown in Figure 7 can heat the wall portion 101a by supplying heated gas into the wall portion 101a. In this example, the wall portion 101a has a space portion 101c that diffuses the supplied gas. The space portion 101c is configured to conduct heat to the inner surface of the wall portion 101a, and may be, for example, a space formed inside the wall portion 101a, or a tubular member or the like arranged inside the wall portion 101a. The arrangement of the space portion 101c is not particularly limited, but it is preferable that it be arranged over a wide area of ​​the wall portion 101a, and more preferably that it be arranged over the entire wall portion 101a.

[0089] In the example shown in Figure 7, the first heating unit 110 includes an in-wall air supply unit 112, an in-wall exhaust unit 113, a blower unit 114, and a heating unit 115. In this example, the first heating unit 110 operates the blower unit 114 to exhaust gas from the space 101c via the in-wall exhaust unit 113, heats the exhausted gas with the heating unit 115, and supplies the heated gas from the in-wall air supply unit 112 to the space 101c. Thus, the first heating unit 110 constitutes a hot air circulation type heating unit. The gas used in the first heating unit 110 is not particularly limited and may be air, nitrogen, or other inert gases.

[0090] The wall-mounted air supply unit 112 supplies gas to the space 101c inside the wall 101a. In this embodiment, the wall-mounted air supply unit 112 is configured as a gas passage connecting the space 101c and the heating unit 115. The wall-mounted air supply unit 112 is composed of one or more tubular members, including, for example, a tubular member connected to the space 101c.

[0091] The wall-mounted exhaust section 113 exhausts gas from the space 101c inside the wall 101a. In this embodiment, the wall-mounted exhaust section 113 is configured as a gas passage connecting the air blower section 114 and the space 101c. The wall-mounted exhaust section 113 is composed of one or more tubular members, including, for example, a tubular member connected to the space 101c.

[0092] The air blower 114 blows gas into the wall-mounted air supply 112. The air blower 114 is composed of a blower such as a fan, blower, or compressor. In the example shown in Figure 7, the air blower 114 is located on the exhaust side of the heating unit 115, but it may also be located on the air supply side.

[0093] The heating unit 115 heats the supplied gas. The heating unit 115 is composed of a heater, and from the viewpoint of facilitating temperature control, it is preferably composed of an electric heater. The heating method, installation position, and other configurations of the heater constituting the heating unit 115 can be determined in various ways depending on the configuration of the processing tank 101 and the properties of the raw materials.

[0094] Furthermore, the first heating section 110 may have other components as needed. For example, the first heating section 110 may have a valve member that can take in outside air and a valve member that can exhaust air. This allows the first heating section 110 to perform cooling efficiently in the cooling step S03.

[0095] With the first heating section 110 configured as described above, the heated gas can heat a wide area of ​​the inner surface of the wall section 101a, and even if the volume of the storage section 101b is increased, the storage section 101b can be heated efficiently. Furthermore, by making the first heating section 110 a circulating heating section, waste heat can be recovered and energy efficiency can be increased. Therefore, with this configuration, energy consumption can be reduced and the volume of the storage section 101b can be increased, further improving processing efficiency.

[0096] Furthermore, the configuration of the heat treatment apparatus 100 is not limited to the above example and can be modified in various ways. For example, in the heat treatment apparatus 100, it is not essential that the rotation axis C of the shaft portion 102a extends along the horizontal direction, and it may be inclined with respect to the horizontal plane. However, in order to effectively obtain the stirring action by gravity in the heat treatment apparatus 100, it is necessary that at least the rotation axis C of the shaft portion 102a is inclined with respect to the vertical direction, and it is preferable that the angle of the rotation axis C of the shaft portion 102a with respect to the horizontal plane is small. Specifically, in the heat treatment apparatus 100, it is preferable that the angle of the rotation axis C of the shaft portion 102a with respect to the horizontal plane is 30° or less.

[0097] <Second Embodiment> As described above, the heat treatment using the heat treatment apparatus 100 is accompanied by stirring by the stirring apparatus 150. This crushes the material to be treated, increasing the heating efficiency, suppresses the binding of the material, and makes it easier to generate granular material. In this heat stirring process, using the heat-treated material (e.g., granular material) as a stirring medium can promote the crushing of newly added material and also contribute to improving heating efficiency by accumulating heat.

[0098] Therefore, in the second embodiment of the present invention, a system configuration will be described in which the control device 200 can provide notification regarding the amount of material to be processed used as a stirring medium. In the following embodiments, components that overlap with those of the first embodiment described above will be denoted by the same reference numerals and their descriptions will be omitted.

[0099] The hardware configuration of the system in this embodiment is the same as in the first embodiment. The operation of the management device 200 will now be described. The operation of the management device 200 is performed by the cooperation of hardware such as the CPU 21 (second control unit) and the communication unit 29 (second communication unit) and software including the program stored in the storage unit 28.

[0100] The processing in this example assumes that one heating treatment has finished, completing the operation described in the first embodiment above, and that the next heating treatment has not yet begun.

[0101] As illustrated in Figure 8, the CPU 21 first receives the final weight of the workpiece at the end of the heating process from the heating apparatus 100 (S301). Referring to Figure 6, for example, if the end of the first heating process is Tf1, then the final weight of the workpiece in the storage section 101b at time Tf1 is Wf1.

[0102] Next, the CPU 21 sets the amount of the heat-treated material to be used as the stirring medium in the next heat treatment as the amount of stirring medium (S302). In this example of operation, the CPU 21 sets the amount of stirring medium based on the calculated change in weight. More specifically, the CPU 21 can set the amount of stirring medium based on the moisture content of the material to be treated predicted based on the change in weight. As mentioned above, the higher the moisture content of the material to be treated, the lower the heating efficiency tends to be. For example, the CPU 21 can set a larger amount of stirring medium the higher the moisture content of the material to be treated. As for the specific method of calculating the amount of stirring medium, for example, a calculation formula that derives the amount of stirring medium from the moisture content of the material to be treated may be used, or a table that lists the moisture content of the material to be treated and the corresponding amount of stirring medium may be used. Alternatively, the amount of stirring medium may be calculated using a machine learning model that derives the amount of stirring medium from the moisture content of the material to be treated.

[0103] Next, the CPU 21 determines whether the set amount of agitation medium is less than or equal to the final weight (S303). If it is determined that the set amount of agitation medium is less than or equal to the final weight (Yes in S303), the CPU 21 calculates the amount of heat-treated material to be discharged from the storage section 101b (S304). If the set amount of agitation medium is less than or equal to the final weight, it means that there is more heat-treated material remaining in the storage section 101b than the set amount of agitation medium, and it is preferable to remove the excess material. For this reason, the CPU 21 calculates the difference obtained by subtracting the amount of agitation medium from the final weight as the amount of heat-treated material to be discharged from the storage section 101b.

[0104] Subsequently, the CPU 21 transmits information regarding the discharge of the heat-treated workpiece from the storage unit 101b to, for example, the heat treatment device 100 (S305). In this example, the "information regarding the discharge of the heat-treated workpiece from the storage unit 101b" includes the amount of heat-treated workpiece to be discharged from the storage unit 101b, and may also include wording instructing the user to discharge the heat-treated workpiece from the storage unit 101b. The CPU 11 of the heat treatment device 100 displays, for example, the amount of heat-treated workpiece to be discharged from the storage unit 101b and a statement indicating that the heat-treated workpiece is to be discharged from the storage unit 101b on the display unit 16.

[0105] On the other hand, if it is determined that the set amount of agitated medium exceeds the final weight (No in S303), the CPU 21 calculates the amount of heat-treated material to be added to the storage unit 101b as agitated medium (S306). If the set amount of agitated medium exceeds the final weight, the amount of heat-treated material remaining in the storage unit 101b is insufficient to make up the set amount of agitated medium, and additional agitated medium must be added from the outside. For this reason, the CPU 21 can calculate the difference obtained by subtracting the final weight from the set amount of agitated medium as the amount of heat-treated material to be added to the storage unit 101b. This added heat-treated material can be, for example, material that has been heat-treated in the past and stored in the facility.

[0106] Subsequently, the CPU 21 transmits information to the heat treatment device 100, for example, regarding the addition of the heat-treated material to be used as a stirring medium to the storage unit 101b, similar to S305 (S307). In this example, the "information regarding the addition of the heat-treated material to be used as a stirring medium to the storage unit 101b" includes the amount of heat-treated material to be added to the storage unit 101b, and may also include wording instructing the user to add the heat-treated material to the storage unit 101b. The CPU 11 of the heat treatment device 100 displays, for example, the amount of heat-treated material to be added to the storage unit 101b and a statement indicating that the heat-treated material will be added to the storage unit 101b on the display unit 16.

[0107] As described above, according to this embodiment, information can be provided to the user of the heat treatment apparatus 100 to appropriately adjust the amount of heat-treated material to be used as a stirring medium in the next heat treatment. This optimizes the amount of stirring medium and enables a heat stirring treatment with high heating efficiency. Furthermore, by using the heat-treated material to be treated as a stirring medium, the material can be effectively utilized.

[0108] Furthermore, by using a heat-treated material as the stirring medium, the collision with new material during stirring promotes the crushing of the new material, thereby increasing heating efficiency. In addition, by using granular material that is at least partially carbonized, the granular material itself easily retains heat, which promotes the temperature rise of the new material and further increases heating efficiency.

[0109] [Differentiation] As a variation of this embodiment, the heat-treated material used as the stirring medium is not limited to granular material, but may also include, for example, a completely dry material or a material that has not been granulated.

[0110] Furthermore, it is preferable that the heat-treated material used as a stirring medium contains a water-absorbent resin. Since water-absorbent resins do not easily decompose at temperatures below 300°C, depending on the heating temperature, a heat-treated material containing water-absorbent resin derived from used absorbent articles may be produced. By including a water-absorbent resin in the heat-treated material used as a stirring medium, the material absorbs moisture from newly added materials during stirring, thereby making the heat treatment of the newly added materials more efficient.

[0111] The water-absorbing resin is a resin that has water-absorbing properties and includes, for example, one or more water-absorbing resins selected from polyacrylic acid, polyacrylate salts, partially crosslinked polymer compounds having carboxyl groups or salts thereof, and partially crosslinked polysaccharides. Partial crosslinked polymer compounds having carboxyl groups or salts thereof include polyacrylate crosslinked polymers, poly(vinyl alcohol / acrylate) copolymers (crosslinked polymers), starch-acrylate graft copolymers (crosslinked polymers), and polyvinyl alcohol-polymaleate anhydride graft copolymers (crosslinked polymers). Partial crosslinked polysaccharides include carboxymethylcellulose salt crosslinked polymers, etc.

[0112] Furthermore, the "salt" constituting the above-mentioned water-absorbing resin includes, for example, one or more salts selected from alkali metal salts (sodium salt, potassium salt, lithium salt, etc.), alkaline earth metal salts (calcium salt, magnesium salt, barium salt, etc.), ammonium salts (quaternary ammonium salt, quaternary alkylammonium salt, etc.).

[0113] The water-absorbing resin of this embodiment preferably comprises one or more water-absorbing resins selected from polyacrylic acid, sodium polyacrylate, or a crosslinked sodium polyacrylate.

[0114] Furthermore, the "information regarding the discharge of the heat-treated material from the containment section 101b" in S305 may include information that indirectly indicates the amount of heat-treated material to be discharged from the containment section 101b, for example, the amount of heat-treated material to be left in the containment section 101b. Since the amount of heat-treated material left in the containment section 101b is the same as the set amount of stirring medium, S304 may not be performed in this example. This allows, for example, when the weight of the material in the containment section 101b is measured and displayed on the display unit 16 of the heat treatment device 100, the user can be instructed to discharge the material until the displayed weight reaches the notified "amount of heat-treated material to be left in place". Therefore, this also allows for the optimization of the amount of heat-treated material used as stirring medium in the next heat treatment. Alternatively, the "information regarding the discharge of heat-treated material from the containment section 101b" does not need to include information about a specific quantity; it is sufficient that it at least includes the fact that heat-treated material is discharged from the containment section 101b.

[0115] Similarly, the "information regarding the addition of the heat-treated material to be contained in the containment section 101b as a stirring medium" in S307 may include information that indirectly indicates the amount of material to be added to the containment section 101b, for example, the amount of heat-treated material to be contained in the containment section 101b. Since the amount of heat-treated material to be contained in the containment section 101b is the same as the set amount of stirring medium, S306 may not be necessary in this example. This allows, for example, when the weight of the material in the containment section 101b is measured and displayed on the display unit 16 of the heat treatment device 100, the user can be instructed to add material until the displayed weight reaches the notified "amount of heat-treated material to be contained". Therefore, this also allows for the optimization of the amount of heat-treated material used as a stirring medium in the next heat treatment. Alternatively, the "information regarding the addition of the heat-treated material to be used as a stirring medium to the storage section 101b" does not need to include information about a specific quantity, but only needs to include the fact that the heat-treated material to be used will be added to the storage section 101b.

[0116] As another example, CPU21 may directly set the amount of agitator based on the calculated change in weight. Specific methods for calculating the amount of agitator include, for example, using a formula that derives the amount of agitator from the change in the weight of the object being processed, or using a table that lists the change in the weight of the object being processed and the corresponding amount of agitator. Alternatively, the amount of agitator may be calculated using a machine learning model that derives the amount of agitator from the change in the weight of the object being processed.

[0117] As another example, the amount of stirring medium set in S302 may be a predetermined amount.

[0118] As another example, the destination of the information transmitted in S305 and S307 is not limited to the heating apparatus 100, but may be a user terminal used by a user of the heating apparatus 100. In this modified example, the user terminal functions as the "first user terminal." The user terminal receives the information and presents it to the user by displaying it on a browser or the like. The user terminal may be, for example, a mobile phone, tablet PC, notebook PC, or desktop PC, and has the same hardware configuration as the management device 200. Furthermore, the term "user of the heating apparatus 100" as used herein is not limited to a person who directly operates the heating apparatus 100, but includes persons who manage the use of the heating apparatus 100, etc.

[0119] <Third Embodiment> In the second embodiment, a set amount of heat-treated material was used as a stirring medium, but it is also possible to leave all of the generated heat-treated material in the storage section 101b and use it as a stirring medium. In this case, if the material is heat-treated multiple times and the amount of heat-treated material in the storage section 101b increases, it may reach the maximum processing capacity of the storage section 101b.

[0120] Therefore, in the third embodiment of the present invention, a system configuration will be described in which the management device 200 can determine the timing for collecting the heat-treated workpiece and notify the collector. In the following embodiment, components that overlap with those in the above embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals and their description will be omitted.

[0121] As illustrated in Figure 9, the system of this embodiment comprises a heating apparatus 100, a management device 200 and a user terminal 300 connected to the heating apparatus 100 via the Internet 50. The hardware configuration of the heating apparatus 100 and the management device 200 is the same as in the first embodiment, so a description is omitted. In this embodiment, the user terminal 300 functions as a "second user terminal".

[0122] In this embodiment, the user terminal 300 is a terminal used by the person who collects the materials to be processed, and may be, for example, a mobile phone, tablet PC, notebook PC, or desktop PC. The hardware configuration of the user terminal 300 is substantially the same as the hardware configuration of the management device 200 described in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, the "collector" may be any company that collects the materials to be processed, and may include the person who actually collects the materials or the person who instructs that person to collect them.

[0123] Referring to Figure 10, an example of the operation of the management device 200 in this embodiment will be described. The operation of the management device 200 is performed by the cooperation of hardware such as the CPU 21 (second control unit) and the communication unit 29 (second communication unit) and software including the program stored in the storage unit 28.

[0124] As a prerequisite for the processing in this example, it is assumed that the heating treatment for generating one granular material has been completed, the operation described in the first embodiment above has been finished, and the timing is before the next heating treatment is started.

[0125] As illustrated in Figure 10, the CPU 21 receives the final weight of the workpiece at the end of the heating process from the heating apparatus 100, similar to S301 in the second embodiment (S401).

[0126] Next, the CPU 21 determines whether the received final weight is equal to or greater than a predetermined recovery weight for recovering the heat-treated workpiece from the storage unit 101b (S402). The recovery weight can be appropriately set to the upper limit of the weight of the workpiece that can be heat-treated in the storage unit 101b, or a value slightly lower than that upper limit (for example, 80% to 99% of that upper limit).

[0127] If the final weight is equal to or greater than the recovered weight (Yes in S402), recovery information regarding the recovery of the heat-treated material is transmitted to the user terminal 300 of the recoverer (S403). The recovery information includes, for example, the weight of the material to be recovered, and information about the heat treatment apparatus 100 to be recovered (apparatus ID, name of the facility where it is installed, facility ID, address of the facility, etc.). Furthermore, the recovery information may also include information about the constituent materials of the material to be treated at the start of the heat treatment, as described in the modified example of the first embodiment. Including information about the constituent materials of the material to be treated at the start of the heat treatment in the recovery information can contribute to establishing traceability for the recycled material.

[0128] Thus, according to this embodiment, based on the final weight in the storage section 101b, collection information can be automatically transmitted to the user terminal 300 of the collector. This allows the collector to collect the heat-treated material (e.g., recycled material such as granular material) based on the collection information (see Figure 9). Therefore, the collection of the heat-treated material can be requested automatically and at an appropriate time, reducing the workload for the user of the heat treatment device 100.

[0129] <Fourth Embodiment> For example, when a material to be processed, such as heat-treated granular material, is recovered as a recycled material, it is preferable that even if the material to be processed has a relatively high moisture content before processing, it be sufficiently heat-treated under the second heating condition immediately before recovery. Therefore, in the fourth embodiment of the present invention, if the moisture content is above a predetermined value, the optimal heating conditions are further determined based on the weight at the time of processing. In the following embodiments, components that overlap with those in the first embodiment described above are denoted by the same reference numerals and their descriptions are omitted.

[0130] The hardware configuration of the system in this embodiment is the same as in the first embodiment. The operation of the management device 200 will now be described. The operation of the management device 200 is performed by the cooperation of hardware such as the CPU 21 (second control unit) and the communication unit 29 (second communication unit) and software including the program stored in the storage unit 28.

[0131] As a prerequisite for the processing in this example, similar to the first embodiment described above, it is assumed that an employee of a facility such as a childcare facility puts waste, including used absorbent materials, into the input port 101d of the heat treatment device 100, and the heat treatment device 100 starts processing when an input operation such as pressing the operation button on the operation reception unit 17 is performed. Note that steps S501 to S505 in Figure 11 are the same as steps S201 to S205 in Figure 5, so the explanation will be simplified.

[0132] As illustrated in Figure 11, the CPU 21 of the control device 200 receives from the heat treatment device 100 the initial weight of the object to be treated in the containment section 101b at the start of the heat treatment (S501), and receives from the heat treatment device 100 the temperature and weight of the object to be treated in the containment section 101b during the heat treatment, measured at predetermined intervals, and time information regarding the time from the start of the heat treatment to the measurement of the temperature and weight (S502). The CPU 21 then calculates the change in the weight of the object to be treated relative to the initial weight at predetermined intervals (S503), and predicts the moisture content of the object to be treated based on the calculated change in weight (S504).

[0133] Next, the CPU 21 determines whether the predicted moisture content is greater than or equal to a predetermined value (S505). If the predicted moisture content is less than the predetermined value (No in S505), the CPU 21 generates feedback information including second heating conditions for generating recycled material from the material to be processed, similar to S207 in the first embodiment (S507).

[0134] On the other hand, if the predicted moisture content is greater than or equal to a predetermined value (Yes in S505), the CPU 21 then determines whether the weight of the material to be processed is greater than or equal to a predetermined value (S506). This weight of the material to be processed may be the latest weight of the material to be processed at the time of determination, or it may be the initial weight. The "predetermined value" which is the criterion for determining the weight may be the recovered weight as described above, or it may be a value slightly lower than that. An example of a "predetermined value" is a value of 80% by mass or more and 100% by mass or less of the recovered weight.

[0135] If the weight of the material to be processed is greater than or equal to a predetermined value (Yes in S506), the CPU 21 generates feedback information including a second heating condition (S507). In this case, since the weight of the material to be processed is considered to be close to the processing limit of the storage unit 101b, feedback information is generated that includes a second heating condition capable of producing a recyclable material suitable for recovery, such as granular material.

[0136] If the weight of the object to be processed is less than a predetermined value (No in S506), the CPU 21 generates feedback information including first heating conditions for drying the object (S508). In this case, since the weight of the object to be processed has not yet reached the processing limit of the storage unit 101b, feedback information is generated including first heating conditions that enable volume reduction with high energy efficiency.

[0137] Next, the CPU 21 transmits the generated feedback information to the heat treatment device 100 (S509).

[0138] As described above, according to this embodiment, when the weight of the material to be processed approaches the processing limit of the storage section 101b, the second heating condition can be selected even for materials with a high moisture content, making it possible to generate a granular recycled material suitable for recovery from the material to be processed. This allows for a more efficient heating process, as the volume of the material to be processed is reduced by an energy-efficient drying process in principle when the material has a high moisture content, and then the dried material is heated together just before recovery to generate the recycled material.

[0139] <Additional Note> Although embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0140] For example, the configuration of the heating apparatus 100 is not limited to the example described above, and the stirring section 150 may be omitted. Alternatively, the heating apparatus 100 may have only one heating section.

[0141] Furthermore, the facility in which the heat treatment device 100 is installed is not limited to a facility in which used absorbent materials are generated internally, but may be a facility different from the facility in which used absorbent materials are generated. For example, the facility in which the heat treatment device 100 is installed may be a facility where employees of the facility in which used absorbent materials are generated dispose of waste. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0142] 100 Heat treatment apparatus 101b Storage Unit 110,120 Heating section 130 Weight measurement section 140 Temperature measurement section 11. CPU (First Control Unit) 19. Communications Department (1st Communications Department) 200 Management device 21 CPU (Second Control Unit) 29. Communications Department (Second Communications Department)

Claims

1. A recycling management system for managing the recycling of used absorbent articles, A batch-type heat treatment device installed in the facility, A control device located outside the aforementioned facility for managing the heat treatment apparatus, It is equipped with, The aforementioned heating apparatus is A storage section for storing the object to be processed, including the used absorbent article, A heating section for heating the object to be processed in the storage section, A weight measuring unit for measuring the weight of the object to be processed in the storage unit, A temperature measuring unit for measuring the temperature inside the aforementioned storage section, The First Communications Department, which is responsible for communication processing, The system includes a first control unit that controls the heating unit, the weight measuring unit, the temperature measuring unit, and the first communication unit, The aforementioned control device is The Second Communications Department, which is responsible for communication processing, It includes a second control unit that controls the second communication unit, The second control unit is, The initial weight of the object to be processed in the containment section at the start of the heat treatment is received from the heat treatment apparatus. The temperature inside the container and the weight of the object to be processed, measured at predetermined intervals, are associated with time information regarding the time from the start of the heat treatment to the measurement of the temperature and weight, and are received from the heat treatment apparatus. The amount of change in the weight of the object to be processed relative to the initial weight at each predetermined time interval is calculated. Based on the calculated change in weight, the moisture content of the object to be treated is predicted. Based on the comparison of the predicted moisture content with a predetermined value, A first heating condition for drying the object to be processed, wherein the temperature inside the container is lowered after the container reaches a first temperature of 100°C to 170°C or after the rate of change of the weight of the object to be processed per unit time falls below a predetermined value, A second heating condition for generating recycled material from the material to be processed, the second heating condition includes lowering the temperature inside the containment after a predetermined maintenance period has elapsed at a second temperature of 180°C to 400°C inside the containment, Generate feedback information that includes either one of the following: The feedback information is transmitted to the heating apparatus. Resource recycling management system.

2. The second control unit is, If the predicted moisture content is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the feedback information including the first heating conditions is generated. If the predicted moisture content is less than a predetermined value, the feedback information including the second heating conditions is generated. The recycling management system according to claim 1.

3. The predetermined maintenance time for the second heating condition is 1 hour or more and 5 hours or less. The recycling management system according to claim 1.

4. The second control unit is, If the predicted moisture content is less than a predetermined value, the feedback information including the second heating conditions is generated. If the predicted moisture content is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, it is determined whether the weight of the object to be processed is greater than or equal to a predetermined weight. If the weight of the object to be processed is greater than or equal to a predetermined weight, the feedback information including the second heating conditions is generated. If the weight of the object to be processed is less than a predetermined weight, the feedback information including the first heating conditions is generated. The recycling management system according to claim 1.

5. The aforementioned heating apparatus is The system further includes a stirring section controlled by the first control unit, which stirs the material being heated within the containment section. A recycling management system according to claim 1 or 2.

6. The second control unit is, The final weight of the object to be processed at the end of the heat treatment is received from the heat treatment apparatus. The amount of the heat-treated material to be used as the stirring medium in the next heat treatment is set as the amount of the stirring medium. If the amount of the stirring medium is less than or equal to the final weight, information regarding the discharge of the heat-treated material from the containment unit is transmitted to the heat treatment apparatus or to the first user terminal used by the user of the heat treatment apparatus. If the amount of the stirring medium exceeds the final weight, information regarding the addition of the heat-treated material to be processed as the stirring medium to the storage unit is transmitted to the heat treatment apparatus or the first user terminal. The recycling management system according to claim 5.

7. The material to be treated, used as the stirring medium, includes granular material. The recycling management system according to claim 6.

8. The object to be treated, used as the stirring medium, contains a water-absorbent resin. The recycling management system according to claim 6.

9. The second control unit sets the amount of the stirring medium based on the calculated change in weight. The recycling management system according to claim 6.

10. The second control unit is, The final weight of the object to be processed at the end of the heat treatment is received from the heat treatment apparatus. It is determined whether the final weight is equal to or greater than a predetermined recovery weight for recovering the heat-treated material from the storage unit. If the final weight is equal to or greater than the predetermined recovery weight, recovery information regarding the recovery of the heat-treated material is transmitted to a second user terminal used by the person recovering the material. A recycling management system according to claim 1 or 2.

11. The aforementioned used absorbent articles include at least one selected from sanitary napkins, incontinence pads, urine pads, disposable diapers, and panty liners. A recycling management system according to claim 1 or 2.

12. The aforementioned facility is a facility in which the used absorbent articles are generated internally. A recycling management system according to claim 1 or 2.

13. A control device located outside the facility for managing batch-type heat treatment equipment installed in the facility, The Second Communications Department, which is responsible for communication processing, The system comprises a second control unit that controls the second communication unit, The second control unit is, The initial weight of the object to be processed at the start of the heat treatment is received from the heat treatment apparatus in the storage section of the heat treatment apparatus which contains the object to be processed, including used absorbent articles. The temperature inside the container and the weight of the object to be processed, measured at predetermined intervals, are associated with time information regarding the time from the start of the heat treatment to the measurement of the temperature and weight, and are received from the heat treatment apparatus. The amount of change in the weight of the object to be processed relative to the initial weight at each predetermined time interval is calculated. Based on the calculated change in weight, the moisture content of the object to be treated is predicted. Based on the comparison of the predicted moisture content with a predetermined value, A first heating condition for drying the object to be processed, wherein the temperature inside the container is lowered after the container reaches a first temperature of 100°C to 170°C or after the rate of change of the weight of the object to be processed per unit time falls below a predetermined value, A second heating condition for generating recycled material from the material to be processed, the second heating condition includes lowering the temperature inside the containment after a predetermined maintenance period has elapsed at a second temperature of 180°C to 400°C inside the containment, Generate feedback information that includes either one of the following: The feedback information is transmitted to the heating apparatus. Management device.

14. A management method for managing batch-type heat treatment equipment installed in a facility using information processing equipment located outside the facility, The control unit of the information processing device, The initial weight of the object to be processed at the start of the heat treatment is received from the heat treatment apparatus in the storage section of the heat treatment apparatus which contains the object to be processed, including used absorbent articles. The temperature inside the container and the weight of the object to be processed, measured at predetermined intervals, are associated with time information regarding the time from the start of the heat treatment to the measurement of the temperature and weight, and are received from the heat treatment apparatus. The amount of change in the weight of the object to be processed relative to the initial weight at each predetermined time interval is calculated. Based on the calculated change in weight, the moisture content of the object to be treated is predicted. Based on the comparison of the predicted moisture content with a predetermined value, A first heating condition for drying the object to be processed, wherein the temperature inside the container is lowered after the container reaches a first temperature of 100°C to 170°C or after the rate of change of the weight of the object to be processed per unit time falls below a predetermined value, A second heating condition for generating recycled material from the material to be processed, the second heating condition includes lowering the temperature inside the containment after a predetermined maintenance period has elapsed at a second temperature of 180°C to 400°C inside the containment, Generate feedback information that includes either one of the following: The feedback information is transmitted to the heating apparatus. Management method.

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