Suction device for milled material, scarification equipment and suction of relative milled material, and respective process

Abstract

The present invention relates to a movable suction device for milled material comprising: at least one compartment (50); suction loading means (60) in input to the compartment arranged to de-pressurise the compartment (50) with respect to the external environment and configured to load said milled material into the compartment by suction due to such depression; discharging means (65) in output from the compartment (50), configured to discharge said milled material from the compartment (50) characterised in that it comprises: detection means (58) configured to detect the presence of a shield of milled material (75) interposed between said suction loading means (60) and said discharging means (65); control means (55) operatively connected to the detection means (58) to enable the activation of the discharging means (65) during the operation of the suction loading means (60) when the detection means detect the presence of the shield of milled material (75).

Description

Owner: GROTTI S.R.L. , Via XXX Aprils, 9 - 47025 Mercato Saraceno (FC) , Italy. VAT number: 03769080403Title: Suction device for milled material, scarification equipment and suction of relative milled material, and respective process.★ ★ ★ ★ ★DESCRIPTIONThe present invention relates to a suction device for milled material, scarification equipment and suction of relative milled material, and the respective process. The invention is particularly suited to the removal of milled material generated by scarification in the field of construction and infrastructure, as defined below. In particular, the invention is aimed at the continuous removal of milled concrete material generated continuously during a scarification.PRIOR ARTIn the field of construction and infrastructure, it is often necessary to carry out special scarification processes, understood as precision material removal. Scarification can have several reasons. For example, it is used for restoring artefacts where part of the concrete or concrete is removed to replace it with new layers. The surface to be restored can be of any type, for example the curved vault of a road tunnel, the kerb of a viaduct, a flat wall of a containment wall, etc.The precision scarification of road tunnel vaults is particularly problematic for a number of reasons,including the curved shape, the fall of milled material onto the operating machine, the likelihood of excavating toxic materials such as asbestos, etc.The applicant has developed a very versatile operating machine and relative scarification equipment capable of ensuring a high degree of scarification precision, which has already been the subject of several patent applications, some of which have not yet been published, such as Italian patent application No. 102021000007049, and international applications No. PCT / IB2022 / 062198, PCT / IB2022 / 060185, PCT / IB2022 / 062199.The general layout of such a machine comprises a carriage on which an articulated arm is mounted, at the distal end of which a milling cutter is placed.For the scarification of tunnel vaults, it is necessary to suction the excavated material in order to curb the problems listed above.The applicant has also devised a suction hood which is particularly suited to its machine and protected by Italian patent application 102023000011181, not yet published .Said previous patents of the applicant are referred to herein by incorporation.All of these parts previously devised by the applicant form an optimally functioning scarification machine, except that working efficiency is hampered by the lack of suction means for the resulting milled material to be connected to said hood able to distance it from the workplace.To date, the most common solution is to usevarious lorries provided with sealed vessel suction system, as described for example in 102006901476112 and EP1714830B1.However, these lorries are not capable of discharging the product simultaneously with the suction, whereby it is necessary to have at least two lorries available to alternate between the suction and discharge of the sucked material.This means that the milling machine has to be stopped to connect and disconnect it to the various lorries, resulting in long downtimes. Even wishing to directly discharge the lorry connected to the scarification machine without disconnecting it, patent EP1714830B1 suggests doing so by tilting, but this is impossible in a tunnel, for example, which is the environment in which the machines of the applicant mainly operate and for which they are specialised. Furthermore, also in this case the suction must be interrupted, and so must the work of the scarification machine.The problem is aggravated if the final disposal site of the milled material is far away from the scarification site, because in this case it could be necessary to have a multitude of lorries on hand in order not to wait idly for the travel time, with an unreasonable increase in costs.A first attempt at a solution to this problem can be found in FR3011208A1. Some embodiments of this French patent propose a lorry with a body divided into two compartments, where one suctions and the other discharges. The waiting times are limited to thoserequired to pass the material from the suction compartment to the discharge compartment, as during such an operation the suction must be interrupted since the closed sealing effect which makes it possible is lost.The French patent then proposes an embodiment in which the suction is alternatively passed from one compartment to the other so as to invert their functions and suction can be performed with one compartment and discharge with the other at the same time. This would allow the scarification machine to work without interruptions. However, the system of the French patent is very elaborate and therefore unsuitable for handling rudimentary material such as milled concrete material, as it requires continuous changes of the suction between the two compartments, which are half the total volume of the body. Moreover, it is an expensive system which is delicate from the point of view of maintenance.EP0904978 is also known in the patent literature, which teaches how to make a compartmentalised box where each comprises both a loading and an unloading system. However, this system is not suitable for the simultaneous suction and discharge of milled concrete material, as it poses a deviation to an air-tight compartment. In fact, the loading and unloading system of EP0904978 operate at different times, and always require a connection window with the external environment (see paragraph

[0017] ) .Therefore, there is a latent need in the art for a suction system for milled concrete material to be coupled to the scarification machine of the applicant or other operating machines capable of eliminating downtimedue to waiting for the suctioned material to be discharged, especially in working environments inside tunnels .An aim of the present invention is to overcome all, or some, of the drawbacks of the prior art.A preferred aim of the present invention is to allow milled material to be suctioned and discharged from the same air-tight compartment simultaneously.A further aim of the present invention is to enable the continuous operation of an operating machine by allowing a continuous suction of the milled material generated by it.A further aim of the present invention is to allow said continuous operation for a scarification machine, especially placed to work inside a tunnel.A further aim of the present invention is to enable simple and cost-effective management of the removal of milled material from the workplace.GENERAL INTRODUCTIONThe aims are resolved by the invention as defined in the appended claims.According to a first general aspect thereof, the present invention relates to suction device for milled material comprising:- at least one compartment (50) ; suction loading means (60) in input to the compartment arranged to de-pressurise the compartment (50) with respect to the external environment andconfigured to feed said milled material into the compartment by suction due to such depression; discharging means (65) in output from the compartment (50) , configured to eject said milled material from the compartment (50) characterised in that it comprises:- detection means (58) configured to detect the presence of a shield of milled material (75) interposed between said suction loading means (60) and said discharging means (65) ;- control means (55) operatively connected to the detection means (58) to enable the activation of the discharging means (65) during the operation of the suction loading means (60) when the detection means detect the presence of the shield of milled material (75) .According to a second general aspect thereof, the invention relates to equipment for scarifying and suction of relative milled material characterised in that it comprises at least one suction device of the type indicated above and at least one scarification machine (1) comprising at least one scarification tool (20) and a suction hood (100) coupled to said tool, where the device and the machine are configured to move at least horizontally with respect to the ground (e.g., on a road surface, a railway or the like) , operatively connected to each other by at least one suction conduit 4 interposed between the suction hood and the inlet suction means (65) .According to a third general aspect thereof, theinvention relates to a process for scarification and suction of milled material generated by said scarification characterised by the steps of:- producing milled material by scarification in a continuous manner during a scarification work period; arranging at least one compartment for receiving said milled material;- starting to load the milled material into the suction compartment by means of inlet suction loading means (60) which de-pressurise said compartment with respect to the external environment, where the introduction occurs during the scarification work period;- arranging discharging means (65) for ejecting the milled material from the compartment;- detecting the presence of a shield of milled material (75) in the compartment interposed between the suction loading means (60) and the discharging means (65) ;- starting to discharge the milled material from said compartment by operating the discharging means (65) when the presence of said shield (75) is detected, and continuing to introduce the milled material by suction with the suction loading means (60) during the discharging, generating a simultaneous discharging and loading of the milled material during the scarification work period.DETAILED DESCRIPTIONFurther characteristics and advantages of thepresent invention will become clearer from the following detailed description of some preferred embodiments thereof, with reference to the appended drawings and provided by way of indicative and non-limiting example. In such drawings :Figure 1 shows scarification and suction equipment for relative milled material according to the present invention;- Figure 2 shows a longitudinal section of the vessel of Figure 1 in an empty state;- Figure 3 shows the vessel of Figure 2 in an inlet suction configuration when a substantially sealing amount of milled material is reached;Figure 4 shows the vessel of Figure 3 in a configuration of activating the ejection of the milled material simultaneously with said inlet suction as a result of the milled material reaching said substantially sealing amount;Figures 5 and 6 show respective alternative embodiments of the vessel movement means from the previous figures;- Figure 7 shows the scarification tool to which a suction hood is applied, as also shown in Figure 1.With reference to Figure 1, scarification and suction equipment is shown for relative milled material, preferably concrete, asphalt or the like, according to the present invention, referred to as a whole with reference number 3 and also referred to hereinafter simply as "equipment".In the following vertical and horizontal will conventionally indicate the traditional directions with respect to the ground.Equipment 3 comprises a scarification machine 1, preferably configured for scarifying concrete, asphalt or the like, and a suction device 2 configured to suction the milled material generated by scarification machine 1 during the work.Scarification machine 1 and suction device 2 are movable, e.g., they are configured to move at least horizontally on a road surface, operatively connected to each other by at least one suction conduit 4. For example, they are two operating vehicles, both motorised, or one is placed towing the other, or they may be a single vehicle.Suction conduit 4 is preferably deformable, e.g., of flexible type.Scarification machine 1 is overall a vehicle provided with an undercarriage 5 movable with respect to the ground, on which a carriage 10 is mounted, preferably rotatably, around a vertical axis X. The latter supports and drags into rotation therewith an operating arm 15 and a scarifier tool 20 placed at the distal end of said arm.Operating arm 15 is rotatable with respect to the carriage around a horizontal axis Y' . In particular, arm 15 is rotatable in a vertical plane at least between a lowered operating position, and a raised operating position .Scarifier tool 20 is preferably coupled to the distal end of operator arm 15 in a rotatable manneraround a horizontal adjustment axis Y' ' .This allows trajectory adjustments if the vault of a tunnel must be scarified which deviates from an arc of a circle or if axis Y' is not positioned in the centre of the vault.In association with or as an alternative to the presence of rotation axis Y' ' , a telescopic operating arm 15 can be adopted.With reference to Figure 7, scarifier tool 20 comprises a frame 30 and a milling cutter 40 supported by said frame, in a rotatable position around a milling cutter axis Y' ' ' . The milling cutter axis has at least one horizontal orientation, and preferably can be oriented in a plurality of other orientations.The scarifier tool comprises a suction hood 100 comprising a main body 101 arranged to partially surround the milling cutter, and defining an opening 110 through which the milling cutter 40 is left exposed to the surface to be scarified. Opening 110 defines a milling and suction area 112 in front thereof.Hood 100 comprises an outlet 125 which is connected or connectable to suction conduit 4 by means of a connector 140.Suction device 2 is overall a movable vehicle with respect to the ground, comprising a blowdownresistant vessel 50, e.g., a vat, selectively connectable with the outside only by means of suction loading means 60 and outlet discharging means 65, better visible in Figures 2 to 4.Suction loading means 60 are connected to conduit4 to suction therethrough and through hood 100 the milled material generated by scarifier tool 20.Device 2 comprises control means 55 of the outlet discharging means 65 comprising at least one memory wherein at least one piece of program is stored which is configured to coordinate the activation of the outlet discharge means 65 with the amount of milled material contained in the receptacle 50 while the inlet suction means are active, so that the action of the latter does not have to be interrupted.Control means 55 comprise detection means 58 arranged to detect the presence of a shield 75 of milled material forming between the suction means and discharging means 65 by accumulation. The detection means preferably comprise means for quantifying said amount of milled material 58, for example they comprise at least one of weight sensor means, level sensor means, volume sensor means. For example, level sensor means 58 are placed inside receptacle 50 at the level H corresponding to the amount Q.Control means 55 are configured to determine having reached a triggering amount of milled material Q, also referred to below as shielding amount or separation of the operational effect of suction loading means 60 from the operational effect of discharging means 65, as will be clarified below.Suction loading means 60 comprise at least one decompression assembly 61 placed to create a depression in the receptacle 50, for which purpose it comprises at least one suction outlet opening 63 through which the airis removed from the receptacle, and preferably sent to a filtering assembly 66 (Figure 2) .Suction loading means 60 further comprise at least one suction inlet opening 62 in receptacle 50, through which the milled material is sucked into said receptacle by the depression therein.Receptacle 50 comprises an operating configuration wherein it has a predetermined orientation with respect to the ground. Such a configuration defines the part to be considered the bottom 56 of receptacle 55. For example, the receptacle has a longitudinal main development direction X which is oriented parallel to the ground in said configuration, e.g., in the case of the vat illustrated in Figure 2Discharging means 65 comprise at least one discharge opening 70 from the receptacle and selectively activatable and deactivatable means for opening and closing 72 such discharge opening 70, comprising for example an airtight door. Said discharge opening 70 is arranged at or near bottom 56 and is configured to be totally below level H reached by the triggering amount of milled material Q in said operating configuration. Suction inlet opening 62 and suction outlet opening 63 are instead placed higher with respect to level H. In such a manner, discharge opening 70 is physically and atmospherically substantially shielded with respect to suction openings 62 and 63 by amount of milled material Q, so that, even if operational, discharge opening 70 does not affect the depression of receptacle 50 required for the suction of the milled material, which can occurin an uninterrupted manner, and thus also concurrently with the discharge.In particular, when opening and closing means 72 are opened for discharging the milled material, the latter substantially creates a closing shield 75 of discharge opening 70 inside receptacle 50, operatively interposed between said discharge opening 70 and said suction openings 62 and 63, thereby hindering the modification of the suction depression in the compartment defined by airtight receptacle 50, configuring itself as a pressure shield. Shield 75 is such that the discharging operation allows the simultaneous suction operation in input. Whereby, so as long as the amount of milled material remains equal to or greater than Q, the two operations can be carried out simultaneously within the same compartment.For this purpose, the control means are configured at least to activate discharging means 65 when the inlet suction means are active if the amount of milled material in the receptacle is > Q and preferably to stop them if it becomes < Q.It is also possible to provide control means 55 capable of postponing the start of discharging with respect to reaching the discharge consent condition of amounts of milled material > Q, so that it is advantageously possible to wait for the arrival of a transport vehicle for the discharged milled material without stopping the work of the scarification machine.In addition, the control means can be configured to activate discharging means 65 even in the absence ofactivation of suction loading means 60, in order to allow the complete discharge at the end of the work.The activation of the discharging means comprises at least the opening of opening and closing means 72.The discharging means preferably also comprise conveying means 80 of the milled material to discharge opening 70, also preferably arranged below the level of milled material corresponding to amount Q.Conveying means 80 comprise for example conveyor belt means, screw conveyor means, etc., preferably arranged parallel to bottom 56, e.g., parallel to longitudinal development line X.Alternatively, discharging means 65 can comprise suction means in output from discharge opening 70.According to some alternative embodiments, control means 55 can simply allow or deny the activation of discharging means 65, which are, for example, manually activated. In such a case, it is preferable that device 2 comprises signalling means for signalling when the condition of milled material amount > Q is reached.In use, container 50 is initially empty with discharge opening 70 closed by door 72 in a preferably airtight manner, as shown in Figure 2.In this initial step, conveying means 80 are stationary, while suction loading means 60 are active and accumulate milled material in container 50.Figure 3 shows the step wherein the amount of milled material contained in receptacle 50 reaches obstructing amount Q, triggering at least the consent to activate discharging means 65, more preferably triggeringtheir activation operated by control means 55.Figure 4 shows the step wherein discharging means 65 are active at the same time as suction loading means 60, in particular door 72 is open and conveying means 80 are active.Discharging means 65 can preferably comprise means for protecting 74 discharge opening 70 placed inside container 50. For example, they comprise a cover 74, for example a flange, which surmounts the area in front of discharge opening 70 at a predetermined distance from bottom 56, so as to define an access passage for the milled material towards discharge opening 70 delimited upwards. Such a cover advantageously supports the weight of a part of the milled material on top thereof and thus prevents having an excessive thrust on door 72 when closed.Although so far the invention has been described with reference to a receptacle comprising only one airtight inner compartment, it is also applicable to receptacles with more than one airtight compartment, where at least one is connected to suction loading means 60, to discharging means 65 and to quantification means 58.With reference to Figures 6 and 7, some variants of device 2 are shown with the aim of implying that there are no limits the embodiment thereof in vehicle form, motorised or not. The variants show, by way of example, container 50 mounted on a railway wagon or provided with tracks rather than mounted on a lorry as in Figure 1.Advantageously, milled material can be suctionedcontinuously, including discharging periods, without stopping the scarification machine 1.Advantageously, there is no need to stop either the scarification or the suction in order to connect and disconnect the lorries transporting the milled material to discharging means 65.GENERAL INTERPRETATION OF TERMSIn understanding the object of the present invention, the term "comprising" and its derivatives, as used herein, are intended as open-ended terms that specify the presence of declared characteristics, elements, components, groups, integers and / or steps, but do not exclude the presence of other undeclared characteristics, elements, components, groups, integers and / or steps. The above also applies to words that have similar meanings such as the terms "comprised", "have" and their derivatives. Furthermore, the terms "part", "section", "portion", "member" or "element" when used in the singular can have the double meaning of a single part or a plurality of parts. As used herein to describe the above executive embodiment ( s ) , the following directional terms "forward", "backward", "above", "under", "vertical", "horizontal", "below" and "transverse", as well as any other similar directional term, refers to the embodiment described in the operating position. Finally, terms of degree such as "substantially", "about" and "approximately" as used herein are intended as a reasonable amount of deviation of the modified term suchthat the final result is not significantly changed.While only selected embodiments have been chosen to illustrate the present invention, it will be apparent from this description to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. For example, the sizes, shape, position or orientation of the various components can be modified as needed and / or desired. The components shown which are directly connected or in contact with each other can have intermediate structures arranged between them. The functions of one element can be performed by two and vice versa. The structures and functions of one embodiment can be adopted in another embodiment. All the advantages of a particular embodiment do not necessarily have to be present at the same time. Any characteristic that is original compared to the prior art, alone or in combination with other characteristics, should also be considered a separate description of further inventions by the applicant, including the structural and / or functional concepts embodied by such characteristics. Therefore, the foregoing descriptions of the embodiments according to the present invention are provided for illustrative purposes only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

CLAIMS1. Movable suction device for milled material comprising :- at least one compartment (50) ; suction loading means (60) in input to the compartment arranged to de-pressurise the compartment (50) with respect to the external environment and configured to load said milled material into the compartment by suction due to such depression; discharging means (65) in output from the compartment (50) , configured to discharge said milled material from the compartment (50) characterised in that it comprises:- detection means (58) configured to detect the presence of a shield of milled material (75) interposed between said suction loading means (60) and said discharging means (65) ;- control means (55) operatively connected to the detection means (58) to enable the activation of the discharging means (65) during the operation of the suction loading means (60) when the detection means detect the presence of the shield of milled material (75) .

2. Device according to claim 1, characterised in that said discharging means (65) comprise at least one discharge opening (70) and said suction loading means (60) comprise at least one suction inlet opening (62) arranged to introduce air and milled material into thecompartment, and at least one suction outlet opening (63) arranged to remove air from the compartment to generate said depression, characterised in that it comprises:- quantification means (58) configured to detect having reached a predetermined amount Q of milled material in the compartment, where the compartment is configured so that said predetermined amount Q is housed therein substantially to form a closing shield (75) of said discharge opening (70) interposed between said discharge opening (70) on one side and said suction inlet and outlet openings (62, 63) on the other side;- control means (55) operatively connected to the quantification means (58) configured to allow activation of the discharging means (65) during the operation of the suction loading means (60) when the amount of milled material in the compartment is > Q.

3. Device according to claim 2, characterised in that said shield (75) is placed to provide a suction depression shield sufficient to allow the simultaneous operation of the suction loading means and the discharging means.

4. Device according to any one of claims 2 or 3, characterised in that said control means (55) are configured to control, during the operation of the suction means, the activation of the discharging means (65) when the amount of milled material in the compartment is > Q, and stopping them when said amount isQ.

5. Device according to claim 4, characterised in that the control means (55) are configured to allow the discharging to be postponed with respect to reaching the condition of milled material amount = Q.

6. Device according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterised in that the di charging means (65) comprise at least opening and closing means (72) of said at least one discharge opening (70) comprising at least one airtight door controllable b; the control means (55) .

7. Device according to any one of claims 2 to 6, characterised in that the discharging means (65) comprise means for protecting (74) the discharge opening (70) placed inside the compartment (50) to surmount the area in front of said discharge opening (70) , so as to define an access passage of the milled material towards said discharge opening (70) delimited upwards.

8. Device according to any one of claims 2 to 7, characterised in that said discharging means (65) comprise means for conveying (80) the milled material to said discharge opening (70) , where said discharge opening and said conveying means (80) are placed below the level H of milled material corresponding to amount Q.

9. Equipment for scarifying and suction of relative milled material characterised in that itcomprises at least one suction device according to any one of the preceding claims and at least one scarification machine (1) comprising at least one scarifier tool (20) and a suction hood (100) coupled to said tool, where the device and the machine are configured to move at least horizontally with respect to the ground, operatively connected to each other by at least one suction conduit 4 interposed between the suction hood and the inlet suction means (65) .

10. Equipment according to claim 9, characterised in that said scarification machine comprises: a carriage (5) and an undercarriage (10) configured to allow said movement with respect to the ground;- at least one operating arm (15) rotatable with respect to the carriage around a horizontal axis Y',- at least one scarifier tool (20) placed at the distal end of said arm (15) ;- the scarifier tool (20) comprises a frame (30) and a milling cutter (40) supported by said frame, in a rotatable position around a milling cutter axis Y' ' , where the milling cutter axis has at least a horizontal orientation; the scarifier tool (20) comprises a suction hood (100) arranged to partially surround the milling cutter,- the hood (100) comprises an opening (110) which defines a milling and suction zone (112) in front thereof, through which the milling cutter is exposed tothe surface to be scarified.

11. Scarification and suction process of milled material generated by said scarification characterised by the steps of:- producing milled material by scarification in a continuous manner during a scarification work period; arranging at least one compartment for receiving said milled material;- starting to load the milled material into the compartment by suction by means of suction loading means (60) which de-pressurise said compartment with respect to the external environment, where the introduction occurs during the scarification work period;- arranging discharging means (65) for ejecting the milled material from the compartment;- detecting the presence of a shield of milled material (75) in the compartment interposed between the suction means (60) and the discharging means (65) ;- starting to discharge the milled material from said compartment by operating the discharging means (65) when the presence of said shield (75) is detected, and continuing to introduce milled material by suction with the suction loading means (60) during the discharging, generating a simultaneous discharging and loading of the milled material during the scarification work period.

12. Process according to claim 10, characterised by stopping the discharging means when the absence of said shield is detected (75) and continuing the suctionwith the suction loading means (60) .

13. Process according to claim 11 or 12, characterised in that the discharging is postponed with respect to the moment when the presence of said shield (75) is detected.

14. Process according to any one of claims 11 to 13, characterised in that said shield (75) is detected by detecting the amount of milled material Q in the compartment .

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