Facility and method for sorting elements made from textile fibres

Abstract

The invention relates to a facility for sorting elements made from textile fibres to be recycled made of one material and / or one colour, including means for detecting the colour and / or material, the elements detected as being made of the material and / or colour being sent to first conveying means with a first outlet to form a first deposit, while the other elements are not sent there, the elements of the first deposit are conveyed to a cutting facility to cut the elements into pieces, means for transferring the pieces into second means for detecting the material and / or colour, the pieces detected as being made of the material and / or colour being sent to second conveying means with a second outlet in order to obtain a second deposit, while the other detected pieces are not sent there.

Description

Description Title of the invention: Installation and method for sorting elements based on textile fibers

[0001] [The present invention relates to an installation and a method for sorting elements made from textile fibers, in particular clothing, in particular used clothing, with a view to recycling the textile fibers.

[0002] It is already known to sort used clothing according to the textile fibre composition of these garments, in particular by means of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy detection systems, which make it possible to determine the IR spectrum of the garment and consequently its composition, for example whether it is 100% cotton, 50-50 cotton polyester, 70-30 cotton polyester or similar.

[0003] However, these sorting installations suffer from a great imprecision concerning the compositions detected, in particular due to the fact that the garments subjected to infrared are only detected with regard to their materials and / or colors in their external parts, even though internal parts, for example pockets or linings, which are not detected, may not be made of the same material and / or the same color, which distorts the results of the detection and the resulting sorting. From CN-B- 107237011, an installation is known according to the preamble of claim 1.

[0004] The present invention aims to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art by providing an installation and a method for sorting textile elements, in particular clothing, allowing better quality sorting.

[0005] According to a first aspect of the invention, an installation for sorting elements made from textile fibers to be recycled into at least one material and / or at least one color, for example cotton, in particular clothing, comprises means for detecting the color or colors of each element to be sorted and / or the material or materials constituting each element to be sorted, in particular infrared (IR) detection means, in particular near infrared (NIR) detection means, making it possible to detect the material or materials constituting the element to be sorted according to its infrared (IR) spectrum, in particular its near infrared (NIR) spectrum, the elements detected as being in the at least one material and / or color being sent to first conveying means of first output to form a first deposit, while the other elements detected as not being in the at least one material and / or color not being sent to the first conveying means, the elements of the first deposit being conveyed into a cutting installation, characterized in that the cutting installation is arranged to cut the elements into pieces, in particular each having a respective surface area, measured on one side only, of less than 400 cm 2 , preferably between 25 and 100cm 2, and means are provided for passing the pieces from the cutting installation into second means for detecting the material or materials constituting each piece to be sorted and / or the color or colors of each piece to be sorted, in particular second IR detection means, in particular NIR, the pieces detected as being in the at least one material and / or color being sent to second conveying means of second output, to obtain a second deposit, while the pieces detected as not being in the at least one material and / or color are not sent to the second conveying means of second output.

[0006] Thus, by making these cuts, in particular following pieces of various shapes, for example tiles, of small dimensions, for example having a surface (measured on one side only) preferably less than 400cm 2 , in particular between 25 and 100 cm 2, for example of the order of A5 sheets, we manage to improve the quality of sorting, in particular to increase the actual percentage, compared to the sorting objective, of the final deposit obtained. For example, if the first deposit has a first sorting accuracy rate compared to the material and / or color of the element that we wish to recycle, the second sorting accuracy rate of the second deposit is higher than the first rate.

[0007] Preferably, the first and second detection means are identical, and in particular are merged, that is to say that the pieces are returned to the same first detection means.

[0008] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, and which in itself is capable of constituting a second aspect of the invention independent of the first aspect but which can be combined in a favorable manner with it, there is provided, after the cutting installation and before the second detection means, an installation for removing / eliminating, among the pieces of the elements of the first deposit, those which integrate parts made of high-density material, in particular buttons, buckles, zips or the like, in particular by gravitational separation of the pieces according to their weight.

[0009] Preferably and according to a characteristic which in itself constitutes another aspect of the invention independent of the aspects of the invention described previously, and which could thus be the subject of an invention as such, at least one conveyor in the sorting line comprises an endless unrolling belt of which at least one upper strand is arranged inclined upwards, hooking means, for example hooks, spikes or the like, projecting from the belt of the endless unrolling belt, the projections being arranged at a distance from each other so as to hook element after element, to thus ensure that the elements are not conveyed while being superimposed, in particular an input conveyor in the second detection means comprises an endless unrolling belt of which at least one upper strand is arranged inclined upwards, hooking means, for example hooks, spikes or the like, projecting from the belt of the endless unrolling belt,the projections being arranged at a distance from each other so as to hook piece after piece, thus ensuring that the pieces are not conveyed while being superimposed.,

[0010] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the pieces of the second deposit are transported, in particular in the form of bales, to a shredding installation.

[0011] The present invention also relates to a method for sorting elements made from textile fibers in at least one material and / or color to be recycled, for example cotton, comprising the steps in which: - we take a set of elements made from textile fibers; - they are passed through first means of detection of the material(s) constituting each element to be sorted and / or of the color(s) of each element to be sorted, in particular means of detection by IR, in particular NIR, depending on the IR spectrum, in particular NIR, of the material(s) of each element to be sorted; - depending on the result of the first detection, the elements detected as being in at least one material and / or color are grouped into a first deposit; - the said first deposit is sent to a cutting installation, in which the elements of the said first deposit are cut into pieces, for example having a surface area (measured on one side only) preferably less than 400cm 2 , in particular between 25 and 100 cm 2 , for example in the form of tiles; and - the pieces of the first deposit resulting from the cutting are passed again through second means for detecting the material(s) constituting each element to be sorted and / or the color(s) of each element to be sorted, in particular means for detecting by IR, in particular NIR, as a function of the infrared spectrum, in particular near infrared, of the material(s) of each element to be sorted, namely either the same first detection means or other detection means; - depending on the result of the second detection, the elements detected as being in at least one material and / or one color are grouped into a second deposit.

[0012] According to a preferred embodiment, the pieces cut from the first deposit, before passing through the second detection means, are separated from the pieces, those comprising parts made of a high-density material, in particular buckles, zips, buttons, decoration and the like, in particular a gravitational separation, and only the pieces without parts made of a high-density material are sent to the second detection means.

[0013] According to advantageous embodiments, the first and / or second conveying means may be belts, in particular endless belts, and / or comprise pneumatic and / or aeraulic means, in particular pneumatic and / or aeraulic pipes.

[0014] By way of example, a preferred embodiment of the invention is described with reference to the figures, in which an installation and a method according to the invention are schematically illustrated.

[0015] In Figure 1, a first part of an installation according to an embodiment of the invention is described, first part in which a first sorting step is carried out;

[0016] In Figure 2, a second part of the installation of the embodiment of Figure 1 is described, a second part in which a step of cutting into pieces is carried out in particular and in which a second sorting step is carried out;

[0017] In Figure 3, a part of the first part described in Figure 1 is described in more detail.

[0018] In Figure 1, the first part 1 of the installation comprises a conveyor 2 in the form of an endless belt inclined upwards which is supplied with used clothing in its lower part.

[0019] At the top of the conveyor 2, the clothes to be sorted fall onto a horizontal conveyor 3 which transports the clothes to a drum 4 with hooks, hooks which hook garment after garment to make them fall onto a belt of a detection installation 6 comprising a near infrared (NIR) gantry.

[0020] This 6 NIR portal, well known in the field, sends an IR light beam onto the detected garment and determines the respective NIR light spectrum based on the beam reflected by the detected garment on an appropriate sensor of the 6 NIR portal. Reference may be made in particular to document DE19920592A1 for a detailed description of this type of NIR portal.

[0021] Thus, each garment can be sorted according to its spectrum. In particular, the composition of this garment can be determined, for example whether it is made of cotton, polyester, a cotton and polyester blend and / or any other material. It should be noted, however, that the determined spectrum only gives the composition based on the upper surface of the item or garment that has been irradiated by the NIR beam, and obviously the composition thus detected may prove to be somewhat imprecise, in particular if the element or garment has internal parts which could not be irradiated by the NIR beam and which turn out to be made of a material other than that detected for the upper surface of the element. There is thus an accuracy rate for the detection and the sorting which follows, the accuracy rate being equal to the actual percentage of the material to be recycled compared to that determined by the first NIR detection, necessarily higher than the actual rate. The object of the present invention is in particular to improve the accuracy rate of the sorting.

[0022] A plurality of ejection nozzles, not visible in the figure, are positioned directly downstream of the NIR gantry 6 and, by means of a central control system 7, connected to the gantry 6 and to the nozzles, eject the garments to send them, each, according to their respective material(s) determined by their respective spectrum, towards three first transverse conveyors 8, 9, 10 of first exit to thus form three first deposits R, N, B.

[0023] Depending on the material detected by the NIR gantry 6, the nozzles either eject downwards by blowing the VR clothes intended to fall immediately at the exit of the gantry 6 conveyor belt into the first deposit R, or perform no action on the clothes intended to fall into the second deposit N, or give an impulse to send the VB clothes intended to fall into the third deposit B.

[0024] Thus, in the example shown, the clothes are sorted into three categories, defined in advance by the user according to the material composition, a first category R consisting of pure cotton, a second category N consisting of a mixture of cotton and polyester, and a third category B consisting of everything that is not cotton or cotton and polyester.

[0025] The clothes from each deposit R, N, B are sent out of the first transverse conveyors forming the first deposits R, N, B into respective inclined conveyors 11 to be baled in a packaging station 12.

[0026] In Figure 2, the bales 13 of at least one R of the first three deposits, namely that consisting of the clothing having been determined to be made, in terms of textile fibers, of 100% cotton, are introduced into a cutting installation 14, such as a guillotine, in which each garment of said first deposit R in question is cut into pieces of various more or less regular shapes approaching a square or rectangle, with a dimension preferably less than 400cm 2 , in particular between 25 and 100cm 2 , to obtain strips which are then sent under a second guillotine 15 carrying out a vertical back and forth movement to obtain the targeted small-sized pieces on the surface.

[0027] The cutting installation 14,15 is implemented to ensure that the pieces are preferably square or rectangular in shape, but taking into account the hazards, in particular linked to the passages, on the one hand from the unpacking station to the first cutting station and on the other hand from the first to the second cutting station, which tend to orient the cut elements randomly, the shapes of the pieces can be very diverse, generally in the shape of polygons, regular or irregular.

[0028] These pieces are then transferred to a facility for separating pieces containing elements made of high-density material, such as zips, buttons, buckles and other decorations, particularly made of metal. The facility carries out this separation in two gravity separation stations 16, 16' arranged one after the other, the pieces not containing elements made of high-density material being less heavy and thus being able to be sucked upwards by a suction nozzle, while the pieces containing elements of high density cannot, due to their weight, be sucked upwards and thus fall downwards to be grouped and rejected and / or reprocessed to recover, if desired, the materials, particularly metallic, from the high-density elements.

[0029] The light pieces, that is to say consisting solely or substantially solely of textile fibers, are then transferred into the gantry 6 NIR, or, as shown in Figure 2, another gantry 6' NIR, to carry out a second sorting to obtain second deposits R', N', B' sent into second transverse conveyors 17, 18, 19 according to the same sorting criteria as the sorting carried out at the outlet of the first detection means in the first part of the installation.

[0030] For example, if we want to recover mainly cotton fibers, the first deposit R is cut into pieces and the same sorting is carried out to send again the pieces containing only cotton to the second deposit R', the pieces containing a mixture of polyester and cotton to the second deposit N' and the pieces containing not only cotton or a cotton / polyester mixture to the second deposit B'.

[0031] Thus, thanks to this "purification" operation, it is possible to obtain higher accuracy rates for the second deposits than for the first deposits. It is also possible to envisage reproducing the operation of passing the pieces from the second deposit again, one or more times, in the second detection device to further improve the accuracy rate.

[0032] The operations described above in connection with the first deposit R in 100% cotton can be implemented in the same way for the first deposit N of cotton and polyester mixture.

[0033] In addition, the criteria for the second sorting could also be modified, if desired, compared to those for the first sorting. For example, in the second sorting, after cutting into pieces, for the first deposit N consisting of cotton and polyester blends, the sorting can be refined by carrying out the second deposits according to the percentage composition of the blend, for example, defining one of the second deposits for a 50-50 cotton polyester blend and one of the second deposits for a 70-30 blend.

[0034] Once the cotton pieces are obtained, they are passed through a shredding facility to recover the fibers.

[0035] In Figure 3, there is shown a loader 30 for the distribution of pieces which can be placed, in particular as shown in Figure 2, at the entrance to a gravity separation installation and / or the NIR gantry for the second NIR detection.

[0036] This loader 30 comprises a horizontal endless inlet belt 31 with a smooth surface on which the pieces to be processed (for example gravity separation or IR detection) are deposited (for example by another endless outlet belt from the cutting installation) at the outlet of the loader. Following the inlet belt 31, there is an endless belt 32 with tips. This endless belt 32 extends around three rollers, a lower roller 33, an upper roller 34 and a front roller 35.

[0037] The belt 32 comprises a first strand 36 extending between the lower roller 33 and the upper roller 34, being inclined upwards, in particular at an angle greater than 45° relative to the horizontal direction of the inlet belt, in particular an angle greater than 60°, for example 75°. A second strand 37 extends between the upper roller 34 and the front roller 35, being substantially vertical. A third strand 38 extends between the front roller 35 and the lower roller 33, the three strands 36, 37 and 38 following one another to form the endless belt.

[0038] The upper roller 34 is of larger diameter than the lower roller 33 and the front roller 35.

[0039] The front roller 35 is at an intermediate height between the height of the lower roller 33 and that of the upper roller 34. The outer surface (opposite the rollers) of the belt made up of the three strands has spikes 39 which project from the belt and are oriented so as to be able to hook a piece at the front end roller 40 of the inlet belt 31. Each spike can thus draw upwards an individual piece taken at the end roller 40 and release it after the upper roller 34 to make it fall through an outlet opening 50 of the loader, the pieces thus falling in rain downwards through this opening onto an upstream belt introducing them, well separated from each other, into a further treatment station, such as a gravity separation station or an N IR detection station.

[0040] Two outer rollers 42 rear and 43 front are arranged respectively upstream and downstream of the upper roller 34. The rear roller 42 is arranged to prevent several pieces from being caught by the same spike of the belt 32, by preventing the passage of more than one piece at a time. The front roller 43 is arranged to prevent pieces from remaining caught on spikes of the spiked belt 32, thus ensuring that the pieces detach well from the belt 32 and fall into the opening 50.

[0041] The two outer rollers 42 and 43 preferably have the same diameter, have pointed portions projecting from their periphery and rotate in opposite directions, the rear outer mat 42 preferably rotating in the same direction as the spiked mat 32.

[0042] An example with three first conveyors and three second conveyors has been described above. However, while remaining within the scope of the present invention, it is possible to choose numbers other than three for these first and second conveyors, in particular only two or, on the contrary, more than three, for example four or five.

[0043] In the embodiment described in the figures, sorting is carried out according to the material of the textile fibers to be sorted for recycling. It would also be possible to carry out sorting according to the colors of the fibers with an installation according to the invention, either as a replacement for sorting according to the materials or in addition to it. To sort the colors, an optical visualization device is preferably used, in particular cameras which allow easy detection of the colors and therefore their sorting.

Claims

Claims

1. [installation for sorting elements made from textile fibers to be recycled into at least one material and / or at least one color, for example cotton, in particular clothing, comprising means (6) for detecting the color or colors of each element to be sorted and / or the material or materials constituting each element to be sorted, in particular infrared (IR) detection means, in particular near infrared (NIR) detection means, making it possible to detect the material or materials constituting the element to be sorted according to its infrared (IR) spectrum, in particular its near infrared (NIR) spectrum;first means (8, 9, 10) for conveying a first output, the elements detected as being in the at least one material and / or color being sent to the first conveying means (8, 9, 10) to form a first deposit (R, N, B), while the other elements detected as not being in the at least one material and / or color are not sent to the first conveying means (8, 9, 10); the installation comprising a cutting installation (14) in which the elements of the first deposit are conveyed, characterized in that the cutting installation (14) is arranged to cut the elements into pieces, in particular each having a respective surface, measured on one side only, of less than 400 cm; 2 , preferably between 25 and 100cm 2; second means (17, 18, 19) for conveying a second output; means for passing the pieces coming from the cutting installation (14) into second means for detecting the material or materials constituting each piece to be sorted and / or the color or colors of each piece to be sorted, in particular second means (6') for IR detection, in particular NIR, the pieces detected as being in the at least one material and / or color being sent to the second conveying means (17, 18, 19), to obtain a second deposit (R', N', B'), while the pieces detected as not being in the at least one material and / or color are not sent to the second conveying means (17, 18, 19).

2. Installation according to claim 1, characterized in that the means (6) for detecting the material or materials constituting each element to be sorted are near infrared (NIR) detection means making it possible to detect the material or materials constituting the element to be sorted according to its spectrum (NIR).

3. Installation according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first and second detection means (6, 6') are identical, and in particular are merged, that is to say that the elements in pieces are returned to the same first detection means.

4. Installation according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the pieces each have a respective surface area, measured on one side only, of less than 400 cm 2 , preferably between 25 and 100cm 2 .

5. Installation according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that there is provided, after the cutting installation (14) and before the second detection means (6'), an installation for removing / eliminating, among the pieces of the first deposit, those which integrate parts made of high-density material, in particular buttons, buckles, zips or the like, in particular by gravitational separation of the pieces according to their weight.

6. Installation according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that an input conveyor in the second detection means (6') comprises an endless unrolling belt (32) of which at least one upper strand (36) is arranged inclined upwards, hooking means, for example hooks, spikes or the like, projecting from the belt of the endless unrolling belt, the projections being arranged at a distance from each other so as to hook piece after piece to thus ensure that the pieces are not conveyed while being superimposed.

7. Method for sorting elements made from textile fibers in at least one material and / or color to be recycled, for example cotton, comprising the steps in which: - we take a set of elements made from textile fibers; - they are passed through first means (6) for detecting the material(s) constituting each element to be sorted and / or the color(s) of each element to be sorted, in particular NIR detection means as a function of the NIR spectrum of the material(s) of each element to be sorted; - depending on the result of the first detection, the elements detected as being in at least one material and / or color are grouped into a first deposit (R, N, B); - said first deposit is sent to a cutting installation (14), in which the elements of said first deposit are cut into pieces, for example having a surface area (measured on one side only) preferably less than 400cm 2 , in particular between 25 and 100 cm 2 , for example in the form of tiles; and - the pieces of the first deposit resulting from the cutting are passed again into second means (6') for detecting the material(s) constituting each element to be sorted and / or the color(s) of each element to be sorted, in particular NIR detection means as a function of the NIR spectrum of the material(s) of each element to be sorted, namely either the same first detection means or other detection means; - depending on the result of the second detection, the elements detected as being in at least one material and / or one color are grouped into a second deposit (R', N', B').

8. Method according to claim 7, characterized in that on the pieces cut from the first deposit, before passing into the second detection means (6'), a separation is carried out, among the pieces, of those comprising parts made of a high-density material, in particular buckles, zips, buttons, decoration and the like, in particular a gravitational separation, and only the pieces without parts made of a high-density material are sent into the second detection means (6'), j

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