Retaining Chute Deflectors to Stop Rebound in Tobacco Sorting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing devices for separating non-tobacco related materials from tobacco flows suffer from inefficiencies due to non-tobacco related materials bouncing off the collecting device and re-entering the purified product flow, reducing sorting efficiency and quality.
Innovation Solution
A device with a retaining device featuring inclined deflecting members that guide non-tobacco related materials into a chute, utilizing gravity and angled collisions to prevent rebounding and ensure efficient separation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If non-tobacco related materials are blown out at high speed into the collecting device, then the separation speed is improved, but the materials bounce off the bottom and rebound into the purified mass flow
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a third dimension by inclining the deflecting members at specific angles (45-60 degrees) relative to the horizontal bottom surface. This angular configuration creates a dimensional component that prevents vertical rebound by redirecting materials laterally into the collecting device, solving the rebound problem while maintaining high rejection speed
Solution Approach 2:
The deflecting members act as intermediary elements between the high-speed rejected materials and the collecting device bottom. These members absorb the kinetic energy of rebounding materials through controlled collisions, preventing them from bouncing back into the purified mass flow while maintaining efficient separation
2Device complexity
If the collecting device is arranged below the mass flow to capture rejected materials, then the separation process is simplified, but rejected materials cannot remain at the bottom and bounce back into the good product
Solution Approach 1:
The deflecting members are positioned in advance within the collecting device to intercept rebounding materials before they can escape back into the purified mass flow. This preliminary positioning of deflection structures ensures that any material attempting to rebound is automatically redirected into the collecting device, maintaining product quality without complex additional mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs curved or angled surfaces of the deflecting members rather than flat horizontal surfaces. This curvature design creates continuous downward and lateral force components that prevent materials from resting on or bouncing off the bottom, ensuring they remain trapped in the collecting device while maintaining simple overall structure
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device significantly reduces the probability of non-tobacco related materials re-entering the good product flow by using deflecting members to redirect and trap materials, enhancing sorting efficiency and quality.
Implementation Method 1
a rejection device which is designed to receive the non-tobacco related material detection signal and to remove the non-tobacco related material pneumatically from the mass flow by applying a pulse directed transversely to the transport direction of the mass flow in a rejection direction to the non-tobacco related material and deflecting the latter as a result
Implementation Method 2
A first effect consists of a collision of the non-tobacco related material moving in the rejection direction. A second effect consists of a collision of a rebounding non-tobacco related material which is substantially moving in the opposite direction to the rejection direction
Implementation Method 3
The retaining device is preferably arranged geodetically below the mass flow, that is to say, lower in the direction of gravity. During the sorting process, the mass flow flies over an upper opening of the retaining device in a propulsion path.
Data Source
AI summary
A device and method for separating non-tobacco related materials from a mass flow. The device includes a feed device to convey the mass flow in a transport direction; a detection device detecting a non-tobacco related material in the mass flow and generating and transmitting a non-tobacco related material detection signal; a rejection device receiving the non-tobacco related material detection signal and removing the non-tobacco related material from the mass flow by deflecting the non-tobacco related material in a rejection direction; a discharge device receiving the mass flow from which the non-tobacco related material has been removed; and a non-tobacco related material receiving device to receive the removed non-tobacco related material. The non-tobacco related material receiving device can include a retaining device in a form of a chute with chute walls delimiting a retaining volume, and at least one deflecting member oriented at a downward angle from the chute walls.