Removable Waste Tank Assembly for Urban Collection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current waste collection methods in urban areas face challenges in reaching dense urban areas without interfering with traffic, while minimizing carbon impact and energy consumption, and ensuring efficient waste quantity management.
Innovation Solution
A waste collection assembly featuring a first vehicle with a hopper and a cylindrical tank that can be tilted and transferred to a dumpster using energy-efficient means, allowing for efficient waste collection and evacuation with minimal energy use, and a second vehicle for transporting full tanks to an unloading site, optimizing the transport process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a traditional waste collection vehicle is used to reach dense urban areas, then waste collection can be performed, but traffic interference increases and carbon impact increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the waste collection process into two distinct phases: a lightweight first vehicle collects waste in urban areas using a removable tank, then a heavier second vehicle transports the filled tank to disposal sites. This segmentation allows the urban collection vehicle to be compact and low-emission while the transport function is handled by a more capable vehicle only when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The removable tank acts as an intermediary element between the first collection vehicle and the second transport vehicle. The tank can be easily detached from the first vehicle and mounted on the second vehicle, facilitating efficient transfer without requiring the first vehicle to travel to disposal sites.
2Ease of operation
If energy-intensive transfer means are used to move the tank, then the tank can be transferred and emptied, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system positions the first vehicle and dumpster at comparable elevation levels, allowing the tank to be transferred between them using minimal vertical movement. The tank can tilt and empty by gravity alone when positioned in the dumpster, eliminating the need for energy-intensive lifting and tilting mechanisms on the first vehicle.
Solution Approach 2:
The tank is designed to empty itself by gravity when tilted in the dumpster position. The cylindrical shape and opening configuration allow waste to discharge automatically without requiring active emptying mechanisms, reducing energy consumption.
3Device complexity
If the first vehicle is designed for single tank mounting, then tank transfer is simplified, but waste collection capacity per trip is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from horizontal capacity expansion (multiple tanks on one vehicle) to vertical capacity expansion (tall cylindrical tank). The single tank is designed with sufficient height to provide adequate waste collection capacity while maintaining a compact footprint suitable for urban operations and single-point mounting.
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 solution reduces energy consumption and carbon footprint by allowing for efficient waste collection and evacuation, minimizing interference with urban traffic, and effectively managing waste quantity through optimized transfer and emptying processes.
Implementation Method 1
In the cantilevered retracted position, the tank will be able to tilt by itself by gravity and preferably then rest on the ground (or even preferably in the skip, if an opening in a side wall has been provided to let it pass)
Data Source
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AI summary
The assembly has a bucket for receiving a set of waste storage tanks (1) to be empty. A locking unit locks one of the tanks with the bucket in a reversible manner. The bucket is mounted on another vehicle (9) in a removable manner. The latter vehicle moves the tanks, that are full, towards a water unloading zone (50). A tilting unit (6) tilts the tank locked with the bucket, to empty the tank outside the bucket by a waste receiving opening (10) or by another opening of the tank, by tilting the tank with respect to the bucket and/or by tilting the bucket. An independent claim is also included for a method for collection and evacuation of waste.