Waste Conveyance via Tunnel Segmentation and Suction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional waste management systems, including vacuum-based piping systems, are inefficient and costly due to high power consumption and maintenance requirements, and cause environmental and traffic issues with waste trucks driving long distances.
Innovation Solution
Utilizing existing tunnel systems, such as underground traffic tunnels, to convey waste through a combination of piping and rail-based transport, reducing the need for above-ground waste trucks and improving infrastructure utilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If waste is conveyed in piping by means of suction for long distances, then waste can be transported from population centres to waste stations, but extreme amounts of power are used and a lot of maintenance is required
Solution Approach 1:
The waste conveying system is divided into multiple sections: short-distance suction piping within population centres, intermediate waste rooms located along the tunnel route, and long-distance transport via tunnel vehicles. This segmentation allows suction to be used only for short distances where it is efficient, while longer distances are handled by mechanical transport in the tunnel.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention combines multiple waste conveying methods (suction piping, gravitational feeding, and mechanical tunnel transport) into a hybrid system. Waste rooms serve as intermediate collection points where waste from multiple buildings is gathered before being transported together via tunnel vehicles, merging individual waste streams into batch transport.
2Length of moving object
If waste is conveyed in piping by means of suction for long distances, then waste can be transported from population centres to waste stations, but maintenance requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the conveying path into short suction sections ending at intermediate waste rooms, rather than one long continuous suction line. This reduces the total length of suction piping and allows easier access points for maintenance along the tunnel route.
Solution Approach 2:
Waste rooms serve as intermediary collection points that break up the continuous suction piping into manageable sections. These intermediate stations provide access points for maintenance and reduce the complexity of any single suction line segment.
3Ease of operation
If conventional waste trucks drive around on the roads picking up waste, then waste can be collected from buildings, but traffic problems and environmental harm occur
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the waste transport function from the surface road network and relocates it to underground tunnel infrastructure. Waste vehicles operate separately in the tunnel system, removing waste transport from conflict with passenger traffic and eliminating the environmental and traffic problems of surface waste collection.
Solution Approach 2:
The tunnel infrastructure is used for multiple purposes: passenger transport during daytime and waste collection during nighttime or off-peak hours. This multi-functional use of existing tunnel infrastructure eliminates the need for separate surface waste collection routes.
4Stress or pressure
If the pressure difference in suction is kept below 1 bar, then the system can operate with available suction capacity, but flow rates must be designed high creating by-pass flow
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the conveying task into multiple short suction sections rather than one long section requiring high flow rates. Each section handles a limited number of buildings, allowing lower flow rates and reducing by-pass flow problems while maintaining adequate pressure differential.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of designing for high flow rates that cause excessive by-pass flow, the system uses multiple smaller suction sections operating at moderate flow rates. This partial action approach (multiple sections rather than one large section) achieves the same total waste transport with better efficiency.
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
This method provides a cost-effective and environmentally friendly waste conveyance system that decreases traffic congestion and environmental impact by leveraging existing infrastructure, enhancing traffic safety and profitability of tunnel construction.
Implementation Method 1
a vacuum apparatus is used for achieving a pressure difference, in which apparatus underpressure in the conveying pipe is provided with vacuum generators
Implementation Method 2
waste is conveyed in a piping by means of suction
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
AI summary
A waste conveying system in which waste is collected/conveyed, e.g. by a suction system, in a waste container (10) of a regional waste space (16) or a transport container in which/from which the waste is then conveyed to further treatment. The waste space (16) and/or the waste container (10) or the transport container is arranged in a tunnel (20), such as a traffic tunnel, advantageously an underground tunnel, or in its vicinity, or there is a conveying connection from them to the tunnel (20) through which the waste is conveyed away.