Office equipment for paper recycling

Abstract

An office paper recycling apparatus within a unitary body makes new office paper for use in office equipment from used office machine paper. The apparatus comprises a paper-shredding portion; a pulping portion; a paper-forming portion; a paper-press portion; a paper-drying portion; a paper-finishing portion having a means to trim the paper, a means to adjust the paper forming process by monitoring the stiffness properties and fiber orientation and a means to remove dust debris; and, a paper-collecting portion, where the new sheets are collected and stacked, ready to be used in office equipment.

1 . An office paper recycling apparatus for producing office machine quality paper within a unitary body from used office machine paper, the apparatus comprising:
 a paper-shredding portion configured to cut a sheet of used paper into fragments and shred said fragments;   a pulping portion configured to transform shredded fragments from the paper-shredding portion into a paper slurry;   a paper-forming portion comprising a flow box configured to adjustably flow and consolidate the paper slurry into a thin mat forming a paper web on a moving belt;   a paper-press portion configured to remove water from the paper web;   a paper-drying portion configured to dry the paper web;   a paper-finishing portion comprising:
 an ultrasonic control device comprising an ultrasonic wave transmitter and a plurality of ultrasonic wave receivers, wherein the ultrasonic control device is configured to output pattern measurements related to stiffness properties and fibers orientation along a plurality of directions on the paper web; 
 a computer readable medium for storing instructions which when executed cause a computer to perform the following steps: 
 calculating the Tensile Stiffness Index and the Tensile Stiffness Orientation of the paper web from the output of the ultrasonic control device; and, 
 adjusting the flow of paper slurry from the flow box and the speed of the moving belt to control the degree of anisotropy of paper web; 
   a slitting knife and transversal rotary blade configured to cut the paper web to single sheet dimensions; and,   a means to remove dust debris comprising a suction roller configured to remove dust from the paper surface; and,   a paper-collecting portion configured to place a paper sheet in a stack.   
   
   
       2 . The office paper recycling apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a paper-sizing portion configured to smooth the surface of the paper web after it leaves the paper-drying portion. 
   
   
       3 . The office paper recycling apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the pulping portion comprises a pulping unit; a deflaking unit; a washing unit; a holding tank; a screen; and, a waste collecting tank. 
   
   
       4 . The office paper recycling apparatus of  claim 3  wherein the deflaking unit comprises a refining unit wherein the fibers in the slurry can be shortened and homogenized. 
   
   
       5 . The office paper recycling apparatus of  claim 4  wherein the deflaking unit further comprises a toothed rotor and a stator and is capable of breaking up clots in a fiber slurry. 
   
   
       6 . The office paper recycling apparatus of  claim 3  wherein the washing unit is a magnetic device capable of removing agglomerated ink. 
   
   
       7 . The office paper recycling apparatus of  claim 3  wherein the washing unit is capable of removing ink from the slurry. 
   
   
       8 . The office paper recycling apparatus of  claim 3  wherein the holding tank comprises propellers to enable the creation of an homogeneous slurry. 
   
   
       9 . The office paper recycling apparatus of  claim 3  wherein the holding tank is capable of receiving chemical additives from a plurality of auxiliary tanks. 
   
   
       10 . The office paper recycling apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the moving belt comprises a rotatable forming drum with a wire mesh surface, wherein said drum is partially submerged in dilute pulp slurry in a vessel and wherein the wire mesh surface is capable of spreading and consolidating the slurry and forming a paper web when the drum is rotated. 
   
   
       11 . The office paper recycling apparatus of  claim 10  wherein the moving belt comprises a continuous fabric belt wound around a circumferential segment of the rotatable forming drum configured to drain water from the paper web into the vessel. 
   
   
       12 . The office paper recycling apparatus of  claim 11  wherein the vessel is configured to recycle water to the pulping portion. 
   
   
       13 . The office paper recycling apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the paper-press portion comprises a plurality of suction rollers wherein said suction rollers form a double nip with a nip roller to enable pressing out water from the paper web. 
   
   
       14 . The office paper recycling apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the paper-drying portion comprises,
 two series of heated cylinders;   two paper-drying fabric belts; and   a plurality of rollers;   
     wherein the drying portion is configured to alternate the paper web through the heated cylinders on the paper-drying fabric belts along the rollers such that water can be removed from the paper web and fabric belts by vaporization through the transfer of heat from the heated cylinders. 
   
   
       15 . The office paper recycling apparatus of  claim 14  wherein the paper-drying portion further comprises a fan capable of removing the vaporized water from the apparatus. 
   
   
       16 . The office paper recycling apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a computer, the computer comprising computer readable memory for storing instructions which when implemented on the computer automatically operate and control working parameters of each portion of the apparatus to produce a uniform structure and composition on both sides of a sheet of paper, wherein the working parameters comprise: balance between fiber lengths, fiber orientation, fiber distribution on top and bottom sides of the paper web during the paper forming process, paper web top and bottom sides drying, amount of filler, and moisture content. 
   
   
       17 . A process of making new paper from used paper using the apparatus of  claim 1  comprising the steps of,
 transforming used paper into a slurry of water and fibers in the pulping portion;   flowing and consolidating the slurry into a thin mat forming a paper web in the paper-forming portion;   measuring paper web properties and fibers orientation while flowing and consolidating the slurry;   adjusting the flow of paper slurry from the flow box and the speed of the moving belt to control the degree of anisotropy of the paper web;   removing water from the paper web in the paper-press portion;   drying the paper web in the paper-drying portion;   trimming the paper web to a sheet in the paper-finishing portion;   removing dust coming from sheeter and slitter operations or paper surface debris; and,   placing the sheet in a stack in the paper-collecting portion.