Apparatus and method for recycling bituminous material bodies by melting

Abstract

The invention shows an apparatus for recycling bituminous material bodies by melting, in particular for recycling bituminous composite material bodies comprising a composite material and a bituminous material, in particular roofing materials, in particular in the form of bituminous covering layers of roofing sheets, the apparatus including: a vessel having a vessel wall surrounding an interior space of the vessel extending along a vertical axis of the vessel for receiving the bituminous material bodies, a bottom plate and a compression plate extending transverse to the vertical axis wherein at least the compression plate has a number of through flow orifices adapted to allow a through flow of molten bituminous material, wherein the plates are movable along the vertical axis such that in a first operating state the compression plate is in a middle position for forming a melting space of larger size between the compression plate and the bottom plate for melting bituminous material in the melting space wherein the bottom plate is in a melting position, in a second operating state the compression plate is in a lower position for forming a compression space of minor size between the compression plate and the bottom plate for compressing solid residues and/or solid composite material in the compression space, and wherein molten bituminous material is retained in a storing space above the compression plate for storing and/or discharging bituminous material, wherein the bottom plate is in a compression position, wherein the compression plate is movable from the middle position to the lower position.

1 . Apparatus for recycling bituminous material bodies by melting the apparatus comprising:
 a vessel having a vessel bottom ( 15 ) and a vessel wall surrounding an interior space of the vessel extending along a vertical axis of the vessel for receiving the bituminous material bodies,   a bottom plate ( 61 ) and a compression plate ( 62 ) extending transverse to the vertical axis wherein at least the compression plate has a number of through flow orifices adapted to allow a through flow of molten bituminous material wherein the plates are movable along the vertical axis such that   in a first operating state the compression plate is in a middle position for forming a melting space of larger size between the compression plate and the bottom plate for melting bituminous material in the melting space wherein the bottom plate is in a melting position,   in a second operating state the compression plate is in a lower position for forming a compression space of minor size between the compression plate and the bottom plate for compressing solid residues and/or solid composite material in the compression space, and   
       wherein
 molten bituminous material is retained in a storing space above the compression plate for storing and/or discharging bituminous material, wherein the bottom plate is in a compression position, wherein 
 the compression plate is movable from the middle position to the lower position, 
 in a third operating state the compression plate is in an upper position for forming a discharge space between the compression plate and the bottom plate for discharging bituminous materials from the discharge space, wherein the bottom plate is in a discharge position, and 
 the discharge position of the bottom plate is adapted such that the bottom plate surface aligns with a slider element of a slide and/or a discharge receipt tray, wherein the slide is adapted to move the slider element along the surface of the bottom plate to move the compressed solid residues and/or composite material to the discharge receipt tray. 
 
     
     
         2 . Apparatus according to  claim 1  wherein the compression plate is movable from the middle position to the lower position with a downward velocity below an upper limit, wherein
 the upper limit of the downward velocity and the through flow orifices are in a form adapted to
 retain the composite material and/or other solid residues below the compression plate in a state of operation when moving the compression plate from the middle position to the lower position with the downward velocity, such that 
 a passive filter means below the compression plate is provided by means of the composite material and/or other solid residues. 
 
 
     
     
         3 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the upper limit of the downward velocity is between 10 cm/min and 15 cm/min and the downward velocity is above 0 cm/min. 
     
     
         4 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the through flow orifices are in the form of slits having a lower slit width and an upper slit length, and/or—the orifices have parallel boundary surfaces. 
     
     
         5 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the through flow orifices lower cross-sectional dimension or lower width or slit width is below 10 mm. 
     
     
         6 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of a sum of open cross-sections of orifices to the total closed area of the compression plate is below 10%. 
     
     
         7 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein a hydraulic and/or pneumatic drive is adapted to move at least the compression plate along the vertical axis from the middle position to the lower position with the downward velocity and wherein the drive is adapted to move at least the compression plate along the vertical axis by exerting pressure at least to a first number of drive rods adapted to move the compression plate between said positions. 
     
     
         8 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein a second number of guidance rods are adapted to establish a guidance link at least of the bottom plate to the compression plate
 wherein
 a lower distance between the bottom plate and the compression plate is variable dependent on the position of the compression plate, and 
 an upper distance between the bottom plate and the compression plate is limited by a stop collar of the drive and/or guidance rods. 
   
     
     
         9 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein a drive rod extends to a first line of openings in said plates and a guidance rod extends to a second line of openings in said plates,
 wherein
 a first line of openings in said plates is located on an outer circumference line on a respective plate and a second line of openings in said plates is located on an inner circumference line on a respective plate. 
   
     
     
         10 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the number of drive rods and the number of guidance rods and respective openings are the same wherein each rod is arranged along a first and second inner circumferential cylindrical shape. 
     
     
         11 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a cover plate wherein the compression plate is arranged between the bottom plate and the cover plate, and wherein
 when the bottom plate is in the melting position, the bottom plate in a lowermost region of the vessel wall along the vertical axis and the vessel is closed by the cover plate and the compression plate is in an upper region of the vessel wall along the vertical axis, and/or   when the bottom plate is in the compression position, the bottom plate in a lowermost region of the vessel wall along the vertical axis and the vessel is closed by the cover plate and the compression plate is in a lower region of the vessel wall along the vertical axis, and/or   when the bottom plate is in the discharge position, the vessel is open and the compression plate and the cover plate are in a region above the vessel wall along the vertical axis, the bottom plate is in the region above the vessel wall along the vertical axis.   
     
     
         12 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the interior space is adapted for receiving the bituminous materials, wherein the vessel wall has an inner wall defining the interior space and adapted for contacting the bituminous materials, and
 an outer wall defining an annular space between the inner wall and the outer wall, which annular space is adapted to receive a heating liquid for heating the interior space and/or   the vessel comprising a microwave heating arrangement adapted to heat the interior space.   
     
     
         13 . Apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein the inner wall and the outer wall are connected at a plurality of hubs wherein each hub is formed as a pillow plated hub or a weld hub. 
     
     
         14 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a sealable venting means or a pressurizable valve, wherein
 the interior space is adapted to be open to the surrounding, and an overflow channel is connectable in a flow connection to the interior space, and/or   the interior space is adapted to be pressurized with a pressure below atmospheric pressure.   
     
     
         15 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a first and second flow pipe ( 51 ,  52 ) connected to the vessel in a flow connection to the interior space of the vessel wherein a propeller is adapted to circulate molten bituminous materials in the first and second flow pipe and the interior space of the vessel.   
     
     
         16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the discharge receipt tray is heatable and/or pivotable from a horizontal surface position to a vertical surface position to release the compressed solid residues and/or composite material. 
     
     
         18 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein a head frame is adapted for supporting the vessel and/or a slide and/or a tray wherein a vessel part of the a head frame comprises a number of columns extending a along an outer circumferential cylindrical shape wherein a column is aligned in a radial extending vertical tier with a guidance rod and a drive rod. 
     
     
         19 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein a stirring unit is provided, wherein the stirring unit has a shaft and an elongated stirring member rotatable arranged between the bottom plate and a vessel bottom. 
     
     
         20 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the shaft of the stirring unit is adapted to rotate the elongated stirring member in a stirring space between the bottom plate and the vessel bottom, wherein   the shaft of the stirring unit is hollow with an upper outlet adapted to feed through the molten bituminous fluid.   
     
     
         21 . Apparatus according to  claim 19 , wherein the shaft has an opening out into the space between the bottom plate and the compression plate for forming a jet stream of bituminous fluid into a bituminous material to be recycled in the melting space and/or into a composite material in the compression space between the bottom plate and the compression plate. 
     
     
         22 . Apparatus according to  claim 19 , wherein the shaft has an opening out into the stirring space between the bottom plate and the vessel bottom for forming a cushion stream of bituminous fluid into a bituminous material to be recycled in the melting space and/or into a composite material in the compression space between the bottom plate and the compression plate, wherein the bottom plate has a number of further through flow orifices adapted to allow a through flow of molten bituminous material. 
     
     
         23 . Apparatus according to  claim 19 , wherein the bottom plate on a bottom side has a cup cladding formed by a circumferential arrangement of a number of fins. 
     
     
         24 . Method for recycling bituminous material bodies by melting using an apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , comprising the steps of:
 receiving the bituminous materials in the interior space of the vessel,   containing the bituminous materials above the bottom plate and allowing the through flow of molten bituminous materials through the compression plate,   moving the plates along the vertical axis such that   in a first operating state the compression plate is in a middle position for forming a melting space of larger size between the compression plate and the bottom plate for melting bituminous materials in the melting space wherein the bottom plate is in a melting position,   in a second operating state the compression plate is in a lower position for forming a compression space of minor size between the compression plate and the bottom plate for compressing solid residues and/or composite material in the compression space, and wherein melted bituminous material is retained in a storing space above the compression plate for storing and/or discharging melted bituminous material, wherein the bottom plate is in a compression position, wherein   the compression plate is moved from the middle position to the lower position,   in a third operating state the compression plate is in an upper position for forming a discharge space between the compression plate and the bottom plate for discharging bituminous materials from the discharge space, wherein the bottom plate is in a discharge position, and   the discharge position of the bottom plate is adapted such that the bottom plate surface aligns with a slider element of a slide and/or a discharge receipt tray, wherein the slide is adapted to move the slider element along the surface of the bottom plate to move the compressed solid residues and/or composite material to the discharge receipt tray.   
     
     
         25 . Method according to  claim 24 , wherein the compression plate is moved from the middle position to the lower position with a downward velocity below an upper limit, wherein the upper limit of the downward velocity and the through flow orifices are in a form adapted to retain composite material in a state of operation below the compression plate when moving the compression plate from the middle position to the lower position with the downward velocity such that a passive filter means below the compression plate is provided by means of the composite material and/or other solid residues.