JP7564591B1 - Garbage truck - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a garbage collection vehicle capable of separating garbage bags containing combustible waste by moving them away from a garbage tank.
SOLUTION
The present invention is a garbage collection vehicle having a garbage tank and a garbage inlet at the rear of the vehicle, and is equipped with a lifter provided inside the garbage inlet for carrying garbage bags, a fall passageway for dropping garbage bags from the upper end of the lifter into a bag receiving chamber, an X-ray device consisting of an X-ray source and an X-ray line sensor provided on either side of the fall passageway and for capturing an image of the falling garbage bag to obtain an X-ray image, a discrimination means for discriminating from the X-ray image whether or not a foreign object has been mixed into the garbage bag, and a rotating plate that rotates to separate garbage bags into those with foreign objects and those without foreign objects depending on the discrimination result of the discrimination means.
[Selected Figure] Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a garbage collection truck, and more specifically, to a garbage collection truck that can prevent garbage bags from being pushed into a garbage tank even if combustible garbage contains flammable gas bottles, spray cans, and other items.

There have been cases where gas cartridges or spray cans have been mixed into garbage bags of combustible garbage, causing fires in garbage trucks. The garbage truck in Patent Document 1 is equipped with a metal detector (21) made of a coil at the garbage bag insertion port at the rear of the vehicle, which detects gas cylinders and other items that may pose a risk of explosion. Because the metal detector (21) reacts to aluminum, it is troublesome to perform operations such as stopping the alarm bell when using garbage bags that contain aluminum-deposited snack bags.

The applicant proposed an X-ray foreign object detection device in Patent Document 2 that drops an object and captures an image, and proposed a small household waste treatment device equipped with an X-ray device in Patent Document 3. The X-ray device can detect gas cartridges, spray cans, and the like that have been mistakenly mixed into opaque garbage bags.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-12004 Utility Model Registration No. 3238689 Patent No. 7389528

The objective of the present invention is to provide a garbage collection vehicle that can push garbage bags without foreign objects into a garbage tank and separate garbage bags that contain metal or other foreign objects from those without foreign objects.

The garbage collection vehicle according to the present invention is a garbage collection vehicle equipped with a garbage tank and a garbage inlet at the rear of the vehicle body, and is characterized by being equipped with a lifter installed inside the garbage inlet for carrying garbage bags, a drop passage for dropping garbage bags from the upper end of the lifter into a bag receiving chamber, an X-ray device consisting of an X-ray source and an X-ray line sensor installed on either side of the drop passage and capturing an image of the falling garbage bag to obtain an X-ray image, a discrimination means for discriminating whether or not a foreign object is mixed into the garbage bag from the X-ray image, and a rotating plate that rotates to separate garbage bags into those with foreign objects and those without foreign objects according to the discrimination result of the discrimination means.

A foreign object bag collection chamber is provided behind the bag receiving chamber, a discharge plate is provided at the entrance of the foreign object bag collection chamber, and a push-out plate is provided at the entrance of the garbage tank. In the case of a garbage bag containing foreign objects, the rotating plate rotates in one direction to send the garbage bag containing foreign objects to the entrance of the foreign object bag collection chamber, and the discharge plate dispenses the garbage bag containing foreign objects into the foreign object bag collection chamber. In the case of a garbage bag without foreign objects, the rotating plate rotates in the other direction to send the garbage bag without foreign objects to the entrance of the garbage tank, and the push-out plate pushes the garbage bag without foreign objects into the garbage tank.

The foreign object bag recovery chamber is characterized by having an openable and closable bottom lid.

When the garbage bag contains foreign matter, the rotation of the rotating plate is stopped, and when the garbage bag is free of foreign matter, the rotating plate rotates to send the garbage bag free of foreign matter to the entrance of the garbage tank.

The garbage collection vehicle of the present invention is equipped with a lifter that carries garbage bags at regular intervals, a passageway that drops garbage bags from the top of the lifter and leads them to a bag receiving chamber, an X-ray device that takes an image of the falling garbage bag to obtain an X-ray image, a discrimination means that discriminates from the X-ray image whether the garbage bag contains metal or other foreign matter, and a rotating plate that rotates to separate garbage bags into those with foreign matter and those without, depending on the discrimination result of the discrimination means. Therefore, the garbage bags that have fallen into the bag receiving chamber can be separated by the rotating plate into those without foreign matter and those with foreign matter.

A foreign object bag collection chamber is provided behind the bag receiving chamber, a discharge plate is provided at the entrance of the foreign object bag collection chamber, and a push-out plate is provided at the entrance of the garbage tank, so that in the case of a garbage bag containing foreign objects, the rotating plate rotates in one direction to send out the garbage bag containing foreign objects to the entrance of the foreign object bag collection chamber, and the discharge plate can discharge the garbage bag containing foreign objects into the foreign object bag collection chamber. Since the garbage bag containing foreign objects is collected in the foreign object bag collection chamber, there is no need to press it into the garbage tank. In addition, because the lifter and rotating plate are not stopped, continuous operation is possible and collection work can be carried out smoothly. In the case of a garbage bag without foreign objects, the rotating plate rotates in the other direction to send out the garbage bag without foreign objects to the entrance of the garbage tank, and the push-out plate can push the garbage bag without foreign objects into the garbage tank.

The foreign object bag collection chamber is equipped with an openable bottom lid, making it easy to remove garbage bags containing foreign objects at the garbage disposal site. If the bottom lid is left open, the garbage bags containing foreign objects will fall from the rear of the garbage collection truck onto the road surface, so it is possible to avoid collecting the garbage bags containing foreign objects. It also becomes possible to collect the garbage bags containing foreign objects using a separate vehicle.

If there is a foreign object in the garbage bag, the rotating plate is stopped, allowing workers to perform tasks such as removing the bag. The removed garbage bag can then be collected by another vehicle.

1 is a side view of the internal structure of a garbage collection vehicle according to the present invention; The rear view of the rear of a garbage collection truck is shown in Fig. 1. (A) is an example in which a lifter is provided on the left rear part of the vehicle body, and there is no lifter on the right rear part of the vehicle body. (B) is an example in which there are lifters on both the left rear part and the right rear part of the vehicle body. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example in which an element including an X-ray device is provided only on the left side of the vehicle body, and FIG. 10 is a timing chart for identifying a garbage bag, and an example of a configuration in which an element including an X-ray device is provided only on the left side of the vehicle body. 10 is a timing chart for identifying a garbage bag, and shows an example of a configuration in which an element including an X-ray device is provided on both the left and right sides of the vehicle body. 13 is a flowchart for identifying a garbage bag. 13 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of sorting garbage bags without foreign objects. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of sorting garbage bags containing foreign objects. FIG. This is an example of waste that has a high risk of ignition. This is an example of a small home appliance that uses lithium-ion batteries.

Previously, foreign objects in garbage bags were detected using sorting machines such as metal detectors, color sorters, and magnetic separators. However, in recent years, aluminum packaging materials, lithium-ion batteries that ignite when crushed, button batteries, and other items have become mixed into garbage bags, making it impossible to remove them using previous sorting machines. This invention makes it possible to sort such garbage bags using X-rays.

The garbage collection vehicle of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 is a side view of the internal structure of a garbage collection vehicle 100 according to the present invention. A garbage tank 1 is provided at the rear of the vehicle body, and a garbage inlet 2 is provided at the rear end, through which garbage bags 15 are inserted. Inside the garbage inlet 2, a lifter 4 is provided to carry garbage bags 15 at regular intervals. Also, a drop passage 5 is provided to drop the garbage bags 15 from the upper end of the lifter 4 and guide them to a bag receiving chamber 6. Behind the bag receiving chamber 6, there is a foreign object bag recovery chamber 12. An X-ray device 7 is provided, consisting of an X-ray source 8 and an X-ray line sensor 9 arranged on either side of the drop passage 5, and which picks up an image of the falling garbage bag 15 to obtain an X-ray image.

Furthermore, there is provided a discrimination means 11 (not shown in FIG. 1) that analyzes the X-ray image and discriminates whether or not a foreign object is mixed in the garbage bag. A PC (personal computer) can be used as the discrimination means 11. A rotating plate 10 is provided that, when the discrimination result of the discrimination means 11 is that the garbage bag is free of metallic foreign objects, distributes the garbage bag 15 in the bag receiving chamber 6 in the direction of the garbage tank 1, and when the discrimination result of the discrimination means 11 is that the garbage bag 15 contains metallic foreign objects, distributes the garbage bag 15 in the bag receiving chamber 6 in the direction of the foreign object bag recovery chamber 12. Further, there is provided a push-out plate 3 that pushes out the distributed garbage bag free of foreign objects into the garbage tank 1, and a discharge plate 13 that discharges the garbage bag containing foreign objects into the foreign object bag recovery chamber 12.

Figure 2 is a rear view showing the rear of the garbage collection truck 100. (A) is an example where a lifter 4 is provided on the left rear of the vehicle body, and there is no lifter 4 on the right rear of the vehicle body. (B) is an example where a lifter 4 is provided on both the left and right rear of the vehicle body. The lifter 4 rotates at a constant speed, lifting a garbage bag 15 supported by a protrusion. In the configuration of (A), the lifter 4 is provided only on the left rear of the vehicle body, and the right side is a garbage inlet without a lifter 4 as in the conventional configuration. In the configuration of (B), the lifter 4 is provided on both the left rear of the vehicle body and the right rear of the vehicle body.

Figure 3 is a block diagram for identifying garbage bags 15. (A) is an example of a configuration in which elements including the X-ray device 7 are present only on the left side of the vehicle, and (B) is an example of a configuration in which elements including the X-ray device 7 are present on both the left and right sides of the vehicle. In the configuration of (A), the lifter 4 is provided only on the left side of the vehicle, and the right side is a garbage inlet without a lifter 4, as in the past. Garbage bags 15 with clear contents, such as fallen leaves, can be quickly placed into the garbage inlet without a lifter 4. In the configuration of (B), lifters 4 are provided on both the left and right rear sides of the vehicle, so garbage bags 15, 15 can be placed on the lifter 4 at the same time.

Figure 4 is a time chart for identifying the garbage bag 15, and is a time chart for a configuration example in which there is an element including an X-ray device only on the left side of the vehicle body. Figure 5 is a time chart for identifying the garbage bag 15, and is a time chart for a configuration example in which there is an element including an X-ray device on both the left and right sides of the vehicle body. The lifter 4 falls freely at a triangular time. The interval at which the garbage bag 15 falls is a constant pitch because the speed of the lifter 4 is constant and the garbage bag 15 is supported at the protrusion. As an example, the pitch can be set to 2 seconds. In a free fall with an initial speed of 0, it falls about 2.5 m in 0.5 seconds, so the time until it falls into the bag receiving chamber 6 is shorter than this, depending on the height of the fall passage 5. During that time, the garbage bag 15 is imaged by the X-ray device 7.

The discrimination process of the X-ray image is performed by the computer of the discrimination means 11. Among the pixels of the captured X-ray image, pixels where the X-rays are blocked and the amount of light received is less than the threshold value are found. If the number of pixels of the X-ray line sensor is 2000 pixels and there are also 2000 pixels in the falling direction, the X-ray image will have 4 million pixels (=2000 x 2000), and the processing time will be about 1 second as an example. If the pitch is 2 seconds, the remaining time obtained by subtracting the imaging time and the X-ray image discrimination processing time from 2 seconds will be the allocation time of the rotating plate 10 and the operation time of the push-out plate 3 or the dispensing plate 13. If these processing times are within 2 seconds, the garbage bag 15 will be discharged and not present in the bag receiving chamber 6, so the next garbage bag 15 can be dropped from the lifter 4. In a configuration in which the lifters 4 are on the left and right of the vehicle body as shown in Figure 5, 2 garbage bags/2 seconds (=1 bag/second) can be inserted.

Figure 6 is a flow chart for identifying garbage bags 15. S1 is a step for converting the amount of light of a pixel in an X-ray image below a threshold to 1, or otherwise to 0, and binarizing it. Each pixel contains a value indicating the amount of light received, and this is binarized as 1 or 0 to reduce the size of the VX-ray pixel. The threshold value can be a value that indicates a low amount of X-ray light received, such as metal. S2 is a step for reducing density by treating NxN (e.g. 8x8) as one pixel. For example, if all 8x8 pixels are 1, they are converted to 1, and the rest are converted to 0. This allows small grains of metal to be ignored. When imaging 1m with 2000 pixels, one pixel is 0.5 mm, so 8x8 pixels are 64 pixels of 4 mm square, and therefore indicates a section in which all 64 pixels are 1, below the threshold. S3 counts the number of 'pixels that are 1' in the reduced density X-ray image. S4 determines whether there are a predetermined number or more of 1s. In other words, it determines whether there is a metal lump of a predetermined size or larger. S5 is the case where there are no lumps blocking the X-rays and it is determined that the garbage bag is free of foreign matter. S6 is the case where there are lumps blocking the X-rays and it is determined that the garbage bag contains foreign matter. By binarizing the X-ray image and reducing the image quality, the processing speed can be increased.

Figure 7 is an explanatory diagram of the sorting operation of garbage bags 15 without foreign objects. This shows the case where the garbage bag 15 is determined to be a garbage bag without foreign objects after falling and being photographed. If the garbage bag 15 that fell into the bag receiving chamber 6 is determined to be a garbage bag without foreign objects, the rotating plate 10 lifts the garbage bag 15 toward the garbage tank 1 side to sort it, and the pushing plate 3 pushes it into the garbage tank 1. As shown in Figure 7, the processing is performed in the order of (1) to (8) toward (A) to (C). (1) The pushing plate 3 (lower end) faces the 8 o'clock direction, the rotating plate 10 faces the 9 o'clock direction, and the dispensing plate 13 faces the 7 o'clock direction. (2) If the garbage bag is without foreign objects, the rotating plate 10 is rotated once clockwise. This moves the garbage bag toward the entrance of the garbage tank 1. (3) Next, the pushing plate 3 is rotated counterclockwise toward the 5 o'clock direction to prepare for pushing in the garbage bag. In (B), (4) the rotating plate 10 is rotated clockwise toward the 9 o'clock direction to push the garbage bag up to the entrance of the garbage tank 1. (5) The push-out plate 3 is rotated clockwise toward the 8 o'clock direction. In (C), (6) the push-out plate 3 rotates to push the garbage bag into the garbage tank 1. (7) In this state, the next garbage bag can drop into the bag receiving chamber 6. (8) Return to (1) above.

Figure 8 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of sorting garbage bags 15 containing foreign objects. This shows the case where the garbage bag 15 is determined to be a garbage bag containing foreign objects after falling and being photographed. If the garbage bag 15 that fell into the bag receiving chamber 6 is determined to be a garbage bag containing foreign objects, the rotating plate 10 lifts the garbage bag 15 toward the foreign object bag recovery chamber 12 side to sort it, and the dispensing plate 13 dispenses it into the foreign object bag recovery chamber 12. As shown in Figure 8, the processing is performed in the order of (1) to (8) from (A) to (C). (1) The push plate 3 (lower end) faces the 8 o'clock direction, the rotating plate 10 faces the 9 o'clock direction, and the dispensing plate 13 faces the 7 o'clock direction. (2) If the garbage bag contains foreign objects, the dispensing plate 13 is rotated clockwise toward the 10 o'clock direction. (3) The rotating plate 10 is rotated counterclockwise toward the 5 o'clock direction. (4) Rotate the discharge plate 13 in the 7 o'clock direction to discharge the garbage bag into the foreign object bag recovery chamber 12. (5) The garbage bag moves into the foreign object bag recovery chamber 12. (6) Return the rotating plate 10 clockwise to the 9 o'clock direction. (7) In this state, the next garbage bag can drop into the bag receiving chamber 6. (8) Return to (1) above.

Figure 9 shows examples of waste that have a high probability of igniting. Cassette gas bottles (e.g., 20 cm high, 7 cm diameter), lighters (e.g., 8 cm high, 2.5 cm wide), spray cans (e.g., 20 cm high, 7 cm diameter), and lithium-ion batteries (cylindrical 18650: 6.5 cm high, 1.8 cm diameter), all of which have metal covers, can be detected by an X-ray device. Note that the orientation of a spray can varies within the garbage bag, so it may be imaged as a circle or a rectangle. Small needles and nails can be ignored with image processing, but metal coffee tubes and the like can be detected.

Figure 10 shows examples of small home appliances that use lithium-ion batteries, with the names of the appliances also shown. Even if these small home appliances are mistakenly mixed into a garbage bag, they can be detected because they are covered with a specified metal cover.

In this embodiment, a foreign object bag recovery chamber 12 is provided to separate and recover garbage bags containing foreign objects. If the discrimination means 11 determines that a garbage bag contains foreign objects, the lifter 4 and rotating plate 10 can be immediately stopped and a buzzer can be sounded to allow an operator to remove the garbage bag containing foreign objects from a side door of the bag receiving chamber. With this structure, there is no need to reversely rotate the rotating plate 10, and there is no need for a dispensing plate or foreign object bag recovery chamber 12, making it possible to simplify and miniaturize the structure.

The present invention is suitable for a garbage collection vehicle that can separate and collect combustible garbage bags that contain flammable gas bottles or other items that may pose a risk of ignition, without forcing them into the garbage tank.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Garbage tank 2 Garbage inlet 3 Push-out plate 4 Lifter 5 Fall passage 6 Bag receiving chamber 7 X-ray device 8 X-ray source 9 X-ray line sensor 10 Rotating plate 11 Discrimination means 12 Foreign object bag recovery chamber 13 Discharge plate 14 Bottom cover 15 Garbage bag 100 Garbage collection vehicle

Claims (3)

A garbage collection vehicle with a garbage tank and a garbage inlet at the rear of the vehicle,
A lifter provided inside the garbage inlet for carrying garbage bags;
a drop passage for dropping the garbage bag from the upper end of the lifter into a bag receiving chamber;
an X-ray device including an X-ray source and an X-ray line sensor disposed on either side of the passageway for capturing an image of the garbage bag as it falls to obtain an X-ray image;
A discrimination means for discriminating whether or not a foreign object is mixed in the garbage bag from the X-ray image;
a rotating plate that rotates to separate the garbage bags into those containing foreign matter and those not containing foreign matter according to the result of the discrimination by the discrimination means ;
A garbage bag collecting chamber is provided behind the bag receiving chamber, a discharge plate is provided at the entrance of the garbage bag collecting chamber, and a push-out plate is provided at the entrance of the garbage tank,
In the case of the garbage bag containing foreign matter, the rotating plate rotates in one direction to send out the garbage bag containing foreign matter to the entrance of the garbage bag recovery chamber, and the dispensing plate dispenses the garbage bag containing foreign matter into the garbage bag recovery chamber,
In the case of the foreign object-free garbage bag, the rotating plate rotates in the other direction to send the foreign object-free garbage bag to the inlet of the garbage tank, and the pushing plate pushes the foreign object-free garbage bag into the garbage tank . 2. The garbage collection vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the foreign object bag recovery chamber has a bottom lid that can be opened and closed. When the garbage bag contains foreign matter, the rotation of the rotating plate is stopped.
2. The garbage truck according to claim 1, wherein, in the case of the garbage bag being free of foreign matter, the rotating plate rotates to deliver the garbage bag free of foreign matter to the inlet of the garbage tank.

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