KR102292965B1 - Toner Recovery Apparatus from Waste-Cartridge and Toner Recovery Method from Waste-Cartridge Using the Same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to: a waste cartridge toner collecting device composed of a crusher that crushes waste cartridges through a crushing wheel, a vibration separator that applies vibration to a crushed material generated from the crushed waste cartridge to desorb the toner and transport the crushed material, a toner separation and collector that separates and collects the toner from the crushed material contained in the toner and collects the toner and the toner-free crushed material, and a housing that seals the crusher, vibration separator, and toner separation and collector; and a method for collecting the waste cartridge toner using the same.

Description

Toner Recovery Apparatus from Waste-Cartridge and Toner Recovery Method from Waste-Cartridge Using the Same}

The present invention relates to a toner recovery device for collecting used waste cartridges from a copier or printer and then recovering and recycling toner from the waste cartridges, and more particularly, to a shredder for shredding the waste cartridges, and to a toner from the shredded waste cartridges. A toner collection device for a waste cartridge and a waste cartridge toner using the same, the vibrating separator for desorbing toner and transporting the shredded material by applying vibration to the generated shredded material, and a toner separator and dust collector that separates and collects toner while filtering the shredded material It's about how to recover.

In general, a copier or laser printer generates plasma through an electrode with an insulating material interposed therebetween to form static electricity on the surface of the paper to be printed, toner adheres to the surface of the paper through electrostatic force, and then, through a drum, is applied to the surface of the paper. A method of hardening the printed toner is applied, and the toner is stored in a cartridge.

Recharging used cartridges with toner significantly degrades print quality and may cause malfunctions in copiers or printers. Due to the nature of the distribution structure of copiers or printers, recycling of waste cartridges is difficult. will go through

The waste cartridge from which the toner has been removed consists of other wastes generated from plastics, ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals, labels, etc., and a small amount of toner remaining inside the waste cartridge. In 'Reprocessing Method for Recycling Waste Toner and Waste Cartridges' of .Publication), metal parts are removed, sorted, and recovered from waste cartridges, and plastic waste cartridges and a small amount of residual toner are heated to solidify and then crushed in a cooled state. , proposes a recycling method that can improve the safety of the disposal operation of waste cartridges, where the toner is made of graphite, which is prone to fire and explosion.

However, due to the characteristics of the toner made of graphite, which is a combustible material, if the toner powder that has not been recovered due to scattering occurs during the shredding process of the waste cartridge, a dust explosion accident can easily occur. There was a problem that the recyclability of the waste cartridges was greatly reduced by acting as a foreign substance in the waste cartridge shreds classified by category.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-79125, 'A device and a method for processing a used toner cartridge' is a method for crushing a waste cartridge in a state of being filled with nitrogen gas, and the toner powder in the shredded material of the waste cartridge passes through a mesh formed with a 2-5 mm sieve. Toner recovery method is proposed. The above proposal suggests a recovery method that can easily recover the toner from the pecartridge, but there is a problem in that the toner is not completely recovered because the toner is attached to the crushed material or the toner is moved together with the crushed material without passing through a sieve.

Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-2015-0035000 (published on Apr. 6, 2015)

In an embodiment of the present invention, an object of the present invention is to prevent a dust explosion accident in the workplace while toner powder is scattered during the crushing process for recycling waste cartridges.

In addition, an embodiment of the present invention aims to further improve the recyclability of the waste cartridge by minimizing the amount of toner remaining on the surface of the shredded material of the shredded waste cartridge.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a toner recovery device that improves the efficiency of separating the toner from the waste cartridge shreds.

The object of the present invention is not limited to the above, and other objects not mentioned will be clearly described to those skilled in the art from the description below.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the waste cartridge toner collection device of the present invention includes a shredder for crushing a waste cartridge through a shredding wheel, a vibrating separator for transporting the shreds by desorbing toner from the shreds generated by crushing the waste cartridges, and toner from the shreds. A toner separator and shredder equipped with a first toner separation unit having a perforated network and a toner collection plate formed thereon, and an air curtain installed on one upper side of the first toner separation unit, It is characterized in that it consists of a housing that seals the vibration separator and the toner separator.

In addition, it is preferable that the crusher of the present invention be disposed opposite to each other so that the respective rotational axes of the pair of crushing wheels are parallel to each other, and the crushing wheels rotate in opposite directions so that the traveling direction of the crushed waste cartridge is toward the inlet.

In addition, in the present invention, it is preferable that two or more toner separation units are installed so that the ends of the toner separation units are arranged in a zigzag manner so that they are spaced apart and intersect in a vertical direction.

In addition, the air curtain of the present invention is formed with a cylindrical outlet, it is possible to install a bulkhead plate at the outlet.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the present invention is a waste cartridge shredding process of shredding the waste cartridge with a shredder equipped with a shredding wheel, and a toner from the shredded material generated by crushing the waste cartridge by a vibrating separator to separate the shredded material. A toner desorption process for dropping and a toner separation process for separating and collecting toner from the pulverized waste cartridge using an air curtain and a toner separation unit, wherein the shredder, the vibrating separator and the toner separator are sealed with a housing, characterized in that To provide a waste cartridge toner collecting method using a waste cartridge toner collecting device.

In addition, the present invention may further include a toner solidification process of solidifying the collected toner powder by heating it with high-temperature water vapor after the toner separation and collection process is completed.

In addition, the present invention further includes a shredded material classification process for classifying the waste cartridge shreds recovered in the toner separation and collection process by type, wherein the waste cartridge shredded material classification process removes the toner remaining in the waste cartridge shreds through water treatment, and has a low specific gravity Classifying labels attached to plastics and waste cartridges, sorting ferrous waste cartridge shreds through a magnetic device, and passing shredded waste cartridges made of non-ferrous metals through a magnetic field generated by a vortex separator to induce current in the waste cartridge shreds By generating an electromagnetic force by, it consists of a step of classifying the waste cartridge (10) shreds of non-ferrous metal components.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the process of crushing the waste cartridge and recovering the remaining toner through the toner recovery device is carried out in a sealed state within the housing, thereby preventing a dust explosion accident due to the scattering of toner dust, which is a combustible material, and improving the air in the workplace. It has the effect of preventing the occurrence of contamination and respiratory diseases caused by toner inhalation.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, by applying vibration to the shredded waste cartridge through the vibrating separator to desorb the toner, there is an effect that the toner recovery amount by the toner recovery device can be increased.

The air curtain structure of the present invention has the effect of improving the efficiency of the air curtain function while using a single blowing fan.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of toner separation units for separating and collecting toner are arranged in a zigzag manner to separate and collect the toner while the shredded material moves along the inclined flow path, thereby uniformly forming the toner collection efficiency of each toner separation unit. In addition, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost and maintenance cost of the toner collecting device by reducing the number and output of the blowing fans installed in the toner collecting device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is an effect that can generate added value by improving the recycling rate of crushed waste constituting the waste cartridge and reprocessing it as a pigment for pavement or incineration fuel for cement production.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the collected toner powder is heated with high-temperature steam to solidify, thereby improving the mobility and storability of the recovered toner. has the effect of improving

1 is a view showing the overall configuration of a waste cartridge toner collecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a view showing the configuration and arrangement of a toner separation unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a view showing a cross-sectional view of the outlet of the air curtain according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram illustrating a process of separating and recovering shredded materials when the waste cartridge toner recovery apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is operated.
5 is a view showing a flow chart of a waste cartridge toner recovery process using the waste cartridge toner recovery apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It will be described in detail focusing on the parts necessary to understand the operation and operation according to the present invention.

While describing the embodiments of the present invention, descriptions of technical contents that are well known in the technical field to which the present invention pertains and are not directly related to the present invention will be omitted.

This is to more clearly convey the gist of the present invention without obscuring the gist of the present invention by omitting unnecessary description.

In addition, in describing the components of the present invention, different reference numerals may be assigned to components of the same name according to the drawings, and the same reference numerals may be given even though they are different drawings.

However, even in this case, it does not mean that the corresponding components have different functions depending on the embodiment or that they have the same function in different embodiments, and the function of each component is the corresponding embodiment. It should be judged based on the description of each component in

In addition, the technical terms used in this specification should be interpreted in the meaning generally understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs, unless otherwise specifically defined in this specification, and excessively comprehensive It should not be construed as meaning or in an excessively reduced meaning.

Also, as used herein, the singular expression includes the plural expression unless the context dictates otherwise.

In the present application, terms such as "consisting of" or "comprising" should not be construed as necessarily including all of the various components or various steps described in the specification, some of which components or some steps are It should be construed that it may not include, or may further include additional components or steps.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the toner recovery device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention crushes the waste cartridge 10 to make most of the plastic material, but a small amount of ferrous metal and aluminum shredded material, toner powder and A shredder 100 that forms a shredded product comprising fragments of shreds to which toner is attached, a vibration separator 200 that physically separates the toner 11 adhering to the shredded fragments from the shredded fragments, that is, desorbs and transports the shreds, and the toner It consists of a toner separator 300 that separates and collects 11 , and the crusher 100 , the vibrating separator 200 , and the toner separator 300 are sealed with a housing 400 .

The crusher 100 is arranged such that two crushing wheels 110 opposing each other form a pair, and the opposing pair of crushing wheels 110 have respective rotational axes parallel to each other, and the crushed waste cartridge 10 shreds Each crushing wheel 110 rotates in opposite directions to each other so that the traveling direction is toward the inlet 210 disposed under the crusher 100 .

In addition, in order to reduce the size and size deviation of shredded pieces generated from the shredded waste cartridge 10, two or more pairs of shredding wheels 110 may be arranged in parallel, and the toner separator and the shredder 100 are connected and separated from each other. A possible shredded material collector is placed under the crushing wheel 110, and a conveying device such as a conveyor is connected to the crushed material recovery device to re-inject the crushed material of the waste cartridge 10 to the crushing wheel 110 at least once to remove the waste cartridge (10). The size and size deviation of the crushed material can be adjusted to an appropriate level. It was found that it is effective to separate and collect the toner to make the plastic shredded pieces formed by crushing the waste cartridges to have a diameter of 3 to 5 cm. The toner-separated shreds are secondarily shredded to a size of 1.7 to 2.0 cm and collected as recyclable plastic waste.

The vibration separator 200 is disposed under the crushing wheel 110, and the vibration separator 200 has a vibrator 220 installed at the lower portion thereof, and the crushed material inlet 210 into which the waste cartridge 10 crushed material is put in the upper portion. It is formed and is configured as a flywheel eccentric at a predetermined distance from the center of the rotation shaft, or is made of a cam or the like and is mounted to generate vibration by rotational motion. In addition, the vibration separator 200 has a crushed material outlet 211 formed on the lower side of the container having a diameter of 500 mm and a height of 1000 to 1500 mm, and a crushed material moving plate 212 inclined at the bottom of the container at the crushed material outlet 211 is installed.

The vibrator 220 applies vibration to the shredded material of the waste cartridge 10 to separate the toner from the crushed material to which the toner is attached, that is, the toner is separated from each other, and the crushed material is moved by the vibration of the crushed material moving plate 212, and the toner separator 300 ) to drop.

At this time, in order to reduce vibration or noise generated according to the operation of the vibrator 220, it is preferable to mount a damper on the lower part of the vibration separator 200, and the damper decreases the durability or failure of the vibration separator 200 due to excessive vibration. to be able to prevent

In the toner separator 300 to which the shredded material is transferred, as shown in FIG. 2 , the toner powder is scattered among the crushed materials transferred from the vibrating separator 200 and the crushed material fragments are formed by the inclined perforated network of the first toner separation unit 310 . The toner 11, which moves downward and scatters on the 315, passes through the perforation network 315 and falls and is separated from the fragments of shreds. The first toner separation unit 310 has an inclined perforated network 315 installed on the upper part, an inclined toner collecting plate 316 is formed on the lower part, and the toner 11 falling on the toner collecting plate 316 is transferred to a duct 320 ) through the operation of the suction fan 330 to be collected and stored in the toner collection box 350 . The toner collection box 350 may be installed below or outside the toner separator 300 .

At this time, in the perforation network 315, when the perforation size is less than 1.5 mm, it is difficult for the toner 11 dust to pass through the perforations, and when the perforation size exceeds 2.5 mm, small fragments of the waste cartridge 10 shredded to a small size Since the purity of the toner 11 collected while passing through the perforated network may be greatly reduced, the perforation size of the perforated network 315 is preferably formed within the range of 1.5 to 2.5 mm.

A portion of the toner 11 may be moved laterally and downward along with the shredded material pieces moving along the inclined surface of the perforated network 315. In order to suppress the lateral downward movement of the toner, there is A curtain 250 is installed. The air curtain 250 is operated by the blowing fan 252, and air is strongly sprayed from the air curtain outlet 255 to suppress the toner scattering from moving together with the fragments of the shreds that are moved downward.

In general, it is efficient to spray air at a uniform pressure in the entire section of the rectangular outlet of the air curtain. According to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3 , in the cylindrical outlet 255 having a diameter of 200 to 400 mm, the wind pressure is applied from one blowing fan 252 and the bulkhead plates 257 are installed, so that the air pressure injected from the outlet is It is formed so as to be constant in the entire section of the outlet. It is preferable to install 5 to 6 of the bulkhead plates 257 so that the outlets are separated into 6 to 7 so that air is sprayed, respectively. desirable.

Even when the air curtain 250 is installed, the toner 11 can move together with the shredded material in the first toner separation unit 310 so that the toner separation efficiency can be improved. Two or more toner separation units may be disposed, and as shown in FIG. 1 , the second toner separation unit 311 and the third toner separation unit 312 are disposed so that the ends of each toner separation unit are spaced apart in the vertical direction and cross Preferably, the toner separation units 310, 311, and 312 are provided on one side of each of the toner separation units 310, 311, and 312, and a duct 320 connected to the suction fan 330 is installed on one side, and the toner 11 ) is collected in the toner collection box 350 through the duct 320 .

When the toner separation units are arranged in a zigzag manner, a flow path is formed inside the toner separator 300 so that shredded material and toner powder move smoothly and descending in the toner separator 300 to simplify the toner separation units. Compared to the parallel arrangement, each toner separation and collection efficiency can be formed uniformly, and the number and output of the blower fans installed in the toner collection device can be reduced as smooth shredded material fragments and sequential descending movement of the toner are performed even if the blower fan is not supplied. As a result, the manufacturing cost and maintenance cost of the toner recovery device can be reduced.

Shredded material pieces moved downward without passing through the perforated network 315 inside the toner separator 300 are moved to the crushed material collection box 360 . The shredded material collection box 360 is preferably installed on the outside of one side of the toner separator 300 .

A toner recovery method for recovering the toner 11 from the waste cartridge 10 using the toner recovery device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention configured as above will be described as follows.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the waste cartridge shredding process, the waste cartridge 10 is shredded by the shredding wheel 110, and the shredded material of the waste cartridge 10 is shredded through the inlet 210 disposed under the shredding wheel 110. It is input to the vibration separator 200 .

In the toner desorption process, vibration is applied to the crushed material of the waste cartridge 10 by the operation of the vibrator 220 to detach the toner 11 attached to the crushed material from the crushed material, and to disperse the toner 11 powder, and toner are moved to the toner separator 300

In the toner separation and collection process, the toner 11 is separated from the shredded material input by using the toner separation units 310 , 311 , 312 provided with the air curtain 250 , the perforated network 315 , and the toner collection plate 316 , and a duct 320 . ) and stored in the toner collection box (360).

At this time, the toner 11 is a combustible material made of graphite powder, and since the toner 11 dust is scattered during the crushing of the waste cartridge 10 and the desorption and collection of the toner 11, It is easy to generate a spark due to a short circuit in an electric facility or electric device, or a dust explosion accident due to the operation of a fire such as a heating device.

Therefore, in the toner recovery method through the toner recovery device 1 according to the present invention, the crusher 100 , the vibration separator 200 , and the toner separator 300 are disposed in the housing 400 , so that the waste cartridge crushing process and the toner desorption process are performed. The process and the toner separation and collection process are performed in a closed state, thereby preventing a dust explosion accident caused by the toner 11 dust.

In addition, in the process of desorbing and dropping the toner and separating and collecting the toner, the toner is smoothly dropped, transported, and collected without installing a blower fan, and the toner separation units are uniformly transported, so that toner recovery efficiency is achieved. can be further improved.

And, the toner 11 is composed of carbon black, iron oxide, synthetic resin, etc., and carbon black has excellent color expression and maintains strong adhesion by the added synthetic resin, so it is suitable for use as a pigment on pavement, Alternatively, it can be used as fuel for incineration in cement manufacturing plants.

Toner collected in the process of collecting the toner 11 as shown in FIG. 5 in order to improve the mobility and storability of the recovered toner 11 and recycle it as a raw material for a pigment for a pavement or as a fuel for incineration when manufacturing cement. (11) The method may further include a toner solidifying step of solidifying the powder by heating it with high-temperature steam.

In addition, the waste cartridge 10 is composed of plastics, ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals such as aluminum, and paper constituting the label, and by recycling the waste cartridge shreds recovered in the toner separation and collection step by component and recycling, toner 11 Environmental pollution can be prevented by reducing the recovery cost and the amount of waste generated.

In detail, the method may further include a shredded material classification process in which the toner 11 is recovered in the toner separation and collection process and the remaining crushed material is collected and classified by type.

In the process of classifying the shredded material of the waste cartridge 10, the toner is removed from the shredded material of the waste cartridge 10 through water treatment, and the plastic having a lower specific gravity than water and the label attached to the waste cartridge 10 are classified. is performed, and a step of classifying the waste cartridge 10 shreds of the iron component through a magnetic device after classification of the plastic and label is performed.

When classifying plastics and labels through water treatment, salt is added and dissolved in water for water treatment to form a large specific gravity difference with plastics, and salts remaining on the surface of the waste cartridge 10 shreds remaining after plastic and label classification are removed. will be washed with clean water.

After that, the step of classifying the crushed material of the non-ferrous metal component is performed using the vortex separator. When the crushed material of the waste cartridge 10 is passed into the magnetic field formed in the vortex separator, an induced current is generated in the crushed material of the waste cartridge 10 of the non-ferrous metal component. As is formed, electromagnetic force acts in the vertical direction to the flow direction of the magnetic field and induced current, and the shredded waste cartridge 10 of non-ferrous metal component is separated from the shredded waste of the non-ferrous component by the generated electromagnetic force.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the above, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains will understand that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential characteristics thereof.

Therefore, the embodiments described above are to be understood as illustrative and not restrictive in all respects, and the scope of the present invention described in the above detailed description is indicated by the following claims, meaning and All changes or modifications derived from the scope and its equivalents should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention.

1: toner collection unit 10: waste cartridge
11: Toner 100: Shredder
110: crushing wheel 200: vibration separator
210: crushed material inlet 211: crushed material outlet
212: crushed material moving plate 220: vibrator
250: air curtain 252: blowing fan
255: air curtain outlet 257: bulkhead plate
300: toner separation collector 310: first toner separation unit
311: second toner separation unit 312: second toner separation unit
315: perforated network 316: toner collecting plate
320: duct 330: suction fan
350: toner collection box 360: shredded material collection box
400: housing

Claims (7)

In the waste cartridge (10) toner collection device (1) for disposal of used toner cartridges,
a crusher 100 for crushing the waste cartridge 10 through the crushing wheel 110;
a vibrating separator 200 for desorbing the toner 11 from the shredded material generated by crushing the waste cartridge 10 and transferring the shredded material;
An inclined perforated network 315 and an inclined toner collecting plate 316 with a perforation size of 1.5 to 2.5 mm and an inclined toner collecting plate 316 are installed on the upper and lower parts, respectively, to separate and collect the toner 11 from the shredded material so that the toner and the toner-desorbed shredded material can be recovered, respectively. A toner separation collector ( 300); and
It consists of a housing 400 that seals the crusher 100, the vibration separator 200, and the toner separator 300,
The crusher 100 is disposed opposite to each other so that the respective rotational axes of the pair of crushing wheels 110 are parallel to each other, and each crushing wheel 110 rotates in the opposite direction so that the traveling direction of the crushed material is toward the inlet 210 become,
A waste cartridge toner collection apparatus, characterized in that two or more toner separation units (310, 311, 312) having the same structure are installed so that the ends of the toner separation units are spaced apart from each other in a vertical direction and arranged in a zigzag manner. delete delete According to claim 1,
The air curtain (250) is formed with a cylindrical discharge port (255) in which the partition plate (257) is installed, and the distance between the partition plates in the center of the cylinder is reduced. A waste cartridge toner recovery method for disposing of used toner cartridges, the method comprising:
a waste cartridge crushing process of crushing the waste cartridge 10 with a crusher 100 equipped with a crushing wheel 110;
a toner desorption process in which the toner 11 is removed from the shredded material among the crushed material generated by crushing the waste cartridge 10 by the vibrating separator 200 to move the crushed material; and
A cylindrical outlet 255 in which the bulkhead plate 257 is installed is formed, and an air curtain 250 that reduces the distance between the bulkhead plates in the center of the cylinder and an inclined perforation network 315 having a perforation size of 1.5 to 2.5mm and A toner having the same structure in which inclined toner collecting plates 316 are formed at upper and lower portions, respectively, a duct 320 connected to the suction fan 330 is formed on one side, and the ends are arranged in a zigzag manner so that they are spaced apart in a vertical direction and intersect. A waste cartridge toner collecting method using a waste cartridge toner collecting device, comprising a toner collecting process of separating and collecting toner from the pulverized waste cartridge by using the separating units (310, 311, 312). 6. The method of claim 5,
and a toner solidification step of solidifying the collected toner (11) powder by heating it with high-temperature steam after completion of the toner separation and collection process. 6. The method of claim 5,
The method further includes a shredded material classification step of classifying the crushed material of the waste cartridge 10 recovered in the toner separation and collection process by type,
The waste cartridge shredded material classification process,
removing the toner remaining in the shredded material of the waste cartridge 10 through water treatment, and classifying plastics with low specific gravity and labels attached to the waste cartridge 10;
Classifying the waste cartridge 10 shreds of the iron component through a magnetic device;
By passing the crushed material of the waste cartridge 10 of a non-ferrous metal component through a magnetic field generated by the vortex separator to generate an electromagnetic force due to an induced current in the crushed material of the waste cartridge 10, classifying the crushed material of the waste cartridge 10 of a non-ferrous metal component;
A waste cartridge toner collecting method using a waste cartridge toner collecting device, characterized in that it consists of.

Images