System and method for materials recovery using a mobile materials recovery facility (MMRF)
AssigneeWm Intellectual Property Holdings, L.L.C.
InventorsGuillaume Chevrette, Vu Nguyen, Jean Beaudoin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for materials recovery using a mobile materials recovery facility (MMRF) are provided. The presently disclosed subject matter aims to replace manual sorting lines and techniques with a mobile, robotized sorting line to automate the separation by using, for example, cameras, artificial intelligence assisted hyperspectral material recognition algorithms, and/or other sensor technologies (such as optical, RADAR, SONAR, and/or LIDAR), for treatment and removal of contaminations in the recycling, organics and residues streams.
Claims9
A mobile sorting system for gathering and sorting recyclable materials, comprising:
- a first mobile unit and a second mobile unit downstream from the first mobile unit,
- the first mobile unit comprising:
- a first trailer;
- and
- a material gathering unit at least partially disposed within the first trailer, the material gathering unit comprising:
- a pourer configured to:
- grasp a waste or recycling receptacle external to the first trailer;
- and
- pour one or more of recyclable materials and bags into a hopper, the bags comprising recyclable materials from the waste or recycling receptacle;
- the hopper configured to receive the bags having recyclable materials;
- a bag opener configured to receive the bags from the hopper and open the received bags;
- and
- a load cell is disposed on the hopper and configured to monitor the material input when the one or more of recyclable materials and bags are loaded in the hopper, and
- a vibrating feeder configured to:
- receive the recyclable materials from the bag opener;
- vibrate and liberate the recyclable materials;
- and
- disperse the liberated recyclable materials onto a conveyor;
- the conveyor configured to transport the recyclable materials from the vibrating feeder to the second mobile unit;
- and
- the second mobile unit comprising:
- a second trailer;
- and
- a material sorting unit at least partially disposed within the second trailer, the material sorting unit comprising:
- a scanner configured to:
- receive the recyclable materials from the conveyor;
- and
- identify respective material attributes in the recyclable materials, and
- at least one robotic arm configured to grab material from the recycled materials based on an identified material attribute and deposit the material into a sorting bin.
A method for gathering and sorting recyclable materials using a mobile unit having a first mobile unit and a second mobile unit, comprising:
- grasping a waste or recycling receptacle having waste contents with a mechanical arm, wherein the mechanical arm is coupled to the first mobile unit, the first mobile unit comprises a first trailer and material gathering unit at least partially within the first trailer, and the waste or recycling receptacle is positioned outside the first and second mobile units;
- depositing the waste contents of the waste or recycling receptacle into a hopper located in the first trailer;
- monitoring the material input of the waste contents in the hopper with a load cell;
- depositing the waste contents of the hopper into a bag opener located in the first trailer, wherein the waste contents of the waste or recycling receptacle comprise bagged recyclable materials and unbagged recyclable materials;
- opening, via the bag opener, each respective bag housing the bagged recyclable materials;
- depositing the recyclable material from the bag opener into a vibrating feeder;
- vibrating the recyclable material in the vibrating feeder and liberating the recyclable material;
- dispersing the liberated recyclable material from the vibrating feeder onto a conveyer and transferring the liberated recyclable materials into a second trailer on the conveyer;
- scanning the recyclable materials using an optical scanner in the second trailer and identifying one or more components in the recyclable materials;
- grasping the identified one or more components with a robotic arm;
- and
- depositing the identified one or more components into a designated sorting bin.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.