Title of Invention

AN AUTOMATIC MACHINE FOR FILLING BITUMEN IN POLYMERIC BAGS AND SEALING THE SAME

Abstract

Conventional mode of filling and transportation of bitumen is by using round steel drums. Apart from cost of empty drums, packing cost is also considerable and there is loss of cargo space due to circular shape of the drums. Bitumen-filled drums often develop leakages on storing due to rusting and corrosion from acidic component. Storage of bitumen-filled drums in the open is susceptible to action of rainwater and taking out the contents from the drums necessitates heating, but same amount of bitumen is lost. Handling of molten bitumen from steel drums is also hazardous. The present invention overcomes the above difficulties by using polymer bags for filling bitumen which can be conveniently stacked like cement bags. This invention provides an automatic machine for filling bitumen in polymeric bags and sealing the same, which comprises - (a) means for feeling (3) collapsel polymeric tubular body (2) with an arrangement for shearing (5) and sealing (7), thereby forming a bag; (b) means for heating bitumen (9) an leading the molten bitumen through a pipeline meant therefor (ll): (c) means for opening the mouth of the bag (15) allowing a predetermined amount of molten bitumen to be poured inside and automatically sealing the mouth of the bitumen-filled bag (14) and (d) sensors and controllers (21, 22, 23 and 24) for sensing and synchronizing the sequential operations of shearing, sealing the bottom, filling the bag with bitumen, sealing the upper lip of the bag and releasing the bitumen-filled bag onto a conveyor, chute, pallet or a suitable receptacle to be led into a cooling tank.

Full Text

The present invention relates to an automatic machine for riling bitumen in polymeric bags and sealing the same. More particularly, this invention pertains to a novel machine that is capable of filling all grades of bitumen in self-dissolving bags of polymeric material, thereby obviating the need to use costly steel drums and also saving in heating time along with complete utilisation of bitumen. Conventionally bitumen had to be transported / carried to the road building site either in bulk or in steel drums of capacity varying between 150 and 200 kg. In case of bulk transportation of bitumen, there has to be a bulk storage tank(s) at the site. Prior to actual use, the contents of the tank has to be heated to bring bitumen into an usable form, which involves considerable energy cost, and farther the application site from the storage tank, greater will be the energy cost on account of heating of the bitumen mass prior to actual application. Another drawback of bulk transportation of bilumen is that the tanker carrying bitumen has to return empty as it is not suitable for carrying / transporting other materials. Moreover, in a large country like India, transportation of higher grade bitumen to far-flung areas poses a lot of difficulties, particularly for taking the contents out of the tanker without adequate heating and storage facilities. The alternative mode of transporting bitumen is in steel drum, which is widely practiced in developing countries like India. Apart from the cost of the empty drums, packing cost comes to around Rs. 2500, 00 per metric tonne. The bitumen carrying drums also suffer from cumbersome handling procedure and loss of cargo space during transportation due to the gap between the circular drums, which eventually results in higher freight charges. Bitumen-filled drums have been found to develop leakages on storing due to rusting and corrosion from acidic components. Drums if stacked in the open, there is a distinct possibility of rainwater entering or seeping in, thereby aggravating the incidence of corrosion and necessitating higher pre-usage heating for longer periods for taking out bitumen. Pre-usage heating of bitumen drums has to be done extremely carefully, and often labourers handling the drums or carrying molten bitumen alter heating sustain serious burn injuries mainly on account of high latent heat of the contents which under ambient conditions is a plastic mass with high viscosity. These characteristics of bitumen result in at least 3% residual loss of bitumen due to sticking to the walls and bottom of the drums. Repeated heating of the drums to take out bitumen shortens the life and they tend to develop leaks at the seams through which bitumen oozes out, posing a hazard to the workmen handling the heated material. The present invention aims at overcoming the drawbacks of the conventional mode of handling and transporting bitumen by providing an automatic machine which virtually eliminates the hazards and effects considerable cost saving, - not to speak of ease of transportation and convenience of storage. The principal object of this invention is to provide an automatic machine for filling bitumen in polymeric bags and sealing the same. A further object of this invention is to provide an automatic machine which uses a plastic tube in collapsed state to impart a bag form by shearing and sealing the bottom thereof by application of heat and/or pneumatic pressure, opening the mouth of the bag and filling it with molten bitumen, sealing the upper lip and releasing the bitumen-filled bag into a cooling tank. A still further object of this invention is to provide an automatic machine for filling the bitumen in plastic bags wherein the plastic/polymeric bag material is self-dissolving, i.e. the container bags dissolve in molten bitumen in the course of preheating, thereby eliminating material loss. Another object of this invention is to use heating means, either electrical or gaseous fuel, to bring bitumen into a fluid form which is led through suitable pipeline, usually insulated, to be filled into the polymeric bags which arc then led into a cooling tank for converting bitumen into substantially solid form for ease of handling, storage and transportation. Yet another object of this invention is to provide an automatic machine for filling bitumen in self-dissolving polymeric bags, wherein the sequential unit operations are carried out with the help of electronic controllers or microprocessors programmed for such performancc(s). Still another object of this invention is to provide an automatic machine for filling bitumen in self-dissolving polymeric bags, which is fabricated from indigenously available raw materials, and the controllers arc made with the help of chips and components available in the open market in India. The foregoing objects arc achieved by the present invention pertaining to an automatic machine for filling bitumen in polymeric bags and scaling the same, which comprises (a) means for feeding collapsed polymeric tubular body with an arrangement for shearing and scaling, thereby forming a bag; (b) means for heating bitumen and leading the molten bitumen through a pipeline meant therefor; (c) means for opening the mouth of the bag and allowing a predetermined amount of molten bitumen to be poured inside and automatically scaling the mouth of the bitumen-filled bag and (d) sensors and controllers for sensing and synchronizing the sequential operations of shearing, scaling the bottom, filling the bag with bitumen, scaling the upper lip of the bag and releasing the bitumen-filled bag onto a conveyor, chute, pallet or a suitable receptacle to be led into a cooling tank. The different "means" referred to before and hereinafter in this specification may be enumerated as follows: (i) 'Means for feeding collapsed polymeric tubular body' this is a bag-forming continuous feeding through rollers rotating in mutually opposite directions from rolled polymeric film, which is equipped with a cutting knife to cut the tubular film at desired length and by heat-scaling at bottom part of the tubular body, there is formed an open-top bag capable of holding a predetermined quantity of bitumen (usually 25 kg/bag) programmed to be poured in each bag. (ii) 'Means for heating bitumen and leading the molten bitumen through a pipeline'— bitumen is kept in a big receptacle (usually a kettle) or a reservoir equipped with heating means, either electrical or gaseous, at a controlled temperature to maintain the bitumen in a molten condition, which flows through a pipeline for filling the polymeric bag with the help of a transfer pump operated in a fixed time cycle to achieve an exact mass of molten bitumen being poured in each bag. (iii) 'Means for opening the mouth of the bag and allowing a predetermined amount of molten bitumen to be poured inside' top of the polymeric bag is opened pneumatically followed by allowing molten bitumen to be filled in till a fixed quantity of bitumen passes into each bag, whereafter pouring is cut off through the control system and the top edge of the bitumen filled bag is heat scaled. The term "predetermined quantity" used before and hereinafter in this specification refers to the mass (in kg.) of molten bitumen to be filled in each polymeric bag. Usually it is 25 kg. per bag, but the dimension/size of the bag and consequently the quantum of contents may be altered as per requirement. Quantity of the molten bitumen being poured in a polymeric bag is controlled by a timer, which brings the transfer pump to a stop. The top open bag is closed pneumatically and second scaling (at the top) is activated by electronic controller and the filled bag is heat scaled to produce a fool-proof, scaled bitumen packet. Thereafter the bitumen-filled bag is allowed to fall on a belt conveyor fitted below the filling point to transfer the bag with its hot contents into a cooling water tank where bitumen gets solidified. In this continuous operation, the bitumen-filled bags can be stacked one on top of the other for convenient storage. Use of self-dissolving polythene bags is another important feature of this invention which ensures total utilization of material without any loss and/or wastage. It has also been observed that presence of molten polythene imparts enhanced water repellency to the top surface of roads receiving mastic-asphalt treatment. Filling of bitumen into polymeric bags, thus constituting unit loads that can be transported easily by conventional means, and then melting the polymeric bags with the bitumen contained therein is a novel process by itself. This would result in higher strength of the molten bitumen for the purpose of road laying, totally eliminating the wastage due to residual bitumen in their containers, which is a common phenomenon, and reduced cost and complication in transporting the bitumen as compared with the prior methods. Polymer sheet used for the purpose of making bags to be filled with bitumen is usually LDPE (low density polythene) formed into an endless tube. Such tubes arc severed at predetermined intervals and the bottom end thereof is scaled by application of pneumatic pressure. The endless tube in a collapsed form is passed over guide rollers and placed in front of the cutting unit, which automatically cuts the tube at any predetermined length, and the first scaling unit activated by a programmable controller seals the lower end of the tube. The thus formed bag is carried to a spreader unit where the mouth of the bag is opened and molten bitumen from the heated bitumen reservoir is led through insulated pipeline and poured into the bag. After release of a predetermined quantity of bitumen, pneumatically operated second scaling unit is activated by the electronic controller and the bitumen-filled bag mouth is automatically scaled. The bag with its content is allowed to fall on an endless conveyor and is led into a cooling tank wherein bitumen gets hardened. The bitumen-filled bags can be stacked one on top of the other just like cement bags and conveniently stored for future use without loss of any storage space. Use of self-dissolving polythene bags is another important aspect of this invention which ensures complete utilization of raw material, namely, bitumen, without any wastage whatsoever. The invention will now be illustrated by means of drawings accompanying the provisional specification, in which: Fig. 1 shows the view of the polymeric film movement leading to gripper, scaling and cutter units, Fig. 2 shows the view of the bitumen inlet pipe, bag opening unit, bag filling unit and final scaling unit for bitumen-filled bags and Fig. 3 gives a complete front sectional view of the machine depicting various constituent units as appearing to an observer. The constituent parts of the automatic machine of this invention marked by the identifying numerals arc listed below: (1) Main Machine structural frame (2) Polymeric film coming out from Roll for making bag (3) Guide Roller for Polymeric Film to maintain a fixed path (4) Top Guide for entry of poly-film (5) Cutter unit for producing cut to length bags (6) Heat scaling unit for bottom scaling of the bag (7) Heater fitted inside two jaws for heat scaling of polythene bag (8) Pneumatically operated bag holding device (9) Hot air blower to maintain the bitumen in molten state (10) Transfer pump with motor for filling bitumen (11) On-Off valve to control the flow of bitumen in the bag (12) Bitumen pipeline (13) Feeding nozzle (14) Second scaling (after filling bitumen) jaws fitted with heater inside (15) Arrangement to make the bag in open top condition till it is filled with bitumen (16) Pneumatic cylinder mounting arrangement of second scaling to execute to and fro movement of the scaling unit. (17) Pneumatic cylinder mounting arrangements for first scaling (18) Pneumatic cylinder to transfer the carriage unit for placing the bag from 1st scaling to 2nd position for bitumen filling and scaling (19) Bitumen reservoir with heater to maintain the mass in molten condition (20) Heatcr (21) Pneumatically operated bag opening arrangement for filling (22) Pneumatic cylinder for bag opening and keeping in position (23) Pneumatic cylinder mounting arrangement (24) Pneumatic cylinder to operate Ball Valve for feeding bitumen into the bag. Sensors and Controllers: (i) Sensors: a. Proxymatic sensor for moving the carriage backward and forward. b. Magnetic read switches, bag unloader for up and down movement fitted in the pneumatic bag divider and in and out cylinder for store adjustment. (ii) Controllers based on new software developed on Versa-Pro Platform of E Fanuc PLC. In Fig. 1, (1) is the main structural frame of the machine, (2) denotes polythene tube in a collapsed state passing through a plurality of rollers (3), the last pair serving as the guide rollers, (4) stands for the driving means for main guide roller which is a motor. (5) is the polythene sheet cutting unit and (6) is the motor / driver for the cutting unit. One end of the polythene tube is sealed by the initial sealing unit (7) and the tubular body is firmly held in place by the gripper unit (8), leading to formation of a bag open at one end and closed at the other. Fig.2 shows the arrangement for filling bitumen after opening of the bag, followed by sealing of the bitumen filled bag, wherein (9) is the blower for bitumen inlet pipe and (10) is the driver / motor for film opener (16). Bitumen is made to travel under gravity through the feeder pipe (11) from main tank (not shown). The feeder pipe is usually wrapped with insulating material like asbestos threads to prevent clogging by heat loss and consequent solidification of bitumen. There is usually provided a M.S. pipe (12) accommodating the blower to bitumen feeder pipe. The molten bitumen is led to an outlet (13) positioned above the polythene bag which is acted upon by the bag-spreading unit (15), and alter filling the bag mouth is sealed by the sealing unit (14). Fig.3 depicting the front sectional view of the automatic machine of this invention shows the locations of guide rollers (3), sheet cutting unit (5), initial sealing unit (7), bitumen feeder pipe (11), final sealing unit (14), bag-spreading unit (15) and driver for film opener (16), as already illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the aforementioned drawings. The polythene bag after its initial bottom sealing is automatically moved to the feeding unit wherein (17) stands for air cylinders (5) for initial sealing unit and (18) is the air cylinder bringing about translational movement of the bags sealed at one end, positioning it right below the bitumen filling station. Bitumen is stored in tank (19) and maintained in a fluid state by using heating means (20). Heating may be done either electrically or by burning gaseous fuel. Prior to filling, the bag mouth has to be opened and kept in a spread out condition. (21) is the driver for spreading unit and (22) is the air cylinder for actuating movement of the spreader unit. (23) and (24) are air cylinders for bringing about movement of the final sealing unit, and for controlling bitumen filling inside the polythene bags. The synchronous operations like cutting of polythene tubular body to a desired length, transporting it to the filling station, opening and spreading of bag mouth, filling the bag with predetermined amount of molten bitumen, sealing the bag mouth and releasing the sealed bag onto the endless conveyor for being led into a cooling tank are taken care of by electronic controllers, suitably programmed, which are assembled from chips and sensors available in the open market. Usually a multiplicity of controllers are used for the sake of convenience, such as (i) guiding operations like bag cutting and sealing the lower end, (ii) bag opening and spreading and (iii) bag filling with bitumen followed by final sealing. The process of the present invention is completely automatic with bitumen supplies drawn from a bitumen tank and the material feed for the bags fabricated from polythene film rolls. On starting the operation, the machine starts with cutting and bottom sealing of individual polythene bag, which is held in position by grippers and thereafter shifted to filling station. Pneumatic openers widen the mouth of the bag and a pump drawing liquefied bitumen from the supply tank starts immediately. The open-mouthed bag is positioned just under the bitumen delivery pipe, and the pump discharges liquid bitumen inside the bag with a time-adjusted delivery ensuring release of a fixed amount of bitumen in each polybag. The bag is sealed immediately after filling is over and the bag with its content is fed into a conveyor, which delivers the bag into the cooling tank. The advantages of the subject invention may be summarized as under: 1. The machine and component parts thereof are available indigenously and does not require any sophisticated machinery for its fabrication, which renders the machine considerably cost effective; 2. There is a direct cost saving on the packing charges to the extent of around Rs. 1000.00 per MT. 3. There is also considerable savings due to elimination of wastage as residue in the steel drums. 4. The polybag material is so chosen that they completely melt at 160°C. Hence the bags with their contents can be introduced directly into the tar boilers of the bitumen plants, thereby totally eliminating residual losses and obviating preheating as in the case of steel drums. 5. Polythene, which melts with bitumen, enhances the quality intended for its purpose, and increases road life. 6. Bitumen filled polybags can be stored even in the open for prolonged period of time without any loss or leakage. 7. The polybags can be stacked like cement bags which requires less space and renders handling considerably easy. Some possible variations in the process, machine and overall system design, get-up and working may include the following: a. Any grade of polymeric bags and any grade of bitumen in combination may be used on the machine; b. The various rotary and rectilinear motions can be achieved by any known means like mechanical electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic means; c. Sensing of the length of the polymer bag for cutting, weight of the bag before sealing, various time instants, spans and sequences of the process/operations can be achieved by any known means like mechanical, electronic, lighl or magnetic sensing, or combinations and obvious variations thereof; d. Cutting of the bags can be achieved by known mechanisms like guillotine or flying cutter mechanisms, as also by using sophisticated methods like plasma or LASER cutting; e. Sealing can be achieved by applying pressure or using thermal energy produced by combustion, electricity, or light, or a combination thereof; f. The various controls of the machine can be achieved with suitable electronic means, including use of conventional control hardware . Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), microprocessors, or even through hydraulic or pneumatic control. A combination of two or more of these can also be resorted to; g. Components of the machine may be manufactured from any known material. The arrangement and mechanisms of different sections of the machine may be simplified, varied, or reduced in further improved designs; h. Transferring of the bitumen bags from the machine to the cooling water reservoir can be by any known method, like conveyors or chutes and the like; i. The water in the tank can be cooled to attain and maintain a desired temperature, and cooling rate of the filled and sealed bitumen bags can be controlled by any known means; j. The lip of the filled bitumen bags can be cleaned before sealing, or bitumen droplets can be prevented from sticking to the lips can be prevented by known means, like efficiently closing the mouth of the tap, or diverting the flow of hot bitumen away from the lip by using valves. or hot-air currents, so that efficient sealing of the upper lip after filling can be achieved; k. The machine can be designed in multi-station, modular and even portable forms. Additional modifications and improvements on the present invention may also be apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus the particular combination of parts described and illustrated herein is intended to represent only one embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to serve as limitations of alternative within the spirit and scope of the invention. Having described the invention in detail with example, it will now be more particularly defined by means of claims appended hereinafter. 9. I Claim: 1. An automatic machine for feeling bitumen in polymeric bags and scaling the same, which comprises: (a) means for feeding collapsed polymeric tubular body with an arrangement for shearing anc scaling, thereby forming a bag; (b)means for heating bitumen and leading the molten bitumen through a pipeline meant Therefor; (c) means for opening the mouth of the bag and allowing a predetermined amount of molten bitumcn to be poured inside and automatically sealing the mouth of the bitumen-filled bag and (d) sensors and controllers for sensing and synchronizing the sequential operations of shearing, scaling the bottom, filling the bag with bitumen, scaling the upper lip of the bag and releasing the bitumen-filled bag onto a conveyor, chute, pallet or a suitable receptacle to be led into a cooling tank. 2. An automatic machine as claimed in Claim 1. wherein the process of filling bitumen into polymeric bags and scaling the said bags is achieved automatically with the help of sensors and controllers such as herein described. 3. An automatic machine as claimed in Claim 2. wherein the plastic/polymeric bag material is self-dissolving, i.e. the container bags dissolve in molten bitumen in the course of preheating, thereby eliminating material loss. 4. An automatic machine as claimed in Claim 1, wherein collapsed polymeric tubular body is fed to a predetermined length, its lower end is scaled, and upper end sheared, thus forming a bag. 5. An automatic machine as claimed in Claim 4, wherein a predetermined quantity of molten bitumen is filled in the said bag, and its upper lip is scaled before transferring the bag for cooling. 12 6. An automatic machine as claimed in Claim S, wherein sensing of the length of the polymer bag for cutting, weight of the bag before scaling, various time instants, spans and sequences of the process/operations can be achieved by any known means like mechanical, electronic, light or magnetic sensing, or combinations and obvious variations thereof. 7. An automatic machine as claimed in Claims 1 to 6, wherein various controls of the machine can be achieved with suitable electronic means, including use of conventional control hardware. Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), microprocessors, or even through hydraulic or pneumatic control or any combination of all these and the said machine is designed in multi-station, modular and/or in portable form. 8. An automatic machine as claimed in Claim 1. wherein transferring of the bitumen bags from the machine to the cooling water reservoir can be made by making use of mechanical or gravitational forces, or combinations of these and water in the said reservoir is cooled to maintain a desired temperature, preferably ambient temperature. 9. An automatic machine as claimed in Claim 3. wherein the lip of the filled bitumen bags is cleaned before scaling, or bitumen is prevented from sticking to the lips of the bags by known means, like efficiently closing the mouth of the bitumen tap, or diverting the flow of hot bitumen away from the lip by using direction control valves, or hot-air currents, so that efficient scaling of the upper lip after filling is achieved. 10. An automatic machine for filling bitumen in polymeric bags and scaling the same, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Dated this I6th day of February, 2006. Conventional mode of filling and transportation of bitumen is by using round steel drums. Apart from cost of empty drums, packing cost is also considerable and there is loss of cargo space due to circular shape of the drums. Bitumen-filled drums often develop leakages on storing due to rusting and corrosion from acidic component. Storage of bitumen-filled drums in the open is susceptible to action of rainwater and taking out the contents from the drums necessitates heating, but same amount of bitumen is lost. Handling of molten bitumen from steel drums is also hazardous. The present invention overcomes the above difficulties by using polymer bags for filling bitumen which can be conveniently stacked like cement bags. This invention provides an automatic machine for filling bitumen in polymeric bags and sealing the same, which comprises - (a) means for feeling (3) collapsel polymeric tubular body (2) with an arrangement for shearing (5) and sealing (7), thereby forming a bag; (b) means for heating bitumen (9) an leading the molten bitumen through a pipeline meant therefor (ll): (c) means for opening the mouth of the bag (15) allowing a predetermined amount of molten bitumen to be poured inside and automatically sealing the mouth of the bitumen-filled bag (14) and (d) sensors and controllers (21, 22, 23 and 24) for sensing and synchronizing the sequential operations of shearing, sealing the bottom, filling the bag with bitumen, sealing the upper lip of the bag and releasing the bitumen-filled bag onto a conveyor, chute, pallet or a suitable receptacle to be led into a cooling tank.

Documents:

898-KOL-2005-CORRESPONDENCE-(12-12-2011).pdf

898-KOL-2005-CORRESPONDENCE-1.1.pdf

898-KOL-2005-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

898-KOL-2005-FORM 27-1.1.pdf

898-KOL-2005-FORM 27.pdf

898-KOL-2005-FORM-1-(12-12-2011).pdf

898-KOL-2005-FORM-13-(12-12-2011).pdf

898-KOL-2005-FORM-27.pdf

898-kol-2005-granted-abstract.pdf

898-kol-2005-granted-claims.pdf

898-kol-2005-granted-correspondence.pdf

898-kol-2005-granted-description (complete).pdf

898-kol-2005-granted-examination report.pdf

898-kol-2005-granted-form 1.pdf

898-kol-2005-granted-form 18.pdf

898-kol-2005-granted-form 2.pdf

898-kol-2005-granted-form 3.pdf

898-kol-2005-granted-form 5.pdf

898-kol-2005-granted-pa.pdf

898-kol-2005-granted-reply to examination report.pdf

898-kol-2005-granted-specification.pdf