Patent Application
20250000326
The field of the disclosure relates to sweeper apparatus, in particular to a magnetic sweeper apparatus.
A traditional magnetic sweeper apparatus utilizes magnetism to pick up ferrous (metallic) objects. However, there are several problems with a traditional magnetic sweeper apparatuses, including:
Debris contamination-steel shot/debris can get all over the top of the magnet and between the magnet and separating surface causing it to not function properly. In this invention, the completely sealed magnetic drum will not allow shot/debris inside.
Low productivity—traditional magnetic sweepers are slow to use. The magnets and sweeper body are fixed during sweeping. When the sweeper body is fully covered by metal debris, steel shot, nails, etc., its pick up strength is greatly reduced. Therefore, the operator needs to stop often to clean the sweeper, debris has to be released from the bottom of the magnet onto something like the floor, and then picked up again with something like a shovel and disposed of into a bin or trash container. And because a traditional magnet loses strength as more debris is collected, the area swept usually has to be swept several times. In this invention, the magnet never loses strength, and debris is deposited into an easily removable on-board debris bin which can be grabbed when full and dumped directly into an external debris bin.
Degrading performance as used—in traditional magnetic sweepers the magnet slowly loses strength as more and more debris is collected as the magnet is moved over debris.
Operator ease of use—the operation described above involves significant operator effort. The operator has to judge when the magnet is full on the bottom and then stop and clean it off onto the floor, then scoop up the debris or shot again with a shovel or other device and dump it into a bucket or machine again. Because traditional magnetic sweepers slowly lose pickup power as they are pushed along and pickup steel shot or debris, they start to miss picking up all debris, so the operator usually has to go over areas several times to get all the material picked up. Using a traditional sweeper is like using a hand saw, and using a continuous discharge (rotary) sweeper is like using a power saw.
There is a desire to provide an improved magnetic sweeper that addresses concerns related to debris contamination, low productivity, degrading performance and ease of use.
A continuous discharge magnetic sweeper apparatus with horizontal axis rotary clean off is disclosed. The magnetic sweeper apparatus consists of a handle, back wheels or a front caster, a frontal debris bin and a drive wheel housing a ceramic magnetic assembly. The ceramic magnetic assembly comprises a sealed magnetic drum and rotating non-ferrous finned tubes, and the magnet is continuously cleaned off as the magnetic sweeper apparatus is pushed forward. Metal debris (shot) accumulates on the rotating non-ferrous tube and is deposited in the frontal debris bin. The magnetic sweeper apparatus' horizontal axis continuous discharge design utilizes field differences created by the magnet position and angle to achieve the automatic pick-up and drop-off of debris at different locations of the drum.
According to the disclosure, an improved magnetic sweeper which addresses debris contamination, low productivity, degrading performance and ease of use is disclosed. According to the disclosure, a sealed stationary magnet assembly with a rotating finned non-ferrous tube is used.
According to the disclosure, the magnet does not lose strength during a sweeping session, and the metal debris is deposited into a removable on-board debris bin which can be grabbed when full and dumped directly into a debris bin. The magnet is always at 100% strength because the magnet is continuously cleaned off as it is pushed forward.
This disclosure aims to address the difficulties in clean off by implementing a nonmagnetic (non-ferrous) rotary finned tube, and by creating a difference in the magnetic field around the tube at the bottom (strongest field) and top/front clean off points (weakest field).
The disclosure uses a stationary hanging ceramic magnet assembly that is suspended inside the nonmagnetic rotating finned tube. The tube has fins around its perimeter that run nearly the full length of the tube, that is driven by a wheel, which rotates the finned tube around the stationary magnet.
There is an onboard bin that travels in a fixed position in front of the finned rotating drum, which is where the steel shot (metal debris) is discharged into. By adjusting the size, position and angle of the magnet assembly, the sweeper has a strong field at the bottom and back side, allowing it to be able to pick up steel shot (primary use) and hold onto the shot on the back side of the finned tube as it is conveyed around the top and front where it has a weaker field, so that the shot is not held by minimal magnetic force, and is discharged into the bin automatically due to gravity. The fins on the tube also act as scoops to assist in holding the shot during the travel, and they also act as ramps when moving slowly to guide the shot into the bin during the discharge.
This frees the operator from the need to stop often for clean-off, and the bin makes it easier for the operator to pick up and dump the debris elsewhere. Also, by cleaning off continuously during the operation, the magnetic field strength at the pick-up location isn't reduced due to the sweeper body being covered by debris. In other words, the magnet is always at 100% pickup strength during operation. This also eliminates the need to go over areas twice to get all the debris picked up.
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According to the disclosure, the aforementioned horizontal axis continuous discharge design utilizes a field difference created by the magnet position and angle to achieve the automatic pick-up and drop-off of debris at different locations of the drum. Other designs such as a conveyor belt design mainly use the movement of the conveyor belt to transfer the metal debris, (e.g., steel shot, etc.) from one position to another.
According to the disclosure, in the horizontal axis rotary clean off, the magnet assembly is fully enclosed by the finned tube and two wheels. This avoids the problem where shot could get into the open transmission system and affect the operation. The simple connection between finned tube and wheel by compression or by additional fasteners is reliable ensuring the magnet assembly is fully enclosed. With the conveyor belt system debris can get between the conveyor belt and the rotating pulleys.
According to the disclosure, the magnetic field of the horizontal axis continuous discharge sweeper is non-uniform around the finned tube, and there is a big difference between the field at the pick-up location at the bottom and clean-off location just past the top.
Furthermore, the magnet assembly is placed at an angle so that the magnetic field at the back and bottom side is stronger than the top and front. This allows the shot to be held on the drum on the back side during transportation, and it prevents the shot from being captured by the field again at the front side during discharge.
According to the disclosure, the finned rotating tube surrounding the magnet also rotates at the same revolutions per minute (RPM) as the wheels that drive it. This allows the finned tube to be nearly as large in diameter as the wheel that is driving it, which correspondingly allows the fixed magnet inside the tube to be as close to the ground as possible which provides a strong magnetic field. The closer the magnet is to the ground, the closer it will be to the steel shot it is picking up and this relates to better product performance.
According to the disclosure, the smaller size Fusion sweeper further comprises two smaller back wheels, which are attached to the ends of the drum and fixed solidly to rotate with the drum. Because of the wheels being fixed solidly to rotate with the drum, in order to turn the sweeper, one has to push down on the handle to lift the drum and front wheels onto the back wheels.
According to the disclosure, the larger magnetic sweepers (Gamma and Photon) each further comprise a front caster wheel in the design where the wheels on the ends of the finned drum are not fixed, but utilize a ratchet mechanisms similar to a bicycle freewheel and allow all of the wheels to stay on the ground without the requirement of additional rear wheels to turn the sweeper.
According to the disclosure, a continuous discharge magnetic sweeper apparatus with horizontal axis rotary clean-off, configured for collection of metallic debris is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a main frame, a frontal debris bin at the front of the frame configured to collect metallic debris, a pair of back support wheels at the rear of the frame or a front caster, a handle connected to the frame, a driving wheel connected directly or by freewheel device and a magnetic assembly housed within the driving wheel.
The magnetic assembly further comprises a sealed magnetic drum and a plurality of non-ferrous fins connected to a non-ferrous tube. The magnet is continuously cleaned off as the magnetic sweeper apparatus is pushed forward. The metallic debris accumulates on the magnet assembly and is deposited into the frontal debris bin. The magnet blocks further comprises rare earth magnets or ceramic magnets. The metallic debris are steel shot, grit or fine debris.
According to the disclosure, the magnetic sweeper apparatus horizontal axis rotary clean-off design utilizes field differences created by the magnet position and angle to achieve the automatic pick-up and drop-off of debris at different locations of the finned drum. The magnet was designed and positioned to have stronger field near the ground (pick-up location), and weaker field near the bin (clean-off location). So it will pick up the debris at the strong field location (ground), and drop them off at weak field location (bin) during rotation of the drum naturally, without the need of manual cleaning.
According to the disclosure, the dimensions of the rare earth magnet blocks are 2″ length, 1″ width and 0.5″ height or the ceramic magnet blocks are 2.5″ length, 6″ width and 1″ height, and 2.5″ length, 6″ width and 0.5″ high, or 4″ length, 6″ width and 1″ height and 4″ length, 6″ width and 0.5″ height. The dimensions are 31.46″ width, 39.23″ height and 14.26″ depth.
According to the disclosure, the magnetic assembly is a ceramic magnetic assembly. The plurality of rotating non-ferrous fins on a non-ferrous tube is selected from a list of materials consisting of rubber, plastic, silicone, or stainless steel.
According to the disclosure, a method of removing metallic debris, using a continuous discharge magnetic sweeper apparatus with a horizontal axis rotary clean-off is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of driving the magnetic sweeper apparatus forward, picking up and transferring metallic debris onto a finned rotating tube, driven by the wheels of the magnetic sweeper apparatus, picking up and discharging the metallic debris into a debris bin of the magnetic sweeper apparatus. The pick-up location is closer to the ground and the clean-off location is closer to the bin.
According to the disclosure, the magnet is configured to have a stronger field near pick-up location and weaker field near the clean-off location whereby the apparatus is configured to pick up the debris at the stronger field location and drop them off at the weaker field location during rotation of the drum naturally without the need of manual cleaning. The magnets are continuously cleaned off as the magnetic sweeper apparatus is pushed forward.
According to the disclosure, the magnets of the method further comprise rare earth magnets or ceramic magnets. The metallic debris is steel shot, grit or fine debris. The dimensions of the rare earth magnet blocks of the method are 2″ length, 1″ width and 0.5″ height or 2.5″ length, 6″ width and 1″ height, and 2.5″ length, 6″ width and 0.5″ high, or 4″ length, 6″ width and 1″ height and 4″ length, 6″ width and 0.5″ height for ceramic assemblies.
According to the disclosure, the magnetic sweeper apparatus of the method utilizes field differences created by the magnet position and angle to achieve the automatic pick-up and drop-off of debris at different locations of the finned drum.
While some embodiments or aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented in fully functioning mechanical, electrical and electrical-mechanical systems, other embodiments may be considered.
The methods disclosed herein comprise one or more steps or actions for achieving the described method. The method steps and/or actions may be interchanged with one another without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is required for proper operation of the method that is being described, the order and/or use of specific steps and/or actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims.
The specific embodiments described above have been shown by way of example and understood is that these embodiments may be susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. Further understood is that the claims are not intended to be limited to the forms disclosed, but to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. While the foregoing written description of the system enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be the best mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents of the specific embodiment, method, and examples herein. The system should therefore not be limited by the above-described embodiment, method, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the system. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the implementations shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
Information as herein shown and described in detail is fully capable of attaining the above-described object of the present disclosure, the presently preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, and is, thus, representative of the subject matter which is broadly contemplated by the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure fully encompasses other embodiments which may become obvious to those skilled in the art, and is to be limited, accordingly, by nothing other than the appended claims, wherein any reference to an element being made in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless explicitly so stated, but rather “one or more.” All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the above-described preferred embodiment and additional embodiments as regarded by those of ordinary skill in the art are hereby expressly incorporated by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the present claims.
Moreover, no requirement exists for a system or method to address each problem sought to be resolved by the present disclosure, for such to be encompassed by the present claims. Furthermore, no element, component, or method step in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element, component, or method step is explicitly recited in the claims. However, various changes and modifications in form, material, workpiece, and fabrication material detail may be made, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, as set forth in the appended claims, as may be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, are also encompassed by the present disclosure.
This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/511,164, entitled “CONTINUOUS DISCHARGE MAGNETIC SWEEPER APPARATUS WITH HORIZONTAL AXIS ROTARY CLEAN OFF”, filed on Jun. 29, 2023, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. This application is also a US continuation-in-part application of U.S. utility application Ser. No. 18/398,023, entitled “MAGNETIC VERTICAL AXIS ROTARY CLEAN OFF ATTACHMENT APPARATUS”, filed on Dec. 27, 2023, the disclosure of which is also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63511164 | Jun 2023 | US |
