Patent Application
20230405905
The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present disclosure. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art nor material to the presently described or claimed inventions, nor that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
The present invention relates generally to the field of construction materials of existing art and more specifically relates to a synthetic aggregate.
Aggregate includes material such as sand, gravel, stone, concrete and the like, and is used particularly in construction. Aggregate is provided in a variety of sizes and can be used in a wide range of applications, from being a component of asphalt to being a decorative feature for a patio or garden. As such, aggregate is a hugely in demand material in the construction industry.
There are however some problems associated with the aggregate available currently. Namely, because the aggregate is made from materials such as stone, the aggregate tends to be extremely heavy. This is of particular issue in large construction jobs that require a large amount of aggregate. The weight of aggregate causes excess strain on trucks and equipment, causes wear and tear on roads, causes strain on laborers, increases time needed on the job to transport the aggregate, increases amount of laborers needed, increases fuel costs, etc. As such, a suitable solution is needed to avoid these problems.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known construction material art, the present disclosure provides a novel synthetic aggregate. The general purpose of the present disclosure, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a synthetic aggregate, particularly, a plastic aggregate which is formed via extruding and shaping recycled plastic.
A plastic aggregate is disclosed herein. The plastic aggregate includes at least one plastic material and an amount of air. The at least one plastic material may be chosen based on desired hardness of the plastic aggregate. The amount of air may be added into the at least one plastic material. A ratio of plastic material to air may be chosen based on the desired hardness of the plastic aggregate.
According to another embodiment, a method of forming plastic aggregate is also disclosed herein. The method may include feeding at least one plastic material into a hopper of an extrusion machine; extruding the at least one plastic material to a desired density in the extrusion machine, thereby forming extruded plastic; and shaping the extruded plastic into a desired aggregate shape and size, thereby forming plastic aggregate.
For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings and detailed description.
The figures which accompany the written portion of this specification illustrate embodiments and methods of use for the present disclosure, a synthetic aggregate, constructed and operative according to the teachings of the present disclosure.
The various embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein like designations denote like elements.
As discussed above, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to construction materials and more particularly to a synthetic aggregate. Generally, the synthetic aggregate may include a lightweight ‘stone’ made from recycled plastic. The synthetic aggregate may include similar or equal dimensions to standard quarry aggregate (for example ¾ and ¼) but may be between 10%-85% of the weight of the standard quarry aggregate. The synthetic aggregate may save on labor, fuel, time, and may lower environmental impact, as the use of recycled plastic may take away from landfills and water sources.
The synthetic aggregate may be manufactured using a basic plastic extrusion process. Air may be added before the extrusion occurs. The air may added via an aerator and/or a mixing process. After extrusion, the plastic may be placed into either a tumbler, a crusher or a shaper or may be blown or heat blasted to give it a desired aggregate shape and size. A ratio of plastic to air may be chosen based on desired hardness. Additionally, type of plastic may be chosen based on the desired hardness. Preferably, there may be a vast range in regard to air ratio and all plastics, ensuring the synthetic aggregate is suitable for different industries and applications.
Referring now more specifically to the drawings, there is shown in
Further, the plastic aggregate 100 may also include an amount of air. The amount of air may be added into the at least one plastic material (in some embodiments the recycled plastic material). A ratio of plastic material to air may also be chosen based on the desired hardness of the plastic aggregate 100. As such, as discussed above, the desired hardness of the plastic aggregate 100 may be based on industry in which the plastic aggregate 100 will be used and/or application for which the plastic aggregate 100 will be used, etc. For instance, using the examples above: for structural applications calling for hard plastic aggregate 100, little to no air may be added to the plastic material; for decorative garden applications calling for lighter plastic aggregate 100 a larger amount of air may be added. In a more detailed example, for structural applications, the plastic aggregate 100 may contain a plastic material to air ratio of 5:1; for decorative garden applications, the plastic aggregate 100 may contain a plastic material to air ratio of 2:1. Again, it should be appreciated that these examples are for clarification only and are not meant to limit the plastic aggregate 100 to any ratio.
The plastic aggregate 100 may preferably be formed via extrusion of the at least one recycled plastic material subsequent to the amount of air being added thereinto. In some embodiments, the amount of air may be added to the at least one recycled plastic material via an aerating process and/or a mixing process. The at least one recycled plastic material may then be shaped into a desired aggregate shape and size by tumbling, crushing, shaping in a shaper machine, blow molding and/or heat blasting. For example, as demonstrated in
Referring more specifically now to
In some embodiments, the next step 202 may include extruding the at least one plastic material to a desired density in the extrusion machine, thereby forming extruded plastic. The extrusion process utilized here may be a standard extrusion process and as such, the extrusion process utilized in the present invention may be understood by that knowledgeable in the art of extruding plastics. As shown in
For example, in some embodiments, the amount of air may be added to the at least one plastic material via an aerating process. In this example, the amount of air may be circulated about the at least one plastic material to impregnate the amount of air into the at least one plastic material. In another example, the amount of air may be added to the at least one plastic material via a mixing process, whereby the amount of air is simply mixed into the at least one plastic material. In both of these processes, the amount of air may be added to the at least one plastic material once the at least one plastic material has been melted, and again, prior to the actual extrusion of the at least one plastic material.
The next step 203 may include shaping the extruded plastic into a desired aggregate shape and size (as discussed above) thereby forming the plastic aggregate 100. As shown in
In some examples, the tumbling step 203a may be achieved via a tumbler machine. As such, as shown in
In addition, as shown in
It should be noted that certain steps are optional and may not be implemented in all cases. Some optional steps are indicated in
The embodiments of the invention described herein are exemplary and numerous modifications, variations and rearrangements can be readily envisioned to achieve substantially equivalent results, all of which are intended to be embraced within the spirit and scope of the invention. Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application.
