Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology – Apparatus – Bioreactor
Patent
1995-04-28
1997-12-23
Shoap, Allan N.
Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology
Apparatus
Bioreactor
220601, 220661, 220674, 220676, B65D 2500, B65D 9002
Patent
active
057006890
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to devices for making compost, particularly for composting garden and kitchen refuse.
Most known devices of that kind consist of single-walled containers which are substantially cylindrical or are square in cross-section and have container walls formed with openings through which oxygen is to be supplied to the material being composted and water vapor formed during the composting process is to be removed at the same time in order to avoid putrefaction or unpleasant odors. This can be only incompletely achieved in most cases because the waste materials to be composted form lumps and so closely contact the inside surface of the container walls that the required ventilation cannot be effected.
DE 30 19 253 A1 discloses a double-walled composting apparatus which has a closed cylindrical outer shell, which is provided with inwardly directed, thin vertical ribs, and a cylindrical inner shell, which consists of a wire grid, which is spaced 2 to 5 cm from the outer shell. In that apparatus the charging opening provided at the top end of the two shells and serving to receive the material to be composted is covered by a flexible plastic film and the compost cannot be taken out until the two shells have been removed.
DE 41 28 189 C1 discloses a composting apparatus that comprises a substantially pyramid-shaped container, which can be vented at its top and has an upper charging opening. The container to receive the material to be composted and can be closed by a cover. Compost can be taken out through a lower discharge opening, which can be closed by a flap, and a plurality of lower ventilating openings extend through the container wall. Thin vertical ribs protrude inwardly from the container wall and define laterally confined, wide vertical flow passages, leading into each other and serving to conduct the air which enters through the ventilating openings to flow along the inside surface of the container wall.
In said known composting devices the presence of the vertical flow passages results only in a slight improvement of the composting conditions because the heat which is generated in the material being composted during the composting process and the solar heat which is received by the container wall generate in the vertical flow passages an intense rising flow of air at a relatively high velocity of flow and the air that enters through the lower ventilating openings is relatively quickly conducted in said flow passages past the material being composted to the top vent of the container. As a result, the heat which is essential for the proper progress of the composting process is continuously dissipated. To destroy weed seeds during the composting it is recommended that a temperature of at least 60.degree. C. should be reached during the composting process. The intense flow of air at the outside portions of the material being composted will also result in a drying of the material being composted. It has been found that even at outdoor temperatures which are normal in Central Europe the composting process will strongly be retarded by an intense circulation of air and will entirely be suppressed by such circulation when the weather is cool.
It is an object of the invention to eliminate said disadvantages and to provide a composting device in which the ventilation, while providing for the necessary supply of oxygen, will avoid as far as possible a cooling and drying of the material being composted.
This is accomplished according to the invention with a composting device which comprises a preferably upwardly tapering container, adapted to be vented at its top and having an upper charging opening, which can preferably be closed by a cover and which serves to receive the material to be composted. The container also has a lower discharge opening, which can preferably be closed by a flap and which permits the compost to be taken out, a plurality of lower ventilating openings, which extend through the container wall, and a plurality of air-guiding elements, which are provided on the inside surface of t
REFERENCES:
patent: D332678 (1993-01-01), Barclay et al.
patent: 5190572 (1993-03-01), Long
patent: 5234833 (1993-08-01), Artis
Kopsidas Niki M.
Shoap Allan N.
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