1. An apparatus for pulverizing bamboo, comprising: a chipper that cuts rectangular bamboo; and an arraying device that arrays the rectangular b5 am boointroduced to the chipper so that the inside and the outside are directed to a same direction.

2. The apparatus for pulverizing bamboo according to Claim 1, further comprising: a bamboo movement suppressing device that suppresses movement of the rectangular bamboo caused by the impact generated at the time of cutting by the chipper.

3. The apparatus for pulverizing bamboo according to Claim 2, wherein the bamboo movement suppressing device is a roller that feeds the rectangular bamboo to the chipper. 20

4. The apparatus for pulverizing bamboo according to Claim 3, wherein the roller is provided by two pieces or more in theadvancing direction of the bamboo. 25

5. The apparatus for pulverizing bamboo according to Claim 1, further comprising: a bamboo splitting device that splits bamboo into a rectangular shape; a bamboo opening device that arrays the bamboo 5 having been split by the bamboo splitting device so that the inside is directed upward; and two or more rollers that feed the bamboo having been arrayed by the bamboo opening device to the chipper. 10

6. The apparatus for pulverizing bamboo according to Claim 1, wherein the chipper includes a chipper blade that cuts bamboo, and a screen that makes bamboo that has become equal to or 15 less than a predetermined size out of the bamboo having been cut by the chipper go through.

7. A method for pulverizing bamboo, comprising the steps of: 20 arraying rectangular bamboo so that the inside and the outside are directed to a same direction; and cutting the bamboo so that a blade enters from the inside at all times. 25 8. The method for pulverizing bamboo according to Claim 15 7, further comprising the steps of: splitting the bamboo into a rectangular shape; arraying the bamboo having been split so that the inside and the outside are directed to a same direction; 5 and cutting the bamboo so that a blade enters from the inside at all times while suppressing movement of the bamboo.

DESCRIPTION
[Title of the Invention]
APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PULVERIZING BAMBOO
[5 Technical Field]
The present invention relates to an apparatus and
method for pulverizing bamboo for the purpose of obtaining
fertilizer of crushed bamboo, activated carbon of bamboo
charcoal, or biofuel of refined bamboo and so on.
10
[Background Art]
When bamboo is to be made fertilizer and is to be
made charcoal as the activated carbon, it is necessary to
pulverize the bamboo, and an apparatus called a chipper is
15 used. According to the purpose and use, the size of
pulverizing is changed by the aperture size of the screen
inside the chipper.
The life of the blade of an ordinary chipper is 100
hours or more in the case of pulverizing general wood.
20 However, the life of the blade of the ordinary chipper in
the case of pulverizing bamboo becomes 24-30 hours which is
extremely short. Also, with respect to the patent
literature disclosing a bamboo chipper, Japanese Patent
Application Laid-Open No. 2013-154588 (Patent Literature 1)
25 can be cited, for example.
3
[Summary of the Invention]
[Technical Problem]
However, when the blade is replaced every 24 hours,
5 replacing work of the blade almost every day is required,
and continuous operation is not possible. In addition, the
cost of the blade itself is incurred, and the overall cost
increases.
In this regard, the object of the present invention
10 is to provide an apparatus and method for pulverizing
bamboo which can suppress shortening of the life of a blade
even when bamboo is pulverized.
[Solution to Problem]
The apparatus for pulverizing bamboo of the present
15 invention includes a chipper that cuts rectangular bamboo
and an arraying device that arrays the rectangular bamboo
introduced to the chipper so that the inside and the
outside of the rectangular bamboo are directed to a same
direction. Moreover, the method for pulverizing bamboo of
20 the present invention includes the steps of arraying the
rectangular bamboo so that the inside and the outside of
the rectangular bamboo are directed to a same direction and
cutting the bamboo so that a blade enters from the inside
at all times.
25 [Advantageous Effects of Invention]
4
The present invention can provide an apparatus and
method for pulverizing bamboo which can suppress shortening
of the life of a blade even when bamboo is pulverized.
[Brief Description of the Drawings5 ]
Fig. 1 shows a chipper;
Fig. 2 shows an apparatus for pulverizing bamboo; and
Fig. 3 shows the detail of a bamboo opening device.
10 [Description of Embodiments]
It has been said that the blade of the chipper is
worn out and cannot be used any more within a short time
when it is used for cutting bamboo because the surface of
the bamboo is hard. Replacement of the blade incurs the
15 cost and has a problem of deterioration of the availability
factor because the apparatus should be stopped in order to
replace the blade. With respect to the cause of shortening
of the life of the blade, it is commonly said that there is
a layer containing much silica on the surface of the bamboo,
20 and metal wear of the tip of the blade proceeds because the
blade hits this hard portion.
However, when the blade is required to be replaced
every 24 hours, replacement work of the blade becomes
necessary almost every day, continuous operation is
25 impossible, the availability factor deteriorates, and
5
overall cost increases because the cost of the blade itself
is high.
In the light of such problems, the present inventor
focused on the fact that any substantial difference was not
5 experienced between cutting of bamboo and wood using an
ordinary saw, and proceeded with the study doubting the
common belief. During the process, it was considered that,
even if there was a hard layer on the surface of the bamboo,
the cause of wear was different, and deepened the study on
10 the grinding theory of the chipper and the property of
bamboo. As a result, it was concluded that wear of the
blade was promoted by the actions of following three steps.
(1) When the chipper blade hits the bamboo, the
bamboo of a cylindrical shape is deformed. (2) Since the
15 bamboo tries to escape from the blade by this deformation,
the blade moves so as to slide over the surface of the
bamboo. (3) Therefore, a friction force is generated in
the blade at the surface of the bamboo, and this friction
force promotes the wear.
20 In order to suppress the wear of the blade, the
solution described below is incorporated in the embodiment
of the present invention described below based on the
conclusions described above.
(1) The bamboo is split in the vertical direction
25 from the original cylindrical shape, and is worked into two
6
pieces or more of the rectangular shape. (2) With respect
to the bamboo worked into the rectangular shape, it is
arranged so that the surface touching the blade first comes
to the inner surface side of the bamboo. Thus, the portion
5 of the bamboo surface liable to cause sliding is avoided,
and the blade is prevented from sliding as much as possible.
(3) More preferably, the bamboo is pressed by double
rollers so as to prevent the event that the rectangular
piece moves by the impact of touching the blade and being
10 crushed and effects such a movement similar to that of
sliding of the blade. With a single roller, a lever-like
movement may possibly occur, and such a movement can be
avoided when rollers are used by two pieces or more.
Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
15 2013-154588 (Patent Literature 1) also, there is a
description “the life of the blade is as short as
approximately 40 hours which is a problem” in the paragraph
[0005]. However, a method for solving the problem is not
mentioned. In the paragraph [0044] of Japanese Patent
20 Application Laid-Open No. 2013-154588 (Patent Literature 1),
there is a description “because circular slicing and
chipping of the bamboo material can be executed
continuously in particular, compared to a method of a prior
art of obtaining bamboo chips from the bamboo material
25 using plural devices or machines, the work is substantially
7
saved, and the bamboo chips can be produced efficiently”,
however, there is no description on how it affects the life
of the blade.
5 [Embodiment]
First, an example of a chipper will be explained
using Fig. 1. In a chipper 11, a chipper blade 1 rotates
at a high speed in the inside, when a bamboo material 3 is
fed to the inside of the chipper 11 by a feed roller 2, the
10 chipper blade 1 hits the bamboo material 3 and scrapes the
bamboo. The scraped bamboo hits the blade again and so on
in the inside of the chipper 11 and is pulverized. A
screen 4 is provided below the chipper 11, and the bamboo
pulverized to equal to or less than the size of the screen
15 4 is discharged to the outside.
However, because the bamboo has a cylindrical shape
and the inside is hollow, when the bamboo is hit by the
chipper blade 1 in the state of the bamboo material 3
(before deformation), the shape of substantially true
20 circle of the bamboo is deformed to have an elliptical
cross section receiving a compression force, and the bamboo
becomes a state of bamboo material after deformation 5 as
illustrated in Fig. 1. Moreover, even a rectangular bamboo
having been split in the vertical direction effects similar
25 deformation when the blade of the chipper 1 is going to hit
8
the bamboo from the outside. The reason is that the bamboo
of the rectangular shape also has a curved cross section,
is elastic, and has an allowance for deformation.
With respect to this deformation, since the chipper
5 blade 1 is fixed to the rotary shaft, the slide of the
blade occurs by the distance shown as a slide amount 6 of
the blade which is the portion the bamboo is deformed by
compression. Because of the friction force generated by
this slide, wear of the chipper blade 1 of the case the
10 bamboo is pulverized becomes extremely quick compared to
pulverizing of general wood.
An example of the pre-treatment as a method for
solving this problem will be explained using Fig. 2. Fig.
2 shows the embodiment of an apparatus for pulverizing
15 bamboo.
First, the bamboo material 3 is fed to a bamboo
splitting device 8 by using a hydraulic cylinder 7.
The bamboo splitting device 8 includes several blades
(eight pieces in the example shown in Fig. 2) in the inside.
20 When the bamboo material 3 goes through the bamboo
splitting device 8, the bamboo is split by the blade and
becomes several sheets of the rectangular shape. The
center of the bamboo splitting device 8 is a cylinder so as
to be capable of removing the bamboo joints.
25 The bamboo having gone through the bamboo splitting
9
device 8 and being several sheets of the rectangular shape
are arrayed by a bamboo opening device 9 in the direction
of directing the inside of the bamboo upward.
Fig. 3 shows the detailed drawing of the bamboo
opening 5 device of the present embodiment. The upper
drawing of Fig. 3 shows the overall appearance of the
bamboo opening device, and three lower drawings are the
cross-sectional views of the positions shown by the single
dot chain line in the upper drawing.
10 The bamboo opening device 9 opens the bamboo having
been split into eight pieces by the bamboo splitting device
8 by guide plates 12 attached to a bamboo opening core 14.
As the bamboo goes through the bamboo opening device 9, the
bamboo is guided gradually to the form of directing the
15 inside upward by the guide plates 12 and the bamboo opening
core 14.
In the process of gradually guiding the bamboo
positioned in the upper part toward the downstream, the
rectangular bamboo may possibly be reversed. In order to
20 cope with it, a reverse preventing plate 13 is attached,
and the gap between the bamboo opening core 14 and the
reverse preventing plate 13 is made narrow so that the
bamboo cannot turn.
The rectangular bamboo whose inside has been directed
25 upward is sent to a double roller (a rubber double roller)
10
10, and is sent to the chipper 11.
The double roller 10 has a role of feeding the bamboo
to the chipper 11 while rotating, and prevents the bamboo
from moving by the impact when the chipper blade 1 hits the
bamboo by supporting the bamboo by two points. When 5 the
bamboo moves, slide of the chipper blade 1 occurs, wear of
the blade occurs even when the bamboo is not deformed, and
therefore movement is prevented by supporting the bamboo by
two points.
10 Because bamboo has porous layers in the inside which
are softer compared to the surface, the chipper blade 1
cuts in the bamboo smoothly, and can pulverize the bamboo
without sliding.
The apparatus for pulverizing bamboo of the present
15 embodiment described above includes the chipper 11 that
cuts the rectangular bamboo, the bamboo splitting device 8
that splits the bamboo into a rectangular shape, and the
bamboo opening deice 9 that arrays the bamboo having been
split by the bamboo splitting device 8 so that the inside
20 and the outside are directed to a same direction. In
particular, by providing such an arraying device as the
bamboo opening device which arrays bamboo so that the
inside of the bamboo is directed upward, shortening of the
blade life can be suppressed even when the bamboo is
25 pulverized in the chipper. In addition, since the double
11
roller 10 is provided which is a bamboo movement
suppressing device for suppressing movement of the
rectangular bamboo caused by the impact generated at the
time of cutting by the chipper 11, shortening of the blade
5 life can be further suppressed.
The inside of the bamboo mentioned here means the
inner peripheral side in the radial direction of the
cylindrical bamboo, and the outside of the bamboo means the
surface side of the green color which can be confirmed from
10 the outer surface of the bamboo which is grown upright.
“The inside and the outside are directed in a same
direction” means that the rectangular bamboos are
introduced to the chipper after all of the rectangular
bamboos are directed to either the front side or the back
15 side. Further, the rectangular bamboo is not limited to
the bamboo of literally a rectangular shape. It does not
mean cylindrical bamboo but means the bamboo obtained by
splitting the cylindrical bamboo.
Furthermore, although the above embodiment shows an
20 example of the present invention, it is needless to mention
that a similar effect is secured as far as such a method
for pulverizing bamboo is employed that the rectangular
bamboo is arrayed so that the inside and the outside are
directed to a same direction and the bamboo is cut so that
25 the blade enters from the inside at all times. More
12
preferably, when the bamboo is split into a rectangular
shape, the bamboo having been split is arrayed so that the
inside and the outside are directed to a same direction,
and the bamboo is cut so that the blade enters from the
5 inside at all times while suppressing movement of the
bamboo, the bamboo can be pulverized efficiently.
[Reference Signs List]
1: Chipper blade
10 2: Feed roller
3: Bamboo material
4: Screen
5: Bamboo material after deformation
6: Blade sliding amount
15 7: Hydraulic cylinder
8: Bamboo splitting device
9: Bamboo opening device
10: Double roller
11: Chipper
20 12: Guide plate
13: Reverse preventing plate
14: Bamboo opening core
13

WE CLAIM:
1. An apparatus for pulverizing bamboo, comprising: a chipper that cuts rectangular bamboo; and an arraying device that arrays the rectangular b5 am boointroduced to the chipper so that the inside and the outside are directed to a same direction.
2. The apparatus for pulverizing bamboo according to Claim 1, further comprising:
a bamboo movement suppressing device that suppresses movement of the rectangular bamboo caused by the impact
generated at the time of cutting by the chipper.
3. The apparatus for pulverizing bamboo according to Claim 2, wherein
the bamboo movement suppressing device is a roller
that feeds the rectangular bamboo to the chipper.
20
4. The apparatus for pulverizing bamboo according to Claim 3, wherein
the roller is provided by two pieces or more in theadvancing direction of the bamboo.
25

5. The apparatus for pulverizing bamboo according to
Claim 1, further comprising:
a bamboo splitting device that splits bamboo into a rectangular shape;
a bamboo opening device that arrays the bamboo 5 having
been split by the bamboo splitting device so that the
inside is directed upward; and
two or more rollers that feed the bamboo having been
arrayed by the bamboo opening device to the chipper.
10
6. The apparatus for pulverizing bamboo according to
Claim 1, wherein
the chipper includes a chipper blade that cuts bamboo,
and a screen that makes bamboo that has become equal to or
15 less than a predetermined size out of the bamboo having
been cut by the chipper go through.
7. A method for pulverizing bamboo, comprising the steps
of:
20 arraying rectangular bamboo so that the inside and
the outside are directed to a same direction; and
cutting the bamboo so that a blade enters from the
inside at all times.
25 8. The method for pulverizing bamboo according to Claim
15
7, further comprising the steps of:
splitting the bamboo into a rectangular shape;
arraying the bamboo having been split so that the
inside and the outside are directed to a same direction;
5 and
cutting the bamboo so that a blade enters from the
inside at all times while suppressing movement of the
bamboo.