Offloading vacuum tank

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12258230-B2
Application number	US-202318400717-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 29, 2023
Priority date	Dec 21, 2017
Publication date	Mar 25, 2025
Grant date	Mar 25, 2025

Abstract

An offloading vacuum system. The system has a tank to capture debris from an excavation site. The debris is pulled into the tank due to a blower pulling air into an attached hose. An internal conveyor within the tank conveys material to an offloading hub. The offloading hub has a ground-facing door which opens to deposit debris into an external conveyor. The external conveyor, when deployed, can move debris from below the tank to a dump container with a wall greater than a height of the tank.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
excavating a trench with a microtrencher to generate spoils;
transporting the spoils to a vacuum tank, wherein the vacuum tank is configured to maintain a continuous vacuum pressure;
conveying the spoils within the vacuum tank from an inlet to a discharge outlet using an internal conveyor;
transferring the spoils from the discharge outlet to an external conveyor disposed completely outside the vacuum tank, wherein the external conveyor is configured to receive the spoils in a continuous stream; and
depositing the spoils from the external conveyor into a dump container.

2. The method of claim 1 in which each of the steps occur simultaneously with each of the other steps.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising pulling air and spoils through a tube disposed between the microtrencher and the vacuum tank.

4. The method of claim 1 in which the internal conveyor is an auger.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of opening a ground-facing door at the discharge outlet, the door situated between the spoils within the vacuum tank and the external conveyor.

6. The method of claim 5 in which the door is selectively opened to offload spoils from the vacuum tank.

7. The method of claim 1 in which the external conveyor is an auger.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
maintaining the vacuum pressure with a blower; and
filtering the vacuum tank such that spoils remain within the vacuum tank.

9. A system for handling and transporting spoils from an excavation site, comprising:
a microtrencher configured to excavate a trench and generate spoils;
a vacuum tank in fluid communication with the microtrencher, the vacuum tank comprising an inlet and a discharge outlet, wherein the vacuum tank is configured to maintain a continuous vacuum pressure;
an internal conveyor disposed within the vacuum tank and positioned to convey spoils received in the vacuum tank to the discharge outlet;
an external conveyor disposed completely outside the vacuum tank and aligned with the discharge outlet, wherein the external conveyor is configured to receive the spoils in a continuous stream from the discharge outlet; and
a dump container positioned to receive the spoils from the external conveyor for deposit.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the vacuum tank comprises downwardly-converging sidewalls and in which the internal conveyor is disposed between the downwardly-converging sidewalls.

11. The system of claim 9 in which the external conveyor is positionable at multiple angles relative to the vacuum tank.

12. The system of claim 9 in which the external conveyor comprises an auger.

13. A method of using the apparatus of claim 9 , comprising:
excavating a trench with the microtrencher to generate spoils; and
transferring the spoils sequentially through the vacuum tank, to the external conveyor, to the dump container.

14. The system of claim 9 in which the discharge outlet is a ground-facing opening formed in a bottom of the vacuum tank, and further comprising:
a door movable between an open position, in which the discharge outlet is open, and a closed position, in which the discharge outlet is closed; and
a hydraulic cylinder configured to power movement of the door between its open and closed positions.

15. A system comprising:
a means for excavating a trench;
a hose attached to the means for excavating a trench;
a vacuum tank attached to the hose, the vacuum tank comprising:
a means for moving air through the hose; and
a means for moving spoils within the tank to a discharge outlet; and

an external conveyor disposed entirely outside the vacuum tank.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the means for excavating a trench comprises a microtrencher equipped with a blade assembly and a hood substantially enclosing the blade.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the means for moving air through the hose comprises a blower configured to create a continuous vacuum pressure within the vacuum tank.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the means for moving spoils within the tank to a discharge outlet comprises an auger disposed along the bottom of the vacuum tank.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the external conveyor is positionable at multiple angles relative to the vacuum tank for facilitating the deposit of spoils into one or more dump containers.

Assignees

• Charles Machine Works

Inventors

• Sewell Cody L

Classifications

• B01D50/20

  Combinations of devices covered by groups B01D45/00 and B01D46/00 · CPC title

• B65G33/10

  with non-enclosed screws · CPC title

• B65G2814/0326

  for moving bulk material upwards or horizontally · CPC title

• B65G2812/0577

  for bulk material · CPC title

• E02F7/00

  Equipment for conveying or separating excavated material (barges adapted for carrying-away material from floating dredgers B63B35/28) · CPC title