Disclosed herein is a shredder having a throat for receiving at least one article to be shredded therethrough and a shredder mechanism received in a shredder housing which is driven to shred the at least one article fed therein. At least one sensor emits and detects radiation to detect the presence
Disclosed herein is a shredder having a throat for receiving at least one article to be shredded therethrough and a shredder mechanism received in a shredder housing which is driven to shred the at least one article fed therein. At least one sensor emits and detects radiation to detect the presence of the at least one article or shredded particles. The sensor communicates with a controller to operate the shredder mechanism. The controller also calibrates an intensity of the radiation of the sensor(s) to or within a predetermined amount above a minimum level in order to reduce wear and run-on conditions.
대표청구항▼
What is claimed is: 1. A shredder comprising: a shredder housing having a throat for receiving at least one article to be shredded therethrough; a shredder mechanism received in the housing, the shredder mechanism including a motor and cutter elements, the shredder mechanism enabling the at least o
What is claimed is: 1. A shredder comprising: a shredder housing having a throat for receiving at least one article to be shredded therethrough; a shredder mechanism received in the housing, the shredder mechanism including a motor and cutter elements, the shredder mechanism enabling the at least one article to be shredded to be fed into the cutter elements and the motor being operable to drive the cutter elements in a shredding direction so that the cutter elements shred the at least one article fed therein into particles; a sensor for emitting and detecting radiation, the sensor being selected from one of the group consisting of (a) a throat sensor operable to detect insertion of the at least one article into the throat based on interruption of the radiation by the at least one article, and (b) a waste level sensor operable to detect an accumulation of shredded particles discharged by the shredder mechanism based on an interruption of the radiation on the accumulated shredded particles; a controller coupled to the sensor and the shredder mechanism, the controller being operable to control an operation of the shredder mechanism upon detection by the sensor, and the controller being configured to perform an automatic calibration wherein an intensity of the radiation emitted by the sensor is adjusted to or within a predetermined amount above a minimum threshold detection level when no article or shredded particles is/are present to interrupt the radiation of the sensor. 2. A shredder according to claim 1, wherein the intensity of the radiation is defined by a duty cycle, and wherein the automatic calibration includes modulating the duty cycle of the sensor. 3. A shredder according to claim 1, wherein the intensity of the radiation is measured from a base line voltage, the base line voltage comprising at least a value used to determine a first intensity of the radiation, and wherein the automatic calibration includes adjusting the base line voltage to a second intensity. 4. A shredder according to claim 1, wherein the calibration is performed after operation of the shredder mechanism. 5. A shredder according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is provided adjacent to or within the throat. 6. A shredder according to claim 1, wherein the shredder housing has a bottom wall with an output opening thereon, and wherein the sensor is mounted to the bottom wall. 7. A shredder according to claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises an emitter for emitting radiation and a detector for detecting radiation. 8. A shredder according to claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a single device that alternates between operating in a forward bias mode to emit radiation and a reverse bias mode to detect radiation. 9. A shredder according to claim 8, wherein the sensor comprises one or more light emitting diodes. 10. A shredder according to claim 1, wherein the radiation emitted by the sensor, is selected from the group consisting of: light in the visible spectrum, infrared radiation, and ultraviolet radiation. 11. The shredder according to claim 1, wherein the motor rotates the cutter elements in an interleaving relationship for shredding articles fed therein through the input opening. 12. A shredder according to claim 1, further comprising a container for receiving the at least one shredded article or shredded particles. 13. A shredder according to claim 1, wherein the shredder comprises an additional sensor for detecting and emitting radiation, the additional sensor being a different type than the sensor and selected from the group consisting of (a) a throat sensor operable to detect insertion of the at least one article into the throat based on interruption of the radiation by the at least one article, and (b) a waste level sensor operable to detect an accumulation of shredded particles discharged by the shredder mechanism based on an interruption of the radiation on the accumulated shredded particles, and wherein the controller is coupled to both of the sensors to perform the automatic calibration. 14. A method for operating a shredder, the shredder comprising a shredder housing having a throat for receiving at least one article to be shredded, a sensor for emitting and detecting radiation, the sensor being selected from one of the group consisting of (a) a throat sensor operable to detect insertion of the at least one article into the throat based on interruption of the radiation by the at least one article, and (b) a waste level sensor operable to detect an accumulation of shredded particles discharged by a shredder mechanism based on interruption of the radiation by the accumulated shredded particles, and the shredder mechanism being received in the shredder housing and including a motor being operable to drive cutter elements in a shredding direction so that the cutter elements shred the at least one article fed therein into particles, the method comprising: emitting and detecting a radiation beam with the sensor; detecting with the sensor the at least one article or the shredded particles based on an interruption of the radiation beam by the at least one article or the shredded particles; operating the motor to drive the cutter elements in a shredding direction, and performing an automatic calibration of the radiation beam wherein an intensity of the radiation emitted by the sensor is adjusted to or within a predetermined amount above a minimum threshold detection level. 15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the intensity of the radiation beam is defined by a duty cycle, and wherein the automatic calibration includes modulating the duty cycle of the sensor. 16. A method according to claim 14, wherein the intensity of the radiation beam is measured from a base line voltage comprising at least a value used to determine a first intensity of the radiation beam, and wherein the automatic calibration includes adjusting the base line voltage to a second intensity. 17. A method according to claim 14, wherein performing the automatic calibration further comprises: setting the intensity of the radiation emitted by the sensor to a selected level, and adjusting the level of the intensity until the minimum level detected by the sensor for the at least one article or the shredded materials being present is determined. 18. A method according to claim 17, wherein the adjusting of level of the intensity comprises increasing a level of intensity from the selected level. 19. A method according to claim 17, wherein the adjusting of level of the intensity comprises decreasing a level of intensity from the selected level. 20. A method according to claim 17, wherein the calibration is performed after operation of the shredder mechanism. 21. A method according to claim 17, wherein the calibration is performed after a selected number of operations of the shredder mechanism. 22. A method according to claim 17, wherein the calibration is performed after period of time during which the shredder mechanism has not operated. 23. A method according to claim 17, wherein, during calibration, the predetermined amount above a minimum level is compared to a selected value, and, if the amount above the minimum level and the selected value is greater than a predetermined difference, the intensity of the radiation is set to a default level. 24. A method according to claim 17, wherein the calibration is aborted due to an external event requiring action by the controller. 25. A method according to claim 14, wherein the shredder comprises an additional sensor for detecting and emitting radiation, the additional sensor being a different type than the sensor and selected from the group consisting of (a) a throat sensor operable to detect insertion of the at least one article into the throat based on interruption of the radiation by the at least one article, and (b) a waste level sensor operable to detect an accumulation of shredded particles discharged by the shredder mechanism based on an interruption of the radiation on the accumulated shredded particles, and wherein the method further comprises performing the automatic calibration of the sensor and the additional sensor. 26. A shredder comprising: a shredder housing having a throat for receiving at least one article to be shredded therethrough; a shredder mechanism received in the housing, the shredder mechanism including a motor and cutter elements, the shredder mechanism enabling the at least one article to be shredded to be fed into the cutter elements and the motor being operable to drive the cutter elements in a shredding direction so that the cutter elements shred the at least one article fed therein into particles; a container for receiving shredded particles; a sensor positioned to receive radiation reflected off of the shredded particles deposited in the container and determine an intensity of the reflected radiation, the intensity corresponding to an amount of shredded particles deposited in the bin; a controller coupled to the sensor and the shredder mechanism, the controller being operable to control an operation of the shredder mechanism upon detection by the sensor, and the controller being configured to adjust the intensity of the radiation received by the sensor to or within a predetermined amount at or above a minimum threshold detection level when a condition of the shredder is satisfied. 27. A shredder according to claim 26, wherein the condition is defined by movement of the container relative to the shredder housing. 28. A shredder according to claim 27, wherein the condition is defined by an offset in the intensity of the reflected radiation determined by the sensor when compared to the minimum threshold detection level. 29. A shredder according to claim 26, wherein the shredder housing has a bottom wall and the sensor is mounted to the bottom wall to detect shredded particles in the container. 30. A shredder according to claim 26, wherein the intensity of the radiation is measured from a base line voltage, the base line voltage comprising at least a value used to determine a first intensity of the radiation, and wherein the adjusting the intensity includes adjusting the base line voltage to a second intensity. 31. A shredder according to claim 26, wherein the adjusting of the intensity is performed after operation of the shredder mechanism. 32. A shredder according to claim 26, wherein the sensor comprises an emitter for emitting radiation and a detector for detecting radiation. 33. A shredder according to claim 26, wherein the sensor comprises one or more light emitting diodes.
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