AU2003213497A1

AU2003213497A1 - Belt cleaner

Info

Publication number: AU2003213497A1
Application number: AU2003213497A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Ronald Patrick Fisher; Jim Zappia
Original assignee: Cadbury Schweppes Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Mondelez Australia Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2002-07-17
Filing date: 2003-07-15
Publication date: 2004-02-05

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Applicant(s): CADBURY SCHWEPPES PROPRIETARY LIMITED A.C.N. 004 551 473 Invention Title: BELT CLEANER The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: 2 BELT CLEANER This invention relates to a belt cleaner for a conveyor belt particularly for use in the food industry.

Conveyor belts are frequently used in the food industry to transport food stuffs from manufacturing processing sites to packaging zones. Health requirements dictate high levels of cleanliness in the use of conveyors of this kind. Thus, there is a continual need to ensure that conveyor belts are clean at all times. In the confectionery industry chocolate bars are often coated in melted chocolate and then placed on long conveying belts.

The chocolate sets as it moves along the belts to be subsequently packaged at the far end of the belt. The placing of semi-melted chocolate bars on belts causes the belts to contain unwanted residual chocolate. The removal of this residual chocolate from belts has proved to be a labour intensive and time consuming exercise. It has also proved difficult to keep the belts at the required standard of cleanliness.

It is these issues that have brought about the present invention.

According to the present invention there is provided a belt cleaner for a continuous conveyor belt having an operative surface that returns under the conveyor, the belt cleaner comprising a housing adapted to be secured to the underside of the conveyor, the housing containing at least one spray bar extending across the belt and at least two cleaning means positioned on either side of the spray bar and adapted to engage the operative surface of the belt on its return, whereby as the belt moves past the cleaner liquid is sprayed against the operative surface of the belt by the spray bar and the cleaning means cleans the surface of the belt.

H \MCooper\Keep\Speci\Belt Cleaner.doc 15/07/03 3 In a preferred embodiment two spray bars are positioned in a spaced apart parallel array with cleaning means positioned on each side of the bars.

The cleaning means is preferably mounted on a mechanism to bring the cleaning means into and out of engagement with the operative surface of the belt and to adjust the pressure at which the cleaning means engages the belt.

In a preferred embodiment the cleaning means are squeegees.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a belt cleaner according to a first embodiment of the invention, Figure 2 is an end elevational view of the belt cleaner of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a plan view of the belt cleaner of Figure 1, Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the lines X-X of Figure 2, Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the cleaner of Figure 1 with some components omitted for clarity, Figure 6 is a side elevational view of a squeegee and support linkage forming part of the cleaner of Figure 1, and Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the lines B-B of Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a side elevational view of a belt cleaner according to a second embodiment of the invention.

The belt cleaner 10 illustrated in the H \MCooper\Keep\Speci\Belt Cleaner.doc 15/07/03 4 accompanying drawings is adapted to be secured to the underside of a conveyor belt that is used in the production of chocolate bars. The upper or operative side of the belt includes an elongate cooling tunnel (not shown) through which chocolate bars pass to cool and set the chocolate. At the start of the conveyor the bars are placed on the belt with the chocolate in molten form. As a result, as the chocolate sets, residues of chocolate collect on the operative surface of the belt.

The belt cleaner 10 is secured to the underside of the conveyor to operate against the return of the operative surface of the belt and essentially comprises a housing 20 that encloses two spray bars 30 and 31 and three squeegee assemblies 50, 51 and 52. The housing includes a sump 21 with an outlet 22. The housing is designed to surround the assembly to ensure that there is no escape of cleaning fluid and or debris during the cleaning process.

As shown in Figures 1 to 4, the spray bars 30, 31 and squeegee assemblies 50, 51, 52 are supported by a rectangular frame 11 forming part of the housing 20 that is bolted to the framework of the conveyor (not shown).

The positioning of the frame 11 is such that the sprays bars 30, 31 are of a predetermined distance below the level of the return of the belt and the squeegee assemblies 50, 51, 52 can be placed into contact with the belt.

The housing 20 is a rectangular enclosure with the sump 21 on its underside. The enclosure is attached through latches 26, 27 at either side of the cleaner 10 to the frame 11 that supports the spray bars and squeegees to ensure there is no possibility of escape of liquid or debris as the cleaner operates. The base of the sump 21 has the outlet pipe 22 that communicates to waste.

H: \MCooper\Keep\Speci\Be1L Cleaner.doc 15/07/03 Figure 1 shows two rubber latch members 26, 27 that are pivoted to the side of the frame to engage in recesses 28, 29 formed in the wall of the housing 20. The housing 20 can be held in position by handles 24 on either side.

The spray bars 30, 31 are positioned in a parallel spaced array and, as shown in Figure 4, each bar 30 or 31 includes seven nozzles 32 from which hot water sprays against the return of the operative surface belt.

Each bar 30, 31 is closed at one end 33 and fed by a source of pressurised hot water from the opposite end 34.

The three squeegee assemblies 50, 51, 52 are mounted with one 50, 52 on either side of the spray bars 30, 31 and one 51 positioned between the spray bars 30, 31. The spray bars 30, 31 and squeegee assemblies extend transversely across the whole of the belt.

The squeegees assemblies 50, 51, 52 are illustrated with particular reference to Figures 5 to 7.

Each squeegee assembly comprises a long rectangular rubber squeegee 55 that it secured to an elongate cylindrical bar 56 at spaced intervals through nuts 58 and bolts 57, one of which is shown in Figure 7. Although not essential, in this embodiment an elongate elastomeric pressure strip 59 locates between the head of the bolt 57 and the squeegee The squeegee 55 extends at 900 to the mounting cylinder.

As shown in Figures 5 and 6, the bar 56 of the central squeegee assembly 51 is supported at one side by a bearing 61 and at the other end coupled to an adjustment arm 62 through a plate 63 and bearing 64. That end of the bar 56 is also coupled to a short lever arm 65 that is in turn pivotally secured to a link lever 66 that interconnects arms 67 and 68 that depend from the bars 56 Hs\MCooper\Keep\Speci\8et Cleaner.doc 15/07/03 6 of the adjacent squeegee assemblies 50 and 52.

The central bar 56 is coupled to the adjustment arm 62 that extends externally of the housing 20. The effect of rotating the arm 62 against the plate 63 causes the three mounting bars 56 to be axially rotated that has the effect of pushing the squeegees 55 up into engagement with the operative surface of the belt. The pressure of the engagement depends on the position of the arm 62 to the plate 63. As shown in Figure 5, as the arm 62 is moved to the left, the pressure is increased and there are three spring loaded pin locations 70, 71, 72 to determine the position of the squeegee rubber from a disconnected position as shown in Figure 5 to a full high pressure position when the arm 62 is on the left hand side of the plate 63.

The spray bars 30, 31 are fed by an external source of pressurised hot water preferably between 50 and 70C. A suitable cleaning solvent may be used as appropriate. The pressure of the water is adjustable to remove debris and solidified chocolate from the belt. In operation, as the belt completes its underpass the first squeegee 52 contacts the debris and loose chocolate before the water and removes much of the loose material. The first spray bar 31 then sprays water onto the belt at which time the belt sweeps past the second squeegee 51 to remove further debris and additionally clean the belt.

Then the second water jet 30 again sprays the belt for the third squeegee 50 to complete the cleaning operation. The water spray and debris drops off the underside of the belt due to gravity into the sump 21 and then escapes to the waste via the drain exit pipe 22. Housing includes peripheral over-spray seals 19 around the upper periphery to further reduce the likelihood of escape of water or debris during the cleaning operation.

H; \MCooper\Keep\Speci\Belt Cleaner.doc 15/07/03 7 Figure 8 illustrates a second embodiment of the belt cleaner that is substantially similar to the first embodiment but with a few differences.

In this embodiment the plate located behind the belt, that is above the belt, is a ribbed plate 80. The belt runs over plate 80 and comes in contact with the ribs 81 as it passes through the belt cleaner 10 so as to reduce drag of the belt during the cleaning process. The ribs 81 on rib plate 80 ensure the belt travels through the housing 20 at a constant speed.

This embodiment further comprises a blower located after, or downstream from, the cleaning station 10. The blower 85 blows air onto the belt to remove any residual water remaining on the belt. Blower 85 comprises two outlet nozzles 86 that blow air at two separate colinear points on the belt.

It is understood that the belt cleaner can be used continuously to clean the belt during its return or alternatively, the cleaner can be operated periodically to clean the belt on demand.

Whilst the cleaner described above has been specifically designed to clean a belt used in a confectionery line, it is understood that a cleaner of this type can be used to clean a huge variety of conveyor belts in many different fields and applications. It is also understood that the cleaner can incorporate a fan or other drying means to dry the belt after the cleaning operation.

In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprise" or variations such as H,\MCooper\Keep\Speci\Belt Cleaner.doc 15/07/03 8 "comprises" or "comprising" is used in an inclusive sense, i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention.

H:\MCooper\Keep\Speci\Belt Cleaner.doc 15/07/03

Claims

2. The belt cleaner according to claim 1 wherein two spray bars are positioned in a spaced apart parallel array with cleaning means positioned on each side of the bars.
3. The belt cleaner according to either claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the cleaning means is mounted on a mechanism to bring the cleaning means into and out of engagement with the operative surface of the belt and to adjust the pressure at which the cleaning means engages the belt.
4. The belt cleaner according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the cleaning means are squeegees.
5. The belt cleaner according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the spray bar comprises a plurality of spaced nozzles fed by a source of pressurised hot water that passes through the bar, the nozzles being positioned close to and across the underside of the belt.
6. The belt cleaner according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the housing has a base in the H: \HCooper\Keep\Speci\Be1t Cleaner.doc 15/07/03 10 form of a sump with a drain pipe to the exterior.
7. The belt cleaner according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the housing is detachably secured to the frame of the conveyor.
8. The belt cleaner according to claim 4 wherein each squeegee comprises an elongate rectangular strip of rubber secured to extend perpendicularly from a mounting cylinder, the mounting cylinder being axially rotatable to displace the squeegee from an inclined inoperative position to positions where the tip of the squeegee engages the underside of the belt.
9. The belt cleaner according to claim 8 wherein the mounting cylinders of the three squeegees are all interconnected to a rod via a pivotal linkage, an external handle being positioned on the housing to be pivotable relative to the housing to move the rod to rotate the mounting cylinders. The belt cleaner according to claim 9 wherein the handle is pinned to a support plate to assume one of three positions.
11. The belt cleaner according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the upper periphery of the housing is supported by an outwardly extending shield that terminates adjacent the underside of the belt.
12. The belt cleaner according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the housing is provided with a plate above the belt over which the belt runs, wherein the plate contains a plurality of ribs.
13. A belt cleaner substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying H \MCooper\Keep\Speci\Bet Cleaner.doc 15/07/03 11 drawings.
14. A conveyor comprising a continuous conveyor belt having an operative surface that returns under the conveyor, and a belt cleaner in accordance with any one of the preceding claims secured to the underside of the conveyor. The conveyor claimed in claim 15 wherein a blower is located downstream of the belt cleaner to blow air onto the cleaned conveyor belt.
16. The conveyor claimed in claim 16 wherein the blower has two nozzles out of which air is blown. Dated this 15th day of July 2003 CADBURY SCHWEPPES PROPRIETARY LIMITED By their Patent Attorneys GRIFFITH HACK Fellows Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia H:\MCooper\Keep\Speci\Be1t Cleaner.doc 15/07/03