AU2008200633A1

AU2008200633A1 - A multi-purpose vehicle

Info

Publication number: AU2008200633A1
Application number: AU2008200633A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Andrew John Wheeler; Todd Lawrence Woolley
Original assignee: WOOLLEY TODD
Current assignee: WOOLLEY TODD
Priority date: 2007-02-09
Filing date: 2008-02-11
Publication date: 2008-08-28
Anticipated expiration: 2028-02-11
Also published as: AU2008200633B2; AU2008100869B4; AU2008100869A4

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: "A MULTI-PURPOSE VEHICLE" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: 00 O TITLE ,.i a "A MULTI PURPOSE VEHICLE" _FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a multi-purpose vehicle. In c 5 particular, the invention relates to a multi-purpose vehicle for use in the Smining industry. However, it should be appreciated that the multi-purpose 00 vehicle may be used for other commercial purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Open pit mines are located throughout the world to mine various types of materials such as iron, coal and gold. A technique that is used in the majority of these mines is blasting. Blasting breaks the rock into loose material that mining equipment can dig and carry.

Before blasting, it is necessary to drill blast holes in the rock to insert explosives. These blast holes are drilled by a fleet of production drill rigs and drilled in a "pattern" in an area identified for blasting. The pattern comprises even rows of drill holes usually only several meters apart. A pattern typically includes several hundred blast holes. The holes themselves are about 17 to 29 cm in diameter and are about 5 to meters deep.

Once the pattern has been drilled, its blast holes are then loaded with explosives. A detonator and primer are lowered down the hole to hang about Im from the bottom. ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate and diesel) is then delivered down the hole around the detonator and primer. The hole is filled to within 3 to 8m of the surface and is filled with stemming which is typically in the form of gravel screened to a certain size range.

00 C) The stemming is provided by a stemming truck that delivers gravel from a hopper located on the stemming truck. The stemming acts as a plug and forces the explosive energy to go into the surrounding rock, rather than back out the hole. Once all holes have been charged, they are connected together to explode in a certain sequence. Then the blast is ready for firing.

oo00 One issue with open cut mining is the amount of dust that is Screated. Dust hinders people working in the open air and may also cause lung disease, respiratory and eye irritation. Dust can also create environmental problems. The issue of dust becomes more of an issue if the open cut mine is located near a town. In order to suppress the amount of dust created from the open cut mine, water trucks are employed to moisten the ground and prevent dust. Water trucks are primarily used on haul roads but are also used on other areas of the mine such as blast patterns.

The problem with open cut mine water trucks being used on blast patterns is the water trucks have a large wheel base and are very heavy. This is especially the case when the water truck is filled with water. As the water truck drives over the blast pattern, the truck invariably drives over the holes located on the blast pattern due to the water truck's large wheel base. The weight of the truck often causes the blast holes to collapse and they have to be re-drilled. Re-drilling of blast holes is expensive and time consuming.

00 OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to overcome and/or alleviate one or more of the above disadvantages or provide the consumer with a useful or commercial choice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In one form, although not necessarily the only or broadest 0 form, the invention resides in a multi-purpose vehicle comprising: N a vehicle body having at least one pair of wheels; a water unit supported by the chassis, the water unit having at least one water tank for carrying water and at least one pump for pumping water from the water tank; a stemming unit supported by the chassis, the stemming unit including at least one stemming hopper for carrying stemming material and at least one delivery mechanism to deliver the stemming material from the stemming hopper; and at least one power unit, the power unit supplying power to the pump and to the delivery mechanism to enable the pump and the delivery mechanism to be operated.

Preferably the multi-purpose vehicle is non-articulated.

Preferably the vehicle body has at least one pair of front wheels and at least one pair of rear wheels.

The water unit and the stemming unit are typically mounted directly onto the chassis.

The water unit may have a multiplicity of water tanks.

Alternatively, a single water tank may be split into a multiplicity of water 00 14 compartments.

The water unit may include a high pressure water pump and/ or a lower water pressure pump.

Preferably, at least one outwardly facing spray nozzle is t 5 fluidly connected to the water tank. The at least one water spray nozzle may form part of the water unit. The at least one water spray nozzle may 00 be supplied water from the at least one water tank. Normally there are a Smultiplicity of water spray nozzles.

A hose may also form part of the water unit. The at least one water spray may be supplied water from the at least one water tank.

Typically the stemming material located within the stemming hopper is gravel. The delivery mechanism may include a hopper gate to allow gravel to pass from the stemming hopper. The delivery mechanism may further include one or more conveyors to transport and/or deliver the stemming material to a desired location. Normally the conveyors are belt conveyors.

The power unit may be a hydraulic power unit. The hydraulic power unit may be powered direct or indirectly from an engine of the vehicle. Typically a power take off forms part of the power unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS An embodiment of the invention will be described in the reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a side view of a multi purpose vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 2 is a further side end view of the multipurpose vehicle 00 Sof FIG. 1; and a FIG. 3 is an end view of the multipurpose vehicle of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIGS. 1 to 3 show a multi purpose vehicle for use in a blast pattern on an open cut mine. The multipurpose vehicle 10 includes a vehicle body 20, a water unit 30, a stemming unit 50 and a power unit 00oo The vehicle body 20 is a standard non-articulated truck body c which includes a vehicle cabin 21, an engine 22, a gear box 23, a drive shaft (not shown), wheels 25 and a chassis 26.

The water unit 30 is mounted toward the rear of the truck body. The water unit 30 includes a water tank 31, a low pressure water pump 32 and a high pressure water pump 33. The water tank 31 is mounted to the rear of the chassis. The water tank 31 is split into three separate compartments 31A, 31B, 31C that are fluidly connected in order to maintain the same level of water in each compartment. A fill point 34 and an auxiliary fill point 35 are located on top of the tank.

The high pressure water pump 33 is connected to the water tank 31 and draws water from the water tank 31. A series of spray pipes 36 are connected to the high pressure water pump 33 and are subsequently connected to water spray nozzles 37. A water filter 38 is located within a spray pipe to ensure debris does not become lodged within the spray nozzles 37. A drill water injection point 39 is located within one of the spray pipes.

The low pressure water pump 32 is also connected to the water tank 31 and draws water from the water tank 31. The low pressure 00 6 O water pump 32 is connected to a tap handle 40 that controls the flow of a water to two tap outlets 41. A hose 42 is connected to one of the tap outlets 41.

The stemming unit 50 includes at least one stemming hopper 51 for carrying stemming material gravel) and at least one Sdelivery mechanism 52 to deliver the stemming material from the 00 stemming hopper 51. The stemming hopper 51 is mounted on the Schassis 26 and is funnel shaped to ensure stemming material located within the hopper is available for use.

The delivery mechanism 52 includes two hopper gates 53, a hopper belt conveyor 54 and a delivery belt conveyor 55. The hopper gates 53 are located at each end of the hopper 51 and is pivotally mounted to the hopper 51. Hydraulic rams 56 are connected to the hopper gates 53 to open and close the hopper gate 53. A flow sensor 59 is located adjacent the hopper gate 53A to determine the amount of stemming material that is exiting the hopper 51.

The hopper belt conveyor 54 is located adjacent the bottom of the hopper 51 and extends past the hopper gates 53. A hopper belt conveyor spray nozzle 57 is located above the hopper belt conveyor 54 to suppress dust. The low pressure water pump 32 supplies water to the hopper belt conveyor spray nozzle 57 via the tap outlet 41.

A delivery belt conveyor 55 is located adjacent the end of the hopper belt conveyor 54 and is positioned so that it is extends transversely with respect to the hopper belt conveyor 54. The delivery belt conveyor 55 is extendable to deliver stemming material and then 00 retractable when the multi-purpose vehicle 10 is to be moved. A delivery d belt conveyor spray nozzle 58 is located above the delivery belt conveyor to further suppress dust. The low pressure water pump 32 supplies water to the delivery belt conveyor spray nozzle 58 via the tap outlet 41.

A power unit 60 is located between the cabin and the stemming unit 50. The power 60 unit includes a hydraulic pump 61 00oo connected to a hydraulic fluid tank 62. The power take off 63 is N operatively connected to the engine via the gear box 23. A series of hydraulic lines (not shown) extend from the hydraulic pump 61 to power the hydraulic rams 56 of the hopper gates 53, the hopper belt conveyor 54, the delivery belt conveyor 55, the high pressure water pump 33 and the low pressure water pump 32.

An emergency stop button 70 is provided adjacent the high pressure water pump 33 in order to stop the delivery of high pressure water from the high pressure water pump 33, hydraulic power the hydraulic rams 56 of the hopper gates 53, the hopper belt conveyor 54, the delivery belt conveyor 55, the high pressure water pump 33 and the low pressure water pump 32. That is, the emergency stop button disables all electric and hence all hydraulic power to all equipment.

In use, multi-purpose vehicle 10 is able to be driven around a blast pattern spraying water over the blast pattern. Water is pumped from the water tank 31 by the high pressure water pump 33 through the spray pipes 36 and out of the spray nozzles 37. When holes are to be drilled on the blast pattern, water can be supplied to a drill from the drill water injection point 39.

O

00 0 Once a blast hole is drilled and stemming material is ,.i required, the hopper gate 53 is raised by the hydraulic ram 56 to allow the stemming material to pass from the hopper 51. The hopper belt conveyor 54 is started and stemming material travels down the hopper belt conveyor 54. The tap handle 40 is rotated until tap outlet 41 position is to supply water to the hopper belt conveyor spray nozzle 57 and delivery belt 00 conveyor spray nozzle 58. The hopper belt conveyor spray nozzle 57 Scommences operation to spray water onto the stemming material. Water is supplied from the water tank 31 to the hopper belt conveyor spray nozzle 57 by the low pressure water pump 32. The delivery belt conveyor is extended and also started. The stemming material that has travelled along the hopper belt conveyor 54 falls from the hopper belt conveyor 54 and onto the delivery belt conveyor 55 and then travels along the delivery belt conveyor 55 and into the blast hole. Again, the stemming material is sprayed with water from the delivery belt conveyor spray nozzle 58. Once the blast hole is filled with sufficient stemming material, the hopper gate 53 is closed, the delivery belt conveyor 55 and hopper belt conveyor 54 are turned off and the delivery belt conveyor 55 is retracted. The multipurpose vehicle is then able to be moved.

The multi-purpose vehicle offers several advantages.

Firstly, the water unit and stemming unit are placed on a single vehicle body and are powered by a power unit which enables cost effectiveness to be achieved. Secondly, the multi-purpose vehicle is smaller and lighter than a standard open cut mining water truck and therefore can manoeuvre around a blast pattern without collapsing holes. Lastly, the 00 9 0 vehicle is able to provide dust suppression for stemming material that d) [travels along the conveyors.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications may be made to the embodiment described without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

00 0O

Claims

2. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 1 wherein the multi-purpose vehicle is non-articulated.
3. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 1 wherein the vehicle body has at least one pair of front wheels and at least one pair of rear wheels.
4. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 1 wherein the water unit and the stemming unit are mounted directly onto the chassis.
5. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 1 wherein the water unit may has a multiplicity of water tanks.
6. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 1 wherein the water unit has a single water tank that is split into a multiplicity of water compartments.
7. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 1 wherein the water unit includes a high pressure water pump and/ or a lower water pressure 00 I pump.
8. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 1 wherein the at least one water spray nozzle may form part of the water unit.
9. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 1 wherein at least one outwardly facing spray nozzle fluidly connected to the connected to the water tank. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 9 wherein the at least one water 00 spray nozzle may be supplied water from the at least one water tank.
11. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 9 wherein there are a multiplicity of water sprays nozzles.
12. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 1 wherein a hose may also form part of the water unit.
13. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 1 wherein the at least one water spray is supplied water from the at least one water tank.
14. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 1 wherein the stemming material located within the stemming hopper is gravel. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 1 wherein the delivery mechanism includes a hopper gate to allow gravel to pass from the stemming hopper.
16. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 14 wherein the delivery mechanism includes one or more conveyors to transport and/or deliver the stemming material to a desired location.
17. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 14 wherein the delivery mechanism includes two conveyors.
18. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 14 wherein at a spray nozzle is mounted above at least one conveyor. 00 12
019. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 1 wherein the power unit is a (N a hydraulic power unit. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 16 wherein the hydraulic power unit is powered direct or indirectly from an engine of the vehicle.
21. The multi-purpose vehicle of claim 1 wherein a power take off forms part of the power unit. 00