AU3429089A - Scraper conveyer - Google Patents

Description

CHAIN CONVEYER This invention relates to apparatus for conveying rock, and more particularly to chain conveyers. Background of the Invention 5 There is known a chain conveyer (SU, A, 379432) com prising a drive, sprockets, a horizontal endless pull chain with cantilever-fashioned buckets, and a chute arrangement with guides for the chain and buckets in which chutes are positioned at preset intervals, upper 10 shelves of these chutes being split and provided with in clined sheet traps open at the side opposite to the travel path of the buckets. A bucket deviating from the normal working position engages by its cantilever portion with the inclined sheet 15 trap to return through the slit in the shelf to the guides. In this conveyer construction the non-symmetrical arrangement of buckets relative to the chain provides un favourable distribution of loads exerted on the chain to result in chain skewing, wedging and culming. Limited 20 mobility of the bucket on the chain in the vertical plane necessitates a substantial width of the chute arrangement equal to at least twice the width of the working trough. The traps fail to ensure efficient correction of the po sition of the bucket at the carrying run of the conveyer 25 due to 'their susceptibility of being blocked by rocks. In this case the bucket running off the guides will be wedg ed at the trap. There is also known a chain conveyer (DE, A1,3111374) comprising a drive, sprockets, a horizontal endless pull 30 member engageable with the sprockets, and sections of a chute arrangement. The pull member includes alternating ho rizontal round links and intermediate elements with pairs of adjacent pivotable buckets having a base and a carnti lever portion. Each intermediate element comprises a cas ing accommodating two pins serving to ensure pivotable 35 connection of the casing with the bases of the buckets,and -2 idly connected to the casing and forming a per manent joint with the horizontal links of the pull memb er. The sections of the chute arrangement have a work ing trough with guides and a bottom, and an idle trough 5 in which the pull member and buckets move. This conveyer can have the form of an angled con veyer. Rock is discharged at the end sprocket. In order to transmit the drive force, and in turn ing of the pull member teeth of the sprocket grip the cas 10 ings of the intermediate elements as the cantilever bu ckets secured thereon deviate in the vertical plane and leave the zone of engagement. Two basic constructions of such a conveyer are pos sible differing mainly in the position of the working 15 and idle troughs at the linear and angle sections of the chute arrangement. According to one such embodiment, the working trough is disposed in proximity to the idle trough. The pull member running off the end discharge sprocket enters special guides where the buckets are de 20 viated in the vertical plane, folded, and move along the idle trough in this position. Before the second end sprocket the buckets are returned to the working posi tion by the special guides. Therewith, at the angle section of the chute arrangement the pull member rolls 25 about the sprocket in the working trough, whereas in the idle trough it slides along the guides. According to the second arrangement, the idle tro ugh underlies the working trough. Here, at the angle section, there are provided two sprockets with a common 30 vertical axis of rotation to ensure turning of the pull member in the working and idle troughs. When transporting loads by this conveyer, rocks tend to enter the space between the casing of the inter mediate elements and end portions of the bucket canti lever in the working trough at the angle section of the chute arrangement and at the sprocket of the end dis- -3 charge section thereby preventing the return of the bucket from the inclined to the horizontal position. At the same time, comminuted rock particles penetrate into the clear ance between the base of the bucket and casing of the in 5 termediate element to result in additional resistance to turning and directional movement of the bucket. Lack of. devices correcting the position of the buck ets in case of their running off the guides makes the con veyer less reliable in operation. 10 In the known conveyer the intermediate elements of the pull member engage with the sprockets to result in a closed space confined by the teeth of the sprocket, cas ing of the intermediate element, bucket,and bottom of the working trough. At the end sprocket of the discharge sec 15 tion, and at the sprocket of the angled section of the chute arrangement rock falling into this closed space prevents normal engagement of the sprocket with the cas ings of the intermediate elements. The pull member is therefore forced from the sprocket causing additional re 20 sistance to movement making it susceptible to wedging and damage. In the pull member of the known conveyer the hori zontal links must alternate with intermediate elements. Such a pull member is of substantial weight, and requires 25 considerable amounts of power for movement. When positioning the idle trough in proximity to the working trough at the linear and angle sections of the chute arrangement, the corresponding runs of the pull memb er move in horizontal planes at different levels (the 30 return run at the top). This entails an increase in the dimensions of the linear and angle sections of the chute arrangement in terms of height to a magnitude equal to the difference in the levels. In addition,with such an arrange ment of the troughs sliding of the pull member along the 35 guides of the idle trough of the angular section is asso ciated with considerable resistance to the movement and -4 high power consumption. Summary of the Invention The present invention aims at providing a chain conveyer which would be so constructed as to ensure stable 5 and directional movement of buckets in the sections of the chute arrangement. The aim of the invention is attained by that in a chain conveyer comprising sprockets, an endless horizont al pull member engageable with the sprockets and having 10 horizontal round links and intermediate elements on which rest pairs of adjacent pivotable buckets having each a base and a cantilever portion, sections of a chute ar rangement having a working trough with guides and bottom, and an idle trough in which troughs the pull member with 15 buckets move, the intermediate elements of the pull member having the form of vertical round links,whereas the base of each bucket can bear on the lower portion of the ver tical round link, has a recess accommodating the top part of the vertical round link, and stop elements in the form 20 of lugs engageable with the horizontal round links. Preferably, when embodying the proposed chain con veyer as an angled conveyer, it comprises an angle sec tion accommodating a sprocket, a working trough of this section being provided with an additional guide for the 25 buckets arranged symmetrically relative to the bisecting plane of the bending angle of the conveyer disposed at the side of the idle trough with a clearance relative to the bottom of the angle section, connected to the bottom of the working trough of the linear section, and having 30 a tapered surface coaxial with the sprocket conjugating with two congruent helical surfaces, a board of the angle section having a tapered surface coaxial with the spro cket arranged in a clearance between the additional guide for the buckets and bottom of the working trough of the 35 angle section to be capable of engagement with the pull member.

-5 Preferably, the chain conveyer comprises at least one correcting guide arranged before the end section of the chute arrangement at the working trough and fashion ed as two congruent quadrangles defining a dihedral 5 angle with the edge thereof being their common side, the edge resting in a plane perpendicular to the bottom of the chute arrangement and passing through the longitudin al axis of the working trough, hems of the correcting guide opposite to the edge being secured to the guides 10 of the working trough. Preferably, the proposed chain conveyer has a de flecting element of trapezoidal shape arranged in the discharge zone before the correcting guide with a clear ance for the passage of the buckets, a larger base of 15 the deflecting element being secured on the guide at the side of the idle trough, side hem of the deflecting ele ment and side hem of the correcting guide facing toward the travel path of the pull member being' arranged in one vertical plane. 20 Brief Description of the Drawings The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to a specific preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying draw ings, in which: 25 Fig. 1 is a plan view of a chain conveyer; Fig. 2 is a section taken along the i line II-II in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section taken along line III-III in Fig. 1; 30 Fig. 4 is a section taken along line IV-IV in Fig. 2 showing engagement of the bucket with a horizont al round link; Fig. 5 is a plan view of a portion of the proposed chain conveyer with an angle section; 35 Fig. 6 is a section taken along line VI-VI in FIG. 5 showing the angle section; and -6 Fig. 7 illustrates a correcting guide arranged at the working trough of the section of the chute arrange ment. Best Mode of Carrying out the Invention 5 A chain conveyer comprises sprockets 1 and 2 (Fig. 1), a horizontal closed pulling member 3, end sections 4, 5, and linear sections 6 of a chute arrange ment. The sections 4, 5 and 6 have a working trough 7 and an idle trough 8 in which the pulling member 3 moves. 10 The conveyer is discharged through a hatch 9. The pull ing member 3 includes horizontal round links 10 and intermediate elements in the form of vertical round links 11 carrying adjacent buckets 12 arranged in pairs. The pairs of buckets 12 can be spaced lengthwise 15 of the pulling member 3 at a desired distance. The working trough 7 is confined by guides 13 and 14 (Fig. 2), and by a bottom 15. The working trough 7 is provided at the end sections 4 and 5 (Fig. 1) of the chute arrangement with inclined guides 16 and 17 con 20 nected to the guides 13 and 14. Each bucket 12 has a base 18 (Fig. 3) and a can tilever 19. The base 18 of each bucket 12 bears on a bottom part 20 of the vertical round link 11 and has a recess 21 receiving an upper part 22 of the vertical 25 round link 11, as well as stop members 23 (Fig. 4) in the form of lugs cooperating with the horizontal round links 10. The upper part 22 (Fig. 3) of the vertical round link 11 received by the recess 21 of the base 18 of the 30 bucket 12 forms an articulated joint with a lock means 24. An anguled modification of the proposed chain con veyer includes an angle section 25 (Fig. 5) having a sprocket 26, a working trough 27 thereof having an addi 35 tional guide 23 for the buckets 12. The additional guide 28 is arranged at the side of an idle trough 29 in symmetry relative to the bisecting plane of the angle c( -7 of bend of the conveyer, is spaced from the bottom 30 of the angle section 25, and is connected to the bottoms 15 of the working trough 7 of the linear sections 6. The additional guide 28 has a tapered surface 31 coaxial with the sprocket 26, and two congruent helical sur faces 32 and 33 conjugating therewith. Also, the addi tional guide 28 has a guide 34 extending the guides 14 of the working trough 7 of the linear sections 6. The angle section 25 further comprises a board 10 35 (Figs 5,6) secured on a guide 36 of the angle sec tion 25. The guide 36 extends the guides 13 of the lin ear sections 6. The board 35 has a tapered surface 37 coaxial with the sprocket 26 disposed in the space bet ween the additional guide 28 and bottom 30 of the work 15 ing trough 27 of the angle section 25 to be capable of engaging with the pulling member 3. The chain conveyer also includes a correcting guide 38 (Fig. 1) provided before the end section 4 of the chute arrangement at the working trough 7. The correct 20 ing guide 38 has the form of two congruent quadrangles 39 and 40 (Fig. 7) defining a dihedral angle, the edge 41 of which represents their common side. The edge 41 is disposed in a plane perpendicular to the bottom 15 of the working trough 7 of the linear section 6 of the chute 25 arrangement passing through the longitudinal axis 42 of the working trough 7, and can be either inclined toward the travel path of the pulling member, or run parallel with the longitudinal axis 42. The correcting guide 38 is secured at the guides 13 and 14 of the work 30 ing trough 7 by the edges 43 and 44 opposite to the edge 41. Provided in the guides 13 and 14 of the working tro ugh 7 at the edges 43 and 44 are cut-outs 45 for the cantilever 19 of the scraper 12. In the discharge zone at the hatch 9 (Fig. 1) be 35 fore the correcting guide there is provided a deflecting element 46 of trapezoidal shape serving to protect the correcting guide 38 against being jammed with rock. A clearance 47 for the passage of the buckets 12 is fur ther provided between the correcting guide 38 and de flecting element 46. A larger base 48 of the deflecting 5 element is secured on the guide 14 at the side of the idle trough 8, whereas a side edge 49 of the deflecting element 46 and side edge 50 of the correcting guide 38 facing toward the travel path of the pulling member 3 rest in one vertical plane. 10 The chain conveyer according to the invention ope rates in the following manner. A pull force is transmitted through the sprockets 1 and 2 (the drive is not shown in the drawings) to the pulling member 3 with buckets 12. Falling onto the work 15 ing trough 7 (Figs 1 to 4) the rock is moved by the buckets 12 along the linear sections 6 and end section 4 to the discharge hatch 9. The buckets 12 rest in a ho rizontal plane with their cantilevers 19 orientated in the opposite directions and reliably held in this posi 20 tion by the bases 18 and projections of the stop memb ers 23. When passing portions where, for example, due to the soil hypsometry the chute arrangement has curves in the vertical plane, the pulling member 3 has a ten 25 dency, under the action of the tension forces, to re tain straight movement and rise over the cavity to result in a swing of the buckets 12 whereby their cantilevers 19 can leave the guides 13 and 14. In this case vertic al forces provide equal and oppositely directed torques 30 transmitted through the lugs of the stop members 23 to. the horizontal round link 10 between the buckets 12. In this manner, in the course of movement in-the work ing trough 7 over the downwardly curved portion of the chute arrangement the pair of adjacent buckets 12 form 35 with the horizontal round link 10 disposed therebetween a rigid structure preventing elevation of the pulling member 3, as well as swinging of the cantilevers 19 -9 of the buckets 12 and escaping from the guides 13 and 14. Thanks to the pivotable attachment of the bases 18 of the buckets 12 at the upper portion 22 of the vertical round link 11 of the pulling member 3, the buckets 12 5 freely pass through the portions of the chute arrange ment having projections. Then the cantilevered buckets 12 engage with the inclined guides 16, fold, assume a vertical position, and in this state pass over the sprocket 1 to the idle 10 trough 8 ensuring their stability in the folded state. While being away from the idle trough 8 and after passing the sprocket 2 the buckets 12 assume the work ing horizontal position on the guides 17. In view of the aforedescribed, the proposed chain conveyer reliably 15 ensures stable position of the buckets 12 through the contour of the pulling member 3 at a minimum width of the chute arrangement. In an anguled arrangement of the proposed chain conveyer the buckets 12 having bucket cantilevers 19 20 orientated toward the guide 36 move in the working tro ugh 27 of the angle section 25 (Figs 5 and 6) along the horizontal bottom 30. The buckets 12 having their cantilevers 19 orientated toward the idle trough 29 of the angle section 25 move along the additional guide 28 25 in the guides 34. While moving along the helical sur face 32, the buckets 12 deviate in the vertical plane not losing contact therewith and extend into the tap red surface 31. Moving on the tapered surface 31 the buckets 12 retain a continuous inclination angle P 30 equal to the angle between the generating, line of the tapered surface 31 and the-horizontal plane, this angle being sufficient for the sprocket 26 to engage with the pulling member 3. The tapered surface 31 in combi nation with the board 35 enable to maintain the mini mum possible height of the load being conveyed without affecting the conveyer efficiency. The mass of rock between the pulling member 3 and sprocket 26 is forced - 10 to the free space at the outer side of the engagement zone. Subsequent to a contact with the tapered surface 31 the buckets 12 pass to, the other helical surface 33, and are then returned to the horizontal position. 5 Therefore, the proposed construction of an anguled chain conveyer minimizes the resistance to and power consumption for the movement of the pulling member 3 in the zone where it swings at the angle section 25 of smallest radius, as the round-link pulling member 3 en 10 gages directly with the sprocket 26, whereas the buckets 12 change their position in the vertical plane short of losing contact with the bottom 30 and guide 28 through its length. Also, provision at the pulling member 3 of the round link 11 gives a free space for the mass of 15 rock to leave the zone of contact between the sprocket 26 and pulling member 3 to result in improved engage ment conditions and higher reliability of the chain con veyer. Provision of the board 35 of the angule section 25 with the tapered surface 37 coaxial with the sprocket 20 26 affords after folding of the bucket 12 and redistri buting load, to ensure its movement along concentrical paths with the minimum travel in the vertical plane, which reduces resistance to the movement of the rock mass making it less susceptible to comminution, and re 25 quires less power for its transportation. During operation of the chain conveyer the posi tion of the buckets 12 which left the guides 13 or 14 (such as due to lack of tension in the pulling member 3) is corrected at the correcting guide 38 (Fig. 1). There 30 with, the pulling member 3 free of loose rock mass passes under the correcting guide 38. In the case the conveyer carries no loose rock mass, the buckets 12 can enter the guides 13 and 14 even during the reverse movement of the pulling member 3. 35 The cantilever bucket 12 (Fig.7) which left the guide 13 is corrected as it encounters the side edge 50 - 11 of the qudrangle 39 deviating the moving bucket 12 to ward the bottom 15 of the working trough 7 to the guide 13 whereby its end is forced into the cut-out portion 45 of the guide 13. 5 The position of the buckets 12 orientated toward the guide 14 in the reverse movement of the pulling memb er 3 is corrected in a similar manner. Therewith, the buckets 12 are acted upon by other edges of the quadr angles 39 and 40 of the correcting guide 38. 10 In view of the aforedescribed, the correcting guide 38 provides for stable movement of the cantilever buckets 12 in the guides 13 and 14 of the working trough 7 result ing in reliable and safe operation of the conveyer. Along with this, the correcting guide 38 simplifies mounting 15 the conveyer and makes operation of the conveyer less labour consuming through allowing to automatically place the cantilever portions 19 of the bucket 12 in the guides 13 and 14, rather than do it manually. In a situation, when an oversize lump of rock fails 20 to fall through the hatch 9 (Fig. 1) and moves along the bottom 15 of the end section 4 by the pulling member 3, while the position of the cantilever buckets 12 needs correction due to their leaving the guides 14, the pro posed conveyer operates as follows. 25 The buckets 12 at the side of the idle trough 8 of the conveyer meet with the side edge 49 of the deflecting element 46 to be folded while moving therealong and change its position in the vertical plane. The oversize rocks lying on the buckets 12 are forced by these buckets along 30 the side edge 49 of the deflecting element 46 toward the guide 13. Then the buckets 12 enter the clearance 47 to deviate under the action of the correcting guide 38 to ward the guide 14 and enter the cut-out 45. The oversize rocks pass onto the side edge 50 of 35 the correcting guide 38 engageable with the buckets 12 - 12 which ran out of the guide 13, whereby the buckets 12 are deviated toward the guide 13 to move the oversize rocks along the side edge 50 to eventually be thrown off the end section 4 of the conveyer, whereas the buckets 12 5 easily fall into the cut-out 45 in the guide 13. Therefore, provision of the deflecting element 46 before the correcting guide 36 with a clearance 47 for the passage of the bucket 12 helps prevent wedging of the conveyer with oversize rock. Directional movement of the 10 oversize rocks toward outside of the conveyer is ensured, and impact loads on the correcting guide 33 arising due to its collision with the oversize rock are reduced provid ing for smooth movement of such rock pieces. In a number of instances, for example, when it is 15 necessary to reverse the movement of the conveyer, the working trough 7 at the end section 5 can be provided with a second correcting guide 38 and a second deflect ing element 46. The heretoforedescribed construction of a chain 20 conveyer ensures stable and directional movement of the buckets in the sections of the chute arrangement to re sult in a more reliable operation of the conveyer ac companied by a reduction in the amount of power consumed for transportation. Another advantage is less metal con 25 sumed for the fabrication of the pulling member, more ef ficient correction of the bucket position, simplified mounting of the conveyer, and smaller amount of labour consumed for its manufacture. Industrial Applicability 30 The invention can be used for conveying rock during underground mining in coal and ore mining industries.

Claims (4)

1. A chain conveyer comprising sprockets (1,2), a horizontal endless pulling member (3) engageable with 5 the sprockets (1,.2) and having horizontal round links (10) and intermediate elements on which rest pairs of adjacent pivotable buckets (12), having each a base (18) and a cantilever portion (19), sections (4, 5, 6) of a chute arrangement having a working trough (7) with 10 guides (13, 14) and bottom (15); and an idle trough (8) in which troughs the pulling member (3) with buckets (12) moves, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n t h a t the intermediate elements of the pulling member (3) have the form of vertical round links (11), whereas 15 the base (18) of each bucket (12) can bear on the lower portion (20) of the vertical round link (11); has a recess (21) accommodating top part (22) of the vertical round link (11); and stop elements (23) in the form of lugs engageable with the horizontal round links (10). 20

2. A chain conveyer as claimed in claim 1, c ha r a c t e r i z e d i n t h a t in case it is an angular conveyer it comprises an angle section (25) ac commodating a sprocket (26), a working trough (27) of this section being provided with an additional guide 25 (28) for the buckets (12) arranged symmetrically rela tive to the bisecting plane of the bending angle of the conveyer, disposed at the side of an idle trough (29) of the angle section (25) with a clearance to bottom (30) of the angle section (25); and connected to the bottom 30 (15) of the working trough (7) of the linear sections (6), and having a tapered surface (31) coaxial with the sprocket (26) conjugating with two congruent helical surfaces (32, 33), a board (35) of the angle section (25) having a tapered surface (37) coaxial with the 35 sprocket (26) arranged in aclearance between the addition al guide (28) for the buckets (12) and bottom (30) of - 14 the working trough (27) of the angle section (25) to be capable of engagement with the pulling member (3).

3. A chain conveyer as claimed in claims 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n t h a t it compris 5 es at least one correcting guide (38) positioned before the end section (4) of the chute arrangement at the working trough (7) and fashioned as two congruent quad rangles (39, 40) defining a dihedral angle with an edge (41) thereof being their common side, the edge (41) rest 10 ing in a plane perpendicular to the bottom (18) of the chute arrangement and passing through the longitudinal axis (42) of the working trough (7), hems (43, 44) of the correcting guide opposite to the edge (41) being se cured to the guides (13,14) of the working trough (7). 15

4. A chain conveyer as claimed in claim 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n t h a t it comprises a deflecting element (46) of trapezoidal shape arranged in the discharge zone before the correcting guide (38) with a clearance (47) for the passage of the buckets (12), 20 a larger base (43) of the deflecting :element (46) being secured on the guide (14) at the side of the idle trough (8), side hem (49) of the deflecting element (46) and side hem (50) of the correcting guide (38) facing toward the travel path of the pulling member (3) being arranged 25 in one vertical plane.