AU4891199A - Spiral cleaning means - Google Patents

Description

WO 00/06310 PCT/AU99/00606 TITLE: "Spiral Cleaning Means" FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a cleaning means which can be utilised in the cleaning of spirals which are utilised in the gravitational separation of particulate materials 5 such as mineral sands. In the separation of some particulate materials such as mineral sands one of the separation stages involves a gravitational separation in which a slurry of the particulate material in water is caused to travel down a spiral shaped trough (hereinafter referred to as a spiral). As a result of the material flowing down the 10 spiral, the particulate materials will separate according to their mass whereby the heavier materials will gravitate towards the inner radial limit of the path while the lighter materials will remain adjacent to the outer radial limit of the path. At various locations along the spiral, outlets are provided at the inner edge of the trough in order to separate the heavier materials from the flow path and in at least 15 some instances outlets are provided on the outer edge of the path in order to separate the lighter materials. In a large scale separation plant, it is usual practice for the spirals to be arranged in rows with walk ways being provided between adjacent rows. In order to ensure the efficiency of the gravitational separation which is effected 20 by utilisation of the spirals as described above it is necessary to regularly clear the outlets which are provided in the spirals. This is conventionally effected by having personnel regularly spray the spirals with a hose in order to clear the outlets. In large scale separation plant, this exercise can be exceedingly labour intensive and without due care being utilised by the operator can be quite inefficient. 25 It is an object of this invention to provide a spiral cleaning means which reduces the labour intensity in manually cleaning the spirals and results in a more consistent result.

WO 00/06310 2 PCT/AU99/00606 DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Accordingly the invention resides in a spiral cleaning means comprising a mobile carriage which is adapted to travel along a path located beside a row of spirals, said spiral cleaning means further comprising a spray head supported from the 5 carriage and having at least one nozzle, a fluid delivery conduit connected to the spray head and adapted to be connected to a pressurised source of water, said at least one nozzle being mounted to be movable on the carriage to be able to direct a water stream into at least some of the turns of a spiral adjacent the path when the carriage is in the vicinity of the adjacent spiral. 10 According to a preferred feature the spray head is movable vertically on the carriage by being capable of traversing the length of the adjacent spiral.. According to a further preferred feature a plurality of spray heads are provided on the carriage, said spray heads being vertically spaced on the carriage, each spray head being located to be adjacent a turn of the spiral. In one embodiment the 15 spray heads are provided in a one to one correspondence with the turns. According to a further preferred feature the spray head is pivotally supported on the carriage to be pivotal about a substantially horizontal axis which is generally aligned to the direction of travel of the carriage along the path. According to one embodiment a first drive linkage is provided to cause the cyclic pivotal movement 20 of the spray heads to effect the movement of the nozzles. According to a further preferred feature of the invention the carriage is provided with a drive means capable of causing the movement of the carriage along a path. According to one embodiment the drive means comprises a motor provided on the carriage and drivingly connected to at least one ground supporting wheel of the 25 carriage. According to a further feature of the embodiment the drive means is associated with the first drive linkage to cause the cyclic pivotal movement of the spray head.

WO 00/06310 3 PCT/AU99/00606 According to a further preferred feature of the invention the carriage has a steering means capable of maintaining the carriage on the path in its movements along the path. According to a further preferred feature of the invention the conduit comprises a 5 hose supported from a reel carried on the carriage which is adapted to enable the hose to be stored in a coiled state on the reel and to be uncoiled from the reel as the carriage moves along said path. According to a further preferred feature of the invention the conduit is adapted to be connected to a delivery hose which is connected to said source. 10 The invention will be more fully understood in the light of the following description of several specific embodiment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings of which; Figure 1 is a schematic isometric view of the cleaning means according to the first 15 embodiment illustrating one set of spray heads; Figure 2 is an enlarged isometric view of the first embodiment illustrating the connection between the drive motor and the drive linkage; and Figure 3 is a schematic sectional view of the carriage according to the first embodiment. 20 BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The first embodiment is directed to a spiral cleaning means which can be utilised in cleaning a set of spirals which are located to each side of a path way. The carriage is adapted to be capable traversing the length of the path defined by the walk way between a pair of rows of spirals. The carriage comprises a frame 11 25 comprising a substantially square base frame 12 and an upper frame 13 of WO 00/06310 4 PCT/AU99/00606 substantially corresponding dimensions which is supported by a set of four upstanding frame members 14 which extend between the corners of the base frame 12 and the upper frame 13. The base frame 12 is supported by two pairs of wheels 15 and 16 located at the forward and rearward end of the carriage 5 respectively. The rear set of wheels 16 are driven from a drive rotor (not shown) through the gearbox 17 and a chain drive 18. Each side of the frame supports a pair of upstanding parallel struts 19 which extend between the base frame 12 and the upper frame 13. Each pair of struts 19 support a plurality of spray heads 20 only some of which are shown in Figure 1 10 and only one of which is shown in detail in Figure 1. The spray heads 20 comprise a length of tube which is closed at each end and which is pivotally supported between a pair of opposed bush-like supports 21 provided on the struts 19. Each spray head 20 is provided with a set of nozzles 22. The nozzles are arranged and oriented such that the water stream generated from each spray 15 head is generally of a fan-shaped configuration which will be incident on the relevant turn of the spiral. In addition each spray head is provided with an inlet tube 23 which is mounted to extend perpendicularly from the spray head 20 in opposed relation to the nozzles 22. The inlet tube 23 of each spray head is connected to a pressurised source of 20 water through a manifold 45 which comprises an upstanding conduit which is supported from the lower and upper frames 12 and 13. The connection to the manifold is effected through a flexible hose 46 extending between each inlet tube 23 and the manifold 45. The manifold is connected at its lower end to a hose (not shown) which is accommodated on a hose reel (not shown) supported from the 25 carriage and which in turn is connected to a pressurised water supply. The carriage further supports a drive linkage for effecting a cyclic rotation of the spray heads 20. The first drive linkage comprises a column 25 which is slidably received in the bush 26 provided in the upper frame 13 and a bush (not shown) provided on or adjacent the lower frame 12. The column 25 is associated with a 30 camwheel 27 which is rotatably supported from a shaft 28 which is rotatably supported from the base frame 12 where the shaft 28 is mounted eccentrically to WO00/06310 5 PCT/AU99/00606 the camwheel 27. The lower end of the column 25 bears on the camwheel 27 at its upper extent and on rotation of the camwheel 27 the column 19 is caused reciprocate vertically on the carriage due to the eccentricity of the camwheel 27. The shaft 28 is also driven from the drive motor through the gearbox 17 and a 5 second chain drive 29. The column 25 supports a plurality of transverse channel members 30 which are in one to one correspondence with the pairs of spray heads 20 located at opposite sides of the carriage. The inlet tube 23 of each spray head 20 is provided with a transversely extending arm 31 having a rotatable bearing member 32 provided at its outer end which is received in the respective 10 channel 30. As a result of the accommodation of the arms in the respective channel 30 the cyclic vertical movement of the column 25 which is caused by rotation of the camwheel 27 results in a cyclic pivotal action of the spray head 20. Each spray head 20 is located at a position generally corresponding to the location of a turn of the spiral adjacent the path which is to be traversed by the 15 carriage. As a result of such as the carriage moves to a position alongside a spiral a water stream generated from the spray nozzles 22 is directed into the trough of the respective turn and the cyclic pivotal movement of the spray head 20 ensures that the water stream becomes incident upon the outlets provided in that portion of the turn on which the water stream is incident in order to effect the 20 clearance of those outlets. The effect of such is that the turn of the spiral on which a water stream is incident can be cleared as the carriage is caused to traverse the path between a pair of banks of spirals. To control the direction of travel of the carriage along the path the pair of wheels 15 provided at the forward side of the frame are mounted to the base frame 11 25 whereby their axles can be pivoted about a vertical axis in order that the wheels can be steered and are provided with a pair of steering linkages 40 which are connected at one end to the respective wheel 15 and are connected at their other end to a radial arm 41 mounted to the lower end of an upstanding steering column 42 which extends vertically between the lower frame 12 and the upper frame 13 30 and is pivotally mounted to the lower frame 12 and upper frame 13. Pivotal movement of the steering column 42 will effect the corresponding movement of the forward wheels 15 in order to steer the carriage in its movement along the WO 00/06310 PCT/AU99/00606 6 path. In order to control that steering action the steering column 42 is provided with an upper radial arm 43 at its upper end which is intended to be received in a longitudinal track or guide wire (not shown) which is provided centrally above the path and which serves to guide the carriage in its movement along the path in 5 order to maintain the carriage in the correct position. The spiral cleaning means of the first embodiment provides a carriage which is capable of traversing the path between a pair of rows of spirals and during its movement along that path each of the spray heads 20 are capable of directing a water stream onto the adjacent turns of each spiral as the carriage passes each 10 spiral whereby the water stream is directed into the trough of the respective spiral in order to clear the outlets in the relevant turn of the spiral. As a result a means is provided for effecting spirals which is able to reliably clean a bank of spirals with a significant reduction in the labour required to clean the spirals when compared to the manual cleaning of spirals. 15 According to a second embodiment of the invention one or more spray heads of the form described above are mounted to a carriage of the form described above and a second drive linkage is provided which causes the one or more spray heads to move upwardly and downwardly on the carriage in order to direct a water stream onto each of the turns of a spiral. In addition the spray heads are caused 20 to pivot as described in relation to the first embodiment. The upward and downward movement of the spray heads on the carriage may be continuous whereby the spray heads are also caused to pivot whist moving upwardly or downwardly. Alternatively the spray heads may be indexed through a plurality of positions and at each position the spray head is caused to pivot about the 25 horizontal axis. According to third embodiment of the invention the spray heads may comprise one or more tubular elements which a positioned to extend upwardly and which are provided with as set of nozzles located along the tubular element. The nozzles are directed outwardly with respect to the carriage. The one or more 30 tubular elements are pivotally supported from the carriage for pivotable movement about their central axis and are caused to undergo a cyclic action by a suitable WO 00/06310 PCT/AU99/00606 7 drive means in order to direct a water stream onto the turns of the spirals adjacent the path. The nozzles may have a variety of orientations in order to be able to adequately clean the turns. In addition the spray heads may be caused to be cyclically displaced along an upright axis. In addition the tubular members may 5 be disposed substantially vertically or may be inclined to the vertical axis. According to an alternative embodiment the manifold of the first embodiment is adapted to be connected to a delivery hose which is supported separate from the carriage and which is connected to the source of pressurised water. According to a further alternative embodiment of the invention the steering means 10 may comprise a track which is provided in the walkway which is engaged by the steering mechanism for the forward set of wheels 15. Throughout the specification, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of 15 any other integer or group of integers. It should be appreciated that the scope of the present invention is not to be limited to the particular scope of the various embodiments described above.

Claims (13)

1. A spiral cleaning means comprising a mobile carriage which is adapted to travel along a path located beside a row of spirals, said spiral cleaning means further comprising a spray head supported from the carriage and having at 5 least one nozzle, a fluid delivery conduit connected to the spray head and adapted to be connected to a pressurised source of water, said at least one nozzle being mounted to be movable on the carriage to be able to direct a water stream into at least some of the turns of a spiral adjacent the path when the carriage is in the vicinity of the adjacent spiral. 10

2. A spiral cleaning means as claimed at claim 1 wherein the spray head is movable vertically on the carriage to traverse substantially the length of the adjacent spiral.

3. A spiral cleaning means as claimed at claim 1 wherein a plurality of spray heads are provided on the carriage, said spray heads being vertically spaced 15 on the carriage, each spray head being located to be adjacent a turn of the adjacent spiral.

4. A spiral cleaning means as claimed at claim 3 wherein the spray heads are provided in a one to one correspondence with the turns.

5. A spiral cleaning means as claimed at any one of the preceding claims 20 wherein the spray head is pivotally supported on the carriage to be pivotable about a substantially horizontal axis which is generally aligned to the direction of travel of the carriage along the path.

6. A spiral cleaning means as claimed at claim 5 wherein a first drive linkage is provided to cause the cyclic pivotal movement of the spray heads to effect the 25 movement of the nozzles. WO 00/06310 9 PCT/AU99/00606

7. A spiral cleaning means as claimed at any one of the preceding claims wherein the carriage is provided with a drive means capable of causing the movement of the carriage along a path.

8. A spiral cleaning means as claimed at claim 7 wherein the drive means 5 comprises a motor provided on the carriage and drivingly connected to at least one ground supporting wheel of the carriage.

9. A spiral cleaning means as claimed at claim 7 or 8 as dependant from claim 6 wherein the drive means is associated with the first drive linkage to cause the cyclic pivotal movement of the spray head.

10 10.A spiral cleaning means as claimed at any one of the preceding claims wherein the carriage has a steering means capable of maintaining the carriage on the path in its movements along the path.

11.A spiral cleaning means as claimed at any one of the preceding claims wherein the conduit comprises a hose supported from a reel carried on the 15 carriage which is adapted to enable the hose to be stored in a coiled state on the reel and to be uncoiled from the reel as the carriage moves along said path.

12.A spiral cleaning means as claimed at any one of the preceding claims wherein the conduit is adapted to be connected to a delivery hose which is 20 connected to said source.

13.A spiral cleaning means substantially as herein described.