AU607793B2

AU607793B2 - Tube supported conveyor belt

Info

Publication number: AU607793B2
Application number: AU20455/88A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Willem Van Der Horst
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1987-08-03
Filing date: 1988-08-03
Publication date: 1991-03-14
Anticipated expiration: 2008-08-03
Also published as: AU2045588A

Description

~~jjfJ. 1.21111 1.6 L I I II I I I I I I I I I I 1 r r r r 1 717, i I 1-14 P/001011 Form PATENTS ACT 1952-1973 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE Cass: tnt. CI:,, Applioation Number: 0 Lodged: 0 0 0 0a a 0 Complete Specificatiorn-Lodged:, 090 0Accepted: Published: Priority: 00 0Related Art: 0 Do TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT Name of Applicanit: -0 Address of Applicant., a i? Actual Inventor: t 'iZ-A-47 r /40 9 Address for Service. AAie/cQi2~ Complete Specification for the invenrtion entitled:7'~ /Vale 2 The following statement Is a, fulf, description of this Invention, including the best method of performing It known to me- "NotvTho description Iso be typed In double spacIng, pica typo face, In an area natexceedlng 250 mmlIn depth and 160 mm In width, on tough white paper of goad quality andI It Is to be Inserted Inside this form.

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4 *1 4 4 WILLEM VAN DER HORST FORM COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1952 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR THE INVENTION ENTITLED: "TUBE SUPPORTED CONVEYOR BELT" The following statement is a full description of thiF invention, including the best method of performing it know..

to me,.

Mw -5 !iq t 41 44 I 4 4 44t 441 8 84$1 8*~ 44$; 4 8 THIS INVENTION relates to an endless belt conveyor and in particular to an endless belt conveyor where the cross sectional shape of the belt can be altered as the belt travels about its path of travel.

Conventional endless belt conveyor systems normally involve head, idler and tail rollers over which the endless belt travels and are generally expensive to construct. In addition, conventional endless belt conveyors do not have any flexibility in terms of belt configuration and rely on the idler rollers to be configured in certain ways in order to alter the cross sectional shape of the endless belt as required. In addition, the cost of the support structure, trestles, gantry and take-up tower plus hand rails, grid flooring and cladding required for conventional systems 15 makes implementation of these systems very expensive.

It is an objejt of the present invention to alleviate at least to some degree the aforementioned problems associated with the prior art.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the present invention resides in one broad aspect in an endless belt conveyor comprising a belt drive means coupled to an endless belt located between laterally spaced apart longitudinally extending guideways, the belt being supported by projecting roller assemblies travelling along the guideways, the roller assemblies having guiding rollers adapted to travel along the guideways constrained in fixed geometrical relationship therewith.

The guideways preferably comprise spaced apart rails, r i i

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I~ RAA r 4 c i L 1: i i; ;i i I; ~_yil _~~._.lir-ilrr i- il_ 111--3- i r t~- 3 which are preferably parallel being arranged such that the roller assemblies are adapted to travel between the rails.

Advantageously, the rails are supported in C-channel section supports adjustably mounted on an arcuate support-structure so that the lateral spacing between the guideways can be altered in order to change the cross sectional shape of the endless belt as it travels between the guideways.

The roller assemblies preferably include four or more guiding rollers disposed in opposed groups so that the opposed groups of rollers engage respective rails to constrain the guiding rollers in fixed geometrical relationship as the guiding rollers travel along the *t guideways. Typically, where the guideway comprises spaced o" apart rails, two opposed pairs of guiding rollers are 15 employed, the rollers of each pair being angularly spaced Sabout a respective rail in order to constrain the guiding rollers in fixed geometrical relationship between the guide rails.

The belt drive means preferably comprises cables coupled to the roller assemblies and travelling over head and tail sheeves. Typically, the head and tail sheeves each comprise a set of two or a set of four sheeves with a corresponding number of cables to drive the belt.

In order that th\e present invention can be more readily understood and be put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings and wherein:- Figure 1 is a sectional view illustrating a typical z. endless belt conveyor according to the present invention; J^W 0

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%4 Figure 2 is a side view illustrating a tail end portion of an endless belt conveyor according to the present invention; Figure 3 is a detailed illustration of a typical drive arrangement and roller assembly suitable for an endless belt i iconveyor according to the present invention; Figure 4 is a typical drive arrangement suitable for an endless belt conveyor according to the present invention; SFigures 5 and 6 illustrate an alternative embodiment of i; 10 a drive suitable for an endless belt conveyor according to ithe present invention; and S, Figure 7 is a view similar to that of Figure 3 1 illustrating an alternative roller assembly suitable for an .l endless belt conveyor according to the present invention.

i 15 Referring to the drawings and initially to Figures 1 i and 2, there is illustrated an endless belt conveyor according to the present invention, the belt conveyor comprises an endless belt having a forward run 11 and a return run 12 with typical positions to which the forward run 11 can be adjusted being shown at 11' and 11'' As ran be seen, the endless belt conveyor 10 comprises a belt drive means in the form of a cable 27 coupled to an endless belt S11, 12 which is located between laterally spaced apart guideways 13 and 14 for the return run and 15 and 16 for the forward run. The guideways in each case comprise spaced rails 17 and 18 and the belt is supported by projecting roller assemblies 19 which travel along the guideways €l between the rails 17 and 18 and to which the cable 28 is i oi' secured, the roller assemblies have guiding rollers 20, 21, 22 and 23 adapted to travel along the guideways in fixed geometrical relationship therewith.

In the illustrated embodiment, the rails 17 and 18 are supported in C-channel supports 24 and 25 with the supports being slidable around ring support structure 26 so that the cross sectional shape of the forward run 11 can be altered as typically illustrated at 11' and thus, if it is desirable for the conveyor to travel up steep slopes, that portion of the conveyor travelling up the steep slope could be configured as at It will also be appreciated that by suitably locating the supports 25, the forward run li could be arranged to discharge mattet being carried on the conveyor.

Referring specifically to Figure 2, the drive means is illustrated and in this case, the cable 27 travels over a sheeve 28, the respective wheel assemblies 19 being illustrated schematically in this case.

Referring to Figure 3, the typical wheel assembly 19 of Figure 1 is illustrated in more detail and where appropriate, like numerals have been used to illustrate like features. As can be seen, the wheel assembly is carried on a platform 29 and the forward run 11 of the belt is hingedly coupled to the platform 29 at 30. In the illustrated embodiment of Figure 3, two cables 27 and two drive sheeves 28 are emp.l'-d to drive the belt. As the illustration -f Figure 3 represents one side of the endless belt, the other rl, Aside of the belt is a mirror image resulting in a conveyor 1- I 6 arrangement as illustrated in Figure 4 employing four drive sheeves 28. Figures 5 and 6 illustrate an altiirnative drive arrangement employing a single sheeve on each side of the belt resulting in a sheeve drive arrangement employing a total of two sheeves at the head end of the conveyor. As can be seen in this case, a similar roller assembly as in Figure 3 is employed and where appropriate, like numerals have been used to illustrate like features. As can be seen, only a single cable is employed and in this case, the cable is located within the periphery of the roller assembly 19 and the platform 29 has been omitted. Figure 5 illustrates a roller assembly downstream of the sheeve 28 whereas Figure S~'t 6 illustrates the roller assembly just commencing to travel On around the sheeve 28.

0 15 Referring now to Figure 7, there is illustrated an alternative embodiment and where appropriate, like numerals S, have bean used to illustrate like features. The drawing of Figure 7 is similar to that of Figure 3 except a different roller assembly 31 has been employed, in th.s case, six rollers 32 have been employed which, as in the previous embodiment, are arranged in opposing groups between the rails in order to constrain the roller assembly in fixed geometrical relationship relative to the guide rails 17 and 18. Of course, it will be appreciated that many alternative arrangements of roller assemblies and guide rails could be employed in order constrain the roller assemblies in their fixed relationship relative to the guide rails.

AIt will therefore be apparent, that whilst the above r 7 has been given by way of illustrative example of the present invention, many variations and modifications thereto will be

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I apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the broad ambit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

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Claims

1. An endless belt conveyor comprising a belt drive means coupled to an endless belt located between laterally spaced apart longitudinally extending guideways, the belt being supported by projecting roller assemblies travelling along Sthe guideways, the roller assemblies having guiding rollers Sadapted to travel along the guideways in fixed geometrical ii relationship therewith. i 2. An endless belt conveyor according to claim 1 wherein a said guideway comprises spaced apart rails, said roller i assemblies being adapted to travel between the rai2s. Si 3. An endless belt conveyor according to claim 2 wherein a ji i said roller assembly has two opposed pairs of guiding o~o rollers, the rollers of each pair being angularly spaced il• ,,about a respective rail in order to constrain the guiding VI B rollers in fixed geometric relationship between the rails. S4. An endless belt conveyor according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the belt is hingedly coupled to the Sroller assemblies. An endless belt conveyor according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said drive means comprises cables coupled to the roller assemblies and travelling over head and tail sheeves.

6. An endless belt conveyor according to claim 5 wherein the head and tail sheeves each comprise a set of two or a set of four sheeves with a corresponding number of cables to drive the belt.

7. An endless belt conveyor according to any one the I lA) ALrWrZ VY 1 9 9 preceding claims wherein the guideways are configured to alter the cross sectional shape of the belt. i 8. An endless belt conveyor according to any one of the ipreceding claims wherein the guideways are ad ustably supported on an arcuate support member so that the lateral Sspacing between the guideways can be altered in order to i change the cross sectional shape of the belt.

9. An endless belt conveyor substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this llth day of December, 1990. So WILLEM VAN DER HORST i By his Patent Attorneys SPETER MAXWELL ASSOCIATES I I