AU615593B2 - A hose and cable reel arrangement for a rock drilling equipment - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1952 Form COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE Afst Short Title: Int. Cl: Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification-Lodged: Accepted: Lapsed: Published: Priority: Related Art: TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT Name of Applicant: OY TAMPELLA AB Address of Applicant: Lapintie 1, SF-33100 Tampere S*

FINLAND

SActual Inventor: Address for Service: GRIFFITH HACK CO., 601 St. Kilda Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia.

S Complete Specification for the invention entitled: A HOSE AND CABLE REEL ARRANGEMENT FOR A ROCK DRILLING EQUIPMENT.

The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to me:- 1A A hose and cable reel arrangement for a rock drilling apparatus ::e 0S 1 I

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The invention relates to a hose and cable reel arrangement for a rock drilling apparatus, comprising at least two reels mounted in the rock drilling apparatus so as to rotate relative to a frame of the apparatus and relative to each other, one reel being provided for each hose and/or cable; and rotation means for each reel for rotating said reel relative to the frame.

The operation of a rock drilling apparatus requires supply of electric energy through an electric cable and supply of flushing water or air through a water or air hose. The electric cable is usually reeled on a separate cable reel mounted to the apparatus. For the water hose, instead, there is not necessarily provided a reel, but the hose is gathered and put in place manually or by means of a manually operated water hose reel. It is also possible to use a combined cable and hose reel on which a separate space is provided for the cable and the hose while the reel is a fixed entity mounted in bearings to a separate reel frame fastened to the carrier of the apparatus. It is further known to use two separate reels mounted in parallel and rotatably about a horizontal axis. In this case, both reels have a separate frame structure attached to the carrier of the drilling apparatus and, correspondingly, a separate rotation machinery.

A drawback of the prior art is that when a reel is provided for the electric cable only, the handling of the hose is heavy, difficult and time-consuming, which affects the drilling timetable and involves waste of time.

I i When two separate reels are used, two separate frame structures are required as well, which increases costs and complicates the construction. Manual reeling of the hose, in turn, is heavy and timeconsuming. Furthermore, if one reel only is to be used, the frame structure of the drilling apparatus has to be designed and modified for one reel, whereby it is necessary to manufacture one and the same drilling apparatus with two different frame structures. With two separate reels, the frame structures take plenty of space, which increases the overall ee dimensions of the drilling apparatus, thus deteriorating its movability in tunnels.

~A drawback of a single fixed reel structure for See, i: s two hoses is that the electricity and water supply means are usually located at different points in tuno••o nels. The cable and the hose thereby have to be unreeled to such an extent as is required for the longer distance while the surplus cable or hose Co:.V length, respectively, for the shorter distance has to 0 be spread on the floor of the tunnel in order to pro- D so vide a sufficient length of the cable or the hose for the longer distance. If the hose and the cable are eooe unreeled so that the hose extending over a longer o ooo S 0 distance is fastened to its point of fixation, the hose or cable requiring the shorter distance tends to tangle on the reel and get entangled with the structures, which involves extra work and problems as well as waste of time.

CA Patent 1,213,870 discloses a solution in which the cable is reeled around a platelike base rotating about a vertical axis and disposed above the apparatus. A drawback of this solution is that the space occupied by the arrangement above the apparatus cannot be utilized for any other purpose and the

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3 cable or hose is liable to damage by dropping dirt, stone dust and stones.

The object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement for reeling a cable or a hose onto a reel in such a manner that the above problems will be avoided and the hose and the cable can be reeled independently of each other. Another object of the invention is to provide a reel mounting arrangement which enables the mounting of one or two reels within one and the same frame structure of the apparatus and in which the hose and/or the cable are protected against damage and less space is required o*oo within the frame of the apparatus. This is achieved according to the invention by mounting the reels mutually coaxially on top of each other under the .•frame of the rock drilling apparatus so as to rotate about a vertical axis.

The basic idea of the invention is that a reel for the cable and/or the hose is mounted under the frame of the drilling apparatus so as to rotate about a vertical axis coaxially but independently of each ee other, so that each reel can be rotated by means of a separate rotation motor independently of the other reel. An advantage of the solution according to the sees*: invention is that the reels are protected against S. dust, dirt and falling stones, as they are positioned under the drilling apparatus. Another advantage of the invention is that the reels require less space outside the drilling apparatus, which reduces the outer dimensions of the apparatus and the apparatus can be shaped so as to suitably taper backwards, so that it moves more easily in tunnels. Still another advantage of the invention is that the reels can be so constructed that one or two reels can be mounted under the carrier according to the requirements in E1 L 4 each particular case without any need to modify the frame structure. Moreover, the solution is cheaper than prior art solutions because the same frame structure can be used irrespective of whether one or two reels are used. By means of the invention it is also possible to maintain the tightness of the cable and the hose at a desired constant value irrespective of the location of the point of fixation of the hose or the cable in the tunnel since both of them can be unreeled and reeled independently. Other machineries SC: and devices needed in the drilling apparatus can be positioned on the frame of the drilling apparatus e g.

see: above the reels for appropriate utilization of the space available for the drilling apparatus.

The invention will be described in greater detail in the following drawings, wherein oo Figure 1 is a schematic view of the invention when applied to a drilling apparatus; Figure 2 is a more detailed partial sectional view of an arrangement according to the invention; and C Figure 3 is a schematic view of a hydraulic connection for driving the rotation motors of the arrangement of the invention in such a manner that a eeee..

S"substantially equal tightening force acts on both the o...cable and the hose.

In Figure i, the reference numeral 1 indicates a drilling apparatus comprising one or more drilling booms 2 known per se. A cable reel 3 and a hose reel 4 are mounted at the rear end of the drilling apparatus under it.

Figure 2 is a more detailed view of the mounting of the cable reel 3 and the hose reel 4 rotatably about a vertical axis 5 in a frame 6 of the drilling apparatus. As used in the present patent application i and claims, the term "vertical" means a vertical i direction or a direction slightly deviating from it.

A slip ring housing 7 is provided above the frame 6, whereby slip rings mounted coaxially to the cable n reel 3 extend within the housing 7. The slip rings are connected to a cable 8, current from the cable 8 being supplied to the drilling apparatus 1 through the slip rings. This structure and its operation are widely used and known per se, so it will not be described in greater detail.

so:**The cable reel 3 under the frame 6 is fastened to the frame 6 by means of a bearing 9. The bearing 9, which is a circumferential bearing, comprises an ses "inner and outer bearing ring 10 and 11, bearings 12 being positioned between them. Both bearing rings and 11 are provided with a flange, the flanges being positioned on opposite sides relative to a plane defined by the bearings 12. The flange of the inner bearing ring 10 is fastened to the frame 6 while the flange of the outer bearing ring 11 is fastened to the reel 3 in a manner known per by means of bolts or 0 other similar means (not shown). A gear ring 13 is se. provided around the bearing 9. The gear ring 13 is also fastened to the reel 3, preferably with the same ooooo S" bolts as the outer ring 11 of the bearing 9. Further- S. more, a rotation motor 14, to which a sprocket wheel o. 15 is attached, is fastened to the frame 6 for the Scable reel 3. The sprocket wheel 15 extends below the i frame 6 so as to be positioned in level with the gear ring 13, and a chain 16 is arranged to extend around both the sprocket wheel 15 and the gear ring 13 for rotating the reel 3 during the rotation of the motor 14.

The hose reel 4 is similarly mounted to the cable reel 3, a bearing 17 being provided between the reels. The inner ring 18 of the bearing 17 is fastened to the cable reel 3 and the outer ring 19 correspondingly to the hose reel 4 with bolts or the like (not shown). A gear ring 21 is fastened to the hose reel 4 so as to be substantially in level with the bearings 20, and a motor 22 comprising a sprocket wheel 23 and a chain 24 extending around the sprocket wheel 23 and the gear ring 21 is mounted in the frame for rotating the gear ring 21. When either one of the motors 14 or 22 is rotated, it rotates the chain 16 or 24, respectively, and therethrough the cable reel 00 3 or the hose reel 4. If the cable 8 only is un-

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reeled, the hose reel 4 does not rotate, because the oo0o ••hydraulic motor 22 prevents its rotation. Correspond- .ingly, after the cablt 8 and the hose 25 have been unreeled, either one of them can be reeled without ••tightening the other.

Figure 3 is a schematic view of a hydraulic connection which provides equal rotative moment for .both reels 3 and 4 irrespective of the number of cable turns 8 or hose turns 25 on the reel 3 or 4, respectively. The connection shows schematically motors 14 and 22, which are hydraulically connected ••oooo in parallel with each other. Pressure fluid is oo o Ssupplied to both motors 14 and 22 simultaneously by CC means of a pump 26. In order to maintain the pressure of the pump 26 on a desired level and, as a con- "sequence, to maintain the moment in the motors at a desired value, a pressure regulation valve 27 is provided in the pressure fluid conduit. As the motors 14 and 22 are connected in parallel with each other, the same moment acts on both of them, so that the hose or the cable which offers less resistance is more easily reeled until the same force acts on both of them.

In the solution of the invention the reels are 7 fitted in a small space within the drilling apparatus with a simple construction while the reels are wellprotected against damage. On account of the construction, the drilling apparatus can be provided with one or more reels without having to modify the frame structure itself. Additionally, the bearings of the reels are similar so that it can be decided in each particular case whether one or two reels are needed and a reel can be added or removed simply by rei leasing a few bolts. Furthermore, if the cable reels O are positioned on top of the hose reels, possible •damage to the water hose will not damage the electric *cables and associated components.

0000 The above description and the drawings are conv *cerned with one preferred embodiment of the arrange- '-ment according to the invention and the invention is o in no way restricted to it. The bearing arrangement need not be realized in such a manner as described above. In place of supporting the reels by bearing rings, each reel can be mounted to a separate shaft o s by constructions known per se. The lower reel need o not be fastened to the upper reel; instead, it can be connected directly to the above-mentioned shaft similarly as the upper reel. The number of the reels may be greater than two, and they can be mounted similarly, whereby they can be mounted to a separate shaft 0 0 or in such a manner that the uppermost reel is mounted to the frame while each one of the lower reels is mounted to the reel above it. Even though one cable ot hose only is positioned on each reel in the above solution, it is likewise possible to position on the reel a bunch of hoses or cables or a combination of a hose and a control cable or the like forming an integral whole so that the hose and the cable are always used in combination. In cases where no elec-

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8 tric cables are used, the necessary hose rails can be mounted similarly.

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Claims (4)

1. A hose and cable reel arrangement for a rock drilling apparatus comprising at least two reels 4) mounted in the rock drilling apparatus so as to rotate relative to a frame of the ap- paratus and relative to each other, one reel being provided for each hose (25) and/or cable and ro- tation means (13-16, 21-14) for each reel 4) for rotating said reel 4) relative to the frame c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the reels 4) are mounted mutually coaxially under the frame of the rock drilling apparatus on top of each other so as to rotate about a vertical axis

2. An arrangement according to claim 1, ch a r ac t e r i z ed in that the uppermost reel is mounted rotatably to the frame of the ap- paratus each one of the lower reels being mounted rotatably to the reel above it.

3. An arrangement according to claim 1 or 2, ch a r ac t e r i z ed in that each cable reel is mounted above the hose reels

4. An arrangement according to any of the pre- ceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that each reel 4) is mounted to the frame of the apparatus or to the reel above it, respec- tively, by nieans of a bearing ring (11, 17) provided above it, the bearing ring (11, 17) being attached both to the reel 4) and to the frame or the upper reel respectively. An arrangement according to any of the pre- ceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the rotation means (13-16, 21 or each reel 4) comprise a gear ring (13, mounted above the reel that a motor (14 is provided for each 0i I, 0 94 6 S i reel 4) in the frame of the apparatus and a sprocket wheel (15, 23) is mounted to the shaft of each motor (14, 22) so as to be substantially in level with the gear ring (13, 21) of the reel 4), respectively, and that a chain (16, 24) is arranged to extend around each sprocket wheel (15, 23) and the gear ring (13, 21) for rotating the reel 4). Iof *0 DATED THIS 23RD DAY OF NOVEMBER 1989 Goo OY TAMPELLA AB Ss: By its Patent Attorneys: GRIFFITH HACK CO. Fellows Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia. 0 agoa* 0 00 i U t