AU776048B2 - Pipe conveyor - Google Patents

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 oo o

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: "PIPE CONVEYOR" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 2 "PIPE CONVEYOR" This invention relates to a pipe conveyor suitable for conveying particulate materials to a desired location.

A conventional pipe conveyor is described in AU 613799 having a US equivalent 5042646. This pipe conveyor has an endless belt having a feed end constituted by a head roller and a discharge end constituted by a tail roller. Both the head roller and the tail roller engage the belt to form a forward run or delivery run which may be substantially U shaped or tubular shape, having a round cross section. Normally the return run is U shaped and has a more shallow shape when compared to the forward run.

~The pipe conveyor of AU 613799 comprised a plurality of arti..,ated structural components of a box like shape, having opposed side walls and a top and bottom wall, wherein adjacent articulated structural components .O l.

were separated by support frames and pivotally attached thereto. Each support frame carried a set of peripheral rollers or idlers for contacting an outer peripheral surface of the return run. Each support frame also carried a top peripheral roller for maintaining overlapping edges of the forward run in bearing contact. Also there was provided spacer structure in the form of a plurality of intermediate rollers or idlers maintained between the forward run and the return run. Alternative spacer structure in the form of a rotatably curved axle having a multiplicity of support discs attached thereto was also described. As a variation compressed air was also described as suitable spacer structure.

The main purpose of the articulated structural components was to facilitate pivotal movement of sections of the pipe conveyor relative to each other. The pivotal attachment between each structural component and adjacent support frames was by a universal joint.

A particular disadvantage associated with the pipe conveyor of AU 613799 was that as the length of the conveyor increased it was difficult to apply the necessary drive power to the endless belt. This disadvantage was reduced by applying drive power to both the head and tail pulleys instead of just one of the pulleys. In other arrangements, the conveyor was divided into two or more separate conveyors so that more power could be applied to the head 15 and tail pulleys at the transfer points or interconnection locations of each conveyor. Also the tension in each of the endless belts was reduced compared to a higher tension present when use was made of S. a single endless belt. However it will be appreciated that each of these solutions were expensive and time consuming as well as being impractical in some cases.

Another disadvantage associated with the pipe conveyor of AU 613799 was that the internal and/or external conveyor belt support idlers required numerous rotating bearing points which were found to be costly to buy and maintain during normal conveyor operations.

Reference may also be made to conventional trough conveyors which have a forward run in the shape of a shallow flat bottomed V in cross section as hereinafter illustrated and a return run which is in planar or flat in cross section. Such trough conveyors were disadvantageous in that difficulty was experienced in following a horizontal curve.

The object of the invention is to provide a pipe conveyor which may alleviate the abovementioned disadvantages of the prior art.

The pipe conveyor of the invention provides a plurality of support frames which are pivotally attached to each other, wherein each of the support frames carry an endless belt having a forward run and a return run *O ll.

S"characterised in that each of the support frames includes an outer bearing :0 member for contact with the return run and an inner bearing member i interposed between the forward run and the return run for contact with the 15 forward run characterised in that each of the inner bearing member and the outer bearing member are flexible or resilient so that they adopt an arcuate "shape, in use, so as to correspond in shape to the endless belt.

The pipe conveyor of the invention may be installed to an existing pipe conveyor so as to interconnect adjoining sections of the existing pipe conveyor or alternatively may comprise a pipe conveyor in its own right having a feed and a discharge end which may be constituted by a head roller and a tail roller, preferably as described in AU 613799. Preferably each of the head roller and tail roller may be driven by associated drive means as described hereinafter in the preferred embodiment.

It will be appreciated that such associated drive means may also function to impart drive to the inner and outer bearing members. Preferably, however, one of the inner and outer bearing members are driven by a separate drive means, as discussed hereinafter.

Both of the inner bearing member and the outer bearing member will adopt a shape or orientation when attached to an associated support frame that corresponds to the shape of the endless belt and thus with this objective in mind both the inner bearing member and outer bearing member are arcuate. To this end each of the inner bearing member and outer bearing member are flexible or resilient so that they will adopt an arcuate shape in practice. To this end therefore, it is preferred that the inner and outer bearing members are constituted by springs, although it is possible that flexible or resilient rods form from resilient material such as reinforced natural or synthetic rubber or from suitable plastics materials may be used.

S* 15 The inner spring is preferably wound in the opposite hand to the outer spring. In this configuration the slight tendency for the belt to screw, while travelling and supported by the spring bearing members, is negated.

Adjacent springs along the conveyor are also preferably alternately configured left and right hand to further negate any tendency for the belt to screw.

The spring bearing members used in the invention preferably have high duty cycles in that they operate in a rotating bent 6 configuration while imparting the necessary driving torque. Bench testing and mathematical analysis of springs under these loading conditions shown that acceptable spring life requires the internal diameter of the endless belt when adopting round tubular shape to be in the approximate range of 3-6 times the external diameter of each of the supporting springs, and that the slower each spring rotates during operations, the longer the service life will be. A further spring design factor is that the wire diameter used in the spring should be in the approximate range of 10-15 times less than the diameter of the spring. Also, the steel used for the spring should be a high quality spring steel or a "piano wire" specification steel and the pitch of each of the springs should be such that adjacent coils just fail to touch at the inside setting of the curved spring.

When using springs as each of the inner and outer bearing members, each end of the springs may be connected to one or more rigid axles or shafts mounted in bearing assemblies located in an associated support frame and preferably in a top frame member of the support frame.

The support frame may be of any suitable structure but preferably includes the top frame member as described above and a pair of side frame members. There also may be provided, if desired, a bottom frame member, although this is by no means necessary. The location of the bearing assemblies in the top frame member is 7 advantageous for both maintenance and replacement purposes.

There may also be provided a plurality of articulated structural components wherein an articulated structural component interconnects each support frame. Preferably each structural component is pivotally attached to each adjacent support frame and more preferably each structural component is attached to each support frame by a universal joint.

The provision of the articulated structural components is useful in that they facilitate pivotal movement of sections of the pipe conveyor relative to each other as shown in the preferred embodiment S'so that the pipe conveyor may adopt a serpentine configuration or °o l linear configuration as may be required.

It also will be appreciated that the presence of the articulated structural components may be dispensed with and each support frame may be pivotally attached to each other. This may apply for example in the case when the pipe conveyor of the invention **is installed to an existing pipe conveyor as described above.

There also may be provided one or more self-centering spring assemblies interconnecting each support frame and adjacent structural component or adjacent support frames as shown in the preferred embodiment.

In another embodiment the self centering spring assemblies and the structural components may be replaced by bar 8 springs connecting adjacent support frames as illustrated hereinafter.

Preferably the drive means for driving the inner or outer bearing member drives the inner bearing member. In this regard it is preferred that the drive means comprises a drive motor connected to an adjacent gear box, which is preferably a right angle gear box such as a worm drive. The right angle gear box may then be connected to a driving shaft attached to a fixed end of an associated spring.

Preferably the drive means is supported by one or more articulated structural components.

The drive motor may be hydraulic, electrical, pneumatic or be an internal combustion motor or any other suitable source of power.

Thus in a preferred embodiment the driven spring is located along the conveyor at spaced intervals and cooperate with 15 idler springs intermediate each driven spring. The articulation of the driven springs may be restricted in movement relative to the idler springs to prevent excessive drive shaft misalignment.

In another embodiment the drive motor may drive a pair of drive shafts each associated with a particular driven spring at each end of the structural component. This arrangement spreads the available power over adjacent driven springs and allows the drive motors to be spaced further apart along the conveyor when compared to a single drive arrangement.

9 The configuration of the forward run may comprise substantially cylindrical form or a U shaped form as may be required.

The return run may comprise a substantially U shaped form surrounding the forward run. This arrangement allows access to the drive shafts of driven springs when required.

FIG. 1 is a side view of the pipe conveyor of the invention; FIG. 2 is a plan view of the pipe conveyor shown in FIG.

1; FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one form of a forward end of the pipe conveyor shown in FIGS. 1-2; FiG. 4 is a perspective view of another form of forward .end of the pipe conveyor shown in FIGS. 1-2; FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an intermediate part of the pipe conveyor shown in FIGS. 1-2, showing a pair of adjacent articulated frames thereof; FIG. 6 is a similar view to FIG. 5, showing four articulated frames of the pipe conveyor shown in FIGS. 1-2, with an :.associated drive means for driving the idler springs; FIG. 7 is a plan view of a pair of articulated frames of the pipe conveyor shown in FIGS. 1-2, showing an alternative drive means to that shown in FIG. 6; FIG. 7A is a detailed view of the self centering spring assemblies illustrated in FIG. 7; FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the pipe conveyor of the invention supported from an overhead track assembly or alternatively from a lateral I-beam; FIG. 8A is a plan view of a pipe conveyor of the invention having a different construction to that shown in FIGS. 1-7; FIG. 9 is a similar view to that shown in FIG. 8 showing the pipe conveyor of the invention fitted to an existing U shaped pipe conveyor; FIG. 10 is a plan view of a pipe conveyor of the invention fitted to an existing U shaped pipe conveyor where a plurality of adjacent articulated frames are used to re-align the existing U shaped conveyor in another direction; and FIGS. 11-12 are a plan view and side view respectively of a pipe conveyor of the invention incorporating bar springs for interconnecting adjacent support frames instead of the self centering spring assemblies used in FIGS. 1-7.

The pipe conveyor 10, shown in FIGS. 1-2, comprises a feed end 11 and a discharge end 12. The feed end 11 comprises loading hopper 13 having particulate or sized material 14 being loaded into a forward run 15 of the conveyor belt assembly 10. The loading hopper 13 is provided with a scalping plate (not shown) to prevent 11 surge loads from the hopper 13 flooding forward run 15. The hopper is also provided with opening 13A to allow material to pass through to forward run 15. The particulate material or payload discharges from the conveyor belt assembly 16 shown in FIG. 3 at discharge end 12 before the forward run belt 15 passes over tail pulley 17 before forming a return run 18. The return run 18 then extends to head pulley 19. Both the forward run 15 and return run 18 pass through articulated structural components 20 and support frames 28.

The head pulley 19 is driven by drive motor 21 located below articulated frame components 20. Drive motor 21 has drive shaft 22 which is coupled to right angle gear box 23. Gear box 23 drives transverse shaft 24 which has pulleys or sprockets 26. Each pulley 26 is connected to head pulley 19 by a belt drive 25. Tail pulley 17 is driven by a similar arrangement as shown in FIGS. 1-2.

oo 15 Head pulley 19 is supported by support structure 27. The support frames 28 are pivotally attached to articulated structural components at a top location 29A and bottom location 29B, as shown in FIG.

3. Each support frame 28 supports a pair of counter rotating springs and 31 shown in FIG. 3 which engage with forward run 15 and return run 18. There are also provided spring assemblies 32 which interconnect support frame 28 and structural component In FIG. 3, showing feed end 11 in greater detail, the forward run 15 extends over head pulley 19, having axle 19A, before 12 forming return run 18 as shown. There is also provided a scraper 33 for removing particulate material from an interior surface of return run 18. Also provided are a pair of oblique or angled bearing rollers or closing idlers 35 and 35B, having axles 35A and a horizontal roller 36, having axle 36A, which guide sides 37 and 38 of forward run 15 to overlap and to form a tubular pipe 39 as shown. Each of springs and 31 are attached to support frame 28 by bearing assemblies 72 shown in more detail in FIG. 8.

The pair of closing idlers 35 are provided to track the sides of the belt so that sides 37 and 38 start forming into a pipe configuration 39. The closing idlers 35 are spaced so that the closing idler 35B tracking the overlapping belt is placed ahead of the closing idler 35 tracking the underlapping belt. Both closing idler shafts are a. set at a vertical rake-angle, relative to the longitudinal axis of the pipe conveyor 10, of between 60-80 degrees. This orientation ensures the edges of the running conveyor belt will continue to feed into the pair O of closing idlers. The pipe configuration 39 is completed when the forward run belt passes under the first horizontal closing roller 36.

.Subsequent support frames 28 also have horizontal closing rollers 79 shown in FIG. 8, which usually continuously hold the top of the pipe in a formed pipe arrangement. Additional pairs of closing idlers can be placed along the coaxial pipe conveyor run, if required.

FIG. 4 shows a set of impact idlers 56 provided at the 13 loading or feed end 11 of the conveyor situated between forward run and return run 18. These idlers absorb the impact of material loading onto the conveyor ahead of closing idlers 36. There is also provided belt scraper 33A for cleaning an outer surface of return run 18.

FIG. 5 shows self centering spring assemblies 32 which are supported on a top plate 41 of each frame component 20. Each spring assembly 32 includes a spring 42, spring mount 43 and an adjustable screw threaded rod 44, which extends through opposed ends 45 of spring mount 43 and which is secured to support bracket 46 by nut 47. There is also provided adjustment nut 48 and fixed nut so 0 •,o49, attaching rod 44 through spring retaining sleeves or bushes 44A ~and 44B to adjacent end 45 of spring mount 43. The spring assembly 32 operates by placing the constricted spring 42 in compression when 15 rod 44 and bushes 44A or 44B moves in either direction as occurs when opposing sides of the pivotal connections 29A, 29B and 29C *move during operation. This is illustrated in more detail in FIG. 7A.

05S0 Each frame component 20 includes top plate 41, bottom plate 52 and a pair of side plates 53. There is also provided spring assemblies 32 interconnecting side plates 53 of frame component to an adjacent support frame 28.

FIG. 5 shows an intermediate part of pipe conveyor showing particulate material 14 being transported in forward run 15 in 14 the form of a tubular pipe 39 and return run 18 having a U shape as shown. Both the forward run 15 and return run 18 are shown having a gradually curving orientation at 57 and this is facilitated by pivotal connections 29A and 29B between each support frame 28 and pivotal connections 29C between triangular ends 58 of each side plate 52 and an adjoining support frame 28. Each spring mount 43 is bolted to top plate 41 by bolts 43A and bracket 46 is bolted to the top of support frame 28 by bolt 46A.

FIG. 6 shows a drive assembly 59 for each of counter rotating springs 30 and 31. Drive assembly 59 includes drive motor as well as a right angle gear box 61 which drives a drive shaft 62 connected to spring 30 shown in more detail in FIGS. 8-9. There is also provided housing 62A for coupling of shaft 62 and right angle o:o gear box 61. Motor 60 is mounted to mounting plate 61A.

15 FIG. 7 shows an alternative drive means for springs and 31 wherein drive motor 63 associated with gear box 63A drives pulley 63B coupled to belt 64. Belt 64 engages with idler pulley e*oo fixedly attached to a top plate 41 by belt tensioning support structure as well as pulleys 67 and 68 of springs In FIG. 8 the drive assembly 59 for springs 30 and 31 is shown in more detail and includes drive shaft 62 which engages with support shaft 70 of spring 30 at 71. Shaft 70 extends through bearing assembly 72 and is attached to adjacent end 73 of spring 31.

The other end 73 of spring 31 also has support shaft 70 which engages in bearing assembly 72. In similar manner outer spring 31 has ends 74 attached to support shafts 70 which engage in bearing assemblies 72.

In FIG. 8 support frames 28 have now been dispensed with and replaced by support frames 28A which support not only bearing assemblies 72 but also bearing assembly shafts 78 in sides 77 as shown. Each bearing 81 supports a peripheral roller 79 which is oriented transversely to the axis of the forward run 15 and which is responsible for maintaining each of the overlapping edges 79A and of forward run 15 to maintain the tubular shape 39. There are also provided iocking nuts 76.

Support frame 28A also has attached thereto a downwardly extending frame member 82 of roller track assembly 83 which has a foot 84 attached to frame member 28A as shown.

Roller track assembly 83 includes a channel part 86 which supports wheels or rollers 87 which are each supported on tracks 91 and 92 of track member 88. Each track member 88 also includes a top support member 89 and a web 90. Each wheel 87 is mounted on an axle Alternatively roller track assembly 83 may be dispensed with and frame 28A attached to a lateral beam such as I-beam 93 as shown in phantom, wherein vertical part 94 is attached to a fixed 16 support 92A. I-beam 93 has foot 93A attached to side 77 of support frame 28A. There is also provided web 93B. There is also shown links 95 which are described in more detail in FIG 8A.

A dish-shaped washer 94A, shown in phantom, is provided at the junction between the inner spring 30 and the drive shaft 70. The inside edge of the dish-shaped washer 94A prevents the edge of the forward run 15 from leaving the inner spring enclosure, as shown in FIG. 8. The outside edge of the dish-shaped washer prevents the return run 18 from tracking out of the space between the counter rotating springs 30 and 31. Also there may be provided a flat washer 94B at the junction between outer spring 31 and rotatable shaft 70 which further restricts the return run 18 from tracking out of the space between springs 30 and 31.

FIG. 8A shows the longitudinal separation of support of support frames 28A by pines 98 and links 95 which can allow conveyor 10 A to follow the path of track member 88 in a linear direction as shown in full outline or an arcuate direction as shown in phantom.

FIG. 9 shows a similar view to that shown in FIG. 8 illustrating a section 10A of the pipe conveyor of the invention being applied to an existing trough conveyor 100. There is also shown opposed plates 99 of support frame 28A interconnected by nut and bolt assemblies 98. Pipe conveyor 10A is shown in broader detail in 17 FIG. 10, which shows section 10A having a plurality of frame structures 28A being attached to fixed supports 92A. This enables two sections 96 and 97 of a conventional trough conveyor 100 which are interconnected by pipe conveyor section 10A to adopt a linear orientation as shown in full outline in FIG. 10 or a curved orientation as shown in phantom in FIG. 10. Conventional pipe conveyor 100 is also provided with conventional support structures 101.

In FIG. 9 the difference between the orientation of each of the forward and return runs of a pipe conveyor constructed in accordance with the invention and the prior art is shown. In the pipe conveyor section 10A there is shown forward and return runs and 18 in full outline compared to forward run 115A and return run 118A of conventional trough conveyor 100.

In FIGS. 11-12 there are shown the use of bar springs o 15 110 and 100OA in interconnecting adjacent support frames 28A instead of spring assemblies 32 previously described. Each bar spring is attached to support frames 28A by bolts 111. Bar springs 110 and 11 0A are alternatively placed in either side of support frames 28A as 0:00: shown. This allows flexing of forward run 15 as shown wherein bar springs 11 A flex as shown in FIG. 11. Forward run 15 may adopt a horizontal curve as shown or a vertical curve (not shown). Bar springs 110 adopt a linear configuration as shown.

In operation of the pipe conveyor of the invention, it will 18 be appreciated that the provision of springs 30 and 31 facilitate the application of greater power to the forward run 15 as well as the return run 18 of pipe conveyor 10. Thus as shown in FIGS. 9-10 the forward run 15 may be contacted by the inner surface of driven spring 30 and the return run 18 may be contacted by the outer surface of driven spring 30 and also the idler spring 31. This means that greater power or torque is applied by driven spring 30 to forward run 15 in one direction and return run 18 in the opposite direction.

In AU 613799 there was provided a hydraulic cylinder for controlling the angle of displacement at the conveyor articulated joints.

In contrast to the present invention in the preferred embodiment provides a self centering spring, such as spring assembly 32, fitted across the articulated joints 29A, 29B and 29C, so as to make movement from the straight ahead position to be resisted by spring 15 pressure. This arrangement allows a coaxial pipe to negotiate an ~imposed curve by evenly spreading the curve angle across all the appropriate articulated joints. The self centering spring assembly therefore prevents uneven bending of the coaxial pipe conveyor operating around a corner at one or more articulated joints. A similar Oleo effect is produced by operation of the bar springs shown in FIGS. 11- 12.

In another application of this invention, the driven spring arrangement, such as inner spring 30, may also be used to reduce the 19 peak tensile requirements in an existing or convention troughed conveyor. In this embodiment, the conventional troughed conveyor is formed into a pipe conveyor of the invention by the driven spring and returned to a conventional troughed conveyor, as shown in FIG.

10. There is no requirement to include an articulated joint or articulated structural component 20 in this arrangement as the existing troughed conveyor will be'substantially fixed linear. The conveyor belt in this application may only be wide enough to form a partially complete internal pipe profile, but this will not affect the driven spring capacity to add power to the overall conveyor system, and will find useful application at some troughed conveyor installations where there is a need to re-centre the loaded profile on the belt after having passed through a transfer point, or similar disruption to the previously centrally loaded profile. This intermediate driven spring arrangement 15 has the advantage of reducing the cost of high tensile conveyor belting by permitting a lower tensile rated belt to be used, and/or increasing the maximum length of a conventional troughed conveyor span.

Similarly, the driven spring arrangement may reduce the load on, or completely replace the conventional pulley drive motor and gearbox systems commonly used with troughed conveyors.

When using the coaxial pipe conveyor of the invention in an underground coal mining application, it is preferred to drive the coaxial pipe conveyor using several hydraulic motors to minimise the complexities involved in using several intrinsically safe electric motors with their incumbent flame protected switching assemblies, operating along the length of the conveyor.

When using the coaxial pipe conveyor in underground mining, or tunnel applications, it is a preferred option to mount the conveyor from an overhead track assembly affixed to the tunnel roof, as shown in FIG. 8, which allows the coaxial pipe conveyor to easily follow the movement behind a loading machine and to track precisely within the confines of the tunnel. Alternatively, the pipe conveyor can be rigidly attached to a post installation as shown by I-beam 93 attached to fixed support 92A.

In other industrial applications it is possible to mount the conveyor on a series of wheels as shown in AU 613799. This allows the conveyor to be driven or towed, in and out, at some operating •go* g 15 locations. At sites where high conveyor availability is required, this feature allows for a standby coaxial pipe conveyor to be wheeled into position while the first coaxial pipe conveyor is removed and undergoing repairs.

When using the coaxial pipe conveyor for transporting hot material, it is practical to use a butyl or similar belt or butyl-covered laminate rubber belt. When using the conveyor in contact with oily material, it is practical to use a neoprene or similar belt or neoprenecovered laminate rubber belt. It is a feature of the belt that no 21 inelastic laminate layers are needed within the belt carcass.

When using the coaxial pipe conveyor to transport reactive materials, it is possible to condition the gas above the material loaded in the pipe, with gas supplied from a separate conditioned gas blower feeding in at either the delivery or feed end openings of the coaxial pipe conveyor. This prevents chemical reaction occurring between some conveyed materials with unconditioned air that is problematic at some conveyor applications.

The coaxial pipe conveyor belt can be further restricted to track straight by providing a tensile bead member 15B along each edge of the belt, as shown in FIG. 8. The two belt edge bead members can practically include a tensile core, because as the belt corners, the change in length between the inside and outside edges of the belt substantially cancel each other out, when folded into a pipe configuration and allowing the internal pipe conveyor to rotate slightly in the support idler. Any tendency for the belt to screw uncontrollably is therefore restricted by the tension in the two beads becoming unbalanced and seeking to realign themselves. Belt tracking is ~:maintained at the head and tail rollers by cutting a groove (not shown) on both edges of the rollers to accept the tensile bead member's halfprofile.

Optionally, a positive air supply is applied to the coaxial pipe conveyor 10 between the runs 15 and 18 at the loading point 22 end, when transporting very dusty materials. This helps to exclude any fine material from collecting between the two runs of the conveyor belt. Conventional belt scrapers are provided at the delivery end 12 of the outside surface of the conveyor belt to reduce the incidence of carry back material. Preferably, the plough style belt scraper 33 is provided at the loading end to the upper side of the return belt (the inside belt-surface) to remove foreign particles before they can enter between the conveyor belt and head pulley. A similar belt scraper may optionally be placed at the tail pulley end.

In a variation of the drive assembly shown in FIG. 6, there may be provided a double ended drive motor located at an angle to the longitudinal axis of frame component 20 and be connected to drive shafts 62 and 62B shown in FIG. 6 through appropriate gear boxes or by flexible couplings. The motor in this embodiment is 15 aligned with respectively opposite ends of two adjacent springs 30 to S"coordinate the axle directions of rotation with the motor shaft rotation.

It will also be appreciated from the foregoing that the pipe conveyor of the invention can be towed or driven to a desired location and then operate while following a mobile loading apparatus.

Another advantage of the pipe conveyor of the invention is that two or more similar pipe conveyors of the invention can be operated wherein a first pipe conveyor can be independently driven from an installation site and be rapidly replaced by a second or 23 subsequent standby pipe conveyor at the installation site.

An advantage of using a pipe conveyor of the invention to interconnect adjacent conventional pipe conveyors or trough conveyors is that a misaligned conveyor payload near one edge of a first conventional conveyor is correctly aligned by the pipe conveyor of the invention before moving to the centre of the second or subsequent conventional conveyor.

It will also be appreciated from the foregoing that while it is preferred to drive inner spring 30 it is within the scope of the invention to also drive outer spring 31 or alternatively both of springs and 31 as may be required. It will be appreciated that spring 31 also functions as a suitable spacer to space forward run 15 from return run 18.

l*

Claims (24)

1. A pipe conveyor comprising a plurality of support frames which are pivotally attached to each other wherein each of the support frames carry an endless belt having a forward run and a return run characterised in that each of the support frames include an outer bearing member for contact with the return run and an inner bearing member interposed between the forward run and return run for contact with the forward run characterised in that each of the inner bearing member and the outer bearing member are flexible or resilient so that they adopt an arcuate shape, in use, so as to correspond in shape to the endless belt.

2. A pipe conveyor as claimed in claim 1 installed to an existing pipe conveyor so as to interconnect adjoining sections of the existing pipe conveyor.

3. A pipe conveyor as claimed in claim I having a feed end constituted by a head roller and a discharge end constituted by a tail roller.

4. A pipe conveyor as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of the head roller and tail roller are driven by drive means associated therewith.

5. A pipe conveyor as claimed in any preceding claim, eg:" .wherein the inner and outer bearing members are constituted by springs. 20 6. A pipe conveyor as claimed in claim 5, wherein an inner spring constituting the inner bearing member is wound in an opposite hand to an outer spring constituting the outer bearing member.

7. A pipe conveyor as claimed in claim 6, wherein each of the inner springs and outer springs are connected to one or more rigid axles 25 or shafts mounted in bearing assemblies located in an associated support frame.

8. A pipe conveyor as claimed in claim 7, wherein the bearing assemblies are located in a top frame member of the support frame.

9. A pipe conveyor as claimed in any preceding claim, further including a plurality of articulated structural components, wherein a respective articulated structural component interconnects each support frame. A pipe conveyor as claimed in claim 9, wherein each structural component is attached to each support frame by one or more universal joints.

11. A pipe conveyor as claimed in claim 9 or 10, wherein there is provided one or more self-centering spring assemblies interconnecting each support frame and adjacent structural component.

12. A pipe conveyor as claimed in claim 9 or 10, wherein there is provided one or more self-centering spring assemblies interconnecting adjacent support frames.

13. A pipe conveyor as claimed in claim 9 or 10, wherein .o.there is provided one or more bar springs interconnecting adjacent support g:i frames.

14. A pipe conveyor as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein there is provided drive means for driving the inner bearing member and/or the outer bearing member. A pipe conveyor as claimed in claim 14, wherein the drive means drives the inner bearing member and the outer bearing member.

16. A pipe conveyor as claimed in claim 14 or 15, wherein 26 the drive means comprises a drive motor connected to a right angle gear box, which is connected to a driving shaft attached to a fixed end of an associated bearing member.

17. A pipe conveyor as claimed in claim 16, wherein the drive means is supported by one or more of the articulated structural components wherein a respective articulated structural component interconnects adjacent support frames.

18. A pipe conveyor as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 17, wherein the driven bearing member is located along the conveyor at spaced intervals and cooperates with idler bearing members intermediate each driven bearing member.

19. A pipe conveyor as claimed in any one of claims 14-18, wherein the drive means drives a pair of drive shafts each associated with a particular driven bearing member at each end of the structural component.

20. A pipe conveyor as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the forward run has a configuration which adopts a substantially cylindrical form. .o21. A pipe conveyor as claimed in any preceding claim, I:•i wherein the forward run has a configuration which adopts a substantially U shaped form.

22. A pipe conveyor as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the return run has a configuration which adopts a substantially U shaped form. •go•

23. A pipe conveyor as claimed in any preceding claim, 25 wherein there is provided a pair of closing idlers to close adjacent sides of 27 the forward run so as to form a pipe configuration.

24. A pipe conveyor as claimed in any preceding claim wherein each of the support frames have horizontal closing idlers to continuously hold the top of the pipe configuration in a forward pipe arrangement. A pipe conveyor as claimed in any preceding claim supported from an overhead track assembly.

26. A pipe conveyor as claimed in any preceding claim attached to a lateral structural beam.

27. A pipe conveyor as claimed in any one of claims 7-26 including a disk shaped washer provided at a junction of the inner spring and the support shaft.

28. A pipe conveyor as claimed in any one of the claims 7- 27 including a flat washer provided at a junction of the outer spring and the *o 15 support shaft.

29. A pipe conveyor as claimed in any preceding claim b:,wherein the endless belt has a tensile bead member along each edge of the 0.C@ S- belt. -oe -20 Dated this 28 th day of June, 2004 R.A. BEATTY ASSOCIATES PTY LIMITED By its Patent Attorneys FISHER ADAMS KELLY