AU779773B2 - A storage facility for various bulk materials - Google Patents

Description

A STORAGE FACILITY FOR VARIOUS BULK MATERIALS Technical Field This invention relates to a covered facility for storing a number of different solid phase bulk materials. The invention is particularly applicable to an import or export terminal for bulk materials and will be described mainly in relation thereto, but it is to be understood it is applicable to other facilities.

Other such facilities are ones where raw materials are stored before processing or ones where products are stored after processing such as is the case with smelters, mineral sand separation and/or processing, fertilizer manufacture plants and other process works.

Background The applicant's International application filed concurrently with the present application and entitled "A stockyard for Bulk Materials" describes an innovative facility for providing stockpiles having a particular geometry. This facility provides for compact storage of bulk materials and a stockyard layout 20 which facilitates efficient operation of stockyard machinery, such as stackers and reclaimers. Such an uncovered stockyard at an import or export terminal is generally used for stockpiling materials such as coal, iron ore and other raw S.oo. products which have a high volume throughput, for example in the order of 10 7 tonnes per annum. However other bulk materials having lesser throughputs, for example in the order of 10,000 to 10 7 tonnes per annum, may also be shipped through an import or export terminal and a facility which can efficiently handle such materials is also highly desirable. Examples of bulk materials which may be transhipped in these lesser amounts per annum include quarry products, IglOO S•feedstock for physical or chemical processes, metal concentrates, precursors 30 and constituents of fertilisers, oil seeds, meals and grains. The lower throughput for these types of bulk materials means that economic storage facilities for them are smaller in capacity and have less capital investment compared to a stockyard facility as described in the applicant's abovementioned concurrently filed application. Stacking and reclaiming methods are also W:S2,,dr\Work b OUwsVM27-00 Spe pages 8 c 04 DoC 2 characteristically different as they handle lower transfer rates of the materials and are limited by cost. Typically overhead conveyors are deployed from shiploaders, road and/or rail truck dump stations, or another facility which processes or stores which dump material onto a stockpile through regular or moving shutes. Reclaiming is typically done using front-end loaders, by portal reclaimers or by tunnel conveyors running underneath the stockpile.

Summary of the Invention The present invention seeks to provide a covered storage facility for realising an optimal operating efficiency for bulk materials which are transhipped at smaller tonnages per annum than intended for a stockyard as described in the abovementioned concurrent application. Part of this efficiency is achieved by providing a facility in which a plurality of types of bulk materials can be accommodated, that is, the facility can be operated to accommodate diverse materials including for diverse industries.

According to the invention, a storage facility for a plurality of types of bulk 20 materials includes, a base and a first retaining wall which upstands from the base, wherein the first retaining wall is adapted to retain stockpiled bulk materials on the base on either side of the retaining wall; a second retaining o i wall on the base spaced from and extending substantially parallel to the first retaining wall, wherein bulk material is storable between the first and second retaining walls and is reclaimable therefrom; and including an apron on the side of the first retaining wall opposite the second retaining wall for the installation of a reclaimer machine for reclaiming material along the length of a stockpile on that side of the first retaining wall, and including a roof which covers the facility.

O 30 In this description and the following claims, unless the context otherwise requires, the term "apron" means a load supportive area which may be hardsurfaced.

WASands\Wawk for OUW512?827-00 Sped pages B 0 04.dc Preferably bulk material stored between the first and second retaining walls is reclaimable over the second retaining wall into trucks or rail wagons or another facility for process or storage on an apron provided beside the second retaining wall via mobile loading units, such as front end loaders, operable within the stockpile area. Alternatively or additionally this material may be reclaimable into trucks or rail wagons or to another facility for process or storage or to a shiploader via a tunnel conveyor associated with the base.

According to the invention the first retaining wall and the apron on the side of the first retaining wall opposite the second retaining wall provide for the installation of a semi-portal type scraper reclaimer.

The facility is preferably a monolithic structure, for example the base may be provided by a concrete slab on which the retaining walls, also of concrete, are constructed. Alternatively the retaining walls may be separately structured to the base and attached thereto. Preferably the base also provides each apron.

Fixtures for a semi-portal reclaimer for use in the facility may include rails 20 on the base for the reclaimer to travel along the facility assisted by an elevated support rail along the first retaining wall. An outgoing conveyor is also normally provided which is loaded via operation of the reclaimer machine, and may be

I

connected to a shiploader, a road and/or rail truck loader, and/or to another *I °facility for process or storage.

i The protection provided by the cover may be needed if the bulk material is sensitive to (that is, it needs to be protected from) the environment or the environment is sensitive to (that is, it needs to be protected from) the material.

ooooo Thus covered storage may be used when weathering, or contamination from the o 30 environment, may degrade the material. In either case, this will reduce the value of the material. Alternatively, a bulk material may need to be stored under cover because dust may be generated by exposure to wind and may contaminate the larger environment W:%Sara\Work for Ohersv27S27-0O Spec page 8 Ocd 04 doc 4 and/or the run-off from rain may cause pollution in the surrounding yard, the ground water or nearby waterways. Another reason to store undercover is to avoid loss by wind or water erosion, particularly for bulk materials of higher economic value (for example, alumina, copper/gold ore concentrates, heavy mineral sand concentrates or products, etc.).

The covering of the facility may be integrated with the first retaining wall to isolate or hermetically separate the two sides of the facility.

Overhead conveyors are preferably used for delivery of bulk materials to the facility. The bulk materials are typically dumped onto stockpiles from such conveyors via a chute, which may be movable.

Preferably the facility is provided with modular removable and relocatable retaining walls which may lock into structures in the base so as to extend substantially normally from the first retaining wall (and possibly to the second retaining wall), thereby to divide the facility into a plurality of bays. This enhances the flexibility and storage efficiency of a facility as it increases the number of bulk materials that can be handled within given dimensions therein.

The facility is particularly suitable for use at a terminal catering for the import and export of bulk materials. Thus one side can be used for storing materials which are to be exported and the other side for materials that are imported. The export side is normally the one on which the semi-portal type reclaimer operates. Thus deliveries of bulk materials can be off-loaded from road or rail transport onto a conveyor stream which delivers the material to the facility for stacking via chutes. The semi-portal reclaimer reclaims material from :-the stockpile at a substantially uniform rate and delivers it to a conveyor stream which transports the material to a ship's hold. On the import side, bulk material 30 is delivered from a ship's hold to the facility via a conveyor stream and can then be loaded onto road or rail wagons by front-end loaders. It will be appreciated that this layout of the facility gives advantages insofar as the delivery rate of a bulk material for loading for export can be optimised to other terminal facilities (for example at the berth) and the loading of a bulk material for despatch can be W:\DELILAH\DICNODELE\DAVID\27827-Mretyped pages.oc WO 00/46131 PCT/AUOO/00061 matched to the road or rail wagon capacities and their arrival times. That is, oversizing of the individual plant or streams of components (for example a rail unloading/stacking stream or a reclaiming/ship loading stream) with its concomitant unusable capacity, can be avoided and thus dead capital and unnecessarily high maintenance costs avoided. More generally, the facility can be used for storing material received from either road or rail truck or from ship, which material can be stored on either side of the facility. Conversely, material from either side can be reclaimed, processed, and retumrned to either side for either despatch via road or rail trucks from the import side or dispatch via ship from the export side. The facility acts as a buffer between modes of transport and also as a buffer between a mode of transport and processing.

For a better understanding of the invention, an embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description Of The Drawings In the drawings, Fig. 1 shows in cross-section a storage facility according to one embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 illustrates storage of bulk materials having different angles of repose in the facility.

Detailed Description Of Preferred Embodiment A storage facility as shown in Fig. 1 includes a base 10 from which a first retaining wall 12 upstands. Wall 12 is constructed to retain bulk materials on both of its sides. A second retaining wall 14 which is spaced from the first retaining wall 12 also upstands from the base 10. The retaining walls 12 and 14 define a storage space for a stockpile 16 of a solid phase bulk material. An apron 18. is provided on the other side of the second retaining wall 14. The height of wall 14 is preferably limited such that it is convenient for using a mobile loading unit such as a front-end loader from within the stockpile storage 6 space to reclaim material from stockpile 16 and load it over wall 14 into road trucks and/or rail wagons on apron 18. Alternatively wall 14 may include openings allowing for passage of such mobile units for reclaiming the material 16. The width of apron 18 (that is, from wall 14 to an outer wall 20 of a shed containing the facility) may be such as to provide for two lanes of road trucks, with the lane adjacent the wall 14 being for loading and the outside lane for passing. Load cells may be installed along the adjacent lane for accuracy in loading. A rail train may also be run along the inside lane.

Wall 14 may, however, be higher than that illustrated and may even be the same height or higher than a first retaining wall such as 12. The facility may also include a tunnel conveyor 22 for reclaiming the bulk material. Such tunnel conveyors are known and thus not described in detail herein.

On the opposite side of retaining wall 12, another apron 24 is provided for the installation of a semi-portal reclaimer 26 for reclaiming bulk material from a stockpile 28. Stockpiles 16 and 28 generally are different bulk materials.

Reclaimer 26 is a known type of machine and thus not described in detail herein. Broadly, reclaimer 26 is movable along a stockpile 28 on rails on apron 24 and an elevated rail support 30 along wall 12. Bulk material is reclaimed by a scraping chain 31 onto an outgoing conveyor 32. A semi-portal reclaimer such as 26 may have either an apron discharge configuration 33 (as shown) or an uplift chain configuration in which case the base 10 will be substantially e horizontal on that side, rather than inclined as shown in Fig. 1.

The facility of Fig. 1 is covered by a roof 34 which extends between outer walls 20. An extension 36 of the first retaining wall 12 may also provide structural support for the roof covering 34 and/or isolation between the two sides of the facility to prevent cross-contamination. For example, import and 30 export sides may need to be separated. Alternatively, food chain materials and non-food chain materials stored in the facility would need to be isolated from ooooo each other. Also, operational distinctions between the two sides may be achieved by isolation. In the case where isolation between the two sides is needed, either separate roofs and/or a vertical wall such as 36 projecting up W %DELILAH\DCNODELEflAVIDQ27827-O.retype pages oC WO 00/46131 PCT/AUOO/00061 7 from the first retaining wall 12 will provide separation between the functional sides. Isolation will require servicing from separate conveyors (for example from and to a berth) and interfaces (for example ship unloader, ship loader).

Alternatively the roof 34 may extend only to the wall 14 which may include supports 15, in which case the apron 18 will be uncovered.

Stacking of the stockpiles 16 and 28 is via overhead conveyors 38 and one for each side, and associated chutes 42, 44. The facility may include multiple overhead conveyors on each side which may run from different sources.

Modular removable walls for placement normally to the first retaining wall 12 for dividing the facility into bays may also be provided. These are not shown in the figures. Such walls may extend between the first and second retaining walls 12 and 14.

The base 10 and retaining walls 12 and 14 are high strength structures, such as a pre-tensioned and post-tensioned concrete slab and walls thereon.

Fig. 2 is a view of one side (for example an import side) of the facility of Fig. 1 showing that for a bulk material having a low angle of repose, the storage efficiency would be much less without the second retaining wall 14 than with it, as illustrated by comparing the volumes enclosed by the lines 46 and 48 which represent the surfaces of a stockpile of such a bulk material.

A facility as shown in Fig. 1 can be designed to handle and store, at any given time and over the economic life of the facility, a wide range of bulk materials, including with wide ranging bulk densities and angles of repose. The first retaining wall 12 with storage on both sides thereof, provides for compactness of the facility. A semi-portal reclaimer 26 is used on one side of the first retaining wall to provide high reclaim rates for materials of high throughput volumes. On the other side the second retaining wall 14 is provided, with a height as needed, to provide for efficient storage of bulk materials of various angles of repose, and to provide for selected, low cost methods of WO 00/46131 PCT/AUOO/00061 8 reclaiming, such as front-end loaders operating on apron 18 or base delivering over the second wall 14 into trucks or trains. Other reclaiming methods can be applied, such as a tunnel conveyor 22 below the stockpile.

In summary, the embodiment provides for storage of different types of bulk materials under cover, utilising storage bays with overhead delivery conveyors and a mixture of reclaiming modes, to allow for a variety of materials to be handled by a single facility with good efficiency in capital, maintenance and operating costs per tonne throughput and in the use of land space.

The invention described herein is susceptible to variations, modifications and/or additions other than those specifically described and it is to be understood that the invention includes all such variations, modifications and/or additions which fall within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (12)

1. A storage facility for a plurality of types of bulk materials includes, a base and a first retaining wall which upstands from the base, wherein the first retaining wall is adapted to retain stockpiled bulk materials on the base on either side of the retaining wall; a second retaining wall on the base spaced from and extending substantially parallel to the first retaining wall, wherein bulk material is storable between the first and second retaining walls and is reclaimable therefrom; and including an apron on the side of the first retaining wall opposite the second retaining wall; wherein the first retaining wall and the apron include fixtures for the installation of a semi-portal type scraper reclaimer for reclaiming material along the length of a stockpile on that side of the first retaining wall; and including a roof which covers the facility.

2. A storage facility as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second retaining wall has a height such that bulk material stored between the first and second retaining walls is reclaimable over the second retaining wall via mobile loading units operable within the stockpile area. 20

3. A storage facility as claimed in claim 1 or 2 including an apron beside the second retaining wall for accommodating the load carrying vehicles into which bulk material stored between the first and second retaining walls is reclaimable. a.

4. A storage facility as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 including a tunnel conveyor associated with the base for reclaiming bulk material stored between the first and second retaining walls. A storage facility as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 30 wherein the base and the first and second retaining walls are provided by a monolithic structure.

W:ASardtXworl for uwsf27827-O C12IMS 80t04 dOc

6. A storage facility as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the first and second retaining walls are separately structured to the base and are attached thereto.

7. A storage facility as claimed in claim 5 or 6 wherein the base extends laterally of the first and second retaining walls to thereby provide said apron for the reclaimer machine and another apron beside the second retaining wall for accommodating said load carrying vehicles.

8. A storage facility as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein the first retaining wall joins the roof such that bulk materials on both sides of the first retaining wall will be isolated to avoid cross-contamination.

9. A storage facility as claimed in any one of the preceding claims including an overhead conveyor on each side of the first retaining wall for delivering bulk materials to either side of said retaining wall.

A storage facility as claimed in any one of the preceding claims including a semi-portal reclaimer machine installed on the apron on the side of 20 the first retaining wall opposite the second retaining wall. .l

11. A storage facility as claimed in claim 10 wherein the reclaimer l machine is mounted on rails on said apron and an elevated support rail along go* •said first retaining wall.

12. A storage facility as claimed in any one of the preceding claims including further retaining walls which are modular and are removably mountable on the base to extend substantially normally from the first retaining wall for dividing the facility into a plurality of bays.

3013. A storage facility substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the figures. Wtr3andraWor for 0w$n7827-0 daims 8 Oct 04.doc DATED: 8 October 2004 PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Attorneys for: AUSTRACK PROJECT MANAGEMENT PTY LTD W:%daImWor for OthierSI27827-00 Claim$ 8 OdI 04 OOC