GB2082133A

GB2082133A - Conveyor belt equipment

Info

Publication number: GB2082133A
Application number: GB8026660A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Coal Industry Patents Ltd
Current assignee: Coal Industry Patents Ltd
Priority date: 1980-08-15
Filing date: 1980-08-15
Publication date: 1982-03-03

Abstract

Conveyor belt equipment for removing excess cleaning liquid from a surface (17), of a conveyor belt comprises roller means (20) mounted on a support component and having an outer cylindrical margin adapted to urge excess cleaning liquid from said surface. The support component is preferably a housing 10 including spray means (14,15,16) directing cleaning fluid towards the surface, and a screen 23 below the spray and roller. A backing roller 22 may be provided. The outer cylindrical margin of the roller 20 may take the form of a tread or liquid absorbent material e.g. resilient sponge material. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Conveyor belt equipment This invention relates to conveyor belt equipment.

In particular, the invention relates to conveyor belt equipment for removing excess liquid retained on a conveyor belt.

It is known to wash a conveyor belt surface to remove particulate material adhering to the surface beyond a particulate material discharge station by directing liquid sprays at the surface and for rotatable brushes and/or scraper blades to be mounted downstream of the sprays to sweep the surface.

Unfortunately, the action of the brushes and blades tend not to remove a sufficient amount of the excess liquid from the belt surface with the result that liquid tends to drip from the belt surface over considerable length of the belt. Also, the brush and blades tend to wear rapidly and to become clogged with particulate material tending to make its action inefficient.

An object of the present invention is to provide conveyor belt equipment which tends to overcome or reduce the above mentioned problem.

According to the present invention conveyor belt equipment for removing excess liquid from a surface of a conveyor belt comprises a support component for mounting adjacent to the conveyor belt and roller means mounted on the support component so that, in use, the roller means is urged to contact said surface of the conveyor belt, the roller means having an outer cylindrical margin at least a portion of which is adapted to urge excess liquid from said surface.

Preferably, the outer cylindrical margin defines a tread arranged to urge excess liquid from said surface.

Preferably, the outer cylindrical margin is constituted at least in part by high-hysteresis resilient material.

Alternatively, the outer cylindrical margin is constituted at least in part by liquid absorbing material.

Advantageously, the liquid absorbing material is resilient sponge material.

Preferably, a squeegee device is provided to contact the outer cylindrical margin at a location remote from said surface of the conveyor belt.

Preferably, the squeegee device is arranged to compress the liquid absorbing material.

Advantageously, the roller means is resiliently mounted relatively to the support component.

Preferably, at least one reaction roller is provided on the side of the conveyor belt opposite to said surface.

Advantageously, the support component is constituted by a housing arranged to collect liquid removed from said surface.

The present invention also provides conveyor belt equipment for washing a surface of a conveyor belt and for removing excess cleaning liquid from said surface, comprising a support component for mounting adjacent to the conveyor belt, spray means for directing cleaning liquid towards said surface, and roller means mounted on the support component effectively downstream of the directed cleaning liquid so that, in use, the roller means is urged to contact said surface of the conveyor belt, the roller means having an outer cylindrical margin at least a portion of which is adapted to urge excess cleaning liquid from said surface.

Preferably, the outer cylindrical margin defines a tread arranged to urge excess cleaning liquid from said surface.

Preferably, the outer cylindrical margin is constituted at least in part by high-hystereis resilient material.

Advantageously, the liquid absorbing material is resilient sponge material.

Advantageously, the squeegee device comprises a rotatably mounted roller.

Preferably, the support component is adapted to be suspended from the conveyor belt.

Conveniently, the support component is suspended from the conveyor belt via said at least one reaction roller.

Preferably, a screen is provided below the roller means.

By way of example only, two embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows conveyor belt equipment constructed in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, the equipment being mounted in an operational position; Figure 2 shows a perspective view of the first embodiment of conveyor belt equipment, the equipment being drawn on an enlarged scale compared to Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a side view of the equipment of Figure 2; Figure 4 shows a front view of the equipment of Figure 2; Figure 5 shows a section view taken along line V V of Figure 4; and Figure Gshows a cross-sectional detail of a second embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 1 shows a first embodiment of conveyor belt equipment constructed in accordance with the present invention. The equipment 1 is installed on the bottom run 2 of a conveyor belt 3 moving in a direction indicated by arrowsx. As seen in Figure 1 the equipment 1 is installed adjacent to a particulate material discharge station 4 for material carried on the upper run of the conveyor belt 3 and is arranged to wash the lower belt surface of the lower run 2 tending to remove particulate material adhering to the surface and to remove excess cleaning liquid from said surface. In Figure 1 the conveyor belt passes around a drive roller 6 and an idler guide roller 7.

The first embodiment of conveyor belt washing equipment 1 is shown in more detail in Figures 2 to 5. The equipment 1 comprises a support component constituted by an open topped housing 10 having a base 11 inclined downwards towards a liquid discharge outlet 12. The equipment 1 also comprises spray means constituted by a plurality of nozzle blocks 14 mounted on a liquid supply pipe 15 bridging across the side walls of the housing 10. The nozzle blocks 14 have nozzle outlets 16 (only one of which is shown in Figure 5) for directing liquid sprays orjets towards the lower surface 17 of the conveyor belt 3.

The equipment 1 further comprises a roller arrangement bridging the housing and providing roller means constituted by a rotatable roller 20 associated with the lower belt surface 17 of the lower run 2 and two rotatable reaction rollers 21 and 22 associated with the upper belt surface 23. In use, when the equipment 1 is mounted in an operational position the two reaction rollers 21 and 22 rest on the upper belt surface and thereby support the equip ment. A fixing bracket (not shown) is provided to retain the equipment against movement with the belt. The two reaction rollers 21 and 22 are carried in rotary bearings 24 provided on the housing 10.

The roller means 20 comprises a hub 25 including an axle rotatably engaged in slots 26 provided in the side walls of the housing 10 and a cylindrical type 27 located around the hub. The type defines an outer cylindrical margin having treads 28 (see Figure 2) and constituted by a relatively high-hysteresis resi lient material which tends to increase the friction between the tyre and the lower belt surface thereby reducing slip. The combined effect of the tread and resilient material is to urge excess cleaning liquid from the lower belt surface. The ends of the axle are carried in two pivot link arms 30 arranged to hinge about the rotary bearings 24 for the leading reaction roller 21.Two coil springs 31 (only one of which is shown in Figures 2 and 3) are provided between the ends of the axles of the rollers 20 and 22, the springs tending to resiliently urge the roller 20 into contact with the lower belt surface.

A downwardly inclined wedge wire screen 33 is provided within the housing 10 beneath the roller arrangement. In use, the screen tends to separate the wetted particulate material from the cleaning liquid whicn passes through the screen to flow down the inclined base 11 and out of the outlet 12 to a storage tank (not shown) from where it is recircu lated by a pump back to the spray means 14, 15, 16.

The particulate material cleaned off the lower belt surface by the action of the spray means constitutes the oversize material and is discharged via a dis charge opening 34 in the front wall of the housing 10. Typically, the screened particulate material is discharged from the equipment into a chute (not shown) and fed with the material discharge from the upper run of the conveyor onto a further conveyor belt (not shown).

Thus in operation, fine particulate material adhering to the lower surface of the lower run of conveyor belt is washed off by the action of the spray means 14, 15 and 16 and allowed to fall towards the base of the housing 10. Excess cleaning liquid retained on the lower belt surface downstream of the spraying zone with respect to the direction of belt travel tends to be removed from the belt surface by the action of the roller means as previously mentioned in this specification. The excess cleaning liquid falling down within the housing 10 and passing through the screen and outlet 12 to be recirculated. A scraper blade 40 is provided to remove relatively large particulate material from the belt surface before it enters the housing 10.

Figure 6 shows roller means 200 of a second embodiment of conveyor belt equipment constructed in accordance with the present invention, the roller means 200 replacing the roller means 20 of the first described embodiment. Otherwise the two embodiments are identical.

The roller means 200 is constituted by a roller having a hub 201 and a cylindrical sleeve 202 defining an outer cylindrical margin of resilient sponge material which, in operation, absorbs cleaning liquid from the lower belt surface 17 as the roller is rotated by the moving belt. A squeegee device constituted by a bar element 203 is provided remote from the belt 3 to compress the resilient sponge material thereby urging cleaning liquid absorbed by the material to be discharged from the material to fall downwards within the housing to the screen in a similar manner to that previously described with reference to the first embodiment.

The bar element 203 may be replaced by a roller device arranged to rotate with the roller 200.

From the above description it will be appreciated that the present invention provides a simple and effective means of washing conveyor belt surfaces and of removing excess cleaning from the surface.

In other embodiments two roller means are provided for removing excess liquid from both surfaces of the conveyor belt.

The invention also provides conveyor belt equipmentfor removing excess liquid from conveyor belts associated with wet conditions. Such examples may include conveyor belts running in wet treatment plants or running through wet conditions frequently encounted in underground mines or in outdoor installations.

Such conveyor belt equipment is similar to that previously described with reference to Figure 1 to 6 except no spray means are provided.

Claims

1. Conveyor belt equipment for removing excess liquid from a surface of a conveyor belt, comprising a support component for mounting adjacent to the conveyor belt and roller means mounted on the support component so that, in use, the roller means is urged to contact said surface of the conveyor belt, the roller means having an outer cylindrical margin at least a portion of which is adapted to urge excess liquid from said surface.

2. Equipment as claimed in claim 1, in which the outer cylindrical margin defines a tread arranged to urge excess liquid from said surface.

3. Equipment as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which the outer cylindrical margin is constituted at least in part by high-hysteresis resilient material.

4. Equipment as claimed in claim 1, in which the outer cylindrical margin is constituted at least in part by liquid absorbing material.

5. Equipment as claimed in claim 4, in which the liquid absorbing material is resilient sponge mate rial.

6. Equipment as claimed in claim 4 or 5, in which -a squeegee device is provided to contact the outer cylindrical margin at a location remote from said surface of the conveyor belt.

7. Equipment as claimed in claim 6, in which the squeegee device is arranged to compress the liquid absorbing material.

8. Equipment as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the roller means is resiliently mounted relatively to the support compo nent.

9. Equipment as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which at least one reaction roller is provided on the side of the conveyor belt opposite to said surface.d

10. Equipment as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the support component is constituted by a housing arranged to collect liquid removed from said surface.

11. Conveyor belt equipment for washing a surface of a conveyor belt and for removing excess cleaning liquid from said surface, comprising a support component for mounting adjacent to the conveyor belt, spray means for directing cleaning liquid towards said surface, and roller means mounted on the support component effectively downstream of the directed cleaning liquid so that, in use, the roller means is urged to contact said surface of the conveyor belt, the roller means having an outer cylindrical margin at least a portion of which is adapted to urge excess cleaning liquid from said surface.

12. Equipment as claimed in claim 11, in which the outer cylindrical margin defines a tread arranged to urge excess cleaning liquid from said surface.

13. Equipment as claimed in claim 11 or 12, in which the outer cylindrical margin is constituted at least in part by high-hysteresis resilient material.

14. Equipment as claimed in claim 11, in which the outer cylindrical margin is constituted at least in part by liquid absorbing material.

15. Equipment as claimed in claim 14, in which the liquid absorbing material is resilient sponge material.

16. Equipment as claimed in claim 14 or 15, in which a squeegee device is provided to contact the outer cylindrical margin at a location remote from said surface of the conveyor belt.

17. Equipment as claimed in claim 16, in which the squeegee device is arranged to compress the liquid absorbing material.

18. Equipment as claimed in claim 17, in which the squeegee device comprises a rotatably mounted roller.

19. Equipment as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 11 to 18, in which the roller means is resiliently monted relatively to the support component.

20. Equipment as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 11 to 19, in which at least one reaction roller is provided on the side of the conveyor belt opposite to said surface.

21. Equipment as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 11 to 20, in which the support component is constituted by a housing arranged to collect liquid removed from said surface.

22. Equipment as claimed in any of the preceding claims 11 to 21, in which the support component is adapted to be suspended from the conveyor belt.

23. Equipment as claimed in claim 22, in which the support component is suspended from the conveyor belt via said at least one reaction roller.

24. Equipment as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 11 to 23, in which a screen is provided below the roller means.

25. Conveyor belt equipment substantially as described herein and substantially as shown in Figure 1, or in Figures 2 to 5 or in Figure 6 of the accompanying drawings.