GB2099781A

GB2099781A - A shaft conveyor for mine workings

Info

Publication number: GB2099781A
Application number: GB8215393A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1981-06-06
Filing date: 1982-05-26
Publication date: 1982-12-15
Also published as: JPS58592A; DE3122624A1; ZA823866B; PL236739A1

Abstract

A shaft conveyor for mine workings has a belt conveyor (6) passing through material loading and unloading stations (1), (2), a vertical conveyor run (3) in the shaft and a shaft haulage unit (4) acting on one or more endless traction loops (5), which may be the conveyor belt. The belt conveyor passes through a closure device (7) before it enters the vertical run (3), to close the belt up from a trough shape into a hose shape (6a), and through an opening device (8) beyond the vertical run, to open the belt out again to its trough shape. The belt conveyor can be provided with partitions defining compartments, and with guide members (9) along its edges to function as a slide fastener so that guide channels (10) are not needed in the vertical run (3). It is preferred to make the conveyor belt from a plastics material of high strength, for example an aromatic polyamide, constructed as a network. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A shaft conveyor for mine workings This invention relates to a shaft conveyor, for mine workings, having a material loading station, a material unloading station, a vertical conveyor run disposed in the mine shaft, and a haulage unit, in which the haulage unit acts on an endless traction system.

The term "shaft" embraces ordinary haulage shafts, blind shafts and the like. Depending upon circumstances, the material loading station can be located near the shaft or near a coalcutting face and/or a gallery driving face.

Correspondingly, the material unloading station can be located near the shaft and/or near a coal preparation unit or an offloading unit. In every case, the conveyor is diverted from the vertical haulage direction into a more or less horizontal direction at the loading and unloading ends. The material conveyed from the loading station to the unloading station, over the vertical conveyor run, may be coal and/or ore and/or rock.

In known shaft conveyors of this type, the vertical conveyor run is traversed by conveyor containers, which are attached to the endless traction system. The material is loaded into the containers at the material loading station, with the aid of belt conveyors in some cases. The containers are emptied again at the material unloading station. This is on a whole costly and requires a substantial investment in machinery and equipment. The conveyor system as a whole is discontinuous, and in general it necessitates the provision of additional storage capacity.

Substantial loading operations, the effects of which are subsequently nullified, must be carried out to load the material at the loading station and unload it once more at the unloading station.

Elsewhere in underground workings, there are know appliances for the conveyance of coal and like materials, having conveyor pans with floors and sidewalls, material drivers and driving units, in which the material and the material drivers advance along the floors of the conveyor pans, the material drivers being passed round reversal stations from a forward run to a return run and being driven by at least one driving sprocket appertaining to the driving units. Appliances of this type, which are also known as scraper chain conveyors, are unsuitable for use in vertical conveyor runs.The same applied to the appliance described in an earlier Application (P 31 02 351.7, filed by the present Applicants), in which the material drivers are adapted as a conveyor network having longitudinal members which transmit traction forces, connectors between the longitudinal members and a conveyor mat which allows the penetration or passage of pieces of the conveyed material, in which the conveyor mat meshes with driving sprockets, at least along its edges, and the traction members are traction cables while the connectors are transverse cables.

The object of the invention is to provide a shaft conveyor with which continuous conveyance can be maintained from the material loading station through the vertical conveyor run to the material unloading station.

According to the present invention, a shaft conveyor for mine workings having a material loading station, a material unloading station, a vertical conveyor run disposed in the mine shaft, and a haulage unit in which the shaft haulage unit acts on an endless traction sytem, has a belt conveyor through the material loading station, the vertical conveyor run and the material unloading station, the belt conveyor being deflected from the material loading station into the vertical conveyor run and again from the vertical conveyor run into the material unloading station and finally into a return run to the material loading station, a closure device being provided before the belt conveyor enters the vertical conveyor run, to close the conveyor belt up into a closed hose shape, and an opening device being provided beyond the vertical conveyor run in the direction of material advance, to open the conveyor belt out again from its closed hose shape.

There are several detailed possibilities for further modification and adaptation. One embodiment of outstanding constructional simplicity, suitable for installation in which the total conveyor length is not excessive, is characterised in that the conveyor belt is also the traction system, and is looped back to the material loading station through the haulage unit for the purpose of applying the traction force.

Another embodiment particularly adapted to installations in which the total conveyor length is substantial is characterised in that the conveyor belt forming the belt conveyor is attached to additional traction means, and the traction means alone are driven.

The conveyor belt preferably has guide members along its edges, whereby it is guided in guide channels. The guide channels further offer simple means of closing and opening the conveyor belt into and out of the hose shape, by being adapted to produce a trough shape through the material loading and unloading stations, and coming together at the closure point and diverge again at a closure point for the hose shape and diverging again at an opening point for the hose shape. Guide channels can also be provided in the vertical conveyor run, where they are disposed close together to hold the conveyor belt in the hose shape. Alternatively, it is possible to adapt the guide members as closure/opening members of a linear system similar to a zip fastener, to provide closure in the closure unit and opening in the opening unit.In this case, once the conveyor belt has been closed into the hose shape by the closure unit it can be passed up the vertical conveyor run without guidance means. The closure/opening members in this case are provided with closure and opening means respectively, designed as in slide fasteners and functioning in the same manner except that they remain stationary while the conveyor belt moves past them. In this embodiment of the invention, the conveyor belt can take a varieity of forms as long as it can take the forms of an open trough and a closed hose shape, as described above. One preferred embodiment of the invention of outstanding simplicity and functional reliability has the conveyor belt in the form of a network having longitudinal and transverse members made from a plastics material of high strength.

Traction members along the edges can be reinforced. No special precautions need be taken to maintain the movement of the material up the vertical coneyor run, provided it fills the conveyor belt when the latter is closed into the hose shape.

The entire column of material is carried up the vertical conveyor run by virtue of the bend at the base of the vertical conveyor run and internal friction in the hose-shaped closed conveyor belt.

However, it is also possible to provide the conveyor belt with transverse partition members.

The same effect can be attained by providing the conveyor network with transverse members shorter than the belt width at intervals, to form partitions defining compartments in the trough and in the hose-shaped run. These partiitions can be spaced at intervals of a few decimetres to a few metres. In this embodiment of the shaft conveyor of the invention, the conveyor belt can also function as the traction system. The shaft haulage unit must provide the corresponding forces. There is no problem in ensuring this, for example by passing the conveyor belt alternately under and over a plurality of driving drums constituting the shaft haulage unit, assisted if necessary by pressure rolls.

If the carrying means and the traction means are separate, the conveyor belt preferably has on its edges guide members which run in guide channels but the guide members are attached to the traction means. In this connection, the guide .members can be attached to the traction means by means of detachable connecting devices. The belt conveyor may have additional traction means in the region of the vertical conveyor run, to which the conveyor belt can be attached. As in this case, the traction means and the carrying means are again separate, a shaft haulage unit can provide the driving power if the traction means are taken through the shaft haulage unit while the conveyor belt bypasses the shaft haulage unit. However, it is possible as an alternative or as an additional measure to make use of intermediate traction driving units.In this case, the traction means in each intermediate traction driving unit only drive individual sections of the conveyor belt, which is transferred from one intermediate traction driving unit to the next by disconnection and reconnection, in the manner known from conventional belt conveyor traction systems. The conveyor belt again preferably consists of a network having longitudinal and transverse members. Once again, the length of the transverse belt members can be reduced at intervals, compared with the breadth of the conveyor belt, so as to form the partition-like compartments in the trough and in the hose.

A wide variety of materials adapted to sustain the loads can be used to make the conveyor belt and the traction means but, the conveyor network preferably consists of an aromatic polyamide. The same applies to the traction means. The polyamide known in the trade as Kevlar and supplied by the U.S. Dupont concern is a particularly suitable material for the conveyor belt and/or the traction means.

The accuing advantages are to be seen in that the shaft haulage system of the invention can handle material continuously without transfer operations between the material loading station, the vertical conveyor run and the material unloading station, using conveyor belts which revert from a trough shape near the material loading station and the material unloading station to a hose shape in the intervening vertical conveyor run. Provided one uses a conveyor belt made as described from a plastics material of high strength, more particularly an aromatic polyamide, the vertical conveyor run can easily be extended to very great lengths from several hundred to over a thousand metres. If the material loading station and/or the material unloading station are distant from the vertical conveyor run, the belt conveyor operates as a trough conveyor over the intervening distances.It is not necessary for the lengths of the forward and return loops to be the same. The return loop can itself be adapted for the conveyance of material, in particular for the conveyance of packing material. It is within the scope of the invention to install a plurality of shaft conveyors of the type described in parallel in a single shaft, in order to attain a higher throughput with conveyor belts of limited breadth, which will form conveyor hoses of relatively small diameter.

A number of embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 a is a diagrammatic vertical section through a mine shaft, showing in elevation a shaft conveyor in accordance with the invention, with two partial plan views thereof as Figure 1 b and Figure 1 c; Figure 2 is a fragmentary side elevation, on a larger scale than Figure 1, of another form of conveyor for use in a shaft conveyor in accordance with the invention; Figures 3a and 3b show, on a still larger scaie than Figure 2, fragmentary plan views of forms of conveyor belt for use in a shaft conveyor in accordance with the invention; Figure 4 is a cross-section of the conveyor belt of Figure 2; ; Figure 5 is a cross-section of a hose-shaped part of a conveyor belt in a shaft conveyor in accordance with the invention; Figure 6 is a perspective view of part of another embodiment, having carrying means in the form of a conveyor belt and attached traction means for use in a shaft conveyor in accordance with the invention; Figure 7 is a side elevation of the embodiment of Figure 6 in the region of the vertical conveyor run; and Figure 8 is a horizontal section of the conveyor run of Figure 7.

The shaft conveyor shown in Figures 1 a to c comprises a material loading station 1, a material unloading station 2, a vertical conveyor run 3 disposed in the mine shaft, and a haulage unit 4.

The shaft haulage unit 4 acts on an endless traction loop 5, which has an endless conveyor belt 6 passing through the material loading station 1 , the vertical conveyor run 3 and the material unloading station 2. The conveyor belt 6 is deflected from the material loading station 1 into the vertical conveyor run 3 and again from the vertical conveyor run 3 into the material unloading station 2. The material loading station 1 and the material unloading station 2 could be located at great distances from the vertical conveyor run 3. The conveyor belt 6 is taken back to the material loading station 1 through the haulage unit 4 and a return run to act as traction means.At the end of the material loading station 1 a device 7 closes the conveyor belt 6 into a hose-shape 6a, while at the start of the material unloading station 2 a device 8 opens the conveyor out again. For this purpose, the conveyor belt 6 has its edges provided with guide members 9 (such as rollers, as shown in Figures 2, 3b and 4), whereby it is guided in guide channels 10, which at the material loading station 1 and again at the material unloading station 2, suspend the conveyor belt 6 in the form of a trough. In other words, the guide channels 10 guide the conveyor belt 6 into and out of the trough form at the material loading and unloading stations 1 and 2 respectively by converging in the region of the closure device 7 and diverging again in the region of the opening device 8. This is illustrated in the plan views Figures 1 b and Figure 1 c.The guide channels 10 continue side by side through the vertical conveyor run 3, so that they keep the conveyor belt 6 in the hose-shape 6a in this region. The guide members 9 can be constructed for example as blocks, runner rolls or small roller carriages.

In the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 5, use is made of a conveyor belt 6 constructed as a network 6 having longitudinal traction members 14 and transverse members 1 5 made from a plastics material of high strength. An aromatic polyamide is one possible strength. Furthermore, Figures 2, 4 and 5 show that the conveyor network 6 is provided at intervals with transverse members 1 6 shorter than the belt width, to form a partition defining compartments 17 in the trough and the conveyor hose 6a; this feature is adopted in particular when the material conveyed is relatively finely divided. In this case, the partitions 1 6 are spaced at intervals of a few decimetres to a few metres.

It is also possible to adapt the guide members 9 as coupling members of a linear coupling system functioning in the manner of a slide fastener. This possibility is illustrated in Figure 5. In this case, the guide members form connecting members 9 of this linear fastener, of helical screw form, having connecting heads 11, (see particularly the fragmentary enlargement and also Figure 3a) adjacent arms 1 2 and rearward attachment sections 13, and they are integrated with the conveyor belt 6 over its entire length. These connecting members 9 are coupled together in the closure device 7 and parted again in the opening device 8. Opening and closure take plate with the aid of ancillary devices not shown but similar to those provided in a zip fastener but held in fixed positions while the conveyor belt moves past them.When the conveyor belt 6 is closed to form a conveyor hose 6a by the connecting members 9 in this manner, it no longer requires special guidance with the aid of guide channels 10 in the vertical conveyor run 3.

As already stated, the conveyor belt 6 in the embodiment shown in Figure 1 provides the entire tractive force. In order to play the necessary traction forces, the conveyor belt 6 is passed under and over a plurality of driving drums 18 in the shaft haulage unit 4. Additional pressure rolls 1 9 are provided.

In the embodiment shown in Figures 6 to 8, the conveyor belt 6 acts only as a carrying means, and cables are provided as separate traction means 5 attached to the conveyor belt 6, which is provided along its edges with guide members 9 which run in guide channels 1 0.,The guide members 9 can themselves be attached to the traction means 5, in this case with the aid of detachable connecting devices 20. Figure 6 in particular illustrated this possibility. Figures 7 and 8 show that the belt conveyor 6 has additional.

traction means 22 in the region of the vertical conveyor run 3, to which the conveyor belt 6 can be attached as with the traction means 5. The traction means 5, however, pass through the haulage unit 4 and also through intermediate traction driving units 21.

Claims

1. A shaft conveyor, for mine workings, having a material loading station, a material unloading station, a vertical conveyor run disposed in the mine shaft, and a shaft haulage unit, in which the haulage unit acts on an endless traction system, a belt conveyor through the material loading station, the vertical conveyor run and the material unloading station, the belt conveyor being deflected from the material loading station into the vertical conveyor run and again from the vertical conveyor run into the material unloading station, and finally into a return run to the material loading station, a closure device being provided before the belt conveyor enters the vertical conveyor run, to close the conveyor belt into a closed hose shape, and an opening device being provided beyond the vertical conveyor run, to open the conveyor belt out again from its closed hose shape.

2. A shaft conveyor as in Claim 1 , wherein the conveyor belt is also the traction system, and is iooped back to the material loading station through the shaft haulage unit for the purpose of applying the traction force.

3. A shaft conveyor as in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the conveyor belt has guide members along its edges, whereby it is guided in guide channels by the guide members.

4. A shaft conveyor as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the guide channels are adapted to produce the trough shape through the material loading station and the material unloading station and coming together at a closure point and diverging again at an opening point.

5. A shaft conveyor as claimed in Claim 3 or Claim 4, wherein the guide channels are disposed close together within the vertical conveyor run, thereby holding the conveyor belt into the hose shape.

6. A shaft conveyor as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the guide members are adapted as closure/opening members of a linear system similar to a slide fastener, to provide closure in the closure unit and opening in the opening unit, while the conveyor belt is passed up the vertical conveyor run without guidance means once it has been closed into the hose shape by the closure unit.

7. A shaft conveyor as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 6, wherein the belt conveyor has a conveyor belt in the form of a network having longitudinal members and transverse members.

8. A shaft conveyor as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the network is provided at intervals with transverse members shorter than the belt width, to form partitions defining compartments in the troughs and in tme hose-shaped run.

9. A shaft conveyor as claimed in any one of Claim 1 to 8, wherein the conveyor belt is passed alternately under and over a plurality of driving drums in the haulage unit.

10. A shaft conveyor as claimed in Claim 9, wherein the driving drums have pressure rolls.

11. A shaft conveyor as in Claim 1, wherein the conveyor belt of the belt conveyor simply forms a trough- and/or hose-shaped carrying device, attached to separate traction means, and that the traction means alone are driven.

1 2. A shaft conveyor as claimed in Claim 11, wherein the conveyor belt has on its edges guide members which run in guide channels, and the guide members are attached to the traction means.

13. A shaft conveyor as claimed in Claim 11 or Claim 12, wherein the guide members are attached to the traction means by means of detachable connecting devices.

14. A shaft conveyor as claimed in any one of Claims 11 to 13, wherein the belt conveyor has additional traction means in the region of the vertical conveyor run, to which the conveyor belt can be attached.

1 5. A shaft conveyor as claimed in any one of Claims 11 to 14, wherein the traction means are passed through the shaft haulage unit and through intermediate traction units.

1 6. A shaft conveyor as claimed in any one of Claims 11 to 15, wherein the belt conveyor has a conveyor belt in the form of a network having longitudinal members and transverse members.

1 7. A shaft conveyor as claimed in Claim 16, wherein the conveyor network is provided at intervals with transverse members shorter than the belt width, to form partitions defining compartments in the troughs and in the hoseshaped run.

18. A shaft conveyor as in any of Claims 8, 9, 16 and 17, wherein the conveyor network consists of an aromatic polyamide material.

1 9. a shaft conveyor as in any one of Claims 11 to 15, wherein the traction means also consists of an aromatic polyamide material.

20. A shaft conveyor as claimed in Claim 18 or Claim 19, wherein the conveyor belt and/or the traction means consist of the aromatic polyamide material marketed by the US Dupont concern under the trade name "Kevlar".

21. A shaft conveyor for mine workings substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings or as modified by any one or more of Figures 2 to 5 or Figures 6 to 8.