JPH11334832A - Pneumatic levitation type belt conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pneumatic levitation type belt conveyor which allows even a small blower to function well, exerts the same transporting ability as a conventional arrangement using dynamic pressure, and achievs a stabilized belt running. SOLUTION: A pneumatic levitation type belt conveyor is structured so that an air layer is formed between a belt 11 and trough 21 and the belt 11 is run in the levitated condition, wherein a seal part 17 seals the areas between the two sides of belt 11 and the trough 12 while a blower 16 supplies a pressure air to the cavity between the belt 11 and trough 12 to be put in approx. confined condition by the seal part 17.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a belt conveyor for transporting a load such as ore and coal, and more particularly to an air-floating belt conveyor in which a belt travels while being floated by an air layer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a belt conveyor having a structure as shown in FIG. 3 for conveying a load such as ore and coal. This belt conveyor is a belt 1 on which a load is placed.
Is supported by troughs 2 and 3 having an arc-shaped cross section, and the belt 1 travels while being floated by an air layer formed on the troughs 2 and 3.

In this belt conveyor, a large number of air holes 4 are arranged along the longitudinal direction at the center in the width direction of the troughs 2 and 3 on the carrier side and the return side which support the belt 1. Air ducts 5, 5 communicating with the air holes 4 are provided on the lower surface of 3. Then, air is blown up from each air hole 4 by sending air from the blower 6 into each air duct 5, and further discharged from the side edge of the belt 1 to the outside, so that the belt 1 and the trough 2 are discharged.
By forming an air layer between the belt 1 and the trough 3, the belt 1 moving on the troughs 2 and 3 floats.

[0004] With this configuration, the resistance acting on the belt is greatly reduced as compared with the conventional roller type belt conveyor, so that the burden of driving the belt can be reduced. Also, noise and vibration can be reduced.

[0005]

The air-floating belt conveyor having the above-mentioned advantages has been pointed out, but the following problems have been pointed out with respect to the conventional air-floating belt conveyor.

In the conventional air levitation type belt conveyor, a large amount of air must be constantly supplied from a blower to an air duct because the belt is levitated by utilizing the dynamic pressure of air.
Therefore, it is necessary to adopt a large blower.
Equipment costs increase. Further, a large power is required to drive a large blower, which increases operating costs.

[0007] Since a large amount of air is blown out from the end of the belt, a part of the load on the belt is wound up and fly. Further, the wound-up dust may accumulate in the mechanism of the belt conveyor, and it is necessary to clean the dust.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and even a small-sized blower can function sufficiently, has the same transport capacity as a conventional one using dynamic pressure, and realizes stable running of a belt. It is an object of the present invention to provide an air floating belt conveyor.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the development of an air-floating type belt conveyor having the following configuration has been advanced. This air-floating type belt conveyor is provided with a closing means for closing a gap between both side edges of the belt and the trough, and an air supply means for pressurizing and supplying air between the trough and the belt which are substantially closed by the closing means. It is provided with.

In this air-floating belt conveyor, the gap between both side edges of the belt and the trough is closed by closing means, whereby the trough and the belt are substantially sealed. Then, when air is supplied under pressure between the trough and the belt by the air supply means to increase the pressure in the space formed between the trough and the belt, the belt floats from the trough. That is, the belt floats using the static pressure of air.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of an air-floating belt conveyor according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 2, the air levitation type belt conveyor
An air levitation system is adopted in which a belt 11 on which a load is placed is supported by a trough 12 having an arc-shaped cross section, and the belt 11 travels while being floated by an air layer formed on the trough 12.

A belt 11 having a loop shape is wound around pulleys 13A and 13B disposed at both ends of a trough 12, and is supported by a driving mechanism (not shown) so as to be able to travel around. The trough 12 supporting the belt 11 is provided with an air hole 14. Further, a blower (air supply means) 16 is connected to the air hole 14 via an air duct 15.

As shown in FIG. 1, on both sides of the trough 12, seal portions (closing means) 17 for closing the gap between both sides of the belt 11 and the trough 12 are provided. The seal portion 17 includes a case portion 18 formed so as to go around the side edge of the belt 11 from a side portion of the trough 12 located below the belt 11, and a case portion 18 which goes around the belt 11 from the belt portion 11. And an elastic plate 19 vertically suspended to be slidably mounted on the upper surface of the upper surface.

In the air-floating belt conveyor configured as described above, the gap between both sides of the belt 11 and the trough 12 is closed by the seal portion 17, whereby the gap between the belt 11 and the trough 12 is substantially. It becomes a closed state.
Then, when air is supplied under pressure from the blower 16 between the belt 11 and the trough 12 to increase the pressure in the space S formed between the belt 11 and the trough 12, the belt 11 floats from the trough 12. Becomes In other words, in this air-floating belt conveyor, the belt 1 is made using the static pressure of air.
Let the 1 rise.

Therefore, according to this air-floating type belt conveyor, the belt 11 is levitated by using the static pressure of air. Once the air is filled, the amount of air supplied from the blower 16 to the space S is reduced. Since it is only necessary to slightly leak from the vicinity of the pulleys 13A and 13B and the seal portion 17, etc.,
Even a blower 16 smaller than a conventional air-floating belt conveyor using dynamic pressure can function sufficiently.

Since a large amount of air does not blow out from the end of the belt 11 unlike the related art, the load does not scatter. Therefore, there is no need to perform an operation of cleaning the dust accumulated in the mechanism, and the maintainability can be improved.

In this embodiment, the case where a mechanism for lifting the belt on the carrier side is described, but a similar mechanism may be applied on the return side.

[0018]

As described above, according to the air levitation type belt conveyor of the present invention, the belt is levitated by using the static pressure of air, and the space between the belt and the trough is once filled with air. In this case, there is no need to supply air from the air supply means, so that the conveyance power and the driving force of the air supply means can be reduced. In addition, advantages such as easy production of the trough, high durability with no sliding portion, and the like can be obtained. Therefore, it is possible to realize an air levitation type belt conveyor using static pressure which does not require equipment costs and operation costs as compared with a conventional air levitation type belt conveyor using dynamic pressure.

Further, in the air-floating belt conveyor according to the present invention, since a large amount of air does not blow out from the end of the belt as in the conventional case, the load does not scatter. Therefore, there is no need to perform an operation of cleaning the dust accumulated in the mechanism, and the maintainability can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing an embodiment of an air-floating belt conveyor according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an air-floating belt conveyor according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional perspective view showing a configuration of a conventional air levitation type belt conveyor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Belt Conveyor 12 Trough 16 Blower (Air Supply Means) 17 Seal (Closing Means)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An air-floating belt conveyor for forming an air layer between a trough and a belt and running the belt in a floating state, wherein the belt is closed between both side edges of the belt and the trough. An air levitating belt conveyor comprising: closing means; and air supply means for pressurizing and supplying air between a trough and a belt which are substantially closed by the closing means.