MXPA99011376A - Scraper aspa for conveyor band cleaning, with sen - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a blade scraper-cleaning conveyor belt, to clean the surface of a conveyor belt, characterized in that the scraper blade includes: a base member, a wear section extending out from the base member, the wear section includes a tip adapted to attach the conveyor belt, one or more electric detectors coupled to the scraper blade, each electric detector is adapted to perceive a physical condition present in the scraper blade, where one or more electric detectors are embedded in the blade scraped off

Description

ASPA -RANGE FOR CLEANING OF TRANSPORTING BAND. WITH SENSOR Related Requests This application claims the benefit of the provisional patent application of the U.S.A. No. 60 / 111,774 filed on December 10, 1998. Background < 3 the invention The present invention is directed to a scraper belt scraper conveyor, scrape adherent bulk material of a conveyor belt and in particular to a blade scraper-cleaner conveyor belt that includes one or more detectors to verify the operating conditions of the scraper blade. Some conveyors use a mobile conveyor belt to transport sand, gravel, coal and other bulk materials from one site to another. As the bulk material is discharged from the conveyor belt, a portion of the bulk material often remains adhered to the belt. Conveyor belt cleaners, including one or more scraper blades, are used to scrape the adhesive material from the belt and thus clean the belt. A primary conveyor belt cleaner can be placed in scraper coupling with the conveyor belt on the conveyor pulley and a second conveyor belt cleaner can be placed in scraper coupling with and below the return stroke of the conveyor belt, a short distance behind the primary conveyor belt cleaner. The scraper blades of a conveyor belt cleaner are removably connected to a linearly adjustable or rotary transverse arrow, which extends transversely across the width of the conveyor belt. A tensioning device is connected to one or both ends of the transverse arrow. The tensioning device applies a linear or rotational bypass force to the transverse arrow, which in turn moves the scraper blades in scraping engagement with the conveyor belt with a desired amount of force. During operation, the scraping edge of each scraper blade wears due to its scraping engagement with the rotating conveyor belt. The tensioner rotates or linearly adjusts the cross shaft and scraper blades, to keep the scraper blades in scraped coupling derived with the conveyor belt. In order to obtain optimum performance of the scraper blades of a conveyor belt cleaner, it is preferable that the scraper blades derive in scraping engagement with the conveyor belt, with a predetermined amount of force. If the scraper blades are deflected against the conveyor belt with an excessive amount of force, this will result in excessive wear of the scraper blades, potential damage to the conveyor belt and may cause the scraper tip to develop an excessively high temperature due to friction. generated between the scraper blade and the rotating conveyor belt. If the scraper blades are deflected against the conveyor belt with too small a force, scraper blades may not effectively clean the conveyor belt. In addition, the scraping tip of the scraper blades may vibrate or rattle against the conveyor belt, depending on the amount of force with which the scraper blades vibrate in engagement with the conveyor belt, thus potentially damaging scraper blades and / or the band and decreasing the cleaning efficiency. Therefore, it is useful to verify the conditions and parameters of a scraper blade during operation, such as the temperature of the scraper tip, the scraper blade wear rate and the amount of force with which the scraper blade is derived in scraping coupling with the conveyor belt, to optimize the performance of the scraper blade. All these parameters are subject to change depending on a number of factors including speed of conveyor belt and the type of material that is transported. COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION A blade scraper-cleaner conveyor belt to clean the surface of a conveyor belt. The scraper blade includes a base member adapted to connect to the cross shaft of a conveyor belt cleaner and a wear section extending outwardly from the base member to a scraping tip that is adapted to engage the conveyor belt. The wear section of the scraper blade includes a plurality of temperature detectors that are located over the length of the wear section between the base member and the tip. The wear section can also use a plurality of first wear detectors and a plurality of second wear detectors, spaced laterally from the first wear detectors. The first and second wear detectors are also located on the length of the wear section between the base member and the tip. The wear section may also include one or more detectors for strain measurement located along the wear section between the base member and the tip. All the detectors are in electrical communication with an electrical transmitting member in the base member which may be a cable body, an infrared signal port, a radio signal port or another well-known device for collecting and transmitting electronic information. The cable port is adapted to connect removably to an electrical cable and thus to a computer. Each of the detectors can also be electrically connected to a microprocessor that is in electrical communication with the electrical transmitting member. Each temperature detector provides an indication of the temperature of the wear section at the particular location of the temperature sensor. The detectors with strain measurement provide an indication of the magnitude of the stress to which the wear section during the scraping engagement with the conveyor belt is subjected. The wear velocity sensors provide an indication of the location of the tip with respect to the base member, as the wear section is eroded due to its scraping engagement with the rotating conveyor belt, and as the tip moves closer to the member base. Finally, the information obtained by the detectors and fed to the microprocessor can be used to vary the operating conditions of the conveyor belt including the speed of the belt, the tension applied by a belt tensioner-belt cleaner or possibly sound an alarm or another signal. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES Figure 1 is a perspective view of a primary scraper blade according to the present invention that is adapted to be used in connection with a primary conveyor belt cleaner. Figure 2 is a perspective view of a secondary scraper blade in accordance with the present invention, which is adapted to be used in connection with the secondary conveyor belt cleaner. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED MODALITIES The primary conveyor wiper blade 10 of the present invention as illustrated in Figure 1 is adapted to be removably connected to the transverse shaft (not shown) of a belt cleaner, for coupling with the band next to the drive pulley as described in the US patent No. 4,598,823 of Martin Engineering Compamy, which is incorporated herein by reference. One or more scraper blades 110 can be connected to the cross shaft. A tensioning device (not shown) as described in U.S. Pat.

No. 5,088,965 of Martin Engineering Compamy, here incorporated by reference, is connected to the end of the transverse shaft and adapted to provide selective joint movement (either rotational or linear) of the transverse shaft and the scraper blades 10 to move each scraper blade 10 in scraped coupling derived with a conveyor belt with a scraping force. The scraper blade 10 includes a base member 12 that is adapted to be removably connected to the cross shaft in any of a number of ways known to a person skilled in the art and a scraping tip 14 that is adapted to engage the conveyor belt. The scraper blade 10 also includes an inner surface 16 extending from a first bottom edge of the base 12 to the tip 14 and an outer surface 18 extending from a second bottom edge of the base 12 to the tip 14. The inner and outer surfaces 16 and 18 extend between a first side wall 20 and a second side wall 22. The inner and outer surfaces 16 and 18 may each include one or more portions of planar and / or curved surface. The scraper blade 10 includes a wear section 23 extending between the inner surface 16 and the outer surface 18 and extending from the base 12 to the tip 14. The wear section 23 of the scraper blade of the conveyor belt 10, it is adapted to wear during use so that the scraping tip 14 as illustrated in Figure 1 is eventually located approximately at the bottom end of the wear section 23. A wear line 24 is located on the outer surface 18 adjacent to the bottom end of the wear section 23. When the scraping tip 14 of the worn scraper blade 10 is located approximately in the wear line 24, such that the wear section 23 is substantially worn, the scraper blade 10 should be replaced. The scraper blade 10 is preferably formed of an elastomeric material such as urethane or rubber. As illustrated in Figure 1, the scraper blade 10 includes one or more electrical temperature sensors 30, embedded within the wear section 23 of the scraper blade 10, or which connect to the outer surface 18 of the scraper blade 10. The type of temperature detector that can be used is the LM335 model from National Semi-Conductors. The temperature sensors 30 are located on the length of the wear section 23 of the scraping tip 14 approximately in the wear line 24. Each temperature sensor 30 is electrically connected to a microprocessor 34 which can be located in the base 12 as is illustrated in Figure 1, or located elsewhere and electrically connected to the detector. One type of microprocessor that can be used is the model 68 HC11 from Motorola. The microprocessor 34 may include a battery for operating the microprocessor 34 and data storage means for collecting and storing data. The temperature sensors 30 are adapted to measure the temperature of the scraper blade 10 at sites located over the length of the wear section 23, including the scraping tip 14 of the scraper blade 10. Each temperature sensor 30 transmits an electrical signal that corresponds at the temperature measured by it to the microprocessor 34. The temperature sensors 30 may comprise thermocouples. The scraper blade 10 also includes one or more electrical sensors for stress detection 40 such as sensors for strain measurement. The sensors for deformation measurement 40 may be embedded within the wear sections 23 or connected to the outer surface 18 of the scraper blade 10. The strain detectors 40 are located on the length of the wear section 23 from the tip 14 of the scraper blade 10 to approximately the line of wear 24. As the scraper blade 10 is preferably made of elastomeric material such as urethane or rubber, the wear section 23 of the scraper blade 10 will flex resiliently between the base 12 and the tip 14, in response to the magnitude of the scraping force with which the tip 14 is pressed against the conveyor belt.

The strain sensing sensors 40 measure the stress of the scraper blade 10 due to the deflection of the scraper blade 10, which corresponds to the amount of scraping force with which the scraper blade 10 is directed or directed against the conveyor belt. The stress sensing sensors 40 in this manner provide a measure corresponding to the amount of scraping force with which the scraper blade 10 engages the conveyor belt. Each stress sensing sensor 40 sends an electrical signal corresponding to the measured effort and the scraping force corresponding to the microprocessor 34. The scraper blade 10 also includes one or more first electrical wear velocity sensors 46 and one or more second sensor sensors. electrical wear velocity 48. The first and second wear velocity sensors 46 and 48 are located respectively over the length of the wear section 23 from the tip 14 to the wear line 24 of the scraper blade 10. As illustrated in FIG. Figure 1, the first wear velocity detectors 46 extend over the left edge of the scraper blade 10 and the second wear velocity sensors 48 extend over the right edge of the scraper blade 10. The first wear velocity sensors 46 and the second wear velocity sensors 48 are electrically connected to the microprocessor 34. The velocity sensing sensors 48 Spend 46 and 48 measure the current location of the scraping tip 14 with respect to a known location on the scraper blade 10, such as the bottom end of the wear section 23 on the wear line 24, according to the end of the blade Scraper 10 wears during use. Each of the first and second wear velocity sensors 46 and 48 respectively send an electrical signal to the microprocessor 34, this signal indicates the current position of the scraping tip 14 with respect to the bottom end of the wear section 23 or the upper part of the base member 12. As the outermost wear velocity sensors 46 and 48 wear out, a signal is no longer received from these detectors, thus indicating that the scraping tip has worn out beyond its location and indicating that the scraping tip 14 is currently located adjacent to the outermost wear velocity detectors 46 and 48 which are still sending signals to the microprocessor 34. Each wear rate detector 46 and 48 can be combined with a temperature sensor 30, as a simple combined sensor. It can be used as a combined sensor to indicate both temperature and rate of wear. The scraper blade 10 also includes an ambient air temperature sensor 54 located on the outer surface 10, near the bottom wall of the scraper blade base 10, which is adapted to be placed in communication with the surrounding air. The ambient air temperature sensor 54 measures the ambient temperature of the air in the area adjacent the scraper blade 10. The ambient air temperature sensor 54 is electrically connected to the microprocessor 34 and sends an electrical signal to the microprocessor 34 that corresponds to the temperature of measured ambient air. The ambient air temperature measured by the ambient air temperature sensor 54 can be compared to the scraping tip temperature measured by the temperature sensors 30, to determine the temperature differential between them, which corresponds to the increase in temperature of the tip scraping 14. The increase in temperature of the scraping tip may be attributable to the friction created between the scraping tip 14 of the scraper blade 10 and the rotating conveyor belt and / or the transfer of heat from the hot bulk material conveyed by the scraper. the conveyor belt to the scraper blade 10. The microprocessor 34 is electrically connected to an electric transmitting member 60 such as an electrical connector member located in the base 12. The electric transmitting member 60 can be a serial RS 232 port or another type of port such as an infrared port or a radio signal port. The electric transmitting member 60 can be adapted to connect to a cable that connects to a computer. The transmitting member 60 transfers data collected by the microprocessor 34 and the detectors to the computer for storage and analysis. Alternatively, the scraper blade 10 may not include the microprocessor 34 and each of the detectors , 40, 46, 48 and 54 can be electrically connected directly to the electric transmitting member 60, such that the transmitting member 60 transfers the respective signals generated by the detectors 30, 40, 46, 48 and 54 to a microprocessor located outside the scraper blade 10 or directly to a computer. Another embodiment of the scraper-wiper blade of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. Figure 2 and designated with the reference number 70. The scraper blade 70 is adapted to be used in connection with a secondary conveyor belt cleaner, such as is described in US Pat. No. 4,643,293 of Martin Engineering Company, which is incorporated herein by reference. The scraper blade 70 includes an arm 72 having a first end 74 adapted to be connected to the cross shaft of the conveyor belt cleaner and a second end 76 that is adapted to be connected to a blade 76. The arm 72 and the blade 78 can be formed respectively from an elastomeric material such as urethane or rubber, or respectively they can be made of a metal or ceramic material. The blade 78 includes a base member 80 and a wear section 81 having a scraping tip 82. The wear section 81 can include a wear resistant insert 83 formed of a metal such as tungsten carbide, which is connected to the end of the blade 78 to form the scraping tip 82. The wear section 81 of the scraper blade 70 includes one or more temperature sensors 90 which are located on the length of the wear section 81 from the scraping tip 82 to a line of wear 84 located adjacent the bottom end of the wear section 81. The temperature sensors 90 are electrically connected to a microprocessor 94. The microprocessor 94 can be embedded within the blade 78 or it can be adhesively bonded or otherwise connected to an outer surface of blade 78 or can be arranged at a remote site. The microprocessor 94 preferably includes one or more batteries for energizing the microprocessor 94 and data storage means for collecting and storing data. Each temperature sensor 90 measures the temperature of the wear section 81 of the scraper blade 70 at its respective location, including at the scraping tip 82 and transmits an electrical signal corresponding thereto to the microprocessor 94. The wear section 81 of the blade Scraper 70 also includes one or more wear rate sensors 98 which are electrically connected to the microprocessor 94. The wear speed sensors 98 are located on the length of the wear section 81 from the scraping tip 82 approximately in the line of wear 84. The wear speed sensors 98 indicate or measure the location of the scraping tip 82 relative to the bottom end of the wear section 81 in the wear line 84, as the scraping tip 82 wears through use. Each wear speed sensor 98 transmits an electrical signal to the microprocessor 94 which is used to indicate the current location of the scraping tip 82. Each temperature sensor 90 may also be combined with a respective wear speed sensor 98 as a combined sensor which indicates both temperature and speed of wear. This combined sensor may comprise a thermocouple. The scraper blade 70 may also include one or more strain measurement sensors 100 such as strain measurement sensors, to detect the amount of stress to which the blade 78 is subjected during operation corresponding to the scraping force with the which blade 78 engages the conveyor belt. Each detector for strain measurement 100 transmits an electrical signal corresponding to the magnitude of the measured effort to the microprocessor 94. The scraper blade 70 includes an electrical transmitter member 102 which is electrically connected to the microprocessor 94. The transmitter member 102 is adapted to be electrically connected to the a cable and in this way to a computer. In alternate form, the microprocessor 94 can be eliminated from the scraper blade 70 and the detectors 90, 98 and 100 can be connected directly to the transmitting member 102. The scraper blade detectors 10 and 70 are constructed so that the conveyor belt does not wear out or ranor. The temperature detectors 30 and 90 measure the tip temperature of the blade, which can indicate whether the conveyor belt is running with or without material, or when the scraper blade is derived in scraping engagement with the conveyor belt with greater force or smaller than desired The sensors for deformation measurement 40 and 100 measure the stress and large vibrations or rattles of great amplitude in the scraping tip 14 and 82 of the scraper blades 10 and 70, to indicate the number of hours that the scraper blades have been in operation and / or rattle of the scraper blade.

The sensors for deformation measurement 40 and 100 measure and indicate impact forces applied to the scraper blades 10 and 70 which in turn indicate the condition of the surface of the conveyor belt. The sensors for strain measurement 40 and 100 also indicate the flexural or bending stress on the scraper blades 10 and 70 corresponding to the force with which the scraper blades are derived in engagement with the conveyor belt. The wear sensors 48 and 98 indicate the remaining usable scraping length of the wear sections 23 and 81 of the scraper blades 10 and 70 and the wear rate of the wear sections. The interval in which the microprocessors 34 and 94 acquire data from the detectors can be varied as desired from a range such as 60 seconds, for research and development purposes to a range of approximately 5 minutes for service uses. The data storage capacity of the microprocessors 34 and 94 may also vary, such as from 90 days of data storage capacity for development research purposes to a one year data storage capacity for service operations. The microprocessors can store all the data collected by the detectors for recovery and analysis and a subsequent arrow or can be connected to a conveyor drive mechanism and / or tensioning mechanism to automatically vary the speed of the conveyor belt or the tension applied to the blades scrapers, when the detected data vary from predetermined ranges. Alternatively, the microprocessor can be connected to sound an alarm or activate some other signal when certain conditions are detected. Also, the sensors can be connected with display devices such as manometers or digital reading devices to display the detected conditions. Various features of the invention have been particularly shown and described in connection with the illustrated embodiments of the invention, however it will be understood that these particular structures simply illustrate and that the invention will be given its broadest interpretation within the terms of the appended claims.

Claims (12)

1. CLAIMS 1.- A blade scraper cleaning belt conveyor to clean the surface of a conveyor belt, the scraper blade includes: a base member; a wear section extending outwardly from the base member, the wear section includes a tip adapted to engage the conveyor belt; one or more electrical detectors located between the tip and the base member, each detector is adapted to perceive a physical condition present in the wear section; and an electrical transmitter member associated with the electrical sensors adapted to receive a signal from the sensors and transmit the signal to a receiver.
2. 2. The conveyor scraper-cleaning blade in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the electric transmitting member comprises an electrical connector member, each sensor is in electrical communication with the electrical connector member, the electrical connector member is adapted to connect be on an electric cable.
3. 3. The blade scraper-wiper belt conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that it includes a microprocessor in electrical communication with the detectors and in electrical communication with the electric transmitting member.
4. 4 - The conveyor scraper-cleaning blade according to claim 1, characterized in that the detectors are spaced apart from each other over the length of reception of wear between the base member and the tip.
5. 5. The conveyor scraper-cleaning blade according to claim 1, characterized in that the electric sensors include one or more temperature sensors.
6. 6. - The blade scraper-cleaner belt conveyor according to claim 5, wherein each temperature sensor comprises a thermocouple.
7. 7. The conveyor scraper-cleaning blade according to claim 1, characterized in that the sensors include one or more sensors for deformation measurement, each sensor for deformation measurement is adapted to provide an indication of the amount of stress to the that the wear section is subjected during scraping engagement with the conveyor belt.
8. 8. The conveyor scraper-cleaning blade in accordance with claim 7, characterized in that the sensors for deformation detection comprise sensors for measuring deformation.
9. 9. The blade scraper-cleaning conveyor according to claim 1, wherein the sensors include a plurality of first wear sensors, the first wear sensors are adapted to provide an indication of the location of the tip with respect to to the base member, as the wear section erodes and the tip moves closer to the base member.
10. 10. The scraper-wiper blade of conveyor belt according to claim 9, characterized in that the sensors include a plurality of second wear sensors, the second wear sensors are laterally spaced from the first wear sensors, the second sensors of The wear are adapted to provide an indication of the location of the tip with respect to the base member, as the wear section erodes and the tip moves closer to the base member.
11. 11. The conveyor scraper-cleaning blade according to claim 1, characterized in that it includes an air temperature sensor connected to the electric transmitter adapted to detect the temperature of the air adjacent to the scraper blade.
12. 12. The blade scraper-cleaning conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that the wear section is formed from an elastomeric material and detectors are embedded in the base material. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a blade scraper belt cleaner, to clean the surface of a conveyor belt. The scraper blade includes a base member adapted to be connected to a transverse arrow of a conveyor belt cleaner and a wear section extending outwardly from the base member to a scraping tip. The wear section includes a plurality of temperature sensors located over the length of the wear section, a plurality of wear sensors located over the length of the wear sections and one or more sensors for strain measurement, located over the length of the wear section. Each of the sensors is in electrical communication with an electrical transmission member that is adapted to provide an electrical output signal to a computer. The temperature sensors provide an indication of the temperature of the wear section at the location of each temperature sensor. The wear velocity sensors provide an indication of the location of the scraping tip with respect to the base member as the wear section erodes and the tip moves closer to the base member. The sensors for strain measurement provide an indication of the amount of stress to which the wear section is subjected during the scraping engagement with the conveyor belt.