US3098390A - Sampling device - Google Patents

Description

July 23, 1963 D. J. BOURNE ETAL 3,

SAMPLING DEVICE Filed D60. 22, 1960 s j z {W ATTOR/Vfi J 3,098,390 Patented July 23, 1963 3,098,390 SAMPLING DEVICE Douglas J. Bourne and William H. Park, Carlsbad, N. Mex, assiguors to Duval Sulphur and Potash Company, Houston, Tex., as corporation of Texas Filed Dec. 22,. 1960, Ser. No. 77,750 8 Claims. (Cl. 73-424) This invention rel-ates to a sampling device, and more particularly to a device for obtaining one or more relatively small, yet completely representative, samples from a relatively large amount of material whose particle size and/ or chemical analysis varies, such as crushed cores.

In many conventional processes it is necessary to accurately sample crushed material for chemical and/or physical analysis. Such analyses are vital for process control and efficient operation. It is readily apparent that if the material to be sampled be of uniform chemical analysis and particle size, then an accurate sample may be taken in any crude manner. However, this situation is rarely the case. Under more normal conditions either or both of particle size and chemical analysis varies, and accurate sampling becomes very difficult. One prime reason for this difiicul-ty is that the handling and storing of materials with a relatively wide range of particle size causes segregation of particles. A typical example of such segregation can be seen in any storage pile formed by material discharging from a chute or conveyor wherein the coarser particles will tend to concentrate in the periphery of the pile as the fine particles concentrate in the core of the pile. Due to segregation and other causes, it has been necessary to laboriously and tediously handquarter and hand-rifile such material in order to obtain an accurate representative sample.

In the past it has been proposed to discharge material from a hopper onto a rotating cone which slings the ma terial by centrifugal force from the cone into circumferentially spaced sample cutters. Experience has shown that a truly representative sample will not result from this device, as material on a given side of the hopper will tend to remain on the given side of the hopper and to maintain this orientation down to the centrifugal slinger. As material striking the slinger at a particular orientation will generally be discharged at a position a fixed number of degrees away, it will be seen that a sample cutter may receive samples which tend to come predominantly from one side only of the hopper.

It is an object of this invention to provide a mechanical device which will obtain an accurate, representative, relatively small sample from a relatively large amount of material.

It is another object of the invention to provide a means of rapidly procuring accurate samples.

Another object is to provide a mechanical means of obtaining several samples simultaneously which may be of different desired size.

Another object is to provide a means of sampling wherein accuracy equals that obtainable trom tediously and carefully hand-sampling, but lacks the inherent human error found when such sampling is done on a routine basis.

Another object is to provide a sampling device of the type in which material from a hopper falls onto a rotating slinger disc from whence it is discharged by centrifugal action in which the orientation of the material leaving the hopper is changed in successive increments to insure that the sample cut is a representative sample from the hopper.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the drawing, the specification and the claims.

In the drawing wherein an illustrative embodiment of this invention is shown, and wherein like reference numerals indicate like parts:

FIGURE 1 is a view in elevation with parts broken away of a sampling device constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the upper end of a sample cutter "and a section of the slinger disc; and,

FIGURE 3 is a view along the lines 3-3 of FIGURE 1 in the direction of the arrows.

Suitably supported at the upper end of a frame, which includes columns 10 and 11, a hopper 12 for receiving the material to be sampled is provided. Preferably, the hopper 12 is of the type having a conical lower section 13 terminating in a relatively small outlet opening 14. The angle of the sloping sides of the conical portion 13 exceeds the angle of repose of the material to be sampled.

Distributor means for successively changing the orientation of material discharged (from opening 12 is indicated generally at 15. The distributor in its preferred form is provided by a vertically extending tubular member or pipe 16 having an internal diameter less than the diameter of opening 14 so that the distributor will remain full until all of the material within hopper 12 has been discharged.

To direct material from the hopper to the tube 16 and to provide for control of flow of material from the hopper opening, the distributor is provided at the upper end of tubular member 16 with tan upwardly and outwardly flaring funnel 17. The tunnel may be an integral part of the tubular member 16, or it may be secured thereto.

.By extending the upper end of the funnel slightly above the outlet 14 of the hopper, the material in funnel 17 will block the hopper outlet and in this manner control flow from the hopper to the distributor.

The distributor is mounted for rotation about a vertical axis, preferably coaxial with the hopper outlet 14 as by bearings 18 and 19.

Positioned to receive material from the distributor is a slinger disc 21. Preferably the slinger disc has an upwardly extending conical center section 22 with its apex positioned on the central axis of the tubular member 16. The slinger disc is mounted on a shaft 23 which is journal'led in bushings 24 and 25, preferably for rotation about the central axis of tubular member 16.

Surrounding the slinger disc 21 is a rejection cone 26 whose sides have a slope sufficient to freely drain the rejected material which passes out the discharge opening 27' to the reject pile 28.

As will be noted, the bearings 24 and 25 may be supported on a suitable bracket 29 within the reject cone 26 (see FIG. 3).

The distributor bearings 18 and 19 may be supported in any desired manner, as upon the reject cone in the manner illustrated. Preferably a standard '31 is supported from some portion of the sampling device, such as the reject cone 26, and has slots (not shown) extending vertically therein. The bearings 18 and 19' are carried by a bracket 32 which depends from a bolt 33. The bolt 33 extends through a nut 34 which is rotatably mounted in a horizontally extending portion 31a of standard 31. Thus by rotation of'nut 34, bolt 33 is caused to move vertically and move the distributor toward or away from slinger disc 21. As the apex of the conical section 22 of the slinger disc lies immediately below the distributor tube 16, the relative position of these two parts will govcm the size of the annular opening between the conical section 22 and the lower end of tube 16. Adjustment of this opening will vary the through-put through the sampler.

The bracket 32 has a right angle section 33 which lies against the standard 31. Suitable bolts and wing nuts 34 and 35 are provided to securely fix the bracket relative to the standard after it has been adjusted by positioning nut 34.

In accordance with this invention, means are provided for rotating disc 21 and distributor 15 at different speeds. This may include a pulley 36 secured to the tubular member 16 and a pulley 37 of a different size secured to shaft 23 on which disc 21 is mounted. The two pulleys 36 and 37 are driven from a common shaft 38 by belts 39 and 40 which are driven by pulleys 4-1 and 42, respectively. The common shaft 38 may be rotated by any suitable source such as the motor 43 which is shown to drive the shaft through a pulley system indicated generally at 44.

In order to collect samples of the material passing through the sampler, a sample cutter is provided as indicated at '45. As many sample cutters as desired may be employed. Preferably the sample cutter includes a tube 46 welded or otherwise secured in a position extending through the wall of reject cone 26. A look nut 47 is provided in tubular member 46 and locks the vertically extending tube 48 of the sample cutter in position. At its lower end the tube 48 connects with a sample-receiving jar 49. At its upper end the tube 48 is positioned to receive material from the slinger disc 21. Preferably the upper end of the tube 48 is notched as at 50 and the notch extends to a position just below the disc 21. This notch may cut away a semi-circular section of the tube as best shown in FIGURE 2. Immediately below the notched section of the tube it is preferred that the tube 48 be flared outwardly as at 51 under the notched-out portion to underlie the slinger disc 21, as best shown in FIGURE 2. It will be appreciated that by selecting the orientation of the tube 48 relative to the slinger disc 21, a larger or smaller sample can be taken by each sample cutter.

In operation, the material to be sampled is fed into hopper 12. This may be a representative sample of a large amount of material. To illustrate how the sampler mixes the material to obtain a representative sample, it will be assumed that in looking down on hopper 12 large particles will be found on the north side and small particles will be found on the south side. As these particles move down through hopper 12, they will remain on their respective sides.

The distributor tube and funnel 17 will immediately fill up and the material in funnel 17 will act as its own seal to control flow of material from the hopper to the distributor.

For purposes of illustration, it will be assumed that the distributor is not rotating. Thus, the large particles on the north side of the hopper will tend to pass through the distributor tube on the north side of the tube. The small particles will, in like manner, tend to pass through the south side of the distributor tube. With any given rotative speed of slinger disc 21 the large particles will be discharged from the distributor disc after a given are of rotation of the slinger disc from the north position. If we assume this to be 90, then these particles will be discharged on the east side of the hopper. In like manner, the small particles falling on the south side of the slinger disc will tend to be discharged on the west side of the slinger disc if we assume that they also will be discharged with 90 of rotation of the slinger disc. It will thus be seen that with the distributor stationary or removed from the system, a sample cutter on the east side of the slinger disc will tend to receive one fraction from the hopper, while a sample on the west side of the slinger disc will tend to receive another fraction from the hopper.

If we consider the distributor to begin rotating, it will be apparent that particles which are on the north side of the hopper and distributor will be deposited in successive increments about the slinger disc in the direction of rotation of the distributor. Thus, instead of always tending to fall on the slinger disc on the north side, the particles from the north side of the hopper will be deposited on the slinger disc through 360", and an equal amount of these particles will tend to be thrown off of the slinger disc all the way around the slinger disc. This insures that an equal distribution of particles from the hopper is accomplished by the sampling device regardless of which side of the hopper the particles may originate in.

From the above discussion it is apparent that the slinger disc 21 must rotate relative to the sample cutters 45 to accomplish its function. Also, the distributor must rotate relative to the slinger disc 21 so that it will likewise accomplish its function of continuously changing the orientation of material passing from the hopper to the slinger disc.

Thus, the disc and distributor must rotate relative to each other and relative to the sample cutters. Where a hopper is employed the disc and distributor will also rotate relative to the hopper. The distributor and slinger disc may rotate in the same direction at different speeds, or they may rotate in opposite directions.

As the particles leave the slinger disc due to gravity and centrifugal force, they are in part out by the sample cutter 45 and collected in jar 49. The remainder of the material is conveyed through the reject cone to the reject pile.

Extensive tests of the sampling device shown in the drawing has demonstrated that the samples taken in accordance with this invention are as representative as any which may be obtained by very careful hand-sampling.

From a consideration of the drawing it Will be apparent that the careful sampling could be obtained by eliminating the hopper and hand-feeding the distributor. Of course, the funnel 17 could be made large enough to serve as a hopper, if desired, but this would increase the cost of the structure and is not desirable.

It will be apparent from the above that in order to obtain true samples of material it is only necessary to rotate the slinger disc and distributor relative to each other and relative to the sample cutter.

The foregoing disclosure and description of the invention is illustrative and explanatory thereof and various changes in the size, shape and materials, as well as in the details of the illustrated construction, may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A sampling device comprising, a hopper having a discharge opening, a distributor positioned below and receiving material from the hopper discharge opening, said distributor having a discharge opening in its lower end, means mounting said distributor for rotation about a vertical axis, a slinger disc positioned below and receiving material from said distributor discharge opening, means mounting said slinger disc for rotation about a vertical axis, means for rotating said distributor and slinger disc relative to the hopper and relative to each other, and a sample cutter positioned adjacent the slinger disc and receiving material therefrom.

2. A sample device comprising, a hopper having a dis charge opening, a distributor having a vertically extending tubular bore therethrough of less diameter than the hopper outlet, said tubular bore positioned below and receiving material from the hopper outlet, a funnel on the upper end of the tubular opening extending above and surrounding the hopper outlet, means mounting said distributor for rotation about a vertical axis, a slinger disc positioned below and receiving material from said tubular bore, means for mounting said slinger disc for rotation about a vertical axis, means for rotating said distributor and slinger disc relative to the hopper and relative to each other, and a sample cutter positioned adjacent the slinger disc and receiving material therefrom.

3. A sampling device comprising, a hopper having a discharge opening, a distributor positioned below and receiving material from the hopper discharge opening, said distributor having a discharge opening in its lower end, means mounting said distributor for rotation about a vertical axis, a conioally-shaped slinger disc positioned with the apex of the cone below and on the central axis of said distributor discharge opening, means for mounting said slinger disc for rotation about said central axis, means for rotating said distributor and slinger disc relative to the hopper and relative to each other, and a sample cutter positioned adjacent the slinger disc and receiving material therefrom.

4. A sampling device comprising, a hopper having a discharge opening, a distributor having a vertically extending tubular bore therethrough of lesser diameter than the hopper outlet, said tubular bore positioned below and receiving material from the hopper outlet, a funnel on the upper end of the tubular opening surrounding and extending above the hopper outlet, means mounting said distributor for rotation about a vertical axis, a conically-shaped slinger disc having the apex of the cone positioned on the central axis of the tubular bore, means for mounting said slinger disc for rotation about the central axis of said tubular bore, means for rotating said distributor and slinger disc relative to the hopper and relative to each other, and a sample cutter positioned adjacent the slinger disc and receiving material tlherefirom.

5. The sampling device of claim 4 wherein the conically-shaped disc and the distributor are adjustable toward and away from each other to control through-put through the sampling device.

6. The sampling device of claim 4 wherein the sample cutter has a vertically extending tubular portion with a slot cut in the upper end of said tubular portion, said tubular portion extending above the outer periphery of said slinger disc, and means for adjusting the orientation of the tubular portion.

7. A sampling device comprising, a distributor for receiving material to be sampled, said distributor having an outlet in its lower end, a comically-shaped slinger disc positioned below said distributor with the apex of the cone positioned on the central axis of the distributor outlet, means for mounting said slinger disc for rotation about the central axis of said distributor outlet, a sample cutter fixedly positioned adjacent the slinger disc and receiving material therefrom, and means for rotating said distributor and slinger disc relative to the sample cutter and relative to each other.

8. A sampling device comprising, a distributor having a vertically extending tubular bore therethrough, a funnel on the upper end of the tubular bore, means mounting said distributor for rotation about the central axis of said tubular bore, a conically-shaped slinger disc positioned below said distributor with the apex of the cone positioned .on the central axis of the tubular bore, means for mounting said slinger disc for rotation about the central axis of said tubular bore, a sample cutter fixedly positioned adjacent the slinger disc and receiving matenial therefrom, and means for rotating said distributor and slinger disc relative to the sample cutter and relative to each other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,076,188 Thorsten Apr. 6, 1937 2,541,519 Jones Feb. 13, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,034,886 Germany July 24, 1 958

Claims (1)

1. A SAMPLING DEVICE COMPRISING, A HOPPER HAVING A DISCHARGE OPENING, A DISTRIBUTOR POSITIONED BELOW AND RECEIVING MATERIAL FROM THE HOPPER DISCHARGE OPENING, SAID DISTRIBUTOR HAVING A DISCHARGE OPENING IN ITS LOWER END, MEANS MOUNTING SAID DISTRIBUTOR FOR ROTATION ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS, A SLINGER DISC POSITIONED BELOW AND RECEIVING MATERIAL FROM SAID DISTRIBUTOR DISCHARGE OPENING, MEANS MOUNTING SAID SLINGER DISC FOR ROTATION ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS, MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID DISTRIBUTOR AND SLINGER DISC RELATIVE TO THE HOPPER AND RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER, AND A SAMPLE CUTTER POSITIONED ADJACENT THE SLINGER DISC AND RECEIVING MATERIAL THEREFROM.

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