Classifications

• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
  • E21C—MINING OR QUARRYING
  • E21C35/00—Details of, or accessories for, machines for slitting or completely freeing the mineral from the seam, not provided for in groups E21C25/00 - E21C33/00, E21C37/00 or E21C39/00
  • E21C35/22—Equipment for preventing the formation of, or for removal of, dust
  • E21C35/23—Distribution of spraying-fluids in rotating cutter-heads

Definitions

• 'cutting heads' On boom type machines uti lising cutting drums or cutting cones referred to hereinafter as 'cutting heads' , the cutter picks mounted thereon are presented to the face 30 being cut for only half of one revolution, i .e. 180° of the surface of the drum or cone is in contact with the face at any one time, the other half being out of contact during this time.
• Another method is to control the opening of valves hich release water jets over a selected arcuate portion of the cutting head by using the same control means that controls the movement of the boom of a cutter boom assembly.
• up-down and right-left controls each operate a valve which provides a fixed water phasing arc of 180 .
• 180 phasing arc emits water jets.
• two 180 phasing arcs emit water jets, one for the 'up' control and one for the 'right' control.
• These arcs overlap to form a combined arc of 270 , of which only 180 is effective, thus producing 50% un ⁇ necessary water.
• a mining machine having a boom assembly including a rotary cutting head which carries picks, means to supply water jets directed onto or adjacent to the p cks of said cutting head and means to phase the supply of water to selected picks only, namely to those picks on an arcuate surface - -
• said arcuate surface forming a water phasing arc which is no greater than 180 and being infinitely position adjustable around the cutting head such that the selected direction of movement of the boom assembly always bisects the said water phasing arc.
• a drive swash plate and brake swash plate are mounted on a common longitudinal rotatable tubular shaft in relatively fixed disposition, such that when the brake swash plate is braked, the drive swash plate is correctly positioned to open valves of water chambers in the cutting head to provide water jets over the selected water phasing arc.
• the means to supply water jets to or adjacent to the picks includes a plurality of c i rcu e ren - ially disposed chambers in the rotary cutting head each to direct at least one jet onto or adjacent to one or more picks and each having valve means to control entry of water thereinto, and said means to phase the water supply comprises a drive swash plate which is in surface contact with the valve means of the chambers and is adapted in use to be stationary relative to the rotating head for actuat ⁇ ing the valve means of those chambers moving into the face cutting area to allow entry of water to those chambers.
• water is fed to the chambers of the cutting head by an axial rotatable tube or ' lance' on which the drive swash plate is fixedly mounted, and a brake swash plate is also mounted on said axial tube for engagement with brake means adapted to stop rotation of the tube such that the swash plate is in a stationary disposition to actuate the appropriate valve means relative to the location of the cutting face of the cutting head.
• the brake means is desengaged and the rotating valve means engaging the drive swash plate maintain their last cutting disposition whereby to cause rotation of said plate. Lance and brake swash plate.
• the drive swash plate and brake swash plate are synchronised such that braking of the brake swash plate positions the drive swash plate in the correct stationary phasing attitude relative to the valve means of those chambers moving into the selected face cutting area of the cutting head.
• Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a m ning machine having a rotary cutting head mounted on a cutting boom;
• Figs. 2 and 3 are sectional elevations of the rear end of the cutter boom and the cutting head respectively of a mining machine according to the invention; and Fig. 4 is a detail.
• the water p asing arrange ⁇ ment is applied to the cutting boom of a roadheading machine.
• Fig. 1 wherein the cutting head 1 is of conical form and is co-axial with a boom assembly 2.
• the principal areas of the phasing arrangement are within the cutting head 1 and at the rear of the cutter boom eleectric motor 3, the areas being connected by a water conduit or lance 10 as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.
• the phasing of the water system is controlled hydraulically by the same joystick control circuit which activates the attitude and position of cutting boom 2.
• Manual operation of the joystick valve (not shown) supplies hydraulic pressure selectively to four istons 4 shown in Fig. 2.
• These four pistons are situated at the rear of a brake carrier 5 which is mounted, i ⁇ a an adaptor plate 6 on the non-drive end of the electr c boom motor 3, F g. 1.
• the brake carrier 5 incorporates an integral rotary seal assembly which has an end cap 7 and a spherical bearing arrangement 8 which carries a brake plate 9. Water is delivered to the cutting head 1. F gs. 1 and 2, via port 'A' on end cap 7 and the rotat ⁇ able lance 10, Figs 2 and 3, and is indicated by arrows passing through the apparatus.
• the cutting head 1 is driven mechanically through a cutter shaft 11, Fig. 3, and incorporates a water phasing drive unit 12 which is in turn driven by the cutter head 1 through a key (not shown).
• the water phasing drive unit 12 consists of an outer case 13 which houses six individual water valve chamber assemblies 14. Each valve chamber assembly incorporates a valve 15 which has a spring 15A and a drive pi ston 16.
• a drive swash plate 17 is fitted to the lance 10 at the cutter head and is driven by the six pistons 16 which abut a forwardly facing sloping face 17A of the drive swash plate.
• a similar swash plate 18, Fig. 2 is fitted to the lance 10 at the motor end within the brake carrier 5.
• This swash plate 18 acts as a brake swash plate and is fitted via an involute gear 19 which allows synchronising of the water phasing by varying the relationship between swash plates 17 and 18.
• the brake swash plate 18 has a rearwardly facing sloping face 18A which lies adjacent to the central area of the brake plate 9. That central area has a forwardly facing frusto conical surface 9A, a portion of which can engage against the sloping face 18A of the brake swash plate 18.
• the arrangement operates as follows:- When the hydraulic joystick (not shown) is in the neutral position the fluid within the four cylinders at the rear of the brake carrier 5 is not pressur sed and the pistons 4 are in a retracted position under the influence of four springs 20 acting on the brake plate 9. The brake plate 9 is therefore not engaged with the brake swash plate 18 and the lance is free to rotate. The rotation of the lance 10 is induced by the rotary action of the series of drive pistons 16 against the drive swash plate 17. The drive p stons 16 exert varying individual loads on the drive swash plate 17 and these loads depend on the position of each drive piston on the surface of the drive swash plate and the loads exerted on them by the valves 15. The loads are induced by the pressure of water supplied to the cutting head 1 via the lance 10.
• the varying individual loads pressing against the drive swash plate 17 cause the plate to rotate and consequently so also does the lance 10 and the brake swash plate 18.
• the drive swash plate 17 and cutting head 1 are rotating together the movement of individual drive pistons 16 is prevented and this results in there being no valve action and therefore no water phasing action at this stage; water jets simply continue to emit from those valves which have remained open rotating ith the rotating cutting head.
• each of the drive pistons 16 raises and lowers in turn against the surface of plate 17 to progressively open and close particular valves 15 in the correct phasing sequence, i .e. to provide a water phasing arc 25 of a 180 maximum over that portion of the cutting head which is moved towards and into contact with a surface to be cut, the di rection of movement being i llustrated by around 26.
• Pressurised water flows through these valves 15 into chambers 21 on the cutting head 1 and thence via conduits 22 to jets directed at the cutter picks (not shown) to provide jet assisted cutting.
• the water phasing arc 25 is infinitely position adjustable around the cutting head 1 such that any selected direction of travel 26 of the cutting boom bisects the water phasing arc 25 as i llustrated in Fig. 4, which is a diagrammatic front view of the cutting head 1. Due to the synchronised disposition of the swash plates 17, 18, and the fact that pistons 4 which actuate the brake plate 9 are controlled in parallel with jacks that move of the cutting boom 2, the drive swash plate 17 wi ll always adjust the position of the water phasing arc 25 so that it is bisected by the selected direction of movement 26 of the boom assemb l .
• valves 15 progressively open and close as they move into and out of the water phasing arc 25
• the amount of water delivered to the picks varies as each individual valve progressively opens and then closes.
• the water pressure for jet assisted cutting is normally in the region of 5 to 10 thousand psi . It is considered, however, that a lower water pressure may be sufficient to cause rotation of the drive swash plate 27 whi le the hydraulic joystick is n neutral and phased jets from such a water pressure would provide useful dust suppress on at the cutting surface of the cutting head. As a result of water phasing over only 180 and adjustably positioning the water phasing arc, the amount of water used may be reduced or the cutting head increased in size to provide additional picks.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
• Geology (AREA)
• Shovels (AREA)
• Perforating, Stamping-Out Or Severing By Means Other Than Cutting (AREA)
• Earth Drilling (AREA)
• Excavating Of Shafts Or Tunnels (AREA)

Priority Applications (2)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Citations (5)

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• 1987
  • 1987-07-08 GB GB878716059A patent/GB8716059D0/en active Pending
• 1988
  • 1988-07-06 ZA ZA884861A patent/ZA884861B/xx unknown
  • 1988-07-06 CA CA000571265A patent/CA1311505C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1988-07-07 IN IN583DE1988 patent/IN176411B/en unknown
  • 1988-07-08 CN CN88104824A patent/CN1015317B/zh not_active Expired
  • 1988-07-08 PL PL1988273618A patent/PL159879B1/pl unknown
  • 1988-07-08 EP EP88905970A patent/EP0368887B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1988-07-08 AU AU19955/88A patent/AU614531B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1988-07-08 JP JP63505895A patent/JPH02504174A/ja active Pending
  • 1988-07-08 WO PCT/GB1988/000555 patent/WO1989000236A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 1988-07-08 US US07/438,474 patent/US5054858A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1988-07-08 DE DE8888905970T patent/DE3880685D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1988-07-08 GB GB8816266A patent/GB2206913B/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 1990
  • 1990-01-05 RU SU904742870A patent/RU1836566C/ru active

Patent Citations (5)

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