WO2021255744A1

WO2021255744A1 - Auger for mobile coal sampling equipment

Info

Publication number: WO2021255744A1
Application number: PCT/IN2021/050023
Authority: WO
Inventors: Pushkar KULKARNI; Abhidnya Sagdeo; Saurabh Sagdeo; Sanjay Kulkarni; Rajdeep Sagdeo
Original assignee: Kulkarni Pushkar; Abhidnya Sagdeo; Saurabh Sagdeo; Sanjay Kulkarni; Rajdeep Sagdeo
Priority date: 2020-06-17
Filing date: 2021-01-08
Publication date: 2021-12-23

Abstract

An auger for mobile coal sampling equipment is disclosed a first end, a second end and cylindrical body, the second end receiving sampling material and the first end dispensing the sampling material. The auger screw that is positioned in a cylindrical case includes having a shank, a stem, a twist including a lip, and a crab holder. The lip includes a pair of tips protects the auger head. The crab holder includes a pair of twisted protrusions that facilitates easy insertion of auger in the sampling material.

Description

AUGER FOR MOBIUE COAU SAMPUING EQUIPMENT FIEUD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an auger head and more particularly to an auger head for coal sampling equipment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Coal is primarily used as a fuel in thermal power plants for generation of electricity. Around 60% of electrical energy in India is produced by burning of coal. With rapid development in power industry as well as industrialization, the amount of requirement of coal is increasing. Reportedly every year billions of tons of coal are traded in national and international markets. Coal is highly heterogeneous in nature consisting particles of various shapes and sizes each having different physical and chemical properties. Coal sampling is performed to analyze these properties of coal and to determine its commercial value.

For thermal power plants, the quality of coal is not only directly related to the cost of electricity but also to the safety of the operation. To solve this issue, sampling of coal is done. Currently samples of coal are taken manually. The drawback of this method is that samples get collected from only the top of the coal carrying vehicle/ container. This method of sampling is slow, labor intensive and highly inaccurate as the sample acquired is not a true representative sample. There have been mechanisms that use a screw for sampling coal using the coal sampling equipments. It is observed that the coal delivered by such screws is in broken form and loses the original profile.

There is a need of a mechanized auger capable of drawing the mineral/ coal sample from the entire mineral/ coal carrying vehicle without changing the profile of the coal or cutting the coal when it is delivered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present is an auger for mobile coal sampling equipment. The auger head includes a first end, a second end and cylindrical body. The second end receives sampling material and the first end dispenses the sampling material. The auger head has an auger screw that is positioned in a case. The auger screw has a shank, a stem, a twist including a lip, and a crab holder. A first flight of the twist includes the lip including a pair of tips that are tangentially connected to the first flight. The crab holder includes a pair of protrusions that facilitates insertion of auger in the sampling material. The protrusions are twisted in different directions at a predefined angle relative to a base of the holder. The angle of protrusions is in the range of 75° to 80° relative to the base. In one embodiment the tips of the lip are made of carbide material. In another embodiment the tips of the lip are made of forged alloy steel and tungsten carbide that are brazed to forged alloy steel. The auger includes a square bracket that is positioned below the auger head such that the square bracket allows connecting the auger to any sampling equipment. The auger includes a pair of opposed windows that is adjacent to the square bracket that allows dispensing of sampling material received by the auger screw. One end of the auger screw includes the crab holder and the other end is engaged with the gearbox by a pin. The auger screw is removable and replaceable by disengaging the gear box from the pin. The carbide tips of the lip protects auger head while moving coal lumps. The pair of protrusions are positioned on a base at a predefined angle of about 75° to 80° relative to the base. The protrusions that are twisted in different directions are made from forged special alloy steel. Each of the protrusion includes a slot that is made at the end of respective protrusion that receives a tip. The tips positioned in the slots of the protrusions of holder are made of tungsten carbide material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of an auger for mobile coal sampling equipment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the auger for mobile coal sampling equipment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3A is a front view of a auger screw of the auger for mobile coal sampling equipment of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3B is a top view of the auger screw of the auger for mobile coal sampling equipment of FIG. 1 ; FIG. 4 is an enlarged side perspective view of a cone shaped bottom at a distal end of the auger for mobile coal sampling equipment of FIG. 1; FIG. 5A is a front view of a crab tip of a bottom end of the auger for mobile coal sampling equipment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5B is a side view of the crab tip of a bottom end of the auger head for mobile coal sampling equipment of FIG. 1; and FIG. 5C is a bottom view of the crab tip of a bottom end of the auger head for mobile coal sampling equipment of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention described herein is explained using specific exemplary details for better understanding. However, the invention disclosed can be worked on by a person skilled in the art without the use of these specific details.

References in the specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that particular feature, structure, characteristic, or function described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

References in the specification to “preferred embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, characteristic, or function described in detail thereby omitting known constructions and functions for clear description of the present invention. The foregoing description of specific embodiments of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching.

In general aspect, the present invention an auger head for mobile coal sampling equipment 100 is disclosed that is specifically designed to obtain a true representative sample from mineral/ coal carrying vehicle or heap.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the auger for mobile coal sampling equipment, hereinafter, referred as the auger head 100 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention is described. The auger 100 is an elongated structure that includes a a first end 102, a second end 104 and body 106. The first end is approximately rectangular shaped construction and the second end is approximately pointed construction. Body 106 of the auger 100 is a cylindrical construction. The auger 100 is removably connectable to any sampling system, for example, a coal sampling equipment, a bulk handling equipment, etc. through a bracket 108 that is preferably positioned in approximately below the head 102. The bracket 108 is a square bracket that includes a plurality of through holes.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 A and 3B, head 102 of the auger 100 includes a motor 205, a gearbox 210, the bracket 108, and a pair of opposed windows 225. The body includes a cylindrical case 220 that includes an auger screw 230. The motor 205 is generally connected to a pump and an engine (not shown in the figure). The motor 205 is preferably connected to a shank of the auger screw 230 that is coupled to a motor 205 through the gearbox 210. The pair of opposed windows 225 is positioned on a top end of the case 220. The windows 225 are preferably adjacent to the bracket 108. The auger screw 230 is positioned inside the cylindrical case 220 such that a central axis of the auger screw 230 and a central axis of the cylindrical case 220 are coaxial. The auger screw 230 includes a shank 305, a stem 310, twist 315, a lip 235, and a crab holder 240. The shank has a through hole 320 for receiving a pin. In this one embodiment, the crab holder 240 is preferably made of material such as, for example, high alloy steel. The lip 235 is made of carbide material that is preferably fixedly positioned on a bottom end of the auger screw 230. One end of the auger screw 230 includes the crab holder 240 and the other end is engaged with the gearbox 210 by using the pin.

In this one embodiment, the diameter of auger 100 is 300 mm; the depth of the auger is preferably in the range of 1600 mm to 1650 mm. In this embodiment the size of windows 225 is approximately 200 mm X 120 mm. The auger screw 230 of the present invention is replaceable and removable. The replacement is done by disengaging the auger screw from the transmission i.e. the gear box by losing the pin and removing the auger screw 230 from the auger 100. This is done by disengaging the pin and there by disengaging the shank of the screw 230 from the gearbox. The auger screw 230 is replaceable by another approximately identical auger screw 230. As shown in FIG. 4, a first flight of the auger twist 230 includes the lip 235 that includes a pair tips 400. The tips are made of materials such as for example, carbide. In a preferred method of connecting carbide with the tips with the first flight, the carbide tips 400 are welded to the first flight of auger screw 230 tangentially as shown. In one more embodiment of the present invention the tips 400 are also made from special forged alloy steel and Tungsten carbide tips are then brazed to the forging. The carbide tips 400 are advantageously positioned on the flight of the twist in such a way that the auger head 100 is protected while moving bigger sized coal lumps or shells aside and protects the auger head.

In this embodiment the auger head 100 is designed to accommodate - 200mm size of coal. This also results in easy collection of -200mm sized coal.

As shown in FIGS. 5A to 5C, the crab holder 240 of the auger screw 230 includes a pair of protrusions 500 and 505 that are preferably positioned on a base 510 at a predefined angle of about 75° to 80° relative to the base 510. The protrusions are preferably twisted in different directions as indicated by axis-X and axis-Y respectively. It is, however, noted that the protrusions 500, 505 are made from forged special alloy steel. Each of the protrusion 500 and 505 includes a slot 515 at the end that receives tips. The tips are of tungsten carbide material. In this embodiment, the tungsten carbide tips are then brazed to this holder. This crab tip holder is coupled to the auger screw preferably by welding process.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 5C, in operation, the auger head for mobile coal sampling equipment 100 is inserted in a heap of coal placed in a coal carrying vehicle. The crab holder 240 provides easy insertion of the auger screw 230. The motor 205 connected to the pump coupled with the engine is powered to initiate rotation of the auger screw 230 along its central axis. The auger screw 230 provided with carbide tips 235 is preferably rotated in a clockwise direction.

The carbide tips 235 advantageously provide rotational movement with minimal torque. The pair of windows 225 allows the cylindrical case 220 and the auger screw 230 to be inserted throughout the cross-section of the coal carrying vehicle. Coal is pulled inside the cylindrical case 220 and a true representative sample is obtained. The cylindrical case 220 acts as a coal receiver and stores the coal. The auger screw 230 is removed from the heap and the auger screw 230 is rotated in an anti-clockwise direction and the coal is dispensed and then collected in bags. It is to be noted that the coal in bags is its original shape. As per the present invention the handling of the coal using the auger 100 is such that the coal is neither crushed nor cut, it continues its original profile. This collected coal is a true representative sample as there is no crushing/ cutting of coal and a sample from the entire cross-section of the coal carrying vehicle is collected. The crab holder 240 allow easy insertion of the auger screw 230 without cutting or breaking the coal in the coal container, however, projections of holder 240 sets the coal particles aside while inserting the auger head 100 in the container. The Auger screw 230, the head 102 and the body 106 have independent movement with variation achieved through diesel engine acceleration and flow control valves provided with actuators. This independent movement of the parts of the auger head 100 makes it easier to collect the sample in short time (2-3 minutes) which reduces the demurrage charges. The auger screw 230 is removable and replaceable that helps to retain the whole auger head and thereby get maximum utilization of the auger head 100.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. What is claimed is: an auger for mobile coal sampling equipment having a first end, a second end and cylindrical body, the second end receiving sampling material and the first end dispensing the sampling material, the auger comprising: an auger screw positioned in a case, the auger screw having a shank, a stem, a twist including a lip, and a crab holder; a first flight of the twist including the lip including a pair of tips tangentially connected to the first flight; the crab holder including a pair of protrusions that facilitates insertion of auger in the sampling material, the protrusions are twisted in different directions at a predefined angle relative to a base of the holder;

2. The auger for coal sampling equipment of Claim 1 wherein the tips of the lip are made of carbide material.

3. The auger for coal sampling equipment of Claim 1 wherein the tips of the lip are made of forged alloy steel and tungsten carbide are brazed to forged alloy steel.

4. The auger for coal sampling equipment of Claim 1, wherein the auger includes a square bracket that is positioned below an auger head of the first end, the square bracket allows connecting the auger to a sampling equipment.

5. The auger for coal sampling equipment of Claim 1, wherein the first end includes a pair of opposed windows that is adjacent to the square bracket allows dispensing of sampling material received by the auger screw.

6. The auger for coal sampling equipment of Claim 1, wherein one end of the auger screw includes the crab holder and the other end is engaged with the gearbox by a pin.

7. The auger for coal sampling equipment of Claim 1, wherein the auger screw is removable and replaceable by disengaging the gear box from the pin.

8. The auger for coal sampling equipment of Claim 1 wherein the carbide tips of the lip protects auger head while moving coal lumps.

9. The auger for coal sampling equipment of Claim 1, wherein the pair of protrusions 500 and 505 that are positioned on a base 510 at a predefined angle of about 75° to 80° relative to the base 510.

10. The auger for coal sampling equipment of Claim 1, wherein the protrusions that are twisted in different directions are made from forged special alloy steel.

11. The auger for coal sampling equipment of Claim 1, wherein each of the protrusion 500 and 505 includes a slot that is made at the end of respective protrusion that receives a tip.

12. The auger for coal sampling equipment of Claim 1, wherein the tips positioned in the slots of the protrusions of holder are made of tungsten carbide material.