WO2024085822A1 - A novel module body for electronically activated chemical rock breaking system - Google Patents

Abstract

A module body (1) for electronically activated chemical rock breaking system, characterized in that it comprises a corrugated structure (9) at its lateral surface, a narrowed section (10) with a smaller diameter at different lengths along the total length of the module body (1), a connecting cap (2) with a female connector (5) with two pins and a wire couple (4), an end cap (3).

Description

A NOVEL MODULE BODY FOR ELECTRONICALLY ACTIVATED CHEMICAL ROCK BREAKING SYSTEM

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a novel module body for electronically activated chemical rock breaking system.

Prior Art

In the state of the art, the chemical compositions for chemical rock breaking systems are filled in cartridges or module bodies. And then these cartridges or module bodies are inserted into the holes drilled inside the rocks. Then the chemical composition inside the cartridge or module body is ignited with fuses, detonators or propellants.

The present invention provides a novel module body specifically designed for chemical rock breaking systems.

This invention is a complete product defined as “COMPLETE MODULE BODY TO BE USED AS A STAND ALONE PRODUCT”, to be used as a part of the TOCK SYSTEM, to break rock and hard formations, in the safest way avoiding any risk encountered by breaking products like; explosives, pyrotechnical products, to get rid of long stemming durations and ejection of the module from the hole thus avoiding the loss of the breaking pressure and also completing the jobs in the quickest and cheapest way when compared to products like; chemical, mechanical and/or hydraulic rock breaking machinery and equipment.

One of the main targets of the invention is to have a complete product to be used with the electronically activated chemical rock breaking system (TOCK SYSTEM) to bring speed and lower cost to the rock and concrete breaking jobs. These will be achieved with the design of the module and materials used to build the complete module. It will make the end user to gain time, money and effort and it will bring a great deal of economy to the rock, concrete breaking jobs. At the same time, the module design facilitates transportation, storage and use; it will be user-friendly at every stage with its feature of occupying less space, placing in the hole in a shorter time and mounting more practically at the point of application. The invention is designed and developed to be used for the fields of construction, mining, manufacturing industry where there is a need of breaking all sorts of hard formations and structures.

As a prior art document, patent document no. WO2012095779A1 entitled “NONEXPLOSIVE ROCK BREAKING” discloses a rock breaking cartridge comprising an elongate tubular body, an end closure at each end of the body, a charge of combustible material in the body and means for igniting the charge. This cartridge containing a charge of combustible material is inserted into a drilled hole in the rock. Said elongate tubular body has axially extending external ribs for locking the tubular body in the drilled hole.

The module of the present invention has a lateral surface with a corrugated structure and a section with a narrow diameter at different lengths. These two technical features allow the existing module of the present invention to lock into the drilled hole much better. However, the cartridge of the prior art document, WO2012095779A1 has a tubular body with smooth lateral surface and extending external ribs for locking purposes. The structure and design of the main body is completely different.

As another prior art document, patent document no. WO2017118888A1 (Applicant: TECHNOVATION PTY LTD, Australia) entitled “ROCK BREAKING” discloses a rock breaking cartridge comprising a casing of deformable material that forms an internal cavity and a tapered part. A seal extends around the outside of the tapered part and a piston inside the cavity butts against the inside of the tapered part to seal against the inside of the casing.

In this patent document, WO2017118888A1, the technical problem of locking of the rock breaking cartridge into the drilled hole, is solved by a seal.

According to the page 6, lines 16-21, of WO2017118888A1, the expansion of the seal causes it to press firmly against the inside walls of the hole and as the piston progresses inside the seal, pressure in the cavity from the expanding charge further presses the seal against the walls of the hole. At this point, the seal seals firmly against the walls of the hole and the seal and piston form a very sturdy plug in the hole.

On the other side, the module of the present invention does not need a seal to lock into the drilled hole. Instead, it has a lateral surface with a corrugated structure and a section with a narrow diameter at different lengths. These two technical features are the key features of the present invention to solve the problem of locking of the cartridge or module into the drilled hole much better.

Today, when we talk about rock breaking, we can find cartridges (which is defined as TOCK Module for our product and system design), basically in two different categories:

1 - Cartridges for pyrotechnical rock breaking products:

(A) Basically, all these cartridges are in cylinder form with smooth surfaces. During application in order to avoid any ejection upwards, existing companies brought solutions that add on the cost of the product. These can be mentioned as follows;

- Extra plugs to be placed on top of the cartridge after it is placed at the bottom of the hole, drilled in the rock.

- Screw type plug on top of the cartridge which is rotated to expand the top of the cartridge to hold the rock surface inside the hole.

- Steel pipe type plugs, which are placed on top of the cartridge from outside, to keep it in place. This type of plug requires extra weight to keep it at place.

- Self stemming type cartridges which are designed to keep the cartridge at its place in the hole during activation. These cartridges are designed carefully so that at the moment of activation, they have to inflate to hold the rock avoiding ejection.

- Mechanical plugs which are designed like nails to hold the rock just at the moment of activation. When they face the pressure, they open to sides and grab the rock surface.

- In combination with some of the above stemming plugs, companies also use and/or advice to use clay and soil as stemming to be placed on top of the cartridges and to be tamped to strengthen the stemming.

(B) Additionally, in order to avoid any sealing and leakage problems, existing companies have developed cartridges with certain sophisticated designs and use of quite considerable amount of materials (mostly plastic).

(C) Besides, the igniters of almost all pyrotechnic cartridges are made into the final product, directly coupled to the cartridge with the ignition wire that must be connected to the power supply. Only a few have igniters delivered separately because these type of igniters are defined as detonators and cannot be transported/stored as built in with the cartridge. 2 - Boosters:

Boosters are used with explosives as the priming product to initiate the explosion. These products are made from either plastic or cardboard. Even though they are out of our scope (being explosive product), we decided to mention them with the idea that; these can be accepted as cartridges.

Apart from above, there is not any other product group that can be applied in rock breaking as cartridges.

The Technical Problem That The Invention Aims To Solve And Aims Of The Invention

The basic aims of this invention - by introducing a technology for construction and mining sectors and to all others that requires rock breaking - can be defined as follows: a) That has to be away from all types of explosives and such components, products, etc. and away from those that are accepted as explosives. b) That has to be as simple as possible to learn and apply. c) That has to be as universal as possible so that; it can be produced/manufactured at almost all regions of the world. d) That has to be as efficient, productive as possible so that; it should let the end users to gain time and money. e) That has to be as safe as possible. It must be possible to transport the system by all means of transport (air-road-sea-rail) without posing any danger. f) That has to be as environmental friendly as possible. g) That has to be as economic as possible to drop the excavation costs.

When all types of cartridges - mainly the ones used in pyrotechnical products - are considered, in order to;

- generate stemming and avoiding the ejection of the cartridge from the hole in the rock that would lead to no function or less power

- present a product to be attractive and as industrial as possible

Companies developed several solutions that - add extra cost on top of the product as stemming plugs

- add extra cost on top of the complete system as cartridges to be more attractive and to be successful for complete sealing.

Bearing these in mind, we would like to mention following explanations to explain the situation and why we have developed such a cartridge (defined as TOCK Module in our case) as follows:

Based on all explanations we have done, we can declare that total cost of a cartridge increases due to such extra design parameters; extra stemming plugs, sophisticated cartridges. In addition, since the cartridges are delivered with the standard ignition wire attached to the cartridge, it is not possible to choose a specific wire length for the project, and in this way, it brings limitations in use from time to time and may lead to limitations in terms of transportation, storage, etc., due to local or international regulations and legislation.

At the end of the day, these products are consumables to be used once. Thus, we believed in the fact that;

- such a product should be as cheap as possible

- should be capable of being kept in the hole without any ejection

- should be a complete standalone product without any extra component

- should have caps to avoid any leakage and satisfy full sealing

- should be as environmental as possible.

When all these design requirements are considered, we have developed the TOCK Module totally different than the existing ones. In our patent text you will find all related details. Here, we can declare that;

Our TOCK Module is; extremely cheap, cannot eject from the hole, is a totally standalone product with caps to satisfy the sealing, has no extra component for stemming and material composition makes it highly environmentally friendly.

Moreover, the female connector on the cap can be connected to the ignition wire which has a male connector easily. This design allows the end user to select any wire length according to the application. Summary of The Invention

This invention relates to a module body for electronically activated chemical rock breaking system, and said module body comprises a corrugated structure at its lateral surface, a narrowed section with a smaller diameter at different lengths along the total length of the module body, a connecting cap with a female connector with two pins and a wire couple, an end cap.

Description of Figures

Figure 1 is a side view of the module body according to the present invention,

Figure 2 is side view with the various dimensions of the module body, represented by their abbreviations,

Figure 3 is an exploded view of the module body according to the present invention,

Figure 4 is a view of the module body inside the hole with stemming material and tiny stones as keystone material.

References

1 Module body

2 Connecting cap

3 End cap

4 Wire couple

5 Female connector

6 Hole borders

7 Hole

8 Tiny stones

9 Corrugated structure

10 Narrowed section

11 Cap with safety lock DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With the present invention, a new module body (1) for electronically activated chemical rock breaking system is provided.

As seen in Figures 1 to 4, a module body (1) for electronically activated chemical rock breaking system according to the present invention, comprises:

- a corrugated structure (9) at its lateral surface,

- a narrowed section (10) with a smaller diameter at different lengths along the total length of the module body (1),

- a connecting cap (2) with a female connector (5) with two pins and a wire couple (4),

- an end cap (3).

Module body (1) is one of the unique sections of this invention. It is the piece that has to be placed to the bottom of the hole (7) to break the rock. If we go into the details of each subsection, below explanations can be given:

Module Body (1) with both connecting cap (2) and end cap (3): This part can be made of different materials, such as PVC, PP, PE, Nylon, Cartoon, Layers of Paper, Composite materials. According to our research and development works done, generally we prefer to use PE (polyethylene) (High density /HDPE or Low density /LDPE) with biodegradable and fire retardant additives. Both connecting cap (2) and end cap (3) can either be plug in or threaded with a specific design to avoid penetration of anything from outside like water and fluids. Besides, the corrugated design and manufacture of the module body (1) bring the advantage of gaining considerable time from the stemming duration during the usage of the product.

The Module body (1) is designed in such a form that, corrugated structure (9) and a narrowed section (10) with a smaller diameter at different lengths along the total length of the module lead to ease of stemming during placing it at the bottom of hole (7) in the rock to be broken.

When the module body (1) is placed and stemming material with very tiny stones (8) is dropped inside the hole (7), these tiny stones (8) fill the corrugated sections and create a keystone (locking stones) structure between the module body (1) and the rock surface inside. This type of stemming application drops the time of stemming dramatically, deletes the tamping operation and lead to a shorter time of placing the modules. The final outcome will be; more modules activated and more rocks to be broken, thus; dropping the overall costs.

Then, when the system is activated, the tiny stones (8) create a lock and keep the module body (1) at its place, avoiding any ejection for a couple of seconds, leading to a required pressure level to break the rock.

All basic design parameters and dimensions and a cross-section that shows such a module body (1) with tiny stones (8) inside a hole (7) are given in Figure 2, Figure 3 and Figure 4. Referring to a preferred embodiment of the present invention in Figure 1, design parameters, dimensions and properties of the module body (1) are explained in detail below.

Module body (1) is a corrugated pipe made of HDPE, LDPE, PP, PVC, Cardboard, Plastic and/or composites.

Module diameters (D_o) can vary between 10 mm and 200 mm.

Both ends of the module body (1) are threaded for installation of caps. Height of both ends (H_c) can vary between 3-15 mm.

Depth of the corrugation (D_c) can vary between 1 mm and 10 mm.

Angle of the corrugation (a) can vary between 50° and 120° degrees.

Thickness of the module body (1) can vary between 0.3 mm and 5 mm.

Diameter of the mid-section (Di) can vary between 95% - 50% of D_o.

Total module length (LT) can vary between 4 cm and 100 cm.

Depending on design requirements below variations are applicable.

Li = L2 > L3

Li> L2 > L3

L,> LI > L2

Li = L3 > L2

L3 = L2 > Li

L2> LI = L3

Li = L2 = L3

Where;

LT = Li + L2 + L3

Referring to the preferred embodiment of the present invention in Figure 2, module body (1) as a complete set with both connecting cap (2) and end cap (3) and female connector (5) with two pins are stated in detail, below. In some embodiments, said female connector

(5) may be a half-moon connector.

A connecting cap (2) with a female connector (5) with two pins is shown in Figure 2 with cross-section and view from different angels.

Female connector (5) with two pins and a wire couple (4) which is a part of the connecting cap (2) is also shown in Figure 2.

Both connecting cap (2) and end cap (3) are designed to fit the module body (1). Thickness of the caps can vary between 0.3 to 5 mm.

As can be seen from Figure 3, tiny stones (8) are dropped in the hole (7) to form a keystone between hole borders (6) and module body (1). No need to do tamping for stemming.

After placing the module body (1) to the bottom of the hole (7), tiny stones (8) are dropped until they fill all sides and a few cm above the module body (1). These tiny stones (8) fill the spaces between corrugated structure (9) of the module body (1) and the hole borders

(6), creating a keystone by surrounding the module body (1) and holding the rock surface.

A female connector (5) with a sufficient length of a wire couple (4) inside the module body (1) is required for energy transfer. It is placed to the connecting cap (2) which has a suitable hole prepared to fit tightly. The connecting cap (2) is coupled with Female connector (5) with wire couple (4). This Female connector (5) connector is designed and produced to fit to the hole on this connecting cap (2) accompanied with a gasket to satisfy a full sealing. In order to be on safe side, additionally, suitable glue is used to fix the connector to the cap. Moreover; for the purpose of tracking the product from the moment of production, not opening it before first use, transporting and storing with maximum safety, a cap with safety lock (11) attached to the female connector (5) is also a part of the module body (1).

Application Areas of The Invention

This invention is designed and developed for rock breaking in different fields of construction and mining;

Road construction

Boulder breaking

Trenching and canal opening

Tunneling and shaft sinking

Dimension stone splitting

Foundation and infrastructure excavation Concrete and reinforced concrete breaking

Underwater excavation of rock

Blocked and clogged silo cleaning and rat hole opening Interior breaking of rock, etc.

TABLE 1

Basic and essential tests and their outputs

How Product Is Handled In Combination With The Tock System

Select the module body (1) size (diameter, length, amount) according to the rock data and as per your preparations.

Notice: the basic data - rock type / hole (7) diameter / hole (7) length / burden / spacing - are very important to select the correct size.

1) Make sure that all selected module bodies (1) and/or wire sets are active (use related testing device to check). 2) Place all module bodies (1) inside the holes (7) one by one gently always being very careful. After being sure that all is placed well and safely, hold wires out of holes (7) keeping them along the walls of the holes (7) to avoid any failures, wire cuts, etc.

3) When the module body (1) is at the bottom, start stemming by dropping readymade tiny stones (8).

4) When stemming is done, check the wires once more to be sure that they are active.

5) When all is completed, place the covers carefully and logically over the holes (7) and over the free faces that will break away, avoiding any drop off, open sections.

6) Check the wires to avoid any failure (be sure that they are active) once more.

In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the module body (1) is made of PVC, PP, PE, Nylon, Cardboard, Layers of Paper and/or Composite materials.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the module body (1) is with both connecting cap (2) and end cap (3) of which connecting cap(2) has a female connector (5) with a wire couple (4).

In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, some lateral portions of the corrugated structure (9) on the side surface of the module body (1) may have flat surfaces. In fact, the design of this corrugated structure (9) may include various design variations, from top to bottom, in the form of alternating flat and corrugated surfaces.

Claims

CLAIMS - A module body (1) for electronically activated chemical rock breaking system, characterized in that it comprises

- a corrugated structure (9) at its lateral surface,

- a narrowed section (10) with a smaller diameter at different lengths along the total length of the module body (1),

- - a connecting cap (2) with a female connector (5) with two pins and a wire couple (4),

- an end cap (3).