Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor section – Endless conveyor
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-17
2001-01-09
Olszewski, Robert P. (Department: 3652)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor section
Endless conveyor
C198S837000, C198S831000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06170648
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to angle stations in or for endless conveyor belts and to guide roller mounting elements, and guide rollers, for use therein.
The main function and purpose of an angle station is to enable an endless conveyor to change its direction of travel laterally e.g. so as to negotiate a bend along its route. The basic principle behind most angle stations is to allow an endless conveyor belt to move over a helical path of low frictional resistance, invariably provided by some form of guide roller arrangement.
One such angle station is described in our International Patent Application, Publication No. WO93/06028. In this angle station, conveyor belt guide means in the form of a plurality of guide rollers define a generally continuously curved support for the belt. Each roller is generally barrel-shaped and is individually mounted in a generally U-shaped support bracket with a generally concave, part-cylindrical surface, base formed and arranged for complementary engagement with a cylindrical support surface of a support structure.
A disadvantage of the angle station of WO93/06028 is that dirt and debris can accrete around the support brackets, between the rollers and the support structure, which can impede rotation of the rollers, resulting in reduced performance and increased energy consumption of the angle station. Angle stations are often used in hostile industrial environments such as mines, quarries and ore plants, where they are exposed to significant amounts of dirt and other particulate foreign matter and where there is accordingly a risk of clogging occurring.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to avoid or reduce one or more of the foregoing disadvantages.
According to a first aspect the present invention provides an angle station for lateral angular displacement of an endless conveyor belt in a conveyor system, which angle station comprises a belt guide means in the form of a multiplicity of guide rollers mounted on roller support means, with said guide rollers arranged in an axially and laterally extending array, so as to define a generally continuously curved support for a said conveyor belt in use of the angle station, wherein said roller support means comprises an elongate support member provided with a plurality of roller support elements mounting roller mounting members which are arranged along a plurality of axially spaced substantially helical pathways, said roller support elements projecting from said elongate support member and said elongate support member being laterally offset and spaced from a common longitudinal axis of said helical pathways for said roller mounting members so that the space radially inwards of said helical pathways is substantially unobstructed whereby build-up of particulate material around the rollers is substantially avoided.
One advantage of the angle station according to the above first aspect of the invention is that the clogging problem due to build up of dirt and/or debris is substantially avoided which, in turn, leads to more effective and energy efficient operation of the angle station.
Preferably, a plurality of the roller mounting members of at least one of said helical pathways of roller mounting members are each formed and arranged for mounting roller ends of rollers disposed laterally on opposite sides of said at least one helical pathway. An advantage of this arrangement is that it enables an extremely close-packed arrangement of the guide rollers to be achieved, this allows increased, more uniform, support to be provided to a conveyor belt in use, in turn reducing wear on the belt caused by scuffing.
Said roller support elements may be in the form of discs or rings on which said roller mounting members are mounted. Each disc or ring preferably has two substantially planar opposing surfaces. Where said roller support elements are in the form of such discs or rings, said discs or rings preferably project laterally from an outer face of the elongate support member such that the plane of each disc or ring is substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of said helical pathways for the roller mounting portions. This arrangement has the advantage that, in use, where the elongate support member is disposed substantially horizontally so that the discs or rings project laterally from the support member, the substantially planar surfaces of said discs or rings are disposed substantially vertically and are thus less likely to harbour dirt or debris than, for example, horizontally disposed surfaces.
Said elongate support member may be a tubular member which may be of substantially rectangular or, alternatively, substantially non-angular cross-section. The guide rollers are preferably large diameter rollers, the roller diameter being relatively large with respect to the diameter of the substantially helical pathways of the roller mounting portions. The maximum diameter of the rollers is desirably from 0.18 to 0.30 times, advantageously 0.24 times the helical pathway diameter.
Each of said guide rollers is preferably mounted at its ends, for rotational movement about its own axis, on two of said roller mounting members mounted on the roller support elements.
Said roller mounting members may be provided as a plurality of helical rails which are mounted on the roller support elements. Each helical rail may be formed integrally or may consist of a plurality of rail portions which may be assembled to form the rail. Each of such helical rails may be formed and arranged for mounting a plurality of roller ends.
Alternatively, said roller mounting members may comprise a plurality of brackets which are mounted on the roller support elements. At least some of said brackets may each be formed and arranged for mounting two roller ends of respective ones of two different rollers. The bracket members may each be substantially in the shape of a whale's tail. Alternatively said roller mounting member may be in the form of a mounting block secured to said roller support element for mounting one end of a said roller and have a shape generally similar to one half of whale's tail, which can, conveniently, be formed by, for example, milling more or less readily from flat plate.
According to a second aspect the invention provides an angle station for lateral angular displacement of an endless conveyor belt in a conveyor system, which angle station comprises a belt guide means in the form of a multiplicity of guide rollers mounted in roller support means, with said guide rollers arranged in a closely packed, axially and laterally, extending array, so as to define a generally continuously curved support for a said conveyor belt in use of the angle station, wherein said roller support means comprises an elongate support member of substantially non-angular cross-section mounting a plurality of roller mounting elements which extend along a plurality of axially spaced substantially helical pathways, the roller mounting element(s) of at least one of said helical pathways being formed and arranged for mounting roller ends of rollers disposed laterally on opposite sides of said at least one helical pathway of roller mounting elements.
One main advantage of the angle station according to the second aspect of the invention is that it enables an extremely close-packed arrangement of guide rollers to be achieved, thus providing increased and more uniform support to a conveyor belt, in use of the angle station. This arrangement can also reduce the number of roller mounting elements necessary to mount a chosen number of rollers, where opposite sides of the same element are used to mount rollers which means that there are fewer elements for dirt and/or debris to accumulate around near the rollers.
Said roller mounting elements may be provided in the form of helical rails which may be mounted directly to said elongate support member. The helical rails may be formed integrally or may comprise a plurality of rail portions which may be assembled to form the helical rails. The helical r
Coxon Alan
Hadley Norman Charles
Pattison Ann
Pattison John
Alston & Bird LLP
Continental Conveyor Ltd.
McAllister Steven B.
Olszewski Robert P.
Pattison Ann
LandOfFree
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