Selectively phased water supply of a cutter head

Mining or in situ disintegration of hard material – Cutter tooth or tooth head – Cleansing fluid passage

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Details

299 90, E21C 3522

Patent

active

050548581

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
On mining machines engaged in the driving of roadways and faces by cutting and loading out the mineral, it is frequently necessary to utilise water in the operations to reduce airborne dust, by spraying on or close to the cutting means and at the loading or delivery points, and to combat the incidence of incendive sparking.
Although water is used extensively for these purposes, too great a volume in any given time can create problems by increasing the water content in the product, by affecting the floor on which the equipment and personnel are standing and by posing problems in the removal of surface water from the vicinity.
Additionally, it has recently become the practice to direct high velocity water jets at the cutter picks with the object of preventing the build-up of debris in the pick point areas to achieve more efficient cutting and this has met with some success. In this so called `jet assisted` cutting, the method of achieving the high velocity is to pass the water under pressure through restrictor jets positioned on the cutting cone close to the cutter picks, one jet to each pick. It follows therefore that to keep the volume of water used within reasonable limits the number of jets must be kept low and therefore the cutting cone size is restricted since the number of cutter picks is similarly reduced.
On boom type machines utilising cutting drums or cutting cones referred to hereinafter as `cutting heads`, the cutter picks mounted thereon are presented to the face being cut for only half of one revolution, i.e. 180.degree. 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.
Thus, it is now the practice on machines using water jets to provide water flow to or adjacent to the picks during the phase when these are presented to the mineral face and to cut off the flow for the remainder of the time. This has the effect of reducing the flow requirements at the face without detracting from the efficiency of the system, and mitigates or eliminates the problems already outlined and either permit lower volume handling means on the machine itself or an increase in cutter cone size by increasing the number of picks and corresponding jets.
One manner in which water can be phased is by providing retractable picks; thus when a pick engages the face to be cut it is forced to retract and this act releases the water jet.
Another method is to control the opening of valves which 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. In one known arrangement, up-down and right-left controls each operate a valve which provides a fixed water phasing arc of 180.degree.. Thus for direct up or down movement, or for direct right or left movement only one 180.degree. phasing arc emits water jets. However, for a compound movement, e.g. up and right, two 180.degree. 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.degree., of which only 180.degree. is effective, thus producing 50% unnecessary water.
It is an object of this invention to provide a water phasing arc of no more than 180.degree. and which is positionally variable around the cutting head.
According to the present invention there is provided 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 picks of said cutting head and means to phase the supply of water to selected picks only, namely to those picks on an arcuate surface of the rotary cutting head which engages the face to be cut out, said arcuate surface forming a water phasing arc which is no greater than 180.degree. 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.
Preferably a drive swash plate and brake swas

REFERENCES:
patent: 4049318 (1977-09-01), Fruin
patent: 4368925 (1983-01-01), Honke
patent: 4836613 (1989-06-01), Adam

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