Patent GB-1168729-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus for Conveying and Storing Minerals in a Mine.
Inventor: LOW ALEXANDER CHARLES
IPC: B65G65/00
Filed: 1967-08-04
Abstract: 1,168,729. Conveying and bunkering in mines. MAVOR & COULSON Ltd. 25 July, 1968 [4 Aug., 1967; 2 April, 1968], Nos. 35926/67 and 15818/68. Headings B8A and B8E. [Also in Division G1] In apparatus for conveying and storing mineral in a mine, control means ensures that a predetermined weight of mineral per unit of time is received by a conveyer forming part of the apparatus. As shown, coal input from A as weighed by a device 11 is greater than, say, W tons per hour as measured by a device 16 associated with an outby conveyer 10 and a plough 6 is operated to deflect coal from a conveyer 4 into a bunker 1. The plough is mounted on a carriage 25 which travels along the bunker, the lower portion of which is divided by walls 22 into compartments. An opening 3 extends the length of the bunker and coal is discharged from the bunker on to a conveyer 7 by ram operated pusher members 9, one to each bunker compartment, the amount W being determined by control of the rams 9A. From the conveyer 7 the coal passes to the outby conveyer 10. When the input from A is a predetermined amount less than W, consistent with a practical minimum discharge from the bunker, the plough is raised and the bunker is by-passed, the coal then passing via a discharge point 5 on to the outby conveyer 10. When the input from A is less than W and varying, the pusher members 9 are controlled so as to discharge the required balance from the bunker so that the conveyer 10 receives at the rate W at all times, assuming that coal is available in the bunker. Control details.-A coal sensing device 14 on the carriage 25, according to the position of a suspended flap 14A, provides three different signals respectively indicating " no coal below plough ", " coal below plough " and " surplus coal accumulating below plough ". The carriage also has a shoe 28 capable of actuating two adjacent valves 27 of which a number are located along the length of the bunker, each valve being above its associated ram 9A. The hydraulic control circuit (12) of Fig. 7 (not shown) includes two solenoid-operated changeover valves (32, 33) which allow any two adjacent rams (9A) to be operated such that one extends while the other retracts. The rams (9A) may, however, be operated simultaneously to clear the bunker of coal for maintenance and inspection purposes. The speed of extension is varied by applying variable frequency pulses to the solenoids of two valves (34, 35). Devices (38, 39) sense pressure changes during ram operation and provide signals for a computing unit 17, Fig. 8, to reverse the operative rams by switching the solenoids of the change-over valves (32, 33). The devices (38, 39) also sense reduction in ram pressure due to exhaustion of coal of an operative ram and signal, in cooperation of the sensing device 14, to effect movement of the carriage 25 towards coal in the bunker. The computing unit 17 also receives signals from the weighing devices 11, 16. The unit, as indicated in Fig. 8, controls an actuator 13 for the plough 6, drive means 15 for the carriage 25 and the rate of ram extension via the hydraulic control circuit 12. Modifications.-In Fig. 3 (not shown) the rams (9A) are replaced by a discharge plough (42) movable along the base of the bunker, the hydraulic control circuit being dispensed with and the rate of coal discharge being determined by the speed of the plough. In Fig. 4 (not shown) a rotatable paddle (45) is mounted on a carriage (46) movable along the bunker. Alternatively or additionally the rate of travel of the conveyer 7 may be varied to maintain the required output from the bunker. In place of the plough (42) a plough (51) may be provided in the discharge opening 3. Manually operable over-riding controls may be actuated remotely or at the apparatus.