Abstrict A mobile, low-profile feeder-crusher machine for receiving, crushing
and feeding freshly mined coal to a stationary conveyor system includes
a rigid frame supporting a rotary crusher shaft and supporting an
endless conveyor for delivering coal to the crusher shaft and for
removing crushed coal therefrom. The drive system for the crusher
shaft is mounted on the frame and includes a hydraulic pump driven
by an electric motor, a hydraulic motor driven by the pump, a planetary
gear reduction driven by the hydraulic motor and having a carrier
output driving the crusher shaft, and a flywheel rotatable with
the input of the reduction gear assembly.
Claims What is claimed is:
1. A feeder-crusher machine for use in low clearance mines comprising
an elongated low-profile body supported from the ground on traction
means so as to be movable along the ground longitudinally, said
body having side walls and a bottom and including, in end-to-end
relationship along the length of the machine, a receiving section,
a crushing section and a discharge section; said crushing section
including a rotary crusher shaft mounted transversely in said body
and carrying a plurality of radial breaker arms the outer ends of
which define a circle spaced from a wall of the machine; means for
urging material residing on said bottom in said receiving section
to the space between said circle and said wall so as to be crushed
therein and for urging the resulting crushed material along the
discharge section in a direction away from said crusher section;
and drive means mounted on said body for rotating said crusher shaft,
said drive means including a constant-speed motor, a mechanical
speed reduction unit having a high speed input driven by said motor,
a low speed output driving said crusher shaft, a gear system connected
between the input and the output for rotating the output at a speed
proportional only to the speed of the input and a flywheel connected
to rotate with said high speed input to said speed reduction unit
whereby amplified torque produced by the high speed flywheel is
transmitted through the gear connections in said reduction unit
to the more slowly rotating crusher shaft.
2. A feeder-crusher as in claim 1 wherein said speed reduction
unit includes a planetary gear set having a sun gear, another gear,
planet gears meshing with said sun gear and said other gear and
a planet carrier, said other gear being fixed to said body, said
sun gear being driven by said motor and said carrier driving said
low speed output.
Description This invention relates to low-profile feeder-crushers for use in
low-clearance coal mines and in particular to improvements in the
drive system for rotating the crusher shaft so as to obtain more
effective crushing without adding any appreciable weight or height
to the machine.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In coal mines where the coal exists in the form of relatively thin
layers or seams it has long been the practice to employ coal-handling
equipment which has a sufficiently low profile or height to be accommodated
in the low-clearance areas formed as the coal is mined. One widely
used mining technique includes the use of so-called feeder-crusher
machines which rerecive freshly mined coal from a mining machine
or haulage vehicle, crush the coal to a smaller more manageable
size and feed it to a conveying system for removal from the mine.
Current feeder-crushers are mobile low-profile machines having
a horizontally elongated hopper-like body fitted intermediate its
ends with a rotary crusher. Horizontal transverse flights carried
by a pair of endless chains continuously move along the floor of
the body and in so doing they urge coal from the receiving end of
the body to the rotary crusher and move the resulting crushed coal
away from the crusher toward the rear end of the body where it is
discharged. The discharged coal falls on to an endless conveyor
which may be one of a series leading out of the mine. A typical
feeder-crusher will not exceed about four feet in height in order
that it can be maneuvered into a low-clearance space.
The body and the rotary crusher are interconnected with rigid frame
members to form a unitary structure which supports the components
of the power system required for operation of the machine. Typically,
the entire structure is supported on a crawler-type propelling unit
operated by a hydraulic or in some cases electric motor. Typically
the power system includes an electric motor and a hydraulic pump
driven by the motor. Electric current is supplied to the motor by
cables leading into the mine. The pump supplies pressurized hydraulic
fluid for operating the crawler unit and for operating a separate
hydraulic motor which drives a speed reduction unit having its output
connected to the rotary crusher shaft.
The rotary crusher is typically of the hammer mill or impact type
in which a horizontal rotating shaft is provided along its length
with a plurality of radial striker arms or hammers. The shaft is
disposed transversely of the body of the machine, and as the coal
is urged into the hammer circle between the shaft and the floor
of the machine, by means of the moving flights, it is struck and
crushed by the striker arms. The coal passes through the hammer
circle only once, so that the arms are continually acting on fresh
coal.
Since all of the material received by a feeder-crusher passes through
the crushing assembly, the crushing of the coal must be carried
out continuously and at a high rate if the machine is to operate
effectively. The crusher is the limiting feature of the machine,
because the conveyor system can be constructed to handle essentially
any input load. Therefore, any increase in the ability of the crusher
to handle a greater throughput increases the capacity of the machine.
In addition it is important to reduce down-time due to jamming of
the crusher or breakage of any part of the crusher drive system.
Inherently the coal will include rock in varying amounts and the
rock being harder and more resistant to crushing will sometimes
tend to wedge between the floor of the machine and the breaker arms
or will create very high strains in the drive system. The result
can be jamming of the crusher and/or shearing of a shear pin which
is typically inserted between the crusher shaft and the output shaft
of the drive system. The machine is then out of operation until
the fault has been remedied, and during this time loading of coal
into the receiving end of the machine must stop, thereby reducing
production.
The solution of the problems relating to increasing the throughput
of a crusher system in a feeder-crusher and to reducing down-time
resulting from jamming or breakage do not lie merely in increasing
the size and power of the crusher system. The principal reason for
this is that it is not practical or economical to install heavier
and larger drive components and/or heavier and larger crusher shafts.
As previously noted the height of the machine must be limited to
about four feet; current construction techniques and the power requirements
of the machines result in essentially all useable space being occupied.
Further, the length, width and weight of the machines are limited
as a result of the limited space in which the machines must operate.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The broad object of the invention is to improve the performance
of a rotary impact type crusher, in terms of the ability of the
crusher to process material at a greater rate and in terms of reduced
jamming, without adding any appreciable size, weight of expense
to the system. It is apparent from the nature of an impact type
crusher that its performance can be improved by increasing the torque
delivered by the crusher shaft, but the most straightforward means
for doing this, that is, replacing the motor with one of greater
power, lies outside the constraints of the stated object. It is
known, also, that connecting a flywheel to a rotating shaft will
effect high torque, and it is conventional in a number of environments
to provide a flywheel on the work shaft of a machine, that is, on
the relatively low speed output of whatever speed reduction system
is driven by the power source.
In the case of a feeder-crusher machine for use in low clearance
mines this modification is not feasible because calculations readily
show that in order to increase the torque significantly a flywheel
connected with the crusher shaft must be extremely large and heavy.
For example, calculations for a typical crusher shaft rotating at
90 rpm show that to effect a 100% increase in torque a flywheel
10 feet in diameter and weighing 2100 pounds is required.
The present invention is based primarily on providing a flywheel
on the input of the speed reduction system and secondarily on the
selection of a planetary gear system as the speed reduction system.
By connecting a flywheel to rotate with the input of the speed reduction
system, that is, to rotate at high rotational speed relative to
the more slowly rotating crusher shaft it is possible to achieve
a significant increase in the torque of the crusher shaft with a
flywheel of small size and mass. For example, to achieve the aforementioned
100% increase in torque a flywheel connected to the input shaft
of the speed reduction system at the stated crusher shaft speed
of 90 rpm need be only 20 inches in diameter and weigh only 228
pounds, assuming an input speed of 675 rpm. This increased torque
has an exceptional ability to increase the throughput of the crusher
and to reduce the tendency to jam. The crushing action of the arms
or hammers on the coal and rock results from a combination of direct
impact of the crusher arms with chunks of material and pinching
of the chunks between the bottom of the body of the machine and
the crusher arms. Since the proportion of rock and the size of the
rock and coal in the material passing to the crusher vary continuously,
there is a continuous variation in the stresses applied to the crusher
shaft. Further, large chunks cannot pass through the crusher until
they have been reduced in size, and as a consequence if a chunk
does not break it will jam the crusher, causing damage to the latter
or shearing of the shear pin. If the impact and pinching forces
can be increased essentially instantaneously with increases in resistance
to crushing then the crusher shaft will be much less apt to jam.
This is precisely the effect which is produced by increasing the
torque on the crusher shaft by means of the low-mass rapidly rotating
flywheel arrangement of the present invention.
The increased torque produced by the flywheel arrangement of the
present invention may, however, create a problem in that the torque
is applied through the speed reducer, rather than directly to the
massive crusher shaft. It has been established by calculation that
the increased torque supplied by the previously described 228 pound
flywheel connected to the input of the typical gear type speed reducer
in current use on feeder-crusher machines will overstress the gears
to the point of destruction during use. The solution to this problem
does not lie in replacing the existing reducer with a more massive
one of the same design, because this is inconsistent with the requirement
of the invention that the weight and size of the overall feeder-crusher
machine must not be increased to any appreciable extent. Rather,
the problem is solved by replacing the typical speed reducer with
a planetary gear reducer capable of withstanding the additional
torque. This replacement does not result in an increase in size
or weight of the overall machine, because the planetary system has
a high strength-to-weight ratio. This aspect of a planetary system
is exceedingly well adapted for the purpose of the invention because
the stresses applied to the system can be readily transmitted to
the already massive frame of the machine. In using a planetary system
in a speed-reducing mode the ring gear is locked, the input is connected
to the sun gear and the output is connected to the carrier. In the
system contemplated by the present invention the ring gear need
not ever rotate and may therefore be a permanent part of the frame.
While a simple planetary system will suffice a compound system may
also be employed.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT
The invention will be further understood from the following more
detailed description taken with the drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic elevational view of a feeder-crusher machine;
FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the machine of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale of the drive system
for the crusher; and
FIG. 4 is an end view of the drive system for the crusher.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a feeder-crusher machine 10 which includes
as its major parts a receiving section 12 a crusher section 14
and a discharge section 16. The receiving section 12 is a hopper-like
structure open at both ends and at the top and being formed of side
walls 18 and 20 and a bottom wall 22 the latter extending the length
of the machine and thereby forming the bottom wall of the crusher
section 14 and of the discharge section 16. The discharge section
16 includes side walls 24 and 26 and lateral support shelves 28
and 30 for supporting the components of the power system, such as
an electric motor 32 hydraulic pumps 34 and a reservoir 36 for
the hydraulic system. In the interest of simplicity the connections
between the pumps 34 the various hydraulic motors and the reservoir
36 are not shown.
The three sections 12 14 and 16 together with various frame members
form a unitary rigid body which is supported from the ground by
two transversely-spaced endless-tread crawler units 38. The connection
between each crawler unit 38 and the body is a tube and shaft-like
assembly 40 having a tubular end 42 which is fixed to the frame
of the unit 38 and a shaft end 44 which is bolt-connected to the
body at 46 for limited rotation about a transverse horizontal axis.
A hydraulic piston and cylinder unit (not shown) connected between
the body and the frame of the crawler unit determines the angular
position of the body relative to the crawler units 38. The drive
system for each crawler unit 38 includes a hydraulic motor 48 which
receives pressure fluid from one of the pumps 34.
The crusher section 14 includes a rigid horizontal shaft 50 mounted
transversely in the machine and provided with a plurality of radial
breaker arms 52 or hammers. The circle 54 defined by the outer ends
of the arms 52 during rotation of the shaft 50 lies slightly above
the bottom wall 22 of the machine so that coal and rock will be
crushed in passing through the space between the circle 54 and the
wall 22. During operation of the machine coal and rock are urged
into this space by a series of longitudinally spaced apart transverse
flights 56 which are moved from left to right along the upper surface
of the bottom wall 22 by means of a pair of spaced-apart endless
chains the upper run of which is illustrated at 58. The chains 58
are looped over sprockets 60 and are driven by hydraulic motors
61 powered from one of the pumps 34. The crushed material is then
carried by the flights 56 from the crusher section 14 to the right
hand end of the machine.
All of the above is generally conventional in feeder-crusher machines.
According to the present invention the drive system for the crusher
shaft 50 includes a planetary gear reduction unit 62 having a low
speed output driving the crusher shaft 50 and having a high speed
input carrying a flywheel 68. The input shaft 66 also carries a
secondary input gear 70 which meshes with a primary input gear 72
carried by the shaft 73 of a hydraulic motor 74 driven by one of
the pumps 34.
As seen in FIG. 3 the planetary gear unit 62 includes a sun gear
76 carried on the input shaft 66 and four planet gears 78 meshing
with the sun gear 76 and with an internally toothed ring gear 80.
An end 64 of the crusher shaft 50 is carried by a planet gear carrier
82. The ring gear 80 is fixed against rotation, preferably by being
made unitary with the body and/or frame of the machine.
In use the machine is propelled into a low-clearance mine area
by means of the crawler units 38 under the control of an operator.
Electric current for the motor 32 is supplied to the machine by
a cable (not shown). The control valves for the various hydraulic
motors are carried by the machine but are not shown inasmuch as
they may be conventional features of a feeder-crusher. When the
machine has been properly located, the sprocket motors 61 and the
crusher motor 74 are set in motion and coal is loaded into the receiving
section 14. The moving flights 56 urge the uncrushed coal into the
hammer circle 54 of the crusher and then urge the coal crushed by
the breaker arms 52 into the discharge section 16.
The system of flights 56 and chains 58 can be designed and constructed
to transport the uncrushed and crushed coal at essentially any practical
rate and the ability of the crusher is therefore the limiting feature
of the machine's throughput. As described earlier this limiting
feature is overcome to a large extent by providing a flywheel 68
at the high-speed input of the speed reducer so that the torque
applied to the crusher shaft 50 is amplified by the rapidly rotating
flywheel 68. The amplification is, of course, proportional to the
weight and speed of the flywheel 68 and for a given crusher the
weight of the flywheel to be used will be selected on the basis
of the desired increase in torque, subject to the space available
for the flywheel and the ability of the crusher to withstand higher
stresses. Preferably the flywheel should produce a minimum increase
of 25% in the torque applied to the crusher shaft, over that which
is available without the flywheel. The speed reducer is preferably
of the planetary gear type because this type of construction is
capable of absorbing the high stresses which will develop when the
amplified torque applied to the crusher shaft 50 overcomes a resistance
which would cause jamming of the crusher if the amplified torque
was not present.
It will be understood that the term flywheel means a discrete body
of revolution of greater diameter and mass than the shaft on which
it is carried. The flywheel may have its mass concentrated, ring-like,
near its periphery as shown, or it may be a disc of uniform thickness.
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