END OF A CONVEYOR BELT

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a chute for exchanging material to be located between the discharge zone of a first conveyor belt and the feeding zone for a second conveyor belt, wherein the chute is provided with an inner baffle which is automatically adjusted to the flow conditions of the material being transported on the first conveyor belt.

This invention is also related to a system and method for the chute to function in an automatized manner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

During the operations for transporting powdery or granular material such as aggregates or minerals, conveyor belts carrying the material from one first point to a second point within a processing plant, are used. In this second point of the plant, the lower end of the conveyor belt can discharge the material to a machine, or else, towards another conveyor belt which will send the material in another direction of the plant. In order to perform the discharge, chutes are installed at the lower end of the conveyor belt, said chutes having in its interior a flow baffle, generally fixed which allows guiding the material to the machine, or else, toward another conveyor belt.

The quantity of material on the conveyor belt is not constant and can vary according to the production volumes, shutdown times of the processing plant, increases and decreases of the material flow being fed in accordance with the process requirements.

When the conveyor belt carries a low load of material, it cannot be guided by the baffle, falling in an abrupt way and strongly directly over the processing equipment or else on the second conveyor belt.

This abrupt fall of material can cause damages to the processing equipment or to the surface of the other conveyor belt, which is why said fall is undesired.

On the other hand, when the conveyor belt carries a high load of material, this bounces on the inner baffle of the chute and tends to agglomerate on the inlet thereof, thereby limiting the discharge capacity on the processing equipment, or else, limiting the transfer capacity towards another conveyor belt, which could eventually cause a blockage. There have been attempts in the state of the art to solve the problems that take place on discharge or transfer chutes.

For instance, document CN 201458329 discloses a material guiding device of a belt conveyor chute, which is arranged at the upper end of the chute and comprises a bracket which is arranged at the upper end of the chute, supporting the roller components for the winding and unwinding of the conveyor belt.

The rubber device for guiding material is suspended within the chute by means of a mechanism that can rotate in such a way of bringing closer or pushing away the guiding device in a way that when the material cakes impact the rubber of the guiding device, the mechanism can rotate, preventing the material cakes from being attached to the rubber which will result in the chute being blocked.

Document JP H07277431 discloses a chute device for a conveyor belt for carrying bulk material capable of preventing accumulation by providing a baffle plate located inside the chute having a supporting structure with an elastic body extending and contracting in the longitudinal direction against the conveyor belt.

An article to transport is discharged from the discharge end of the article conveyor belt at a speed specified by the flow forming a parabola path which collides against the baffle plate and slides down downward said baffle plate.

Thereafter, when colliding against the baffle plate, it is guided by it and drops into the chute main body.

At this time, when the article to be transported collides against the baffle plate and the internal part of the chute, a general oscillation is generated on the baffle plate and the internal part of the chute.

This oscillation shakes off the article to be transported which tends to get attached to the baffle plate and the internal part of the chute.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the adherence and accumulation of the article to be transported on the baffle plate and the chute.

Document JP 10279061 discloses a device to prevent the adhesion of powder and granular material to a chute body and improve the abrasion resistance by making an article to be conveyed which is released from an upstream conveyor belt, collide with a ceramic sheet which is swingably installed in the vertical direction and dropping the same while kept into contact with the conveyor belt.

The desirable material to be transported is guided towards a chute which comprises a ceramic sheet vertically installed on a support shaft swingably in the vertical direction and is opposite to an exhaust edge part of a belt conveyor.

The ceramic sheet is installed on an inner wall side of the chute body on a connecting part, upstream of the belt conveyor.

When the powder and granular material is conveyed by the upstream belt conveyor, said material is released from the conveyor terminal edge and collides with the ceramic sheet, which vibrates because of the oscillating installation.

Due to this vibration, the generation of the deposit of the powder and granular material is released from the upstream belt conveyor and the dust dispersed from the powder and granular material can be inhibited.

The abrasion resistance of the chute body can be improved by the ceramic sheet.

The aforementioned documents disclose flow baffle devices which are not fixed, and therefore they allow preventing the material being transported from getting agglomerated which will result in the chute being blocked.

However, in addition to these problems, it is desirable that the baffle plate inside the chute can generate an envelope on the upper surface of the material being transported with which the flow can be adjusted or molded in a way the material can be softly dropped on the device, or else, on a second conveyor belt without damaging it.

Due to the aforementioned, the objective of this invention is providing a chute which simultaneously prevents a blockage of the material being transported inside a chute. having vibratory means to prevent said material from being attached to the baffle plate, having means for adjusting or molding the material flow in a way this is softly dropped on the processing device or else, on a second conveyor belt and in addition it can be automatically adjusted to the flow conditions of the material being transported on the conveyor belt.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The attached drawings are included to provide a better understanding of the invention they constitute part of this specification and show the preferred embodiment of this invention.

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a conveyor belt with the chute of the present invention.

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of a conveyor belt with the chute in a sectional view showing the flow of the material being transported as well as the baffle plate of the invention.

Figure 3 shows an exploded perspective view of a conveyor belt with the chute in a sectional view showing the flow of the material being transported as well as the baffle plate of the invention.

Figure 4 shows an exploded perspective view of a conveyor belt with the chute in a sectional view showing the flow of the material being transported as well as the baffle plate of the invention.

Figure 5 shows an exploded perspective view of a conveyor belt with the chute in a sectional view showing the flow of the material being transported and the baffle plate of the invention, as well as a detail of the anti-adhesion means used on the conveyor belt.

Figure 6 shows a perspective view of the chute and the formation of the baffle plate of the present invention.

Figure 7 shows a perspective view of the formation of the baffle plate of the present invention with the articulation movements.

Figure 8 shows a perspective view of a conveyor belt with the chute in a sectional view showing the adaptation of the baffle plate to the flow of the material being transported.

Figure 9 shows a block diagram of the system which allows for the chute of the present invention to function in an automatized way.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a chute for exchanging material to be located between the discharge zone of a first conveyor belt and the feeding zone of a second conveyor belt. Also, the present invention relates to a chute located between the discharge zone of a conveyor belt and the inlet towards a processing equipment.

The chute has an inner baffle being automatically adjusted to the flow conditions of the material being transported on the conveyor belt.

Generally, plants for processing powder or granular material use conveyor belts for carrying material between a first point and second point within the plant.

At a second point, the material is discharged on a processing equipment, or else, towards the feeding zone of a second conveyor belt.

In the present invention, a chute (1) is installed at the discharge end (6) of a conveyor belt (2) which carries a material (10). Said chute (1) has in its interior a flow baffle (4) which allows for the material (10) to be discharged by adjusting or molding the flow in a way the material (10) is softly dropped on a device (not shown) which processes said material (10). or else, that said material is softly dropped on a second conveyor belt (not shown) which carries said material (10) towards another point within the plant.

hi order to comply with the aforementioned objective, the flow baffle (4) is formed by a plurality of plates (7.8.9) which are connected to each other in a pivotal way.

In figure 7. one of the embodiments of this invention is shown wherein a central plate (8 ) has a first end (11) and a second end ( 12 ).

An upper plate (7) is connected to the first end (11) of the central plate (8) wherein said first end (11) has a pivot which is pivotally joined to said upper plate (7) in such a way said upper plate (7) rotates with respect to said central plate (8) by means of a rotational movement (16).

hi the same way. a lower plate (9) is connected to the second end (12) of the central plate (8) wherein said second end (12) has a pivot which is pivotally joined to said lower plate (9) in such a way said lower plate (9) rotates with respect to said central plate (8) by means of a rotational movement (16).

The plurality of plates (7.8.9) can be made of plastic material, which allows each one of them to be light, thereby simplifying the assembling and disassembling operations in order to facilitate the maintaining tasks.

As shown in figures 4.6 and 8 each end face ( 14) of each one of these plates (7.

8.9) is supported on the inner wall (15) of the interior of the chute (1). which is located facing the discharge end (6) of the conveyor belt (2) by means of at least two linear actuators (5) which are moved by getting closer to and away from the discharge end (6) of the conveyor belt (2) by means of a linear motion (17). Said actuators can be of the pneumatic, hydraulic, mechanic or electro-mechanic type.

The linear motion (17) and the rotational movement (16) allow for the plurality of plates (7.8.9) to move by enclosing the flow of material (10) thereby allowing to adjust or mold the flow of said material (10) in a way this is softly dropped on the processing device, or else, on a second conveyor belt (not shown).

hi case that the material (10) gets attached to the flow baffle (4). said at least two linear actuators (5) connected to each one of the plates (7.8.9) are provided with a short and quick linear motion (17) of the vibration type to remove the material (10) being attached, thereby preventing the chute ( 1 ) from being blocked.

In order to provide the linear motion (17) and the rotational movement (16) for each one of the plates (7. 8. 9) so as these can be automatically adjusted to the flow conditions of the material (10). automatized means are provided which detect the load of material ( 10) on the conveyor belt (2).

To that end. a gripping system (3) is installed on the conveyor belt (2) which allows supporting at least one sensor (18). This sensor (18) detects the quantity of material (10) being transported by the conveyor belt (2). for instance, determining the height of the material ( 10) with respect to the surface of the conveyor belt (2).

The height of the material (10) is detected by the sensor (18) the signal of which feeds a first interface (19) which transforms the signal of the sensor (18) into digitalized data in such a way these can be processed by the processor (20).

According to the programmed height in the processor (20) this will emit a digitalized signal towards a second interface (21) which takes the digitalized signal and transforms it into a control signal which activates an engine or pump (22) thus allowing for the activation of the actuator (5) with which a linear motion (17) is generated . The sensor (18) can be an optical or RF device.

hi order for the chutes to automatically function, it is necessary that the height of the material on the surface of the conveyor belt (2) is correlated with the motion (17) of actuators (5 ). For instance, for a determined height which could be considered as normal by the process, then it would be necessary to correlate said height with a position of the actuators (5 ) which will be considered as the normal position and will remain as programmed in the processor (20).

If the sensor ( 18 ) detects that the height of the material ( 10) has lowered, then the processor (20) will emit digitalized information so as the second interface (21 ) can generate a control signal in such a way that the actuators (5 ) bring its position closer towards the back end (6 ) of the conveyor belt (2 ).

If the height of the material ( 10) on the conveyor belt (2 ) is abruptly increased at the discharge end (6). it will mean that said material is stuck on the plates (7. 8. 9 ) of the flow baffle (4).

Then, this will be detected by the sensor ( 18 ) which will send the data towards the processor (20) so as this can instruct the actuators (5 ) to provide quick and short linear movements ( 17 ) of the vibration type, to force the material ( 10) to be removed from the front face ( 13 ) of each one of said plates (7. 8. 9 ).

The normal quantity of material ( 10) and the normal position of the actuators (5 ) can be correlated with any other detectable parameter on the conveyor belt (2 ). for instance, the weight, speed or any other variable which can discriminate the quantity of material ( 10) being transported in real time.

hi order to comply with the objective, that is. the chute working in an automatized way. the system provides the following steps: (a) detecting through sensor ( 18 ) the quantity of material ( 10) being transported by said conveyor belt (2 ). thereby determining the height of the material ( 10) with respect to the surface of the conveyor belt (2 ); (b) transforming the height detected by sensor ( 18 ) into a signal of digitalized data; (c ) feeding the first interface ( 19 ) which transforms the signal of the sensor ( 18 ) into digitalized data in such a way these can be processed by the processor (20); (d) emitting control data digitalized from the processor (20) towards a second interface (21 );

(e) transforming the digitalized signal into a control signal to activate an engine or pump (22 ) which allows the activation of the actuator (5 ) with which a linear movement ( 17 ) and/or a rotational movement is generated. This aforementioned automatized system has the advantage that can be connected to a monitoring central in a remote way which controls the parameters of the plant.