Drive of a crusher and a crusher The present invention relates to cone and gyratory crushers. In particular, the invention concerns a drive and power transmission of cone and gyratory crushers and a crusher equipped with a drive in accordance with the present invention.

In general, the eccentric shaft of cone and gyratory crushers is rotated by means of a transmission gear comprising an eccentric shaft arranged in vertical position, a ring gear attached to the eccentric shaft, a drive shaft extending horizontally, driven by a motor arranged outside the crusher, and of a pinion gear attached to the drive shaft. In the transmission gear in question, the ring gear and the pinion gear together form a bevel gear pair.

In the gyratory crusher disclosed in Patent publication DE 25 04 466, one or a plurality of hydraulic motors are located at the lower end of the shaft, beside the main shaft, in vertical position, and the power transmission is effected by hydraulic motors with gear drive via eccentric shaft to the main shaft. In this kind of a solution, the drive shafts of the crusher located below the eccentric shaft of the crusher and the arms of the crusher frame in vertical direction require a substantial increase of height of the crusher construction. In addition, the transmission capacity of the drive of said disclosure is small, because the gear wheel of the eccentric shaft must evidently be designed to have a relatively small diameter, so that the space required by it and the gear wheels and hydraulic motors would not unreasonably prevent the crushed material from flowing out of the crusher.

Patent publication US 5 115991 discloses a cone crusher having a low construction, wherein the drive motor is located in vertical position in the crusher. The power transmission in this solution is provided to the eccentric shaft with no reduction gear, via shaft in connection with the eccentric shaft, with a pulley attached thereto. The pulley is connected with the drive motor by means of a plurality of V-belts. This kind of a solution requires a big-sized pulley preventing unreasonably the outflow of the material from the crusher.

In accordance with the present invention, in the arms for connecting the hub portion of the crusher frame to the frame-the number of said arms being usually three and said hub receiving among others the main shaft-there is provided a space in one or more of the arms for the power transmission system of the crusher comprising a vertical shaft of the actuator and a pinion gear driving the gear wheel of the eccentric shaft attached thereto, as well as for the required bearing elements for rotating the shaft and the pinion gear.

With the solution in accordance with the invention, a more compact and simple as well as a cheaper construction of the crusher is provided, compared with crushers of prior art. In addition, in the crusher in accordance with the present invention, the outflow of the crushed material is good, because the power transmission elements are substantially located inside the arms of the frame of the crusher, and under the arms, thus not preventing unreasonably the outflow of the crushed material from the outflow channels that remain between the arms of the frame.

In addition, with a construction in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, an especially big power transmission capacity is provided, because there a high-speed belt transmission is combined with a gear wheel transmission acting as a reduction gear.

In addition, with a construction of still another embodiment of the invention, it is easy to implement a stepless regulation of the rotation speed, which enables the optimization of the amount and quality of final products of the crushing process.

More precisely, the use of a crusher in accordance with the present invention is characterized by what has been stated in the characterizing part of claim 1 and the crusher equipped with a drive in accordance with the present invention is characterized by what has been stated in the characterizing part of claim 5.

The invention will be described in more detail in the following, with reference to the enclosed drawings, wherein Figure 1 shows a cross sectional view of one typical cone crusher of prior art.

Figure 2 shows the base frame of a typical cone crusher of prior art as a three dimensional illustration, Figure 3 shows a cross sectional view of a cone crusher equipped with a drive in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 4 shows a cross sectional view of a cone crusher equipped with a drive in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

Essential parts of the power transmission of the crusher according to figure 1 are an eccentric shaft 1 in vertical position, a ring gear 2 attached to the eccentric shaft, a drive shaft 3 in horizontal position extending outside the frame of the crusher and a pinion gear 4 attached to the drive shaft.

The driving force for the crusher is applied by an external motor (not shown), e. g. via belt transmission to the drive shaft 3, to be transmitted further to the ring gear 2 via pinion gear 4, whereby the pinion gear 4 and the ring gear 2 form a bevel gear pair. Through the ring gear, the driving force is transmitted to an eccentric shaft 1 attached to the ring gear, the motion thereof providing the oscillating motion of the crushing cone of the crusher.

Figure 2 shows the base frame of a typical cone crusher of prior art as a three dimensional illustration. The base frame comprises a shell portion 5 and a hub portion 7 connected to the shell portion 5 by means of at least three arms 6. A vertical boring 8 goes through the hub portion for receiving the main shaft and the eccentric shaft as well as the required bearing and adjusting elements. A lead-through 9 is usually formed to one arm of the base frame for receiving the horizontal drive shaft. The drive shaft is often mounted in the lead- through supported on bearings in a separate housing.

Essential parts of the power transmission of the crusher in accordance with the present invention, shown in figure 3, are the drive shaft 10 and the pinion gear 11 located in the space formed in the arm 6 connecting the hub portion of the frame of the crusher to the shell portion of the frame, the gear wheel 2 of the eccentric shaft and the eccentric shaft 1.

The driving force for the crusher is transmitted to the eccentric shaft 1 by means of a cylindrical gear pair formed by the pinion gear 11 attached to the drive shaft 10 and the gear wheel 2 attached to the eccentric shaft 1, the motion thereof providing the oscillatory motion of the crushing cone of the crusher. In this embodiment the drive shaft is rotated via pulley 12.

In the solution in accordance with the invention, the pinion gear is essentially as a whole located inside the arm of the frame, whereby the arm surrounds the pinion gear totally, except for that portion of the toothing, that is meshed with the gear wheel of the eccentric shaft. Thus, the forces exerted to the vertical drive shaft from the toothing of the gear are transmitted to the frame of the crusher by means of the arm and/or an element fixed stationary with respect to the arm.

In an other embodiment of the invention, shown in figure 4, the construction of the drive of the crusher is the same as in figure 3, except for the fact, that a hydraulic motor 13 effects the rotation of the drive shaft 10.

Even more hydraulic motors can be located in the crusher. The hub portion of the frame is in general connected to the frame by three arms, whereby the crusher can be driven for instance with three hydraulic motors.

The drive in accordance with the present invention, implemented with hydraulic motors, enables the adjustment of the driving speed in an easy and inexpensive way, by using adjustment methods and means known in the art.

With the solution in accordance with the present invention, a lower construction of the crusher can be achieved. This lowness of the construction of the crusher is achieved so, that in the solution in accordance with the invention, the vertical drive shaft, eccentric shaft, main shaft and the arm connecting the hub portion of the base frame of the crusher to the shell portion of the base frame of the crusher can be arranged so, that they are located overlapping and intermeshing with each other in the vertical direction, whereby there is no need to locate two or more of them on top of each other, as is the case in the constructional solutions of crushers of prior art. In addition, no special shields are required for the drive motors, because they are located inside the arms.

The eccentric shaft of the crusher in accordance with the present invention can be turned with a bigger driving torque, because the ring gear to be rotated by the hydraulic motors can be bigger than in the usual solutions. Thus, by means of the solution of the present invention, also a better power transmission is provided for the crusher, and as a result of that, the capacity of the crusher will be increased.