Technical Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a dust scrubber for use in mining operations, and in particular to a cowl-like scrubber adapted for use on a long-wall shearer to filter the dust-laden air generated in an underground mining operation.

Background of the Invention At the present time long-wall coal mining opera¬ tions are generally limited to a "single-pass" technique in order to comply with government regulations for dust control. The single-pass technique allows mining only in the direction of the flow of ventilation air through the underground area. In this way, the "mine workers who operate the shields and perform other mining related functions and trail the generated dust and occupy an area of fresh air as the ventilation flow carries the dust forward, away from the miners. However, shearer operators may be exposed to dust generated by the trailing cutter drum. A long-wall shearer generally has two cutter drums, an upper, leading drum and a lower, trailing cutter drum. Since the trailing cutter drum is lower than the leading cutter, it generates less dust. This dust can be con- trolled by conventional techniques such as bit sprays located along the cutter drum periphery, special cutter drum bit shapes, reduced cutter drum revolution speeds and air moving sprays also known as "shearer clearers".

A major problem is encountered when attempts are made to mine in a direction opposite to or against the flow of ventilation air. In such an operation, the shearer operator is exposed to the dangerously high levels of dust generated by the upper cutter drum and carried

back to the shearer operator by the ventilation air flow. Other miners are exposed to the dust generated by both cutter drums. To date, no satisfactory dust control technology has been developed which would allow long-wall coal mining in a direction against the ventilation flow without severely reducing cutting speeds in order to comply with governmental dust control regulations.

The problem remains despite a great economic incentive to develop the two-pass technique in order to increase a mine's productivity potential. Various types of dust collectors have been experimented with but have proven unsuccessful for a number of reasons. Foremost among the reasons is either the dust collectors could not remove sufficient quantities of dust from the air or the collectors or filters have been so large that their use is precluded by their vulnerability to damage or their inter¬ ference with the mining operation itself.

The present invention allows increased coal pro¬ duction which in _^ t rn helps solve the national energy problem.

Summary of the Invention The present invention is a cowl-like scrubber which provides a practical solution to the long-wall mining dust control problem. The scrubber is adapted to be incorporated into the present cowl structures used in conjunction with the cutter drums on a long-wall shearer.

The scrubber has a housing which replaces a portion of the traditional cutter drum cowl and provides either a screen-like barrier or a solid surface adjacent the trailing edge periphery of the cutter drum. A barrier surface is necessary to protect the scrubber elements and the miners from chunks of coal thrown by the spinning drums as well as to enhance the augering function of the drums which moves coal away from the face of the wall on to the par line. Downstream of the barrier surface are the water jet spray air movement means for entraining dust particles within water droplets thereby creating a dust-

laden mist, and a mist eliminator which then removes the dust-laden mist from the air, effectively filtering the air to meet dust control regulations for the safety of the miners. According to one aspect of the invention, the water jet spray air movement means includes an arrangement of nozzles fed with a water supply for producing jet sprays of high pressure, high velocity water droplets for effective contact with the dust-laden air generated by the drums.

According to another aspect of the invention, the barrier surface may be a screen of a porous, non-plug¬ ging type which performs the normal functions of a conven¬ tional cowl and allows dust particles to pass through to the scrubber elements. If a screen is used water sprays are provided for flushing the front and back sides of the screen to unplug any portions of the screen preventing air flow therethrough.

According to another aspect of the invention, the barrier surface may be a solid surface similar to the traditional cowl used for cutter drums. The air to be filtered would then be directed around the sides, over the top, or around the bottom of the solid surface into the scrubber elements for filtering. According to another aspect of the invention, the mist eliminator may be a fibrous media panel, a packed bed-type filter, or a tortuous path de ister, used either singly or in cooperation.

According to another aspect of the invention, auxiliary sprays may be provided to an area near the for¬ ward portion of the cutter drum for directing the gener¬ ated dust back towards the cowl-like scrubber. Such auxiliary sprays would be most helpful when the shearer is operating in the direction of the ventilation air flow. Brief Descriϋtion of the Drawinσs

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a long-wall shearer operating in the direction of the ventilation air

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flow in an underground mine, partially shown in horizontal cross-section;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary elevational view of the invention as seen along line 2-2 in FIGURE 1; FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of the present invention and a cutter drum;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional side view of the present invention as seen along line 4-4 in FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the present invention as seen along line 5-5 in FIGURE 4.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Referring now to the drawings, like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views. The preferred embodiment is directed specifically to a coal mine operation; nonethe¬ less, the present invention has broad application to types of mining other than coal. FIGURE 1 shows a ^' long-wall mining operation. The periphery of the wall of coal is defined by the flow path for the ventilation air illus¬ trated by the directional arrows A. Within the flow path area are a stage loader and a pan line for the conveyance of the mined coal to the conveyor leading to the exterior of the mine. Along the pan line 12 runs the long-wall shearer 10, which is protected from collapsing mined areas (the gob area) by shields 11. The main frame 13 of the shearer supports a pair of cutter drums, a leading cutter drum 14 and a trailing cutter drum 16. The cutter drums auger into the coal wall and thus mine the coal. The direction of operation of the shearer is shown in FIGURE 1 as proceeding with the direction of the ventilation air flow. This is the standard single-pass technique arrange¬ ment. However, it is o be understood that the present invention is directed to effective filtering of the dust-laden air when the shearer is operating against the ventilation air flow as well as with the air flow. For purposes of complete disclosure only, the operation of the shearer with the flow of ventilation air was chosen.

Referring now to FIGURE ^' 2, the main frame 13 of the shearer 10 is shown with the present invention 20 mounted with respect to both the upper, leading cutter drum 14 and lower, trailing cutter drum 16. The support arms 17 for connecting the scrubbers 20 to the main frame 13 are also shown. The cutter drums revolve in clockwise and counterclockwise directions into portions of the coal wall. The traditional rearward cowl for each cutter drum is shown with the present invention, a cowl-like scrubber 20, incorporated into its structure.

In FIGURE 3, the spatial relationship of the cowl-like scrubber invention 20, hereafter referred to as the scrubber, with the cutter drum 14, is shown. The housing 21 has mounted within it the various water supply piping 28, 32, 50, 51, and manifold means 53 necessary for the operation of this scrubber. The water supplies will be discussed in greater detail below. The drum bits 15 are arranged in a helical fashion on the drum which is not apparent from the drawing in FIGURE 3. The structure of the scrubber can be understood most clearly from a discussion of FIGURE 4. In FIGURE 4, only a portion of the leading cutter drum 14 is shown. The portion shown is the trailing edge of the cutter drum 14. Directly behind the trailing edge the traditional cowl structure was mounted. In the present invention a cowl-like structure remains but incorporated in it is the dust scrubber invention. The cowl provides a surface to the cutter drum which enhances the augering or coal con¬ veying function of the cutter drum as well as providing protection to the shearer operators from coal fragments or chunks thrown from the rotating drum. In FIGURE 4, a screen-like barrier 23 mounted over the air inlet to the housing 21 occupies the normal cowl position. The use of a screen or similar porous barrier is optional, but a screen-like barrier 23 is preferred. The screen-like barrier 23 is an intake screen constructed preferably

-α- from a durable, non-plugging media. The barrier 23 thus can function as a normal cowl yet is porous to let air and dust pass through for the filtering process. The openings of the screen would be small enough to prevent coal parti- cles which are large enough to plug other scrubber elements from passing through. It should be understood that if a solid surface cowl is used, the intake locations for the dust to enter the scrubber could be located on the side of the scrubber away from the cowl face or along the top or bottom surfaces of the scrubber.

To prevent the intake barrier 23 from plugging, even though a non-plugging media is used, water sprays are used. As shown in FIGURE 4, water sprays 25 are provided along the top edge of the barrier 23 to continuously or intermittently flush the outside screen surface and there¬ by prevent plugging. Backflush sprays 26 with nozzles 27 are provided directly behind the barrier in the event the screen of the barrier 23 becomes plugged to an extent the surface sprays 25 cannot clean. The backflush sprays 26 are activated automatically by a pressure switch 29. The pressure switch would sense the air pressure in the scrubber downstream of the intake screen 23. The pressure switch 29 would be connected to a standard solenoid valve. Other air velocity sensing devices could be used to pro- vide the automatic backflushing function. The water supply for the surface sprays 25, however, would be sepa¬ rated from the supply for the backflush sprays 26 because the two sprays would not be operated at the same time. The front surface sprays 25 would operate regularly as opposed to the intermittent operation of the backflush sprays 26.

An alternative barrier would be a solid cowl-piece which would prevent flying coal pieces from passing to the scrubber elements but would be designed to permit dust-laden air flow around its edges to the scrubber elements.

Arranged in an aligned manner with the backflush spray nozzles 27,. back-to-back, are the nozzles 31 of the jet spray air movement section 30 of the scrubber 20. The nozzles 31 are constructed to deliver high pressure, high velocity water droplets and are spaced apart along the entire depth of the scrubber and across the entire width of the scrubber as can be seen in a comparison of FIGURE 4 and FIGURE 5. The nozzles 31 are directed to shoot water jets in the direction away from the cutter drum. The water supply 32 for both the jet spray air movement sec¬ tion 30 and the front screen surface sprays 25 may be interconnected. An alternative embodiment is a pipe having a continuous lengthwise slot capable of spraying high velocity water droplets. A short distance from the jet spray air movement section 30 in the nozzle spray direction is positioned a mist consolidator and/or eliminator element 40. In FIGURE 4, a fibrous media panel 41 provides a surface 42 for collecting the dust-laden mist. It is a filter media well-known by those in the art, as is the wave blade de ister 44 which is mounted immediately behind at the downstream rearward side 43 of the fibrous panel 41 and is better seen in FIGURE 5. The wave-blade demister is thus downstream from the fibrous panel 41 and provides addi- tional mist collection. A standard sump 45 can be pro¬ vided at the bottom of the mist removal section 40 to collect the resulting water slurry. Multiple sumps would be used if the mist collection rate is relatively high. The multiple sumps would be mounted so as to divide the demisted section 40 into shorter vertical sections and thereby reduce the likelihood of water carry- hrough. It should be understood, however, that other demister devices could be used for the demisting function including tor¬ tuous path, cyclone, turning vane, packed bed demisters or zigzag demisters. And a single mist eliminator device could be used rather than the combination of demisters shown in this preferred embodiment.

When cutting in the direction of ventilation airflow as shown in FIGURE 1, the dust would likely be carried away from the scrubber. To eliminate that tenden¬ cy, auxiliary air movement means can be used. In one embodiment, water spray means 50 are mounted at various locations around the cutter drum; see FIGURE 3. The water supply for the spray means 50 could be provided from the supply used in the existing cutter bit cooling and dust suppression sprays. The water spray means 50 would cause a local air velocity directed towards the scrubber intake regardless of the direction of ventilation airflow, with respect to the shearer operation, thus aiding the dust cloud capture efficiency of the scrubber 20. Flexible spray supports 51 such as piping, tubing, or hinged arms, capable of withstanding impacts from flying coal chunks would be used. An alternative embodiment, not shown, for the auxiliary air movement means would be the use of duct enclosures mounted near the cutter drum which would cap¬ ture the generated dust-laden air and direct the flow back to the scrubber area.

As described above, -the present dust scrubber invention is a compact filtering device requiring only a source of water to move the dust-laden air. This is a significant improvement from the familiar venturi-type scrubbers which typically rely on a fan to move both the water and air and which are too large and long for any practical use in underground mining applications. Operation of the Preferred Embodiment A cutter drum of a long-wall shearer generates a tremendous amount of dust which in the confined area of an underground mine operation must be removed by the ven¬ tilation air flow or other means to meet the safety stan¬ dards necessary for mine safety. The present scrubber invention provides a compact design and effective fil- tering of cutter generated dust.

The amount of airflow required to collect a given quantity of cutter generated dust is a mathematical

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function of the distance of the scrubber or filter pickup point from the cutter drum. The concentration of dust in the air (expressed as mass/air volume) decreases rapidly as the distance from the dust generation point (the cutter drum) increases. In general, then, to collect a given quantity of dust per unit of time, a filter or scrubber pickup located far from the cutter drum would have to have a higher airflow rate than would a filter or scrubber with its pickup (air intake) close to the drum where the con- centration of dust in the air is higher. Placing the scrubber intake point as close as possible to the cutter drum then requires the smallest possible amount of airflow necessary to collect a given quantity of dust per unit of time. In turn, such an intake location would allow the use of the smallest possible effective scrubber design. With ^{^} a typical long-wall shearer, the closest possible dust pickup point to the revolving cutter drum would be at the cowl. The cowl is normally located only a few inches from the drum. The present invention, a cowl-like scrubber, is incorporated into the traditional cowl location and could be attached to a conventional cowl. Through use of water spray means 50 the generated dust cloud is directed into or towards the intake screen 23 which is kept clear by use of surface sprays 25 or backflush sprays 26. Once the dust-laden air has passed through the barrier 23, it enters jet spray air movement region 30 to begin the removal process.

It is estimated that a 5,000 to 10,000 cubic feet per minute airflow rate is required at the cowl scrubber intake location to effectively control the res- pirable dust problem. The movement of this quantity of air through the cowl-like scrubber 20 is induced by the water jet spray air movement section 30 by use of nozzles 31. The induction of air with water sprays is known in the art. Venturi scrubbers are used in the art to contact particulate with water droplets. The present invention

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-lo¬ uses jet spray air movement to make efficient use of water to move the dust-laden air, and effectively contact the coal particulate with water droplets as well as to fit within a very limited space. A large quantity of fine sprays generating high velocity, small diameter water droplets are necessary to meet these design requirements.

In order for a moving droplet to induce air movement, an exchange of momentum must take place. The more a water droplet is slowed by the air, the greater the momentum ^' exchange and the greater the energy increase of the dust-laden air. Fast moving water droplets have a higher drag force and therefore lose velocity more rapidly than do slow moving water droplets. It follows then that the higher the initial velocity of the water droplets, the greater the momentum exchange in a given distance. It is known that the chances of contact between a water droplet and a dust particle are increased as the relative velocity between the two is increased. Thus, the higher the ini¬ tial droplet ^' velocity, the more effective the droplet is at contacting dust particles.

The present invention uses high droplet velo¬ cities to achieve the two desirable results of high momen¬ tum transfer and effective droplet/particle contact. It achieves high droplet velocities by delivering high pres- sure water to the nozzles 31. The mathematical relation¬ ships between droplet discharge velocity (V-,) and the nozzle pressure (P) for an ideal nozzle is represented by the following formula:

V ₁ = 12.2 V ? where V., is m ft/sec and P is in lb/in 2. In the present invention it has been determined that for a practical scrubber, the nozzle discharge velocity should be at least three times greater than the mean air velocity (V«) in the area between the jet spray air movement nozzles and the demister. Therefore, to have an effective cowl-like scrubber design the following mathematical relationship should be followed:

^V 2 where P is again expressed in lb/in 2 and V ₂ is m ft/sec. Given time, the tiny dust-laden droplets genera¬ ted by the jet spray air movement section 30 would evap¬ orate and the entrained dust particles would be released back into the air, an undesirable result. Therefore, the dust-laden droplets are quickly removed and/or consoli- dated into larger droplets which quickly settle as a result of gravitational forces. The fibrous media panel 41 has a high respirable dust removal efficiency as it brings dust p rticul te which escaped water droplet im¬ pingement in the jet spray air movement section 30 into more intimate direct contact with the water than would a wave-blade or zigzag demister alone. A fibrous media panel does have a typically high pressure drop for a given approach velocity and a tendency to allow large droplets to be generated and thrown into the airstream at its down- stream surface 43; however, these large droplets will quickly fall to the mine floor carrying dust particulate with them.

Where the higher dust removal efficiency possi¬ ble with a fibrous media panel is required but the large droplet carry-through is objectionable, the wave-blade demister 44 is placed downstream on the rearward side 43 of the fibrous media panel 41 to catch the water droplets generated at the downstream panel surface 43. If used, the sump 45 then collects the water slurry produced from the panel 41 collection and the wave-blade demister 44.

As stated earlier, the scrubber effectively fil¬ ters the cutter generated dust whether the shearer is operating in the direction of ventilation air flow or against the ventilation air flow. The water spray means 50, though, are provided and operated to direct the dust toward the scrubber intake area regardless of the direc¬ tion of shearer operation. Even when cutting in a direc-

tion opposite to the ventilation air, the spray means 50 help prevent the dust from following the coal away from the coal wall and would redirect the dust back into the scrubber. The flexible supports 51 would "give" under the occasional impact from the mined coal and other objects and would thus avoid damage causing inoperation of the spray means 50.

It can now be appreciated that the present invention for a cowl-like scrubber overcomes the dust problems of an underground mining operation and provides a practical solution to the long-wall shearer dust control problems.

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