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Title:
WEAR LINER SENSOR
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO/2021/046588
Kind Code:
A1
Abstract:
In one aspect of the invention there is provided a sensor assembly for a wear liner, including a processor being located within an electronics chamber that is recessed into a rear of the wear liner or a backing plate adjoining the wear liner. A printed circuit board is connected to the processor, the printed circuit board being at least partly retained within a printed circuit board channel. At least one probe/sensor connected to the printed circuit board, the at least one probe being at least partly retained within a probe channel or probe channels. An antenna connected to the processor for transmitting data from the at least one probe, and an antenna channel for retaining at least a part of the antenna.

Inventors:
PERRY MAX
LEVYTSKYY MICHAEL
Application Number:
PCT/AU2019/051304
Publication Date:
March 18, 2021
Filing Date:
November 28, 2019
Export Citation:
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Assignee:
ALLOY STEEL AUSTRALIA INT PTY LTD (AU)
International Classes:
F16D66/02; G01N3/56
Domestic Patent References:
WO2019018883A12019-01-31
Foreign References:
AU2018101067A42018-08-30
US20180313707A12018-11-01
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
SUMMIT IP (AU)
Download PDF:
Claims:
CLAIMS

1. A sensor assembly for a wear liner, comprising: a processor being beatable within an electronics chamber recessed into a rear of the wear liner or a backing plate adjoining said wear liner; a printed circuit board connectable to the processor, the printed circuit board being at least partly retainable within a printed circuit board channel; at least one probe connectable to the printed circuit board, the at least one probe being at least partly retainable within a probe channel or probe channels; an antenna connectable to the processor for transmitting data from the at least one probe; and an antenna channel for retaining at least a part of the antenna.

2. The sensor array in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the electronics chamber comprises a void being machined into the rear of said wear liner or into said backing plate.

3. The sensor array in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the printed circuit board channel is precast in a rear of the wear liner or may be cut therethrough with a waterjet.

4. The sensor array in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the at least one probe channel, or a part thereof, is an aperture having a generally circular cross- section and a diameter between 2mm and 10mm, or 5mm, or the at least one probe channel, or a part thereof, is an oblong narrow elliptic cross-section shape being 1mm by 5mm in width and length.

5. The sensor array in accordance with claim 4, wherein the at least one probe channel is precast through the wear liner or is cut therethrough with a waterjet.

6. The sensor array in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the electronics chamber and/or probe channel are sealed or over moulded with a sealing material once the components of the sensor assembly are assembled.

7. The sensor array in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the sensor assembly includes at least one surface probe retained within a surface probe channel, and at least one edge probe retained within an edge probe channel.

8. The sensor array in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the antenna channel includes a first portion that extends through or into a rear of the wear liner or backing plate, and a second portion that extends through, or along a groove in a side of a bolt used to connect the wear plate or backing plate to the underlying equipment.

9. The sensor array in accordance with claim 1 , wherein a bolt used to connect the wear plate or backing plate to the underlying equipment includes a passageway that extends through the central part thereof, which form a second portion of the antenna channel.

10. The sensor array in accordance with claim 8 or 9, wherein the antenna extends by way of the second portion of the antenna channel, such that it extends outside of the equipment to which the wear liner is attached.

11. The sensor array in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the data transmitted via the antenna may be receivable by a fixed receiving module or a portable device, by way of a communication means including low power radio network, microwave data links, BLUETOOTH®, BLUETOOTH® Low Energy (BLE), Wi-Fi, LoRa™, NB-IOT, telecommunications network or other network.

12. The sensor array in accordance with claim 11 , wherein the fixed receiving module is a communications gateway that sends the data to a remote server.

13. The sensor array in accordance with claim 11 , wherein the portable device is a telecommunications device or mobile phone, with appropriate application software, or the portable device portable device is a designated device for receiving the data that includes a designated software program, in the form of embedded software or firmware with corresponding hardware that is designed to perform one or more dedicated functions.

14. The sensor array in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the wear liner is a single sided skirt liner or a double-sided skirt liner, wherein the sensor assembly includes first and second printed circuit boards connected to the processor and retained within respective printed circuit board channels, first and second surface probes retained within respective surface probe channels, and first and second edge probes retained within respective edge probe channels. 15. A method of measuring the abrasion of a wear liner, including the steps of: providing a sensor assembly comprising, a processor being beatable within an electronics chamber recessed into a rear of the wear liner or a backing plate adjoining the wear liner, a printed circuit board connectable to the processor, the printed circuit board being at least partly retainable within a printed circuit board channel, at least one probe connectable to the printed circuit board, the at least one probe being at least partly retainable within a probe channel or probe channels, an antenna connectable to the processor for transmitting data from the at least one probe, and an antenna channel for retaining at least a part of the antenna; receiving data from the sensor assembly using a fixed receiving module or a portable device; and determining the amount of wear of the wear liner based on the information received from the sensor assembly to thereby assess whether the wear liner requires replacement.

Description:
WEAR LINER SENSOR

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a sensor for an abrasive resistant wear plate, liner or skirt, that is retained within a recess or recesses. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Abrasion resistant wear plates or liners are used in various applications where friction caused by an abrasive material will lead to damage or degradation of machinery or material handling equipment. The removable wear plates or liners are installed over the surface of machinery or equipment to protect the underlying metal surface.

It is necessary to monitor the amount of wear of the plate or liner to ensure that the underlying metal material is not impacted, which would lead to damage with resultant downtime while the machinery or material handling equipment is repaired.

Due to mineral conditions such as hardness, humidity and/or granulometry, the wear speed of the wear plates/liners may vary significantly over time. It is therefore difficult to predict in advance the date for replacement of the wear plates/lines. Accordingly, it is important to regularly monitor the amount of abrasion that is occurring. Simply visual inspection of the wear plates/liners can be difficult in some situations and therefore sensors are commonly used to monitor the amount of wear.

One such wear sensor disclosed in the published prior art, is found in Australian Patent Application No. 2014200336 (TERRELL et al), which teaches a sensor comprising a plurality of layered RFID chips and respective antennae, wherein the RFID chips are located across the thickness of a wear material. The layered RFID chips are encapsulated in a wear medium, that in use, wears at a similar rate to the material that the sensor is adapted to be fixed to.

The use of such a configuration increases the cost of production and the material in which the RFID chips are encapsulated must be consistent with the wear material for which the sensor will be used. It should be appreciated that any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification is included solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention and should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art was widely known or formed part of the common general knowledge in the field as it existed before the priority date of the application.

The phrase “wear liner” used throughout the description and claims should be understood to encompass wear plates and other types of sacrificial members. The terms “probe/s” and “sensor/s” used throughout the description and claims should be understood to be interchangeable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide for a wear sensor that can be used on a range of wear materials. It is another object of the invention to provide a sensor assembly that minimises the extent to which it extents rearwardly of the wear liner or a backing attached thereto. It is still a further object of the present invention to overcome at least some of the aforementioned problems, or at least provide the public with a useful alternative. The foregoing objects should not necessarily be considered as cumulative and various aspects of the invention may fulfil one or more of the above objects.

In one aspect of the invention, but not necessarily the broadest or only aspect, there is proposed a sensor assembly for a wear liner, comprising: a processor being beatable within an electronics chamber recessed into a rear of the wear liner or a backing plate adjoining the wear liner; a printed circuit board connectable to the processor, the printed circuit board being at least partly retainable within a printed circuit board channel; at least one probe connectable to the printed circuit board, the at least one probe being at least partly retainable within a probe channel or probe channels; an antenna connectable to the processor for transmitting data from the at least one probe; and an antenna channel for retaining at least a part of the antenna.

In one form the electronics chamber is a void that is machined into the rear of the wear liner or into the backing plate. The electronics chamber can be sealed or over moulded with a sealing material once the components of the sensor assembly are assembled.

The printed circuit board channel may have a generally rectangular cross- sectional profile. The printed circuit board channel may be precast in a rear of the wear liner or may be cut therethrough with a waterjet.

The at least one probe channel, or a part thereof, may be an aperture having a generally circular cross-section and may have a diameter between 2mm and 10mm and preferably 5mm, or oblong narrow elliptic cross-section shape 1mm by 5mm of width and length preferably. The at least one probe channel may be precast through the wear liner or may be cut therethrough with a waterjet.

Preferably, once the probe is placed within the probe channel, the probe channel is filled with a sealing compound.

Preferably, the sensor assembly includes at least one surface probe retained within a surface probe channel, and at least one edge probe retained within an edge probe channel.

The antenna channel may include a first portion that extends through or into a rear of the wear liner or backing plate, and a second portion that extends through, or along a groove in a side of a bolt used to connect the wear plate or backing plate to the underlying equipment. Alternatively, the bolt may include a passageway that extends through the central part of the bolt. In this way the antenna can extend by way of the second portion of the antenna channel, such that it extends outside of the equipment to which the wear liner is attached. For the non-metallic wear plates (i.e. wear media of ceramics, plastics, or other suitable material) an embedded into the electronics chamber PCB, ceramic or other type of embedded antenna may be applied.

The data transmitted via the antenna may be receivable by a fixed receiving module or a portable device. Communication may be by way of long-range or short- range networks, such as but not limited to low power radio network, microwave data links, BLUETOOTH®, BLUETOOTH® Low Energy (BLE), Wi-Fi, LoRa™, NB-IOT or any other type of network. The range of the network may be up to 100m, or the network may be up to 10km. Alternatively, the system may utilise 3G/4G/5G telecommunications networks or similar, or be connectable to a device that utilises such a network.

The fixed receiving module may be a communications gateway that sends the data to a remote server, such as a cloud server. The portable device may be a telecommunications device, such as a mobile phone, with appropriate application software. Alternatively, the portable device may be a designated device for receiving the data that includes a designated software program. The designated device may include embedded software or firmware with corresponding hardware that is designed to perform one or more dedicated functions of the present invention.

The designated software program may alternatively be stored in a computer readable medium on a storage device such as a hard drive, a magneto-optical disk drive, CD-ROM, integrated circuit, a radio or infra-red transmission channel between the computer and another device, a computer readable card such as a PCMCIA card, a flash drive or any other of the number of non-volatile storage devices.

The foregoing is merely exemplary of relevant computer readable mediums. Other computer readable mediums may be practiced without departing from the scope of the invention.

The software program may be implemented as one or more modules for undertaking the steps of the present invention. The modules can be packaged functional hardware units for use with other components or modules. Multiple central processing units (CPU) may be used to control the operation of the apparatus.

Some of the components of the system may be connected by way of a communication device such as, but not limited to, a modem communication path, a computer network such as a local area network (LAN), Internet, or fixed cables.

The assembly may also include a memory component, wherein the data is temporarily stored therein, before it is transmitted at predetermined intervals or is interrogated by a device to retrieve the data. The memory component may be a non volatile storage device.

The processor and the memory component cooperate with each other and with other components of a computer to perform the functionality described herein. Some of the functionality described herein can be accomplished with dedicated electronics hardwired to perform the described functions. The assembly may include a battery embedded within the electronics chamber, or adjacent thereto.

The wear liner may be a single sided skirt liner or a double-sided skirt liner, wherein the sensor assembly includes first and second printed circuit boards connected to the processor and retained within respective printed circuit board channels, first and second surface probes retained within respective surface probe channels, and first and second edge probes retained within respective edge probe channels.

The surface probes and edge probes may be connected to the same printed circuit board or connected to separate printed circuit boards.

The reader will appreciate that all the wear liners attached to protect a piece of equipment may incorporate the wear assembly, or only selected wear liners attached to protect a piece of equipment may incorporate the wear assembly.

In another aspect of the invention there is proposed a method of measuring the abrasion of a wear liner, including the steps of: providing a sensor assembly in accordance with any one of the above aspects; receiving data from the sensor assembly using a fixed receiving module or a portable device; and determining the amount of wear of the wear liner based on the information received from the sensor assembly to thereby assess whether the wear liner requires replacement.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate an implementation of the invention and, together with the description and claims, serve to explain the advantages and principles of the invention. In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a single sided skirt liner incorporating the sensor assembly of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a top view of the single sided skirt liner of Figure 1 ; Figure 3 is a rear view of the single sided skirt liner of Figure 1 ; Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view through A-A of the single sided skirt liner of Figure 3, illustrating the surface probe channel and edge probe channel;

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view through A-A of the single sided skirt liner of Figure 3, illustrating the location of the probes/sensors within the surface probe channel and edge probe channel; and

Figure 6 is a schematic view illustrating the transferal of the data obtained by the sensors of the sensor assembly of Figure 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED AND EXEMPLIFIED EMBODIMENTS

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings. Dimensions of certain parts shown in the drawings may have been modified and/or exaggerated for the purposes of clarity or illustration.

Referring to the drawings for a more detailed description, there is illustrated a sensor assembly 10 for a wear liner 12, demonstrating by way of an example, an arrangement in which the principles of the present invention may be employed.

The wear liner 12 in Figures 1 to 5, is a single sided 14 wear liner 12, however the reader will appreciate that any type of sacrificial member used in the handling of abrasive material could be used without departing from the scope of the invention.

As illustrated in Figure 2, the wear liner 12 is connectable to an underlying equipment 18 that is to be protected, by way of the bolts 20, 22, that extending through respective holes (not shown) in the underlying equipment 18, and held in place by nuts 24.

The sensor assembly 10, in one embodiment, includes a processor 26 being located within an electronics chamber 28 recessed into a rear of the wear liner 12. The electronics chamber 28 may alternatively be located within a backing plate (not shown) that is attached to the rear wear liner.

A printed circuit board 30 in connected to the processor 26 and positioned within a printed circuit board channel 32. As illustrated in Figure 5, a surface probe 34 is retained within a surface probe channel 36, and an edge probe 38 is retained within an edge probe channel 40.

The surface probe channel 36 and edge probe channel 40 are generally circular apertures and in the present embodiment converge to form a shared passageway 42, through which the surface probe 34 and edge probe 38 are connected to the printed circuit board 30, as further illustrated in Figure 5.

As illustrated in Figures 1 to 5, an antenna 44 which is connected to the processor 26 is used for transmitting data received from the probes 34, 38. The antenna 44 extends along an antenna channel 46 in or through the rear of the wear liner 12. The antenna 44 then extends along a groove 48 in a side of bolt 20, as illustrated in Figures 4 and 5. In this way the antenna 44 extends outside of the underlying equipment 18 to which the wear liner 12 is attached, as illustrated in Figure 2.

As illustrated in Figures 1 and 3 the electronics chamber 28 is sealed or over moulded with a sealing material once the components of the sensor assembly 10 are in position.

The channels 32, 36, 40, 46 and passageway 42 may be precast in the rear of the wear liner 12 or may be cut therethrough using a waterjet.

The assembly 10 may include a battery (not shown) embedded within the electronics chamber, or adjacent thereto, as would be obvious to the person skilled in the art.

In use, as illustrated in Figure 6, the data from the sensors, being the surface probe 34 and edge probe 38, are transmitted 50 by way of the antenna 44. The data can be received by either a fixed receiving module 52 or a portable device 54.

The data can be transferred between the antenna 44 and the fixed receiving module 52 or portable device 54 by way of a long-range or short-range network, such as but not limited to low power radio network, microwave data links, BLUETOOTH®, BLUETOOTH® Low Energy (BLE), Wi-Fi, or LoRa™ , NB-IOT or any other wide area network. The reader will appreciate that the range of the network may be up to 100m, or the network may be up to 10km, depending upon the application. The data that is received by the fixed receiving module 52 or portable device 54 can be transferred to a CPU 56, i.e. a computer, or cloud storage 58 by way of a telecommunications network 60, fixed line 62 or another wireless network 64.

Alternatively, a user utilises a display 66 connected to the fixed receiving module 52 or utilises the portable device 54, to determine whether the wear liner 12 needs to be replaced. This can be done onsite adjacent the underlying equipment 18, such as a chute, hopper or other equipment.

The portable device 54, as illustrated in Figure 6, is a mobile phone with appropriate application software installed thereon. The skilled addressee will now appreciate the advantages of the illustrated invention over the prior art. In one form the invention provides a sensor assembly for measuring the abrasion of a wear liner that is embedded within a rear of the wear liner or a backing plate attached to the wear liner. The antenna extends outwardly from the rear of the member to which the wear liner is attached by way of a passage in a locating bolt to improve connectivity.

Various features of the invention have been particularly shown and described in connection with the exemplified embodiments of the invention, however it must be understood that these particular arrangements merely illustrate the invention and it is not limited thereto. Accordingly, the invention can include various modifications, which fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.