The invention is related to a crusher with an axial thrust bearing supporting an eccentrically movable main shaft.
Mineral material such as stone is obtained from the soil for crushing either by exploding or by digging. Stone can be natural stone and gravel or building waste. Both movable and stationary crusher applications are used in crushing. The material for crushing is fed by an excavator or a wheel loader into the feed hopper of the crusher or crushing plant wherefrom the material to be crushed can fall into the jaw of the crusher, or the feeder can transfer the stone material toward the crusher. The mineral material for crushing can also be recyclable material such as concrete, brick or asphalt.
Gyratory and cone crushers are usually used after the jaw crusher for intermediate and fine crushing. In that case, the objective is to produce for example gravel or fine sand. Gyratory and cone crushers break up all stone types but not always recycled materials. Large primary cone crushers are used in mines in the primary crushing phase as well as in other mining and quarrying applications that demand large capacity.
A thrust bearing is arranged in the lower end of the vertically movable main shaft of the gyratory crusher, consisting of a lower bearing, an upper bearing and a pressure plate between the lower and upper bearing. In some cases, in connection with lifting the main shaft, the pressure plate has stuck onto the upper bearing through the oil membrane and fallen uncontrollably. The falling of the pressure plate has damaged the lower bearing or other structures.
WO9715396A1 presents a cone crusher with an axial thrust bearing.
The objective of the invention is to avoid or mitigate problems related to the field of technology and/or to provide new technical alternatives. An objective of the invention is to prevent damaging of the structures of the thrust bearing and the crusher in connection with lifting the main shaft.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a crusher comprising a rotatable eccentric; a main shaft supported to the eccentric; a piston for adjusting the vertical position of the main shaft; and an axial thrust bearing arranged between the lower end of the main shaft and the piston, and which thrust bearing comprises an upper bearing attached to the lower end of the main shaft, a lower bearing attached to the piston, and a pressure plate with a circular groove or expansion, arranged between the upper bearing and the lower bearing; and the crusher comprises a releasing member attached to a crusher structure outside of the pressure plate, and the releasing member comprises a circular lip directed to the direction of the pressure plate, and a part of the lip is arranged in said groove or above the expansion.
Preferably, the groove or expansion is formed on the outer or inner perimeter of the pressure plate.
Preferably, the releasing member is attached to the piston.
Preferably, the attachment of the releasing member allows vertical movement of the releasing member in relation to the piston.
Preferably, the groove or expansion comprises a stopper surface directed upwards, and the lip comprises a lower surface directed towards the stopper surface, and part of the lip partially covers the stopper surface of the pressure plate overhead in positions during the crushing use.
Preferably, the releasing member is a uniform circular part arranged around the outer perimeter of the pressure plate.
Preferably, the releasing member is a combination of two or more parts which form a circular releasing member when attached to the structure of the crusher.
Preferably, the greatest outer diameter of the pressure plate is smaller than the smallest inner diameter defined by the lip of the outer releasing member when attached to the crusher.
Preferably, the releasing member is arranged inside the inner perimeter formed by the middle hole of the pressure plate.
Preferably, the smallest outer diameter of the middle hole of the pressure plate is greater than the greatest outer diameter defined by the lip of the inner releasing member.
Preferably, flow apertures are arranged in the releasing member for the flowing of lubrication oil.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a crushing plant for mineral material, comprising a crusher according to an aspect or an embodiment of the invention.
According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for handling a thrust bearing in a crusher comprising a rotatable eccentric; a main shaft supported to the eccentric; a piston for adjusting the vertical position of the main shaft; and an axial thrust bearing arranged between the lower end of the main shaft and the piston, and which thrust bearing comprises an upper bearing attached to the lower end of the main shaft, a lower bearing attached to the piston, and a pressure plate arranged between the upper bearing and the lower bearing; and in the method, a releasing member is attached to a crusher structure outside of the pressure plate; a part of the circular lip of the releasing member is arranged onto a circular groove formed in the pressure plate or above a part of the expansion.
Preferably, the main shaft is lifted and the vertical ascending of the pressure plate along with the upper bearing attached to the main shaft is prevented with the releasing member.
Preferably, the pressure plate is guided with the releasing member to a desired central position when the pressure plate is mounted onto the lower bearing.
The upper bearing attached to the lower end of the main shaft of the crusher separates from the pressure plate when lifting the main shaft because the releasing member attached to the structure outside of the main shaft of the crusher prevents the ascending of the pressure plate with the upper bearing.
Various embodiments of the present invention are or have been illustrated with reference to one or some aspects of the invention. It is clear to a person skilled in the art that any embodiment of an aspect of the invention may be applied in the same aspect and other aspects either by itself or in connection with various other embodiments.
The invention will be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In the following description like reference signs denote like parts. It should be realised that the presented figures are not in scale as a whole, and that they serve merely to illustrate the embodiments of the invention.
Between a lower end of the main shaft 7 and an end 3 of the piston, a thrust bearing 8 is arranged, comprising an upper bearing 9, a pressure plate 10 and a lower bearing 11. The upper bearing 9 is attached to the lower end of the main shaft. The lower bearing 11 is attached to the piston, preferably to the end 3 of the piston. The pressure plate 10 stays between the upper and lower bearing during the using of the crusher because of the curved shapes of the opposite bearing surfaces of the upper bearing, pressure plate and lower bearing. When the elevation of the piston is changed, simultaneously the horizontal position is changed, and thus the pressure plate must be able to move freely in the guidance between the lower and the upper bearing surfaces. The upper surface of the pressure plate 10 is a concave spherical surface acting as a stopper surface for a convex spherical surface below the upper bearing 9. The lower surface of the pressure plate 10 is a concave spherical surface acting as a stopper surface for the convex spherical surface above the upper bearing 11. The thrust bearing 8 is lubricated with lubrication oil, led in the middle of an arrangement of thrust bearings 9, 10, 11, which lubrication oil is spread onto the bearing surfaces and leaves the thrust bearing sideways with the contribution of the grooves formed on the bearing surfaces of the upper and lower bearing.
The parts of the thrust bearing combined form a thrust bearing arrangement, supporting the main shaft 7 vertically. The thrust bearing arrangement allows the main shaft 7 to rotate around its axis of rotation when the main shaft is rotating in the bearing hole of the eccentric shaft 6, concurrently when the lower end of the main shaft is rotating with respect to the piston when the eccentric shaft is rotated.
The vertical movement of the support cone of the crusher is adjusted with the vertical movement of the piston 3, 4. The setting of the crusher, that is the smallest distance between the inner blade and the outer blade, can be adjusted by a vertical movement. An eccentric rotating movement is accomplished on the inner blade by rotating the eccentric shaft 6. The crushing impact is formed by rotating the eccentric shaft and the main shaft 7, supported diagonally via the eccentric shaft, the support cone attached onto the main shaft and the inner blade (the inner wear part) attached onto the support cone, with respect to the outer blade.
Inside the thrust bearing arrangement, a releasing member 20 is arranged, which in the example of
Preferably, the releasing member 20 is a uniform circular part arranged around the outer perimeter of the pressure plate. The releasing member can also be a combination of two or more parts, such as a combination of two or more circular parts such as segments, which combination when respectively attached to the structure of the crusher outside of the pressure plate forms a circular releasing member.
The releasing member around the pressure plate 10 comprises a lip 21 directed inside toward the pressure plate. In some cases, flow apertures 22 are arranged in the releasing member, such as vertical through holes for the flowing of the lubrication oil are arranged in the releasing member. The lip 21 of the releasing member prevents the pressure plate from the outer perimeter of ascending from underneath the releasing member. When the upper bearing 9 is lifted with the main shaft 7, the pressure plate 10 is detached from the upper bearing and stays over the bearing 11.
When mounting, the pressure plate is laid down concentrically through the orbicular (circular) releasing member 20. Preferably, the greatest outer diameter of the pressure plate 10 is smaller than the smallest inner diameter defined by the lip of the outer releasing member when attached to the crusher. In that case, the pressure plate can be detached from the crusher without separating the releasing member. Preferably, the lip 21 of the releasing member 20 covers overhead a part of the pressure plate (that is, a part of the groove 13 formed on the pressure plate or the stopper surface 10″ of the expansion 10′ directed upwards) preferably in positions of the pressure plate during the crushing use. The inner hole of the releasing member defined by the lip 21 of the releasing member 20 is preferably circular but also other orbicular shapes can be applied. The hole can consist of several subsequent areas with greater and smaller radius on the inner perimeter of the hole.
The pressure plate 10 comprises a groove 13 directed outwards on the outer perimeter (an expansion 10′,
Naturally, the stopper surface formed in the pressure plate for the releasing member can be solely the upper surface 10″ of the expansion 10′ formed in the outer perimeter of the pressure plate, and there is no groove and downwards directed surface in the groove above the lip.
Preferably, vertical movement of the releasing member in relation to the piston is allowed by the attachment of the releasing member. The vertical movability of the releasing member enables making the groove 13 of the pressure plate narrower. When the releasing member moves vertically, the releasing member can move downwards according to the wearing of the thrust bearing.
A releasing member 30 that is arranged inside the pressure plate 10, is arranged inside the arrangement of thrust bearings. In the crusher in
The releasing member 30 comprises a body attached to the piston from its lower end. The body of the releasing member comprises a flange in its upper end. The flange comprises a circular lip 31 directed outwards, which is surrounded by the pressure plate 10, and which lip reaches from some part of it onto the expansion 110 formed in the pressure plate, when the pressure plate is in the position during crushing use. A circular interior groove 113 is formed in the middle hole of the pressure plate in the preferable case in
Preferably, flow apertures 32 are arranged in the releasing member for the flowing of lubrication oil. The lip 31 of the releasing member prevents the pressure plate from the inner perimeter of not ascending from underneath the releasing member. When the upper bearing 9 is lifted with the main shaft 7, the pressure plate 10 is detached from the upper bearing and stays over the bearing 11. Preferably, the lip 31 of the releasing member 30 covers overhead part of the pressure plate in all positions during crushing use.
When mounting, the pressure plate is laid down concentrically around the releasing member 30. Preferably, the smallest outer diameter of the middle hole of the pressure plate is greater than the greatest outer diameter defined by the lip 31 of the releasing member 30. In that case, the pressure plate can be detached from the crusher without separating the releasing member.
The pressure plate 10 comprises a groove 113 directed inwards on the inner perimeter (an expansion 110,
Preferably, the vertical thickness of the lip of the releasing member 31 and the height of the groove 113 with respect to each other allow vertical movement of the pressure plate with respect to the piston, at which time the pressure plate can move downwards according to the wearing of the thrust bearing.
The feeder 103 can be a lamella conveyor, belt conveyor or vibration feeder which can also be screening, separating fine aggregate from the material to be crushed before crushing.
Instead of the track base 102, movement can be enabled with feet, skids or tires. When implemented with a track base, the crushing plant can be transported on road on a cradle or equivalent transportation arrangement. When implemented with tires, it can be pulled on road, preferably by a semi-trailer. In addition to the foregoing, the crushing plant can be a stationary crushing plant.
The crusher 105 in the crushing plant is a crusher according to an embodiment presented in the description, preferably a gyratory crusher or primary gyratory crusher.
In connection with maintenance of the crusher 105 in the crushing plant 100 and changing of the crushing cone in the upper end of the main shaft 7, the main shaft and support cone are lifted away from the crusher. The pressure plate 10 is detached from the bearing surface of the upper 9 bearing of the thrust bearing 8 already in connection with the lifting, caused by the releasing member 20, 30, and stays over the lower bearing 11 inside the crusher. In this case, falling of the pressure plate onto the lower bearing and other parts of the crusher during the lifting will not happen. In connection with the mounting, the pressure plate 10 can be directed onto the lower bearing 11 with the releasing member 20, 30. The pressure plate 10 takes the right position on the lower bearing to receive the main shaft being laid down onto the pressure plate and the upper bearing 9 attached to the lower end of the main shaft. The pressure plate 10 taking up a faulty position during mounting can be avoided with the releasing member, at which time for instance the main shaft takes up a position sufficiently centrally on the pressure plate instead of residing on the rim of the pressure plate too much on the side. Work safety is improved when falling of the pressure plate during lifting does not happen.
The foregoing description has provided non-limiting examples of some embodiments of the invention. It is clear to a person skilled in the art that the invention is not restricted to details presented above, but that it can be implemented using equivalent means.
Furthermore, some of the features of the above-disclosed embodiments may be used to advantage without the corresponding use of other features. As such, the foregoing description shall be considered as merely illustrative of the principles of the present invention, and not in limitation thereof. Hence, the scope of the invention is only restricted by the appended patent claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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20145021 | Jan 2014 | FI | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/FI2015/050013 | 1/12/2015 | WO | 00 |