Not Applicable
Not Applicable
This invention relates to the use of robotic technology in mining industry, specifically in cleaning tasks in smelters.
The Smelting furnaces main function is to smelt metals and/or concentrates in order to purify and extract the ore. These furnaces use the heat generated from the high temperature oxidation reactions resulting in 2 stages: one stage with the valuable metal of interest which is called matte, and the other stage with worthless metal called slag. In general terms, the smelting furnaces operate on a continuous basis, while the matter and the slag are discharged to bins through batch processes by opening and closing the corresponding bleed. At present, the flash furnace due to an increase in fusion forms accretions in the burner which implies the air umbrella is not developed and to clean it manually the load should decrease for safety reason.
One of the major disadvantages of the tasks associated to the cleaning process is the exposure of the personnel to harsh environmental conditions. In the medium and long term this could generate serious occupational diseases to the operators involved in carrying out this activity.
Particularly the cleaning process has disadvantages from the point of view of safety as a result of the exposure of operators to spatters and molten metal projections. On the other hand, a decrease in the furnace processing capacity could be generated which means a decrease in the flash furnace production.
A robot system and method have been developed for the automated cleaning of a concentrate injector in the flash furnace.
1 Robotic manipulator
2. Gripping mechanism
3. Tools
4. Tool holder
5. Smelting furnace concentrate injector
This invention relates to a new robot system as well as a robotic method for cleaning processes of the concentrate injector in flash furnaces, which are carried out automatically through an anthropomorphous robotic arm of at least 5 degrees of freedom, provided with a gripping mechanism, so as the robotic system is designed to manipulate several tools and allows to carry out the cleaning processes of the injectors.
With reference to
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/734,969 filed 2005 Nov. 10 by the present inventor
Number | Date | Country | |
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60734969 | Nov 2005 | US |