This application is a §371 National Stage Application of PCT International Application No. PCT/EP2012/066753 filed Aug. 29, 2012 claiming priority of EP Application No. 11182571.7, filed Sep. 23, 2011.
The present invention relates to a wear tip holder for holding a wear tip adjacent to an outflow opening of a vertical rotor wall of a rotor of a VSI crusher. The invention also relates to a kit comprising such a wear tip holder, and to a method of reducing the wear rate of a wear tip holder.
Vertical shaft impact crushers (VSI crushers) are used in many applications for crushing hard material, such as rocks, ore etc. A VSI crusher comprises a housing and a horizontal rotor located inside the housing. WO 2008133568 (A1) discloses an example of a rotor of a VSI crusher. Material that is to be crushed is vertically fed into the rotor, and with the aid of centrifugal force the rotating rotor ejects the material against the inner wall of the housing. On impact with the wall of the housing the material is crushed to a desired size. The housing wall could be provided with anvils or have a bed of retained material against which the accelerated material is crushed.
The rotor of a VSI crusher usually has a horizontal upper disc and a horizontal lower disc. The upper disc has an aperture for feeding material to be crushed into the rotor, such that the material lands on the lower disc. The upper and lower discs are interconnected by a vertical rotor wall, which guides the material to material outflow openings about the circumference of the rotor. The vertical rotor wall of WO 2008133568 is provided with a number of wear tips adjacent to the outflow openings in the rotor wall, to protect the rotor wall from wear caused by the material leaving the rotor at a high speed. The wear tips are provided with air flow directing ridges for reducing the wear of the wear tips and the rotor wall.
When the wear tips have become worn out they must be replaced. Replacement of the wear parts requires the VSI crusher to be shut down for a considerable time for maintenance.
It is an object of the present invention to solve, or at least mitigate, parts or all of the above mentioned problems. To this end, there is provided a wear tip holder for holding a wear tip adjacent to an outflow opening of a vertical rotor wall of a rotor of a VSI crusher, said wear tip holder comprising a mounting plate for mounting the wear tip holder to said rotor wall, the mounting plate having a mounting face for facing the rotor wall to which it is to be mounted and a wear face for facing the interior of the rotor, the wear face being provided with at least one material retention hole for retaining, at the wear face, at least one of a wear-resistant insert and material to be crushed. When such a wear tip holder is used in a VSI crusher, material to be crushed may become firmly trapped in, and protrude from, the at least one material retention hole. Alternatively, a wear-resistant insert may have been located in the hole already before starting the crusher. The trapped material/wear-resistant insert will act as a wear surface, sparing the wear face of the wear tip holding plate. The trapped material/wear-resistant insert will also significantly increase the friction of the wear face, thereby assisting in forming and maintaining a bed of material on the rotor wall as well as on the wear tip holder. Thereby, the wear of the rotor wall as well as of the wear tip and wear tip holder will be reduced, such that an increase of the service interval of the crusher may be allowed. Throughout this disclosure, the term “wear-resistant” is to be construed as comprising a material having a higher resistance to wear than the wear face of the mounting plate.
According to an embodiment, said at least one material retention hole covers at least 10% of the area of the wear face. By covering a relatively significant portion of the wear face, a significant increase of the mounting plate wear face friction may be obtained, thereby improving the material bed maintaining ability of the wear tip holder. This even further reduces the wear of the mounting plate's wear face.
According to an embodiment, said material retention hole is a through-hole penetrating the mounting plate from the wear face to the mounting face.
According to an embodiment, at least a portion of the periphery of said at least one material retention hole is chamfered so as to form a retention surface facing the rotor wall to which the wear tip holder is to be mounted. Thereby, when in use, material to be crushed is wedged between the retention surface and the surface of the rotor wall facing the mounting surface of the mounting plate. Alternatively, when used together with a wear-resistant insert, the insert may be held in the material retention hole without the use of glue or other separate fastening means. Furthermore, should the insert crack into multiple pieces, e.g. due to the impact of a piece of rock to be crushed, the pieces may still be held in place by the retention surface.
According to an embodiment, said at least one material retention hole tapers in a direction from the mounting face towards the wear face. Such a design even more firmly wedges material to be crushed, or the wear-resistant insert as the case may be, in the material retention hole. In particular, any cracked insert will be held even more firmly in place by the tapering shape of the material retention hole.
According to an embodiment, said at least one material retention hole is essentially oval. Material retention holes of such a design have proven to be efficient in retaining material, while still being relatively practical to fabricate.
According to an embodiment, said at least one material retention hole is located at the vertical centre of the mounting plate. Such a design is particularly well suited for a wear tip holder configured for mounting to the rotor wall using a pair of threaded bars extending in the plane of the mounting plate, since the pair of threaded bars may, without compromising the integrity or wear resistance of the material retention hole, be screwed into the mounting plate on either side of the at least one material retention hole. Furthermore, the need for wear resistance has been found to be the highest near the vertical centre of the mounting plate.
According to an embodiment, said at least one material retention hole comprises a pair of material retention holes, said pair of material retention holes being vertically separated and located on either side of the vertical centre of the mounting plate. Such a design is particularly well suited for a wear tip holder configured for mounting to the rotor wall using a single threaded bar extending in the plane of the mounting plate, since the threaded bar may be screwed into the mounting plate at the vertical centre of the mounting plate.
According to another aspect of the invention, parts or all of the above mentioned problems are solved, or at least mitigated, by a wear tip holder kit comprising a wear tip holder according to what has been described above and at least one wear-resistant insert, said at least one wear-resistant insert fitting into said at least one material retention hole and comprising a material having a higher resistance to wear than the wear face of the mounting plate. The insert may be fixed in the hole, e.g. by gluing, or may be adapted to be removably inserted in the hole. Such a kit is of particular value when there is a need for increased wear resistance of the mounting plate, e.g. when processing highly abrasive industrial mineral.
According to an embodiment, said at least one wear-resistant insert comprises a ceramic material. According to an embodiment, said ceramic material comprises aluminium oxide.
According to an embodiment, said at least one wear-resistant insert is shaped so as to, when in use, be flush with or protrude from the wear face of the mounting plate. Such a design is particularly useful when very fine material, i.e. material having an average diameter of less than 10 mm, is to be crushed.
According to an embodiment, said at least one wear-resistant insert has a tapering shape, for form-fittingly engaging with a corresponding shape, tapering in a direction from the mounting face towards the wear face, of said at least one material retention hole. Thereby, should the insert crack into multiple pieces, e.g. due to the impact of a piece of rock to be crushed, the pieces may still be held in place by the tapering shape of the material retention hole.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, parts or all of the above mentioned problems are solved, or at least mitigated, by a method of decreasing the wear rate of a wear tip holder of a VSI crusher, the method comprising trapping at least one of a wear-resistant insert, and material to be crushed, in at least one material retention hole provided in a wear face of a wear tip holder mounting plate. Thereby, the wear-resistant insert and/or trapped material to be crushed will at least partly protect the mounting plate from wear.
The above, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be better understood through the following illustrative and non-limiting detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention, with reference to the appended drawings, where the same reference numerals will be used for similar elements, wherein:
a is a three-dimensional view of a wear tip holder according to a first embodiment;
b is a further three-dimensional view of the wear tip holder of
a is a diagrammatic view in section, as seen from above, of a wear tip mounting plate in the process of being provided with a wear-resistant insert;
b is a diagrammatic view in section, as seen from above, of the wear tip mounting plate of
a is a three-dimensional view of a wear tip holder according to a seventh embodiment;
b is a three-dimensional view of an aggregate wear tip holder comprising three wear tip holders of the type illustrated in
As is shown in
The upper and lower discs 12, 14 are separated by and held together by a vertical rotor wall 24, which is separated into three separate wall segments 26. Gaps between the wall segments 26 define outflow openings 28, through which material may be ejected against a housing wall (not shown). At each outflow opening 28 the respective wall segment 26 is protected from wear by a wear tip 30 located at the leading edge of the respective wall segment 26. Each wear tip 30 is mounted to the respective wall segment 26 by means of a wear tip holder 32, which will be described further below. Each wall segment 26 is also provided with a respective pair 34 of cavity wear plates, which protect the rotor 10 and in particular the wear tips 30 from material rebounding from the housing wall and from ejected material and airborne fine dust spinning around the rotor 10.
a and 4b illustrate a first embodiment of a wear tip holder 32. The wear tip holder 32 has a wear body 40 with an elongate recess 42, in which the wear tip 30 (
The recess 42 and wear tip 30 extend, when the wear tip holder 32 is mounted to a horizontal rotor 10 (
A mounting plate 44, which is a flat, rectangular plate for mounting the wear tip holder 32 to a vertical wall segment 26 of the rotor 10, is attached to the wear body 40. Two threaded bars 46, 48 extend from one end of the mounting plate 44. By means of these two bars 46, 48 the wear tip holder 32 can be mounted to the wall segment 26 and fixed by nuts 50 (
A material retention hole 58 penetrates the mounting plate 44 from the wear face 54 to the mounting face 56. The material retention hole 58 has an elongate shape extending in the vertical direction of the mounting plate 44. In the embodiment of
The top view of
The material retention hole 58 clearly illustrated in cross-section tapers from the mounting face 56 to the wear face 54. When the wear tip holder 32 is mounted to the rotor 10, the first portion 26a of the rotor wall segment 26 forms a bottom of the material retention hole 58, such that the material retention hole 58 opens only towards the wear face 54.
Even though not illustrated, it will be appreciated that there will be, on the wear face 54 of the mounting plate 44, a bed 36 of material to be crushed. Pieces 70 of material to be crushed, e.g. pieces of rock, have, by operating the crusher, been trapped in the material retention hole 58 and wedged between the retention surface 68 and the rotor wall segment 26. The pieces 70 of material form a rough, structured surface 72 facing the interior of the rotor 10, thereby assisting in preventing the bed 36 of material (
a-b illustrate an alternative use of the material retention hole 58. Before mounting the wear tip holder 32 (
The wear-resistant insert 74 comprises a material having a higher resistance to wear than the material of the mounting plate 44 surrounding the insert 74. Thereby, the insert 74 will operate so as to decrease the wear rate of the wear face 54. The insert may also have a surface 76 that is rougher than the wear face 54 of the mounting plate 44, such that the combined friction of the wear face 54 of the mounting plate 44 and the surface 76 of the insert 74 will be higher than would have been the friction of a wear face 54 having no insert 74. Thereby, the insert will assist in maintaining a bed 30 of material (
The insert 74 may, by way of example, have a ceramic surface 76 comprising e.g. aluminium oxide. In fact, the entire insert may be a ceramic insert. The insert may also comprise any other suitable wear-resistant material, such as tungsten carbide, white iron or the like.
A wear-resistant insert 74 may be of particular value for sparing the mounting plate 44 when processing highly abrasive industrial minerals. Moreover, the risk of worn-off metal causing problems in any downstream industrial process will be reduced. The wear-resistant insert 74 may be inserted and removed as needed, e.g. when changing the composition or properties of the material to be crushed. By way of example, it has been found that the wear-resistant insert 74 may provide a better wear resistance of the wear tip 30 and wear tip holder 32 when processing wet, fine material, e.g. material having a mean diameter of less than about 10 mm. When processing dry material or material having a mean diameter of more than about 10 mm, the use of the material retention hole 58 without a wear-resistant insert 74 may provide the best wear resistance. Clearly, the material trapping efficiency of the material retention hole 58, as well as the friction of the surface 76 of the wear-resistant insert 74, depend on the properties of the material to be crushed.
a illustrates a wear tip holder 632 for use in an aggregate wear tip holder assembly. The wear tip holder 632 has a mounting plate 644 provided with a single threaded hole 647 for receiving a threaded bar (not shown). The threaded hole 647 is located at the vertical centre C of the wear tip holder 632. A pair of material retention holes 658 are located on either side of the threaded hole 647.
b illustrates an aggregate wear tip holder assembly 606 comprising three wear tip holders 632. Each of the wear tip holders 632 comprises a pair of material retention holes 658.
Clearly, it is not necessary that a material retention hole be oval.
The invention has mainly been described above with reference to a few embodiments. However, as is readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art, other embodiments than the ones disclosed above are equally possible within the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended patent claims.
For example, the invention is not limited to any particular number of material retention holes in a single wear tip holder mounting plate. Moreover, the invention is not limited to any particular size or shape of the material retention hole(s), since many different hole sizes and hole shapes are suitable for holding, when the wear tip holder is in use, either a wear-resistant insert or material to be crushed. All such embodiments fall within the scope of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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11182571 | Sep 2011 | EP | regional |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP2012/066753 | 8/29/2012 | WO | 00 | 3/21/2014 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2013/041335 | 3/28/2013 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20140252144 A1 | Sep 2014 | US |