APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING AND DISCHARGING BULK MATERIAL OR SNOW

Abstract

In an apparatus for conveying and discharging bulk material or snow, comprising at least one conveying device which has a tubular, circumferentially partially open conveying housing (1) and the conveying direction of which extends substantially in the direction of the tube axis (5), and comprising at least one centrifugal ejector, adjoining the at least one conveying device in the conveying direction and having at least one centrifugal wheel (8), which has at least one discharge lever (9), is arranged in a centrifugal-wheel housing (11) having a discharge opening (14) and can be driven to rotate about an axis of rotation (12), the conveying housing (1) has a smaller diameter than the ejector wheel (8) and the tube axis (5) is arranged parallel under the axis of rotation (12) of the ejector wheel (8), at a vertical normal distance.

Claims

1. An apparatus for conveying and discharging bulk material or snow, said apparatus comprising: a conveying device having a tubular conveying housing that is partially open at a circumference and that has a conveying direction that extends substantially in a direction of a tube axis of the conveying housing; and a centrifugal ejector that adjoins the conveying device in the conveying direction and comprises an ejector wheel that has a discharge lever that is arranged in an ejector wheel housing having an discharge opening and that can be driven to rotate about an axis of rotation wherein the elector wheel has a diameter, and the conveying housing has a diameter smaller than the diameter of the ejector wheel and the tube axis is arranged parallel to, and at a vertical distance below, the axis of rotation of the ejector wheel.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein enveloping circles of the ejector wheel and of the conveying housing have a common tangent that extends parallel to the ground or horizontally.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the axis of rotation of the ejector wheel and the tube axis of the conveying housing are substantially vertically aligned.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conveying device is configured to be a conveying spiral or screw.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises at least two conveying devices each configured as a conveying spiral or screw with a conveying direction, and having a respective tubular conveying housing that is partially open at a circumference thereof, wherein each of the conveying devices is arranged on a respective side of the ejector wheel, the conveying direction of each conveying device extends substantially in the tube axis direction towards the ejector wheel.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharge lever is pivotably fixed to the ejector wheel and has a pivot angle of the discharge lever that varies as a function of an angle of rotation of the ejector wheel.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the pivoting of the discharge lever in a direction of rotation of the ejector wheel via a first angle of rotation range effectuates pivoting of the discharge lever counter to the direction of rotation of the ejector wheel in a further angle of rotation range (β).

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the discharge opening is tangentially connected to the ejector wheel at an end of the first rotation angle range (α).

9. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the discharge lever is a two-armed lever, wherein an inwardly extending lever arm thereof cooperates with a positive guide.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the positive guide comprises a guide track cooperating with a guide pin of the lever arm.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the guide track extends eccentrically with respect to the axis of rotation of the ejector wheel.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the ejector wheel is connected to a drive shaft that is configured to be coupled to an output shaft of an agricultural vehicle or a tractor.

13. A snow blower comprising the apparatus according to claim 1.

Description

[0033] The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to an exemplary embodiment shown schematically in the drawing. In this, FIG. 1 shows a top view of an apparatus according to the invention, FIG. 2 a cross-section of the apparatus according to FIG. 1, FIG. 3 a simplified cross-sectional view in the region of the ejector wheel, FIG. 4 a cross-section through a preferred design of the centrifugal ejector, FIG. 5 a detailed view of the ejector wheel according to FIG. 4 and FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 a detailed view of the eccentric guide part.

[0034] FIG. 1 shows a tubular conveying housing 1, which is open at the bottom and optionally (in relation to the direction of travel 2) at the front. Two screw conveyors 3 and 4 are arranged in the conveying housing 1, which are rotatably driven about a tube axis 5. The screw conveyors 3, 4 are driven in opposite directions, so that the conveying direction 6 in each case runs inwards, so that the material gripped by the screw conveyors 3, 4 at the bottom and, optionally, at the front is transported to the centrifugal ejector arranged axially between the screw conveyors 3, 4. The centrifugal ejector comprises an ejector wheel 8 having a plurality of discharge levers 9, which is rotatably arranged about an axis of rotation 12 in an ejector wheel housing 11.

[0035] The conveying housing 1 is attached to a support 13, which is pivotally mounted about a substantially vertical pivot axis 14 on a bearing part 15. Hydraulic cylinder piston units 16 are provided for the controlled pivoting. The bearing part 15 has engagement elements 17 with which the entire apparatus can be attached to a corresponding connection point of a vehicle.

[0036] For driving the screw conveyors 3, 4 and the ejector wheel 8, the device comprises a drive shaft 18 which can be coupled to a power take-off of a vehicle. The transmission 19 converts the speed of the drive shaft 18 to the required speed.

[0037] In the sectional view according to FIG. 2 it can be seen that the conveying housing 1 has a tube axis 5 which corresponds to the axis of rotation of the screw conveyors 3, 4. The screw conveyors 3, 4 here each comprise a drum 20, on the outer circumference of which there are screw-like conveyor blades 24 or the like. The ejector wheel 8 is mounted for rotation about the axis of rotation 12, wherein the direction of rotation is indicated by reference sign 23. It can be seen that the axis of rotation 12 is arranged above the tube axis 5, which is due to the different diameters of the conveying housing 1 and the ejector wheel 8 or of the enveloping circle of its discharge levers 9. However, the enveloping circle of the discharge levers 9 and the conveying housing have substantially the same horizontal or ground-parallel tangential plane.

[0038] An ejection tube 21 is tangentially connected to the ejector wheel housing 11, which has the discharge opening 25. Inside the ejector wheel housing 11, an ejection channel is formed through which the material respectively caught by the discharge levers 9 is accelerated in the circumferential direction and tangentially ejected in the direction of the arrow 22.

[0039] In FIG. 3, a partition wall 26 is also shown, which is arranged between each of the screw conveyors 3, 4 and the ejector wheel 8 and delimits the ejection channel on both sides, in which the discharge levers 9 are moved from the bottom upwards in the direction of the ejection tube 21.

[0040] In FIG. 4, the housing of the centrifugal ejector is marked with reference sign 11, in which the ejector wheel 8 is rotatably mounted about the axis 12 in the direction of the arrow 23. The ejector wheel 8 has a plurality of discharge levers 9, each of which is hinged to the ejector wheel 8 so as to be pivotable about an axis 28 in accordance with the double arrow 27. The discharge levers 9 are designed as two-armed levers, wherein the outer lever arm 29 takes over the actual ejection work and the inwardly extending lever arm 30 has guide pins or bearings 31 in each case, as can be seen in particular in FIG. 5. The guide pins 31 are guided in a circular guide track 32 of a guide part 33, wherein the guide track 32 is arranged eccentrically with respect to the axis of rotation 2 of the ejector wheel 8. The guide part 33 has an aperture 34, which serves for the passage of a drive shaft for the ejector wheel 8. When the ejector wheel is set in rotation according to the arrow 23, the following movement of the discharge lever 9 is obtained.

[0041] Over a first angle of rotation range a, the discharge levers 9 are moved further and further forward in the direction of the arrow 35 during the rotation of the ejector wheel 8 in the direction of the arrow 23, starting from a neutral position, so that the circumferential speed of the discharge levers 9 is increased in comparison with a rigid fixing to the ejector wheel 8. The greatest circumferential speed of the discharge levers 9 results at the point designed with reference sign 37, at which the discharge of the conveyed material takes place in the direction of the arrow 22 via the discharge opening 25. Over the further angle of rotation range b, the discharge levers 9 are then pivoted back in the direction of the arrow 36, so that in this range the circumferential speed of the discharge levers 9 is reduced in comparison with a rigid fixing of the discharge levers 9 to the ejector wheel 8.