Stacker-reclaimer apparatus

Abstract

A stacker-reclaimer apparatus for handling bulk material at a storage site comprising a central tower having a vertical axis; an infeed conveyer; a stacker boom rotatably mounted to the central tower about the vertical axis, the stacker boom receiving the bulk material from the infeed conveyer; a reclaimer boom rotatably mounted to the central tower about the vertical axis; first and second conveyer screws mounted on the reclaimer boom, the first and second conveyer screws extending along first and second longitudinal sides of the reclaimer boom, respectively; a first harrow extending upwardly and angularly away from the first longitudinal side of the reclaimer boom; a second harrow extending upwardly and angularly away from the second longitudinal side of the reclaimer boom; a reclaim hopper, the reclaim hopper receiving bulk material from the reclaimer boom; and an outfeed conveyer, the outfeed conveyer receiving bulk material from the reclaim hopper.

Claims

1. A stacker-reclaimer apparatus for handling bulk material at a storage site comprising: a central tower having a vertical axis; an infeed conveyer; a stacker boom rotatably mounted to the central tower about the vertical axis, the stacker boom receiving the bulk material from the infeed conveyer; a reclaimer boom rotatably mounted to the central tower about the vertical axis; a first conveyer screw mounted on the reclaimer boom, the first conveyer screw extending along a first longitudinal side of the reclaimer boom; a second conveyer screw mounted on the reclaimer boom, the second conveyer screw extending along a second longitudinal side of the reclaimer boom; a first harrow extending upwardly and angularly away from the first longitudinal side of the reclaimer boom; a second harrow extending upwardly and angularly away from the second longitudinal side of the reclaimer boom; a reclaim hopper, the reclaim hopper receiving the bulk material from the reclaimer boom; and an outfeed conveyer, the outfeed conveyer receiving the bulk material from the reclaim hopper.

2. The stacker-reclaimer apparatus of claim 1, wherein a vertical extension of the outfeed conveyer overlaps with a vertical extension of the reclaimer boom.

3. The stacker-reclaimer apparatus of claim 1, wherein the outfeed conveyer is arranged above ground.

4. The stacker-reclaimer apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an intermediate conveyer, the intermediate conveyer receiving the bulk material from the first conveyer screw and the second conveyer screws and conveying the bulk material to the reclaim hopper.

5. The stacker-reclaimer apparatus of claim 4, wherein the intermediate conveyer comprises at least one conveyer screw.

6. The stacker-reclaimer apparatus of claim 5, wherein inner ends of the first conveyer screw and the second conveyer screw conveyer and a lower end of the at least one conveyer screw of the intermediate conveyer are arranged inside a common housing.

7. The stacker-reclaimer apparatus of claim 4, wherein the intermediate conveyer extends upwardly and angularly away from inner ends of the first conveyer screw and second conveyer screws on the reclaimer boom.

8. The stacker-reclaimer apparatus of claim 4, wherein the intermediate conveyer extends upwards beyond an upper side of the reclaim hopper, the intermediate conveyer releasing the bulk material into the reclaim hopper.

9. The stacker-reclaimer apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a metering screw for conveying the bulk material from the reclaim hopper to the outfeed conveyer.

10. The stacker-reclaimer apparatus of claim 1, wherein the central tower is static.

11. A method of reclaiming bulk material from a pile at a storage site comprising the steps of: turning a reclaimer boom about a vertical axis of a central tower by a first angle in a first direction of rotation, moving a first harrow extending upwardly and angularly away from a first longitudinal side of the reclaimer boom along the reclaimer boom, conveying the bulk material along the reclaimer boom by means of a first conveyer screw extending at the first longitudinal side of the reclaimer boom, turning the reclaimer boom about the vertical axis of the central tower by a second angle in a second direction of rotation, moving a second harrow extending upwardly and angularly away from a second longitudinal side of the reclaimer boom along the reclaimer boom, conveying the bulk material along the reclaimer boom by means of a second conveyer screw at the second longitudinal side of the reclaimer boom, and feeding out the bulk material received from the reclaimer boom.

12. A stacker-reclaimer apparatus for handling bulk material at a storage site comprising: a central tower having a vertical axis; an infeed conveyer; a stacker boom rotatably mounted to the central tower about the vertical axis, the stacker boom receiving the bulk material from the infeed conveyer; a reclaimer boom rotatably mounted to the central tower about the vertical axis; a first conveyer screw mounted on the reclaimer boom, the first conveyer screw extending along a first longitudinal side of the reclaimer boom; a second conveyer screw mounted on the reclaimer boom, the second conveyer screw extending along a second longitudinal side of the reclaimer boom; a shield mounted on the reclaimer boom, the shield extending between the first conveyer screw and the second conveyer screw; a first harrow extending upwardly and angularly away from the first longitudinal side of the reclaimer boom; a second harrow extending upwardly and angularly away from the second longitudinal side of the reclaimer boom; a reclaim hopper, the reclaim hopper receiving the bulk material from the reclaimer boom; and an outfeed conveyer, the outfeed conveyer receiving the bulk material from the reclaim hopper.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Other objects and features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed as an illustration only and not as a definition of the limits of the present disclosure.

(2) FIG. 1 is a sectional view along lines I-I in FIG. 2 of an embodiment of a stacker-reclaimer apparatus.

(3) FIG. 2 is a top view of the stacker-reclaimer apparatus of FIG. 1.

(4) FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the stacker-reclaimer apparatus along lines in FIG. 2.

(5) FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the stacker-reclaimer apparatus along lines IV-IV in FIG. 2.

(6) FIG. 5 is detail A shown in FIG. 1.

(7) FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the stacker-reclaimer apparatus along lines VI-VI in FIG. 5.

(8) FIGS. 1 to 6 are shown approximately to scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(9) FIGS. 1 and 2 show a stacker-reclaimer apparatus 1 for handling a pile of bulk material 2 at a substantially circular storage site 3. Stacker-reclaimer apparatus 1 comprises a central tower 4 having a vertical axis 5. In the shown embodiment, central tower 4 is arranged at the center of circular storage site 3. A stacker boom 7 is cantilevering from central tower 4 and turns about vertical axis 5 of central tower. Stacker boom 7 may have a conveyor of any conventional construction for conveying bulk material 2 in the longitudinal direction of stacker boom 7. For example, stacker boom 7 may have a belt conveyer. Stacker-reclaimer apparatus 1 further comprises a reclaimer boom 8 for reclaiming bulk material 2 from the pile at the storage site 3. Reclaimer boom 8 projects from central tower 4 and turns about vertical axis 5 of central tower 4 independently of stacker boom 7. An outer end of reclaimer 8 has rolls 6b for rolling support on a circular ring 6a arranged on the ground and delimiting storage site 3 (see FIG. 2 and FIG. 4). Stacker-Reclaimer apparatus 1 further comprises an infeed conveyor 9 extending radially inwards from the periphery of storage site 3 to the center of storage site 3. An inner end of infeed conveyor 9 is supported on an upper end of central tower 4. Infeed conveyor 9 may include any known type of conveyor for conveying bulk material 2 to stacker boom 7, for example a belt conveyor.

(10) Stacker-Reclaimer apparatus 1 further comprises an outfeed conveyor 10 for feeding out bulk material collected with reclaimer boom 8. To this effect, outfeed conveyor 10 transports reclaimed bulk material radially outwards from the center of storage site 3. Outfeed conveyor 10 may be of any known construction, for example including a belt conveyor. In the shown embodiment, outfeed conveyor 10 is arranged above ground. Apparatus 1 thus constitutes a sector stacker-reclaimer, which means that the pile of bulk material 2 extends over less than 360 in top-view. In this way, a sector 11 of circular storage site 3, in which outfeed conveyor 10 is located, is kept free of bulk material 2.

(11) Stacker-reclaimer apparatus 1 further comprises a first conveyer screw 12 mounted on reclaimer boom 8 (see FIG. 3). First conveyer screw 12 extends along a first longitudinal side 13 of reclaimer boom 8 over essentially the entire length thereof. A first harrow 14 is angled off first longitudinal side 13 of reclaimer boom 8. First harrow 14 can be moved along reclaimer boom 8 between an inner position (illustrated with solid lines in FIG. 2) and an outer position (illustrated with dashed lines in FIG. 2). In operation, reclaimer boom 8 may be turned in a first direction of rotation (see arrow 8a in FIG. 2) to reclaim bulk material from storage site 3. At the same time, first harrow 14 is moved along reclaimer boom 8 in contact with the pile of bulk material at storage site 3. This has the effect that bulk material trickles down into first conveyer screw 12 which conveys the reclaimed bulk material towards the center of stacker-reclaimer apparatus 1.

(12) As reclaimer boom 8 is arranged too low to pass above ground outfeed conveyor 10, the direction of rotation of reclaimer boom 8 must be reversed when reclaimer boom 8 arrives at sector 11 in which outfeed conveyer 10 is located. Then, reclaimer boom 8 is turned in a second direction of rotation (see arrow 8b in FIG. 2).

(13) In the shown embodiment, a second conveyer screw 15 is mounted on reclaimer boom 8 (see FIG. 3). Second conveyer screw 15 extends along a second longitudinal side 16 of reclaimer boom 8 over essentially the entire length thereof. A second harrow 17 is angled off second longitudinal side 16 of reclaimer boom 8. Both first harrow 14 and second harrow 17 lean away from reclaimer boom 8 to engage inclined slopes of the pile at storage site 3. Second harrow 17 becomes effective when reclaimer boom 8 is turned in second direction of rotation, which is opposite to the first direction of rotation. By moving second harrow 17 longitudinally between an inner position (illustrated with solid lines in FIG. 2) and an outer position (illustrated with dashed lines in FIG. 2), bulk material from the pile at storage site 3 trickles down into second conveyer screw 15 which transports the reclaimed bulk material inwards to the center of storage site 3. In some embodiments, a shield 23 is mounted on the reclaimer boom, the shield extending between the first conveyer screw 12 and the second conveyer screw 15.

(14) As shown in FIG. 1, stacker-reclaimer apparatus 1 further comprises a reclaim hopper 18 at the center of storage site 3. Reclaim hopper 18 receives reclaimed bulk material from reclaimer boom 8. For this purpose, an intermediate conveyer 19 is mounted to an inner end of reclaimer boom 8. Intermediate conveyer 19 receives bulk material from both first conveyer screw 12 and second conveyer screw 15 to feed reclaimed bulk material into reclaim hopper 18. In the shown embodiment, intermediate conveyer 19 comprises two conveyer screws 20 extending in parallel (see FIG. 5). Intermediate conveyer 19 extends upwardly and angularly away from inner ends of first conveyer screw 12 and second conveyer screw 15, respectively. An upper end of intermediate conveyer 19 terminates above an upper side of reclaim hopper 18 so that reclaimed bulk material can be dropped from the upper end of intermediate conveyer 19 into reclaim hopper 18.

(15) FIGS. 5 and 6 show that inner ends of first screw conveyer 12 and second screw conveyer 15 as well as a lower end of the two conveyer screws 20 of intermediate conveyer 19 are arranged inside a common housing 21 so that reclaimed bulk material is passed from the first and second screw conveyer to intermediate conveyer 19. Bulk material that is dropped into reclaim hopper 18 is received by a metering screw 22 that passes the bulk material to the outfeed conveyer 10. From there, the bulk material is transported radially outwards away from the center of storage site 3.