Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CONVEYOR BELT CLEANING APPARATUS
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Technical Field
The present invention relates to conveyor belt cleaning apparatus
for attachment near the discharge end of a conveyor belt assembly for cleaning
away debris adhering to the conveyor belt.
Description of Related Art
A primary function of conveyor belt cleaners is to remove debris that
remains on the conveyor belt after the belt has rounded the drum at the
discharge
end of the conveyor (i.e., "carry-back debris" or simply "carry-back") so as
to cause
the conveyor belt apparatus malfunction or clog. The main drawback of
previously known conveyor belt cleaners is that either they do not remove
sufficient "carry-back" from the underside of the conveyor belt or that the
debris
removed tends to accumulate on the body and/or blade of the cleaner itself and
thereby reduces its effectiveness. In either case, the conveyor operation must
be
stopped repeatedly so that maintenance operations can be performed to allow
service personnel to clean the conveyor belt or the conveyor belt cleaner, as
the
case may be.
U.S. Patent No. 5,014,844 describes a conveyer belt cleaner that is
made of body and a plurality of cleaner elements attached side by side to the
body.
Each cleaner element has a blade, a blade holder attached to the body and a
torsion
spring located between the blade and the blade holder. The blade consists of
an
upper part that is pressed against the underside of the conveyer belt and a
lower
part that is attached to the torsion spring. The described conveyor belt
cleaner
consists of a single row of cleaning blades.
U.S. Patent No. 5,222,589 describes a conveyer belt cleaner that
consists of a single blade. The blade is curved and positioned at the
underside of
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the discharge end of the conveyer belt. The curved shape of the blade not only
scrapes the conveyer belt but also protects against the blade damaging the
belt.
U.S. Patent No. 5,031,710 describes a conveyer belt cleaner that is
attached to the belt and employs the use of a scraper and several nozzles that
dispense liquid. A beam that acts as a liquid reservoir carries liquid from a
liquid
source to the nozzles. Theses nozzles are placed transversely below the
conveyer
belt along with the scraper. The liquid is sprayed to remove debris from the
conveyer belt before the scraper removes carry-back debris.
U.S. Patent No. 4,269,301 describes a conveyer belt cleaner that
.. consists of three scraper blades positioned against a conveyor belt at the
discharge end drum. Each blade is secured to an operating lever which may be
rotated by an air cylinder and thereby flex the scraper blade against the
conveyor
belt. The pressures in the three separate air cylinders are adjusted so that
the first
scraper blade receives the greatest flexing force, the second scraper blade a
lesser
flexing force, and the third scraper blade the least flexing force. The
differential
flexing forces is accomplished by supplying the air cylinders through
progressively differently set pressure reducing valves connected to a common
compressed air main.
Thus, there exists a need for a simple, conveyer belt cleaner without
moving parts or power supply that effectively removes carry-back debris
without
itself requiring frequent maintenance to remove accumulated debris. The
present
invention substantially fulfills this need.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a conveyor belt cleaning
apparatus comprising a frame having a front side, a rear side, two lateral
sides and
one or more openings located between the front side, the rear side and the
lateral
sides; a first scraping blade and a second scraping blade, wherein each of the
scraping blades is positioned between the lateral sides of the frame, and
wherein
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the second scraping blade is rearward of the first scraping blade; and means
for
securing the frame to the underside of a conveyor belt assembly such that the
first
scraping blade and the second scraping blade make contact with the conveyor
belt
of the conveyor belt assembly.
According to a further embodiment, there is disclosed a conveyor
belt cleaning apparatus for cleaning a cleated type conveyor belt, comprising
a
frame having a front side, a rear side, two lateral sides and one or more
openings
located between the front side, the rear side and the lateral sides, a first
scraping
blade and a second scraping blade, wherein each of the scraping blades is
positioned between the lateral sides of the frame, and wherein the second
scraping blade is rearward of the first scraping blade and at least one
bracket
securing the frame below a conveyor belt assembly in a fixed parallel spaced
apart
relation to the underside of the conveyor belt such that the first scraping
blade
and the second scraping blade make contact with the conveyor belt of the
conveyor belt assembly, wherein each scraping blade independently has a
durometer rating of between 60 and 100, wherein each scraping blade comprises
a base and a plurality of scraping blade fingers and wherein the scraping
blade
fingers are separated from each other by a constant distance of between about
0.0625 inches to about 0.25 inches.
Each of the first and second scraping blades may be comprised of a
flexible material having a durometer rating of from 60 to 100. The flexible
material may be polyurethane or rubber. The flexible material may be
polyurethane. The polyurethane may have a durometer rating of from 65 to 95.
The polyurethane may have a durometer rating of from 85 to 95. The
polyurethane may have a durometer rating of about 90.
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The scraping blade fingers may be separated from each other by a
gap of about 0.125 inches. Each of the scraping blades may be from 2 inches to
6
inches in length and the scraping blade fingers also are from 2 inches to 6
inches
in length. Each of the scraping blades may be from 3 inches to 5 inches in
length
and the scraping blade fingers also are from 3 inches to 5 inches in length.
Each
of the scraping blades may be about 4 inches in length and the scraping blade
fingers also are about 4 inches in length. The distance between the front side
of
the frame and the rear side of the frame may be from 4 inches to 16 inches.
The
distance between the front side of the frame and the rear side of the frame
may be
from 8 inches to 12 inches. The distance between the front side of the frame
and
the rear side of the frame may be from 10 inches to 12 inches. The distance
between the lateral sides of the frame may be from 12 inches to 96 inches. The
distance between the lateral sides of the frame may be from 24 inches to 48
inches.
The distance between the lateral sides of the frame may be about 24 inches,
about
32 inches, about 40 inches or about 48 inches. The total surface area of the
one or
more openings of the frame may be at least one-half the total surface area of
the
frame.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be better understood and objects other than
those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the
following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to
the
annexed drawings
wherein:
FIG. 1 is a top view of a conveyer belt cleaning apparatus of the invention.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of scraping blade of the invention.
In the following description of the invention similar reference
characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the
drawings.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Figure 1 shows Conveyer belt cleaning apparatus 100 of the present
invention. Frame 105 has forward side 130, rearward side 140 and lateral sides
150. First scraping blade 110, which includes a base 114 and a plurality of
fingers 118, is secured to forward side 130 using a mounting plate 170 and
mounting plate bolts (not shown). As shown, conveyor belt cleaning apparatus
100 includes a plurality of first scraping blades 110, positioned side-by-
side,
secured to forward side 130. Second scraping blade 120, which includes a base
124 and a plurality of fingers 128, is secured to rearward side 140 using
mounting plates 170 and mounting plate bolts 172. Likewise, as shown, conveyor
belt cleaning apparatus 100 includes a plurality of second scraping blades
120,
positioned side-by-side, secured to rearward side 140. In operation, frame
openings 160 allow debris removed from the conveyor belt by first scraping
blade
110 to fall through frame 105 and thereby not accumulate on frame 105.
Conveyor belt cleaning apparatus 100 further includes a pair of
frame mounting assemblies 200, which facilitate mounting frame 105 to a
conveyor belt. Each frame mounting assembly 200 includes a frame support tube
210 secured to frame 105, a mounting arm 220 secured to frame support tube
210 and a support tube bracket clamp 230 secured to mounting arm 220.
Mounting bracket 240 is secured to mounting arm 220 by support tube bracket
clamp 230 and to the conveyor belt using mounting bracket bolt holes 248 and
bolts (not shown). Clamp attachment openings 244 facilitate proper adjustment
of first and second scraping blades 110 and 120, respectively, against the
conveyor belt.
Frame 105 may be made of any suitable material including, for
example, steel, aluminum, carbon graphite, iron or combinations thereof. In
one
embodiment frame 105 is made of stainless steel. In another embodiment frame
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105 is made of aluminum. In still another embodiment frame 105 is made of
carbon graphite. In yet another embodiment frame 105 is made of iron.
Frame 105 may include or more frame openings 160 which allow
debris removed from the conveyor belt by first scraping blade 110 to fall
through
frame 105 and thereby not accumulate on frame 105. In certain embodiments
frame 105 has one frame opening 160, while in other embodiments frame 105
has a plurality of frame openings 160. In one such embodiment frame 105 has
two frame openings 160. The size and orientation of frame openings 160 should
be such as to maximize debris clearance from frame 105 without having a
significant adverse effect on the strength of frame 105.
The size of frame 105 may vary in accordance with the size of the
conveyor belt to be cleaned. Typically, frame 105 is from 4 inches to 24
inches in
length (i.e., from front to back) and from 12 inches to 96 inches in width
(i.e., from
side to side). In one embodiment frame 105 is from 8 inches to 16 inches in
length
and from 24 inches to 48 inches in width. In one such embodiment frame 105 is
from 8 inches to 16 inches in length and about 24 inches in width. In another
such
embodiment frame 105 is from 8 inches to 16 inches in length and about 32
inches
in width. In still another such embodiment frame 105 is from 8 inches to 16
inches
in length and about 40 inches in width. In yet another such embodiment frame
105 is from 8 inches to 16 inches in length and about 48 inches in width. In
certain
such embodiments frame 105 is from 10 inches to 12 inches in length. For
example, in one embodiment wherein frame 105 is 11 inches in length and 32
inches in width, frame 105 has two frame openings 160 located 1 inch apart
from
each other and each being 6 inches in length by 12 inches in width.
Figure 2 is an enlarged view of scraping blade 110 of the present
invention. Scraping blade 110 includes base 114 and fingers 118, and is
attached
to frame 105 using a pair of mounting plates 170 and mounting plate bolts 172
(see Figure 1). Base 114 includes a pair of mounting plate bolt holes 116.
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Scraping blades 110 and 120 may be made from any suitable
flexible material having a durometer rating between 60 and 100. Ideally, such
materials also are easily pourable into a mold at elevated temperatures and
solidify upon cooling to room temperature. Such materials include, for
example,
polyurethane, rubber and mixtures thereof. In one embodiment each of scraping
blades 110 and 120 is made of polyurethane. In one embodiment each of scraping
blades 110 and 120 has a durometer rating of from 65 to 95. In one such
embodiment each of scraping blades 110 and 120 has a durometer rating of from
85 to 95. In one such embodiment each of scraping blades 110 and 120 has a
durometer rating of about 90.
As mentioned above, conveyor belt cleaning apparatus 100 may
include a plurality of first scraping blades 110 positioned side-by-side, and
a
plurality of second scraping blades 120 similarly positioned side-by-side.
Each
scraping blade may be from 4 inches to 24 inches in width and from 4 inches to
16
inches in length. In one embodiment scraping blades 110 and 120 are 8 inches
in
width by 8 inches in length. In another embodiment scraping blades 110 and 120
are 12 inches in width by 8 inches in length. In still another embodiment
scraping
blades 110 and 120 are 12 inches in width by 12 inches in length.
As mentioned above, first and second scraping blades 110 and 120,
respectively, are comprised of a base and a plurality of fingers. In certain
embodiments the base and the corresponding plurality of fingers of a scraping
blade are equal in length. Thus, in one embodiment scraping blades 110 and 120
are 8 inches in length by 8 inches in width, wherein the base of each of the
blades
is 4 inches in length and the corresponding fingers also are 4 inches in
length. In
certain embodiments the base of a scraping blade is greater in length than its
corresponding fingers, and in other embodiments the fingers of a scraping
blade
are greater in length than their corresponding base. The distance between the
fingers of a scraping blade may be from one-sixteenth of an inch to one-
fourth. In
one embodiment the distance between the fingers of scraping blades 110 and 120
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is one-eighth of an inch. In another embodiment the distance
between the fingers of scraping blades 110 and 120 is one-tenth of an inch. In
another embodiment the distance between the fingers of scraping blades 110 and
120 is one-twelfth of an inch. The thickness of the scraping blades may be
from
one-eighth of an inch to 1.5 inches. In certain such embodiments the present
invention includes scraping blades having a thickness of one-fourth inch to
one
inch. In certain embodiments the present invention includes scraping blades
having a thickness of one-fourth inch to three-fourths inch. In one such
embodiment the present invention includes scraping blades having a thickness
of
one-half inch.
In operation, the fingers of first and second scraping blades 110 and
120, respectively, contact the conveyor belt surface and specifically the
cleated
portion of the conveyor belt as the belt passes over conveyor belt cleaning
apparatus 100. This effectively brushes much of the carry-back debris that is
adhered to the conveyor belt to be removed from the conveyor belt before it
returns to the loading zone, thereby reducing clogging and potential safety
hazards for workers.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been
shown and described herein for purposes of illustration, it will be understood
that
the invention is not limited thereto. Modifications may be made by persons
skilled in the art, particularly in light of the foregoing teachings, without
deviating
from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not
limited except as by the appended claims.
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