FR2533259A1 - APPARATUS AS A BUFFER TANK FOR A SLUDGE CONVEYOR SYSTEM AND FOR FEEDING SAME WITH A SLUDGE HAVING A DETERMINED CONSTANT CONCENTRATION - Google Patents

Abstract

AN APPARATUS SERVING AS A BUFFER TANK FOR A SLUDGE CONVEYOR SYSTEM AND INTENDED TO PROVIDE A SLUDGE WITH A CONSTANT PREDETERMINED CONCENTRATION IS OBTAINED BY DIGGING IN THE WALL OF A MINE GALLERY A 12 WELL WITH A DEPTH AND A DIAMETER OF THE CORRESPONDENCE DESIRED FROM THE BUFFER TANK AND ALLOWING THE SUPPLIED SLUDGE TO SPILL INTO THE WELL 12. A PUMP 18 SUPPORTED BY A WINCH 16 AND A CABLE 17 IS LOWERED IN AN ADJUSTABLE MANNER IN THE WELL IN THE QUANTITY NECESSARY TO PASS A PRESENT SLUDGE A PREDETERMINED LIQUID-SOLID MATERIAL RATIO IN PIPING 23, 24 FEEDING THE SLUDGE CONVEYOR SYSTEM. THE OUTLET OF THE PUMP 18 COMMUNICATES WITH THE SLUDGE CONVEYOR SYSTEM VIA AN APPARATUS DETERMINING THE CONCENTRATION OF THE SLUDGE OR DENSIMETER 25 WHICH IS CONNECTED TO THE WINCH SO AS TO LOWER OR RAISE THE PUMP, AS REQUIRED, TO RESPECTIVELY INCREASE OR DECREASE THE CONCENTRATION.

Description

Apparatus serving as a buffer tank for a transport system

  sludge killer and intended to feed it with sludge

  with a constant determined concentration.

  American patent NO 4 037 335 describes a pump supported by a winch and a cable and intended to remove inconsistent material from the bottom of a basin. The control members provided on the winch exclusively have the role of preventing waterlogging of the said patent pump does

  no need to control the winch to maintain

  nir constant the concentration of the mud transported in

a sludge treatment system.

  U.S. Patent No. 3,990,748 to Ghusn et al. Describes a pumping device supported by a

cable.

  In US Patent No. 590,085 in the name of Blan-

  chard is described a suction device controlled by a winch and intended to unload cereals from the hold of a ship.

  Neither the patent in the name of Ghusn nor that in the name of Blan-

  chard only report usage of the device, in a

  sludge treatment system, to retain the sludge and re-

freeze its concentration.

  In U.S. Patent No. 1,166,712 to Otter-

  sound is described a small sump and a device for emptying it

last as needed.

  The present invention relates to an economical device

  which, intended for use in mines, serves as a reservoir

  see buffer to a sludge transport and treatment system, receiving sludge from a number of cutting faces individually or simultaneously and supplying lifting equipment forming part of said system sludge with a flow rate constant and constant concentration The device includes a well dug in the mine wall The well has a sufficient depth and diameter for the necessary buffer capacity A pump supported by a cable is lowered into the well filled with

  sludge and this is extracted by pumping so as to pre-

  feel a predetermined concentration

  centration controls the winch which lowers or raises the cable in order to maintain the concentration of sludge in the piping extending from

  the pump The device will be designed to supply the

  lifting element with mud presenting from the economic point of view the optimum concentration for pumping and lifting, this feeding being done continuously during the operation of the lifting equipment so as to avoid that there is lifting sludge with concentration

  variable, which would make the system expensive.

  The invention is described in more detail below at

using the attached drawing.

  the single figure illustrates the embodiment

  preferred of the device serving as a buffer tank for a

  sludge lifting element and supplying it with mud having a constant concentration A mine gallery 10 has a roof 11 and a wall 9 The apparatus of the present invention is formed in the wall 9 and comprises a well designated in as a whole by the arrow 12 The well 12 is obtained in the usual way by digging, using an explosive or, depending on its depth from the surface, by drilling The well 12 generally has a

  diameter substantially equal to that of gallery 10 but -

  may be smaller or larger depending on the desired capacity of the well and the difficulty there is in digging or supporting the well the walls 13 can still be stabilized by a coating of steel, by reinforced cement or bricks, or any other usual means for lining the walls of an underground well or reservoir It is preferable that the bottom 14 is also coated in order to avoid raising the bottom

  and to contain liquids in the case where the lower part

There are cracks.

  In order to support the roof 11 above the well or

È 533259

  -3 tank 12, arches 15 are put in place and anchored In addition, several arcs 15 a can be used to support

  the roof The arches will normally be placed radially

  tower of the well between the wall 12 and the roof 11 as required

  care At the top of the arcs 15 or 1-a is fixed in any usual way a winch 16 A cable 17 is wound around the drum of the winch 16 and extends in the direction of the pump 18 to which it is fixed so ability to lower and raise pump 18 Pump 18 includes a mouth 19 communicating with a pump body 20 in

  which is mounted a rotor (not shown) The rotor is

  linked to a motor 21 An output 22 for the pump 18 is formed

  connected to the pump body 20 and is connected to a

  flexible pipe 23 The other end of pipe 23 is connected

  dedicated to a conduit 24 which terminates, passing through a density

  tre 25, at the entrance 26 of the lifting equipment which is il-

  glossed as a whole by a rectangle 27 The lifting equipment 27 generally comprises pumps, control members therefor, valves, computers and any other material necessary for its operation A

  equipment of this kind is fully described in the

  French patent applications No. 83 02856 and 83 02857 filed

  February 22, 1983 in the name of the plaintiff.

  It should be noted that the diameter or width of the

  well 12 is substantially less than its depth.

  From the lifting equipment 27 the mud is generated

  usually transported upwards via a conduit 28

  access to a treatment facility 29 In this

  ci the coal or other product and the liquid serving as a vehicle such as for example water are separated from each other and the water is clarified and returned by the conduit 30 to the equipment 31 of the working face Such equipment is clearly described in American patent NO 3 941 425 in the name of Eric H Reichl entitled "Mobile Slurry Handling System". In the context of the present invention, no details will be given concerning this equipment 31

cutting face.

  Mud shaping equipment (not shown) which is part of the face equipment 31 supplies mud which is brought by a conduit 32 to an outlet 33 to pour into the well or sump 12 o it falls to the bottom thereof Additional water can be introduced, if necessary, into the well 12 through a conduit 34 which is controlled by a

  valve 35 mounted on the water return pipe 30.

  In order to allow the winch to be controlled,

  corresponding to variations in density are trans-

  put from the densimetric device 25 via

  diary of wire 36 to equipment 37 controlling the winch.

  Equipment 37 controlling the winch converts signals

  of control signal density for the winch 16 These si-

  Control signals are transmitted from the winch control device via wire 38 to the winch 16 A manual control 47 connected via a wire 48 also makes it possible to operate the winch when it It is not desirable to use automatic control. If too much water accumulates in well 12, then the excess water must be removed This is done

  by means of a pump 39 which can be mounted in a chamber

  bre 40 A weir 41 passes water from well 12

  in chamber 40 when the water reaches the height of the

  mouldboard 41 The pump 39 then allows the water in the chamber 40 to be transferred through a conduit 42 into a sump or

  small well 43 o water can be temporarily stored Se-

  as needed, water in well 43 can be transferred

  performed by means of a pump 44, passing through a conduit 45,

  in a conduit 30 via a relief valve

holding or valve 46.

  During operation, water coming out of

  the treatment installation 29 is discharged into the container.

  duit 30 towards the face 31 equipment.

  Coal, for example, is removed from the face and shaped into mud, then transported through line 32 to outlet 33 to deposit in the well 12 Others

  Waist edges (not shown) can also pro-

  deire coal, which is put in the form of mud and transported

  ted by other conduits such as 32 a to outputs 33 a to deposit in the well 12 Although two two-conduits of supply 32 are only shown, the well 12 can

  operate with any number of such conduits for-

  since the well 12 is large enough to be able to

  cevoir-the quantity of sludge planned The pump 18 is initially controlled by means of the manual control 47 which acts on

  control equipment 37 for the winch via

  wire diary 48 When the winch cable unwinds the

  pump 18 first comes into contact with the liquid

  in the well 12 and finally with the coal As soon as the mouth 19 of the pump begins to suck up water,

  can switch from manual control 47 to automatic control

  and the densimetric equipment 25 will then continue

  automatically lower the pump 18 quickly to

  that coal is sucked into the mouth 19.

  When the density measured at 25 increases the speed of des-

  cent decreases When the density reaches the predefined value

  complete, which can for example be between 45 and%, the control equipment 37 for the winch stops the downward movement of the pump 18 When coal is

  extracted from the well, the descent movement must continue.

  At the same time, mud is deposited from exits 33 or 33 a If the speed at which this mud is deposited exceeds the

  pump capacity, -the concentration measured by the densi-

  meter 25 quickly becomes greater than the admissible limit percentage In this case the control equipment 37 for the winch is influenced so as to raise the pump 18

  in order to bring the concentration back into the predeter-

6 2533259

  mined By being extracted from the well by the pump 18, coal

  is discharged upwards through the pipe 23 into the conduit 24.

  In the embodiment shown the pipe 23 is a floating pipe - since it is desirable that the pipe 23 is always located above the mouth 19 and the layer

  of coal Much of the pipe 23 could easily-

  lie buried in charcoal from the outlets

  ties 33 and 33 a, in which case it would be extremely difficult to remove the pump 18, especially if it was stopped

  for any length of time during which of the char-

  good spills out of outlet 33 Other means could however be used to hold the pipe 23 in place, such as for example a cable fixed to the pipe 23 so that it

  the latter remains permanently subjected to a tensile force.

  By being driven upwards through the conduit 24, the

  mud passes through a densimetric device 25 which is pre-

  refer to a known radioactive density measurement device As already indicated, the information relating to the density is transmitted by the wire 36 to the control device 37 for

  - control the winch 16 and adjust the position of the pump 18.

  The coal-based mud is then brought to the lifting equipment 27 where the mud is pressurized to a sufficient degree to reach the treatment installation 29 in

going up through the conduit 28.

  The excess water can be removed from the well 12 when the water level rises above the weir 41 The chamber 40 then fills with water which is discharged by the pump 39 and

  transferred by the conduit 42 into a storage well 43.

  From this water can finally be returned to the system by being pumped by the pump 44 towards the

  line 30 passing through line 45 and the relief valve

outfit 46.

  This system has several advantages over sys-

  mud transporters known hitherto Premiè-

  The construction of a well is well known in the mining industry. However, to build a sump

  such as that described in U.S. Patent No. 4,143,921

  delivered on behalf of William T Sweeney and Thomas Plate, for example, it is necessary to excavate large caves in the basement Second, complex equipment to sup-

  carry the pump, superstructures and rolling stock

  lage must be developed, installed and maintained underground The handling of pipes for such a sump

  poses a complex problem, as does the adjustment of the

  mud if the outlets are distributed along the well

  sard so as to allow matter to be distributed evenly

  As the space available is limited,

  maintenance poses a serious problem.

  To obtain the sump or buffer tank according to the invention, it suffices to make a well using known and easily understandable mining construction techniques. The arc-shaped supports 15, 15 a for the roof and the winch 16 are part of the current state of the

  mining technology Therefore, anyone skilled in

  tent in this area can install them without having special knowledge or special equipment The

  winch 16 is currently used in mid-

  installation and maintenance should not be a problem The suspended pump 18 and

  the floating pipe 23 does not require mounting operations

  complex control devices When problems

  my maintenance presents itself, it suffices to reassemble the pump by means of the cable 17 and the winch 16 to the upper part of the well 12 and to pull the pump 18 on the wall of the mine gallery for its replacement or

its repair.

  Since the system described above does not require

  site neither a special drain nor an unusual pump support

  site and does not use sophisticated technology,

  the installation cost is very considerably reduced

  compared to the sump described in the US patent

  no 4,143,921 or similar structures.

  In conclusion, the sump, or retaining well, pre-

  seen according to the invention to serve as a buffer tank to a mud transport system can be easily carried out by workers in the mining industry using known technology The well is not only efficient but also easy to maintain the pump for the well can be easily controlled so as to keep constant the

  concentration of the sludge feeding the lifting system if-

  killed downstream and can be easily maintained if necessary.

  The embodiment shown and described below

  tail having no limiting character, various modi

  fications can obviously be made without leaving the

part of the invention.

Claims (3)

  1 Device used in combination with a mud transport system and intended to receive one or more   feed pipes sludge with a high concentration   reliable and supplying mud with   constant predetermined concentration, forming a reservoir   see buffer with a limited capacity between said supply conduits and said outlet, the apparatus being characterized in that it comprises: (a) an open vertical reservoir or retaining well (12)   at its upper part and having side walls   rales (13) and a closed bottom (14), its width being felt   significantly less than its depth; (b) supply conduits (32, 32 a, 35) having their discharge orifice placed above the open upper part of the tank or well (12); (c) a winch (16) driven by an adjustable motor and a cable (17) wound around the winch   (d) a suction pump (18) having a vacuum inlet   rante (20) and an outlet (22), which pump is closed   fixed to the cable (17) so that the operation of the winch allows the suction pump to be lowered or raised along the axis of the tank or well (12) (e) a flexible pipe (23) putting the outlet of the pump   suction (18) in communication with the trans-   mud carrier; and (f) desmoyer (25) intended to determine the concentration of the mud supplied by the apparatus and to bring down or   reassemble the pump by acting on the   winch control inversely due to the difference in con-   centering of the mud with respect to a predetermined concentration. 2 Apparatus according to claim 1 characterized in that the vertical holding tank (12) is made in   digging a well in a mine wall.   3 Apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that the winch (16) is supported above the vertical holding tank by a number of shaped supports arc (15, 15 a).