WO2011067583A1

WO2011067583A1 - Improvements to soil and/or rock conditioning machines

Info

Publication number: WO2011067583A1
Application number: PCT/GB2010/051980
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andrew William Armstrong
Original assignee: AQS Holdings Ltd
Current assignee: AQS Holdings Ltd
Priority date: 2009-12-02
Filing date: 2010-11-29
Publication date: 2011-06-09
Anticipated expiration: 2012-06-02

Abstract

A machine for mixing, treating or conditioning materials such as soil or rocks, comprises a chamber (1) in which the material is mixed, treated or conditioned by rotary members (3, 4) tending to throw the material against the a wall (11) of the chamber (1) to create an accumulation of the material on a portion of the wall (11). That portion of the wall is formed as a flap (12) pivoted to the wall (11) of chamber (1), and an actuator is provided to pivot the flap (12) inwardly to be adjacent a rotary member (4) to substantially remove the accumulated material from the flap (12).

Description

IMPROVEMENTS TO SOIL AND/OR ROCK CONDITIONING MACHINES

This invention relates to a soil conditioning and rock crushing machine for conditioning and treatment of soil and rocks. Particularly the invention relates to the modifying or regenerating of various soil types for which the machine can also perform as a crusher.

In this specification unless the contrary is expressly stated, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not to be construed as an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge, or known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the specification is concerned.

Clay soils create problems in the building industry and also in earth works. It is well known that a soil conditioning material is spread over areas of clay, the conditioning material being for example lime, gypsum or cement. More recently machines are available to condition clay soil. The clay is scraped or dug from the ground, and loaded onto a conveyor belt of the machine where it is fed with conditioning material into a mixer where it is mixed and fed to a discharge conveyor. One such machine is described in PCT/IB2008/002545 in which one or more rotors are positioned in a mixing chamber vertically spaced from each other. The mixing chamber includes shaped doors to deflect the material ejected from an upper rotor down to a lower rotor for further mixing. The uppermost rotor picks and or chops the incoming soil upwardly from the end of the in-feed conveyor against surfaces shaped to deflect the material to the next lower rotor which also ejects the material upwardly against further shaped surfaces to deflect the material either to a third rotor or to a discharge conveyor. The shaped deflecting surfaces comprise hinged doors which can be adjustably positioned to and from the adjacent rotor depending on the type of soil being conditioned.

The doors with the shaped deflecting surfaces are thus situated on one side of the mixing chamber. However it has been found that soil accumulates between the rotors on the opposite side of the mixing chamber to the shaped deflecting surfaces.

Thus it is an object of this invention to facilitate the removal of accumulated material from a wall of the mixing chamber.

A further object of the invention is to facilitate the removal of accumulated material from the wall of the mixing chamber opposite the wall containing the shaped deflecting surfaces.

A still further object of the invention is to facilitate the removal of accumulated material on a wall of the mixing chamber between two mixing rotors.

According to the present invention, although this should not be seen as limiting the invention in any way, there is provided according to the invention in a soil conditioning machine a mixing chamber containing one or more mixing rotors, the mixing chamber having walls, characterised in that a portion of a wall on which soil accumulates is movable to be adjacent a rotor to substantially remove the accumulated material for that portion of the wall. Preferably the mixing chamber houses one or more rotors, the rotor(s) ejecting the material against shaped surfaces to deflect the material onto a further rotor, the portion of the wall on which the material accumulates being opposite to the deflecting surfaces.

Preferably the movable wall in the form of a flap is between two rotors and is movable to be adjacent a rotor whereby rotation of the rotor substantially removes the accumulated material. Preferably the flap comprises a quadrant of a cylinder hinged to the wall so that the quadrant of the circle moves to adjacent the second rotor while maintaining a sealing condition in the wall.

Figure 1 is a cross sectional view of portion of a soil conditioning machine showing the accumulation of material between the uppermost and next lower rotor, and

Figure 2 shows the same cross sectional view in the cleaning position.

Referring to the drawings showing the mixing chamber portion 1 of a soil or rock conditioning machine. A conveyor 2 feeds the material to be conditioned into the chamber 1 to be conditioned by rotors 3 and 4. The rotor 3 picks the material from the end of the conveyor 2 and ejects it against the shaped deflecting surfaces 5 which deflects the material against rotor 4 for further conditioning. In this embodiment the rotor 4 ejects the material against further deflecting surfaces 6 to deflect the material on to a discharge conveyor 7, or in another embodiment, not shown, to a third rotor for further conditioning.

The deflecting surfaces 5 are part of a movable door which can be adjusted to and from the rotor 3 depending on the type of material being conditioned.

Similarly deflecting surfaces 6 are part of a movable door 9 also adjustable to and from rotor 4 depending on the type of material being conditioned. As shown in figure 1 , during operation of the machine there is a tendency for material to accumulate at 10 on the wall 1 1 opposite the deflecting surfaces 5 and 6.

The portion of the wall 1 1 on which the material accumulates is a flap 12 pivoted at 13 to a portion of the wall 1 , the flap 12 forms the radius of a quadrant having an arcuate portion 14. A hydraulic ram 16 mounted on a fixed portion of the wall 1 1 can move the flap12 from the position shown in figure 1 to the position shown in figure 2 with the matrix close to the rotor 4. In doing so the accumulated material is substantially cleared from the surface of the matrix. As the matrix moves to the cleaning position the arcuate portion seals on the opening in the wall 1 1 thus preventing the escape of any material being conditioned from the mixing chamber. The cleaning of the matrix can take place at any time during the operation of the machine or at the same time as any other cleaning operation of the machine.

Thus it can be seen there is provided a mechanism for the removal of accumulated material a wall of the mixing chamber of a soil conditioning z and includes all variations falling within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1 . In a machine for mixing, treating or conditioning materials such as soil or rocks, the machine comprising a chamber in which the material is mixed, treated or conditioned by rotary members tending to throw the material against the a wall of the chamber to create an accumulation of the material on a portion of the wall, the improvement comprising forming that portion of the wall as a flap pivoted to the wall of chamber, and an actuator to pivot the flap inwardly to be adjacent a rotary member to substantially remove the accumulated material from the flap.

2. In a machine as defined in claim 1 wherein the flap is a quadrant of a cylinder, the arcuate portion of the quadrant sealing against the opening created by the flap during pivotal movement into the chamber.

3. A soil or rock material conditioning machine including a mixing chamber into which material to be conditioned is fed, at least two rotors in the mixing chamber whereby the material is treated whereby material tends accumulate of a portion of a wall of the mixing chamber between the two rotors, characterised in that said portion of the wall comprises a pivoted portion or flap adapted to pivot inwardly into the chamber to be adjacent one of said rotors for substantial removal of the accumulated material from the flap.

4. A soil or rock conditioning machine as defined in claim 3 wherein the flap is formed as a quadrant of a cylinder, the arcuate portion of the quadrant sealing on the wall opening to close the opening in the wall during pivotal movement of the flap.