AU2015243072B2

AU2015243072B2 - Delivery vehicles

Info

Publication number: AU2015243072B2
Application number: AU2015243072A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Toni Dunlop
Original assignee: Ausroad Holdings Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Ausroad Holdings Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2014-10-17
Filing date: 2015-10-16
Publication date: 2019-10-24
Anticipated expiration: 2035-10-16
Also published as: AU2015243072A1

Abstract

Abstract A delivery vehicle adapted for use in stemming blast holes including a base; traction means adapted to engage the ground for moving said base relative thereto; traction drive means; a hopper mounted on the base for pivoting or rotating movement relative thereto about a substantially vertical axis, conveying means operatively connected to said hopper for pivoting or rotating movement therewith about said substantially vertical axis for conveying particulate material from said discharge opening to a desired location beyond said hopper; hopper drive means for driving said hopper about said substantially vertical axis and conveyor drive means for driving said conveying means to discharge particulate material from said hopper. k '¾. 'K5.

Description

A delivery vehicle adapted for use in stemming blast holes including a base; traction means adapted to engage the ground for moving said base relative thereto; traction drive means; a hopper mounted on the base for pivoting or rotating movement relative thereto about a substantially vertical axis, conveying means operatively connected to said hopper for pivoting or rotating movement therewith about said substantially vertical axis for conveying particulate material from said discharge opening to a desired location beyond said hopper; hopper drive means for driving said hopper about said substantially vertical axis and conveyor drive means for driving said conveying means to discharge particulate material from said hopper.

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Delivery Vehicles

This invention relates to delivery vehicles. The invention has application to delivery vehicles used for delivering gravel and other particulates. The invention has more particular 5 application to vehicles for use in delivering particulate material for stemming blast holes, especially in the mining industry .

In open cut mining, blasting can involve an array of hundreds of blast holes which typically can be up to 60 metres .0 deep and up to 300mm in diameter. Filling the blast holes to a predetermined level with particulate material such as gravel after the explosives have been placed, commonly referred to as stemming can require a substantial amount of particulate material which is generally delivered by trucks commonly .5 referred to as stemming trucks.

Stemming trucks typically have a hopper mounted on the chassis behind the driver's cabin for storing stemming material with a central bottom discharge opening extending the length of the hopper and a longitudinal conveyor mounted to the hopper !0 under the bottom discharge opening and arranged to convey material forwards or rearwards where it discharges the material onto a side conveyor which in turn discharges the material to the side of the truck and into a blast hole. The side conveyor is generally arranged to be extended and retracted relative to 25 the truck chassis and the hopper so that the driver can drive the truck beside a row of blast holes and extend or retract the conveyor so as to deliver the stemming material directly into the hole thus providing for relatively pin point delivery. One of the disadvantages of the side conveyors is that they generally 30 only allow for extension of approximately 900mm beyond the side of the truck because the entire side conveyor must be able to fit within the width of the truck which is typically only about

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2400mm and the central discharge opening requires that more than half the conveyor must remain on the truck.

Another problem with known stemming trucks is that the use of two conveyors where the longitudinal conveyor discharges stemming material onto a side discharge conveyor, creates a dust creation mechanism at the longitudinal conveyor discharge site and further dust creation mechanisms are created at any other discharge points such as in a case where a third conveyor is used. Another problem with such stemming trucks is that the hopper must be higher than desirable because the bottom discharge conveyor (the longitudinal conveyor) must be above the side discharge conveyor thereby raising the centre of gravity of the hopper and thereby limiting the use of such vehicles to lesser slopes.

Thus, the presently known stemming trucks are not particularly suitable for stemming blast holes on ground where the surface has a slope where the trucks can tip sideways or the load cannot be safely discharged. Consequently, in some situations, stemming material has to be delivered by bucket loaders and the like which in themselves are not particularly suitable for the task.

The present invention is aimed at providing a vehicle or a unit adapted to be mounted on a vehicle which can be used for stemming operations in which the aforementioned problems are at 25 least ameliorated.

With the foregoing in view, the present invention resides broadly in a delivery vehicle adapted for use in stemming blast holes, including:

a base;

traction means operatively connected to said base and adapted to engage the ground for moving said base relative thereto;

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2015243072 16 Oct 2015 traction drive means operatively connected to said traction means for driving said traction means along the ground;

a hopper mounted on said base for pivoting or rotating movement relative thereto about a substantially vertical axis, said hopper being adapted to store particulate material therein and having a discharge opening by which particulate material can be released therefrom;

conveying means operatively connected to said hopper for pivoting or rotating movement therewith about said substantially .0 vertical axis for conveying particulate material from said discharge opening to a desired location beyond said hopper;

hopper drive means for driving said hopper about said substantially vertical axis; and conveyor drive means for driving said conveying means to .5 discharge particulate material from said hopper.

In another aspect, the invention resides broadly in a delivery unit for delivering particulate material, including:

a slewing ring adapted to be mounted to a vehicle for travel therewith;

a hopper mounted on said slewing ring for pivoting or rotating movement relative thereto about a substantially vertical axis, said hopper being adapted to store particulate material therein and having a discharge opening by which particulate material can be released therefrom;

conveying means operatively connected to said hopper for pivoting or rotating movement therewith about said substantially vertical axis for conveying particulate material from said discharge opening to a desired location beyond said hopper;

hopper drive means for driving said hopper about said substantially vertical axis; and conveyor drive means for driving said conveying means to discharge particulate material from said hopper.

< Preferably, said conveying means is arranged to receive particulate material from said discharge opening at or near the bottom of the hopper. It is also preferred that the conveying means run from a point at or near the front of the hopper and extends a predetermined distance beyond the rear of the traction means for discharging at a predetermined discharge point.

It is also preferred that said predetermined distance be 0 selected taking account of vehicle stability while unloading particulate material either sidewards or rearwards and also taking account of the width between rows of blast holes in a blast pattern so that the vehicle can travel a centre line between two rows and discharge alternatively into one row then 5 the other by slewing the hopper and the conveying means therewith through an arc from one side to the other.

Preferably, a delivery chute is provided at the distal end of the conveying means having an inlet for receiving particulate material from the conveying means in a substantially horizontal 0 direction and an outlet for discharging the particulate material received in a substantially vertical direction.

Preferably, the vehicle or unit includes a cover arranged to substantially cover said conveying means between said hopper and said distal end to define a dust collection chamber above 25 said side conveyor.

Preferably, said traction means includes a pair of spaced apart crawler tracks connected to said base on opposite sides thereof. Advantageously, such traction means provides the desired level of manoeuvrability and stability for travelling 30 and discharging into blast holes on slopes and in particular the ability to have the tracks travelling in the same or opposite directions together with the ability to slew the hopper and cAUS27137descriptionamd4September2019

2015243072 16 Oct 2015 attached conveying means through an angle of about 180 degrees or more allows the conveying means or discharge chute to be accurately positioned above a blast hole for delivery of particulate material thereto.

Preferably, said traction drive means includes one or more hydraulic motors drivingly connected to the traction means and driven by a hydraulic pump which in turn is driven by an internal combustion engine mounted on or in the base.

.0 Preferably, said hopper drive means includes one or more hydraulic motors drivingly connected to said hopper and driven by the same hydraulic pump as the traction means.

Preferably, said conveyor drive means includes one or more hydraulic motors drivingly connected to the conveying means and .5 driven by the same hydraulic pump as the traction means.

Preferably, said hopper is constructed in a shape by which the centre of gravity of the hopper at least approximately aligns with the axis on which the hopper pivots or rotates. However, in cases where a bigger top opening for the hopper is required !0 for receiving particulate material from a bucket loader it may be preferred to have the centre of gravity of the loaded hopper behind the pivot axis. In such cases it is preferred that the back wall of the hopper extend upwards and outwards from the bottom of the hopper to terminate in the desired larger opening 25 thereby minimising the quantity of extra material behind the centre of gravity while at the same time providing a suitably sloping wall for directing particulate material to the discharge opening .

It is also preferred that the front wall or wall portion of 30 the hopper be substantially vertical thereby maximising the quantity of particulate material which can be stored in front of the pivot axis. It is also preferred that the front wall or wall portion of the hopper be curved relative to the substantially vertical pivot axis so as to maximise volume of

2015243072 16 Oct 2015 the front portion of the hopper while allowing the hopper to pivot or rotate through 180 degrees.

In yet another aspect, the invention resides broadly in a method of stemming blast holes, including:

travelling a vehicle between first and second spaced apart rows of blast holes, said vehicle including a base and a hopper adapted to pivot (or rotate) relative to said base about a substantially vertical axis and conveying means operatively connected to said hopper for pivoting or rotating movement with .0 said hopper about said substantially vertical axis for conveying particulate material from said hopper to a desired location beyond said hopper;

pivoting said hopper about said axis to a predetermined position for delivering particulate material from said hopper .5 to a selected blast hole in the first row of blast holes;

operating said conveying means to deliver particulate material to the selected blast hole in the first row of blast holes;

pivoting said hopper about said axis to another !0 predetermined position for delivering particulate material from said hopper to a selected blast hole in the second row of blast holes; and operating said conveying means to deliver particulate material to the selected blast hole in the second row of blast 25 holes.

Preferably the vehicle travelling between the rows of blast hole is a vehicle as previously described. In that respect, it will be appreciated that the particular form of the vehicle in which the conveying means extends a distance beyond the hopper 30 and beyond the rear of the base allows the rows to be a substantial distance apart whereby the vehicle can travel along a centre line between the rows and the discharge end of the conveying means can reach the blast holes in both rows by rotating or pivoting the hopper without moving the vehicle

2015243072 16 Oct 2015 sideways. However, where the rows are too far apart, some sideways movement can be included with the method to advantage.

Thus, the method may include travelling the vehicle forwards and backwards and turning the vehicle to accurately position the 5 conveying means for delivery of the particulate material. For that purpose the particularly preferred form of the vehicle is one in which the traction means includes spaced apart crawler tracks which are independently driven.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood .0 and put into practice, the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a pictorial concept representation of a vehicle according to the invention from the near side at the rear;

Fig. 2 is a pictorial concept representation of the vehicle .5 of Fig. 1 from the near side at the front;

Fig. 3 is a pictorial concept representation of the vehicle of Fig. 1 from the near side; and

Fig. 4 is a pictorial representation of the vehicle of Fig.

from above.

!0 Fig. 5 is a line drawing of a prototype vehicle according to the invention from the near side rear;

Fig. 6	is	a line	drawing of	the	vehicle	of	Fig. 5	from	the
near side;
Fig. 7	is	a line drawing	of the vehicle	of Fig	. 5	from
25 above; and
Fig. 8	is	a line	drawing of	the	vehicle	of	Fig. 5	from	the

rear .

The concept stemming vehicle illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 and the prototype vehicle illustrated in Figs. 5 to 8 are 30 generally the same and accordingly the same reference numbers

2015243072 16 Oct 2015 will be used herein to reference corresponding parts except where additional numbers are required to reference different parts .

The stemming vehicle 10 illustrated in the drawings includes a base 11 which is supported on spaced apart tracks 12 and 13 with an engine bay 14 on the front portion of the base .0 and covered by a hood 15 and an the engine bay. A slewing ring 21 rotating half is mounted on the stemming unit 26 secured to the operator's platform 16 beside comprising a fixed half and a base in known manner with a rotating half of the slewing ring for pivoting movement or partial rotation therewith through an arc of about 180 degrees about a vertical axis 22.

The stemming unit 26 includes a bottom frame 27 which is secured to the rotating half of the slewing ring, a hopper 28 .5 which extends upwards from the bottom frame, and a conveyor 29 which is also mounted to the bottom frame and runs through the bottom portion of the hopper and extends rearwards from the hopper to a point beyond the rear of the base and the rear of the tracks .

!0 The hopper has opposed outwardly tapered side walls 31 and extending upwards from the bottom frame, an outwardly tapered rear wall 33 also extending upwardly from the bottom frame and contiguous with the side walls at the rear and a vertical arcuate front wall 34 also extending upwards from the bottom frame and 25 contiguous with the side walls at the front. The sides together define a longitudinal bottom opening 36 immediately above the bottom frame which allows gravel and other particular material to flow onto the longitudinally running conveyor belt 41 which extends along the length of the hopper from the front through 30 an opening 37 at the bottom of the rear wall and then rearward for a predetermined distance beyond the hopper.

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Conveyor 29 includes a frame 42 in which front and rear rollers 43 and 44 are mounted to tension and drive the belt 41 which is arranged to convey particulate material from the bottom of the hopper rearward through the discharge opening 37 to a 5 drop off point 46 beyond the rear of the base and beyond the discharge opening where it discharges the particulate material into an end box 47. The rear roller is driven by a hydraulic motor 45 which is conveniently directly coupled to the roller and flange mounted to the conveyor frame 42. However, if desired 0 the motor could be mounted under the hopper and coupled to the front roller either directly or via a drive belt or chain.

As can be seen in Figs. 5 to 8, a discharge funnel 48 is mounted to the end box 47 by a horizontal pivot pin 49 so that the funnel can be swung forwards or backwards to locate in a 5 desired position and then secured in that position by an adjustable chain 51 to direct flow of particulate material into a blast hole. It can also be seen in those drawings that the external section of the conveyor belt (beyond the rear wall of the hopper) is covered by a removable steel cover 54. However, 0 a mesh safety guard also covers the conveyor belt under the steel cover and advantageously allows the operator to monitor the conveyor and the material on the conveyor safely if desired.

As can also been seen in Figs. 5 to 8, the hopper terminates in a steel hungry board 56 defining the top opening of the hopper 25 to provide better filling width for easier filling but a substantially horizontal lip is provided under the hungry board to inhibit overflow of material from the hopper on steep slopes or rough terrain.

If desired, the bottom opening 36 can be shortened and the 30 conveyor 29 can be made to extend and retract forwards and backwards to some extent to provide for easier positioning of the end box above a blast hole.

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It will be appreciated that the crawler tracks and the conveyor are driven by hydraulic motors which in turn are supplied with hydraulic oil by a suitable pump driven by the vehicle engine located in the engine bay as is well known in the 5 stemming trucks.

In use, the hopper is filled with particulate material for filling blast holes by a bucket loader near the blast site and then the stemming vehicle is driven onto the blast site. Depending on the blast pattern and the terrain, ideally the .0 vehicle is driven along a centre line between two rows of blast holes .

The operator can operate the vehicle from the drivers platform or remotely by way of a remote controller, either a wired controller or a wireless controller. For that purpose, .5 suitable electrical controllers have been fitted to the hydraulic control system (not shown) to provide for remote control.

The operator causes the hopper to pivot about its vertical pivot axis to align the funnel outlet over a blast hole and then !0 causes the conveyor to discharge stemming material into the hole. Fine adjustment of the delivery can be carried out before or during unloading by pivoting the hopper thereby causing the funnel to orbit the vertical axis and/or moving the vehicle tracks forward or backward either together or independently.

Thus, it will be appreciated that the vehicle provides for accurate delivery of stemming material into the blast holes.

When one hole in a row has been filled, the operator can pivot the hopper and the attached conveyor through an arc up to about 180 degrees or even more if desired to align with a blast 30 hole in the next row of blast holes and fill that hole. The operator can continue to fill all the blast holes by filling a hole in one row then one in the next row and so on until all

2015243072 04 Sep 2019 holes have been filled. Advantageously, the vehicle allows two rows of blast holes to be filled in one pass of the vehicle which provides significant time and safety advantages especially on relatively steep slopes.

If desired, a water tank and appropriate dust control devices such as nozzles may be mounted on the vehicle to spray a shroud of water onto the stemming material as it is being delivered to the discharge point or even afterwards as it falls into the blast hole. A suitable system is described in Australian 0 patent application No. 2012202146 by the present applicant.

The foregoing description has been given by way of illustrative example of the invention and many modifications and variations which will be apparent to persons skilled in the art may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the 5 invention as defined by the appended claims.

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Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. A delivery vehicle adapted for use in stemming blast holes, including:

a base;

traction means operatively connected to said base and adapted to engage the ground for moving said base relative thereto, said traction means including a pair of spaced apart crawler tracks connected to said base on opposite sides thereof;

traction drive means operatively connected to said crawler tracks for driving said crawler tracks along the ground;

a hopper mounted on said base for pivoting or rotating movement relative thereto about a substantially vertical axis, said hopper being adapted to store particulate material therein and having an elongate discharge opening by which particulate material can be released therefrom;

conveying means operatively connected to said hopper for pivoting or rotating movement therewith about said substantially vertical axis for conveying particulate material from said discharge opening to a desired location beyond said hopper;

hopper drive means for driving said hopper about said substantially vertical axis;

conveyor drive means for driving said conveying means to discharge particulate material from said hopper; and wherein said hopper includes two opposed side walls, a rear wall and a front wall opposite said rear wall, said side walls and said rear wall extending upwards and outwards from said elongate discharge opening, said front wall extending substantially vertically upwards from said elongate discharge opening and said side walls and being arcuate in plan view about said substantially vertical axis with a radius about the same as the distance from said substantially vertical axis to the outside edge of said crawler tracks, and wherein the centre of cAUS27137claimsamdlOctober2019

2015243072 01 Oct 2019 gravity of the hopper is substantially aligned with said vertical axis.
2. A delivery unit for delivering particulate material, including:

a slewing ring adapted to be mounted to a tracked vehicle for travel therewith;

a hopper mounted on said slewing ring for pivoting or rotating movement relative thereto about a substantially vertical axis, said hopper being adapted to store particulate material therein and having an elongate discharge opening by which particulate material can be released therefrom;

conveying means operatively connected to said hopper for pivoting or rotating movement therewith about said substantially vertical axis for conveying particulate material from said discharge opening to a desired location beyond said hopper;

hopper drive means for driving said hopper about said substantially vertical axis;

conveyor drive means for driving said conveying means to discharge particulate material from said hopper; and wherein said hopper includes two opposed side walls, a rear wall and a front wall opposite said rear wall, said side walls and said rear wall extending upwards and outwards from said elongate discharge opening, said front wall extending substantially vertically upwards from said elongate discharge opening and said side walls and being arcuate in plan view about said substantially vertical axis with a radius about the same as the distance from said substantially vertical axis to the outside edge of said crawler tracks, and wherein the centre of gravity of the hopper is substantially aligned with said vertical axis.

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3. A delivery vehicle or a delivery unit according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein said conveying means is arranged to receive particulate material from said discharge opening at or near the bottom of the hopper.
4. A delivery vehicle or delivery unit according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said conveying means runs from a point at or near the front of the hopper and extends a predetermined distance beyond the rear of the traction means for discharging at a predetermined discharge point.
5. A delivery vehicle or delivery unit according to Claim 4 wherein said predetermined distance is selected taking account of vehicle stability while unloading particulate material either sidewards or rearwards and also taking account of the width between rows of blast holes in a blast pattern so that the vehicle can travel a centre line between two rows and discharge alternatively into one row then the other by slewing the hopper and the conveying means therewith through an arc from one side to the other.
6. A delivery vehicle or delivery unit according to any one of the preceding claims including a delivery chute at the distal end of the conveying means, said delivery chute having an inlet for receiving particulate material from the conveying means in a substantially horizontal direction and an outlet for discharging the particulate material received in a substantially vertical direction.
7. A delivery vehicle or delivery unit according to any one of the preceding claims including a cover arranged to substantially cover said conveying means between said hopper and said distal end to define a dust collection chamber above said side conveyor.

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8. A method of stemming blast holes, including:

travelling a delivery vehicle according to any one of the preceding claims between first and second spaced apart rows of blast holes;

pivoting said hopper about said substantially vertical axis to a predetermined position for delivering particulate material from said hopper to a selected blast hole in the first row of blast holes;

operating said conveying means to deliver particulate material to the selected blast hole in the first row of blast holes;

pivoting said hopper about said axis to another predetermined position for delivering particulate material from said hopper to a selected blast hole in the second row of blast holes; and operating said conveying means to deliver particulate material to the selected blast hole in the second row of blast holes .

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