GB2069443A

GB2069443A - A drum member for conveyor belts

Info

Publication number: GB2069443A
Application number: GB8104361A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Hauni Werke Koerber and Co KG
Current assignee: Koerber AG
Priority date: 1980-02-16
Filing date: 1981-02-12
Publication date: 1981-08-26
Also published as: GB2069443B; DE8004237U1

Abstract

A drum member 2 coacting with a conveyor belt 6 comprises a body having a cylindrical wall with an outer surface engaging the conveyor belt and an inner surface for the sliding reception of the particulate fluent material. Slots 11 in said wall enable material trapped between the drum wall and the belt, e.g. material 7% split onto the lower run 9, to pass from the outer surface to the inner surface. The arrangement and inclination of said slots are such that the material sliding over said inner surface during rotation of the drum member is deflected by the slots in the direction of an outlet opening. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A drum member for conveyor beits The innovation relates to a drum member which term is used herein to mean any rotary element e.g. a rollers, tension drum, pressure roller or drive roller employed for guiding, diverting or otherwise coacting with a conveyor belt, for conveying granular fibrous or other particulate fluent material, e.g. tobacco.

When conveying such material on an upper run of the conveyor spillage frequently occurs in particular of comminuted or pulverulent component parts of the material, which may fall over the sides of the upper conveyor run or penetrate the upper conveyor run and in either case accumulate upon the returning lower conveyor run to be carried into the nip between the belt and the drum member. Operational disturbances may result because the conveyor belt becomes stretched and may even fracture as a result.

In order to avoid such undesirable accumulations of material, various proposals have already been made. Thus, for example, DE PS 305 362 discloses a drum member of the kind referred to above comprising slots extending in the axial direction in the drum surface. Material being conveyed can enter the interior of the drum member through the slots. Conveyance out of the interior is effected by a hub which extends obliquely from the centre of the drum to the outer or end faces.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved drum member of simplified construction.

According to the present invention there is provided a drum member as hereinbefore defined, comprising a body having a cylindrical wall with an outer surface for coacting with the conveyor belt and an inner surface for the sliding reception of the particulate fluent material, and slots in said wall for enabling passage of said material from the outer surface to the inner surface, the arrangement and inclination of said slots being such that the material sliding over said inner surface during rotation of the drum member is deflected by the slots in the direction of an outlet opening.

With this construction the material which accumulates between the lower empty run and the belt drum may enter through the conveyor slots into the interior space of the drum, wherein alternately the said material is carried away upwardly in the conveyor slots of the upwards driven drum half and drops back again out of the slots into the lower part of the interior space of the drum. Upon each revolution of the drum, the material is afforded thereby a feed component in the axial direction of the drum, so that it is laterally conveyed out of the drum.

According to a particularly advantageous embodiment, conveyor slots are positioned successively in the peripheral or upward direction of rotation of the belt drum in such a manner relatively to each other that always a lower end leading in the conveyance direction, of a conveyor slot is located perpendicularly above an upper end lagging in the conveyance direction, of a subsequent conveyor slot. In this way the material can always fall out of the lower ends or pockets of the conveyor slots into the upper ends of the conveyor slots which follow therebehind in the peripheral direction, during the revolution of the drum, and in these latter slots it can slide down towards the lateral opening of the drum with a feed component in the axial direction and finally issue laterally from the belt drum in continuous repetition of these conveyance steps.

Preferably conveyor slots are provided which extend with opposite inclinations from the centre of the drum to the end faces of the drum, whereby the conveyance effect is increased further still in that in each case the material can leave the belt drum by the shortest path on both sides.

One embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a partial side elevation of a belt conveyor including one embodiment of drum element according to the invention; and Fig. 2 is a development of part of the curved peripheral surface of the drum element of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, a conveyor belt 3 is guided around a belt drum 2 rotating in the direction of arrow 1. Tobacco 7 is conveyed on the upper conveyor run 6 away from the belt drum 2 in the direction of arrow 4. Tobacco 7' which falls from the sides of the conveyor run 6 during conveyance accumulates on the lower conveyor run 9 travelling in the direction of arrow 8 back to the belt drum 2 and enters the nip between the drum 2 and the conveyor run 9. The belt drum 2 has in its curved peripheral surface obliquely extending coveyor slots 11 which are distributed uniformly over said surface in axis-parallel rows as seen in Fig. 2.As seen from the centre of the belt drum 2 one half of the conveyor slots 11 are inclined obliquely with respect to the end face 1 2 of the belt drum 2 and the other half of the conveyor slots 11 are inclined obliquely with respect to the opposite end face 1 3. At the same time the conveyor slots 11 of any two adjacent rows are disposed with their confronting ends arranged in pairs in adjacent radial planes such that a lower end 1 4 of a conveyor slot 11 moved upwards in the rotary direction 1 is arranged substantially perpendicularly above the upper end 16 of the next following conveyor slot 11.

In another arrangement, the conveyor slots are offset in the peripheral or axial direction of the belt drum 2.

In use the tobacco 7' on the lower conveyor run 9 travels into the nip with the drum 2 and penetrates the conveyor slots 11 to enter the hollow interior of the drum. As the peripheral surface of the drum 2 rises away from the nip in the direction of arrow 1, the tobacco falls repeatedly from one row of conveyor slots 11 to the next following row. Tobacco in one slot 11 thus falls to the lower end 14 of the slot, slides over the solid surface preceding the next row of slots and then enters the upper end 1 6 of the corresponding slot in that row. Such repeated interception of the tobacco by the inclined slots causes the tobacco 7' to migrate slowly in the axial direction of the belt drum 2 to openings at the corresponding ends 12 and 13 where it may be collected and removed.

Claims

1. A drum member as hereinbefore defined, comprising a body having a cylindrical wall with an outer surface for coacting with the conveyor belt and an inner surface for the sliding reception of the particulate fluent material, and slots in said wall for enabling passage of said material from the outer surface to the inner surface, the arrangement and inclination of said slots being such that the material sliding over said inner surface during rotation of the drum member is deflected by the slots in the direction of an outlet opening.

2. A drum member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outlet opening is provided in an end face of said body and the slots are inclined to deflect the material in the direction towards said end face.

3. A drum member as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the body comprises two axially adjacent halves with respective end faces each including an outlet opening, the slots in each body half being directed towards the respective end face.

4. A drum member as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the trailing end of one slot lies in the same radial plane as the leading end of the next following slot as considered in the direction of rotation.

5. A drum member as hereinbefore defined, substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

6. Conveyor apparatus comprising a conveyor belt coacting with a drum member as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.