A scraper conveyor is a device used in the Polish mining industry. It is used to take the excavated material from longwalls from which hard coal is extracted, and then to transfer the excavated material to a belt conveyor, semi-axially set to the previous machine. There are many different types of scraper conveyors and one of them is a redler type conveyor. More about scraper conveyors themselves, their application, construction and principles of operation, as well as about specific dealers can be found in this article. What information is most important?
Scraper conveyors - why are they so important?
People always create machines to make their lives easier in some way, or to protect themselves against a possible accident. A scraper conveyor is one such device - invented to improve production, in this case understood as more rhythmic work in a longwall excavation, i.e. simply more efficient mining. Due to their important role, it is equally important to keep them in good condition. And this can be achieved not only through proper use, but also through proper assembly and then maintenance.
Failure to pay due attention to the condition of scraper conveyors or to recognise their role in the whole process of removing the excavated material from the longwall may lead to some tragic accident and will certainly hinder the mining process itself, reducing the amount of excavated material, and thus also the profit from it. Therefore, their role must be emphasized. As well as the importance of deciding on the best, possible type.
Proper installation of scraper conveyors
Installation of a similar construction is not easy and can be a problem even for a person familiar with mechanics. Therefore, it is worth noting that in order to better distinguish the course of the whole procedure, it is worth dividing it into several stages - this will improve the task. Therefore, we have to do it one by one:
1) Mount the drive hull on the supporting structure, screw in the connecting trough, mount the gearbox and then the chain star, ejectors, couplings, clutch housings and electric motors. When the drive is mounted, fill the gearbox with oil.
The next stage is the assembly of the gutter string, threading the wire rope through the drive and the connecting gutter. Then it must be stretched along the longwall excavation in the axis of the conveyor route, which must be straight. Then we lay the gutters one by one. The gutters have to be tightly adjusted to each other and the screw nuts that connect the gutters are tightened to the play. This is important for the correct operation of the entire machine.
In the third stage, the bracket with gutters is screwed to the brackets and then the guide is screwed to the brackets. In this way, we fix the gutter valves to the gutters. Once this is done, a scraper chain must be fitted. The chain string has to be assembled from the link chain sections, with the heads of the side locks necessarily lying with sliding surfaces towards the top shelf of the side profile in the upper chain string.
The next step is to pull the scraper chain into the string of gutters - this must be done by means of a reel or a drive. In the former case, the chain members are attached to the rope. In the second case, the chain should be placed in the upper gutter compartment and its ends should be connected to the ends of the rope, placed under the gutters. Then the drive must be started and the other half of the chain should be placed in the upper part, connecting it with the part already pulled in.
(5) After completion of assembly, as well as after every - even the smallest - work shift, it is necessary to check a few things to make sure that everything works correctly and is completely safe. Among other things, we should check the stress level of the scraper chain, as well as the condition of the electrical or signalling and control system.
Redler type conveyor
The redler type conveyor consists of a trough, sprocket wheel, which is the driving wheel, chain and chain tensioning wheel. It is a conveyor which operates horizontally, and to describe it more precisely it is worth adding that the maximum angle of elevation for this conveyor must not exceed 20 degrees. The Redler is considered to be one of the best types of conveyors as it dominates, among others, over this auger. It is less prone to breakdowns than they are and therefore can work for up to 20 years without any repairs! All because this type of conveyor has no intermediate parts. Due to its mode of operation - the chain scrapes material at the bottom of the trough - the redler is called a scraper conveyor in Poland.
As far as the parts needed for redler conveyors are concerned, the chains for this machine are made of a bent flat bar, as well as suitably adapted sleeves and pins. Everything complies with DIN 8165. Another part is the Z6 and Z8 drive wheels, on the tension side smooth or toothed. In this respect, however, there will soon be further upgrades, such as the introduction of wheels with replaceable discs. Among the parts for the redler type conveyor there are also rollers and wear plates made of plastic, made according to the dimensions required and specified by the customer.
