Attachment for ash crane and method for removing ash from an ash pit

Abstract

This invention provides an attachment for an ash crane that can remove solidified ash from the ash pit while minimizing the impact on the normal operation of the ash crane. [Solution] Attachments 8a and 8b are attached to and detachable from the buckets 7a and 7b of the ash crane 1. Using the ash crane 1 with the attachments 8a and 8b attached to the buckets 7a and 7b, ash outside the effective gripping range of the buckets 7a and 7b in the ash pit is scraped and moved to the center of the ash pit.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an attachment for an ash crane and a method for discharging ash in an ash pit.

Background Art

[0002] The main ash generated by incineration in an incinerator is conveyed by an ash conveyor and stored in an ash pit. Also, the fly ash removed by the exhaust gas treatment facility is conveyed by an ash conveyor and stored in a dedicated ash pit. An ash crane is used to discharge the ash stored in such an ash pit. The ash crane grabs the ash in the ash pit, transports it to the ash discharge hopper, and loads it onto a truck. The ash loaded onto the truck is transported to the final disposal site.

[0003] Due to restrictions on the arrangement of the ash crane, etc., when the bucket of the ash crane cannot reach the wall surface of the ash pit, ash that cannot be grabbed by the bucket remains near the wall surface of the ash pit. The ash remaining near the wall surface of the ash pit hardens over time. The hardening of the ash is caused by the moisture and components contained in the ash. When the moisture contained in the ash evaporates during the process of cooling the ash incinerated at high temperature, the ash adheres to each other.

[0004] When the ash remaining near the wall surface of the ash pit hardens and becomes fixed ash, the volume of the ash pit decreases, or the bucket may have trouble lifting and lowering. Also, a load is applied to the chain, wire, etc. of the ash crane, increasing the frequency of chain and wire replacement. Furthermore, due to the inclination of the bucket, automatic operation becomes impossible and manual operation becomes necessary. To solve such problems, conventionally, workers regularly entered the ash pit and periodically performed the work of chopping the fixed ash using tools such as a hoe. However, this chopping work was a very laborious task with a large workload for the workers.

[0005] By the way, as a method for removing the fixed ash in the ash pit, Patent Document 1 proposes a method of providing a cutter on the bucket of the ash crane and opening the cutter together with the bucket to break down the fixed ash near the wall surface of the ash pit. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-33887 [Overview of the Initiative] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0007] However, the method for removing solidified ash described in Patent Document 1 has the problem that the cutter gets in the way during normal operation of the ash crane, that is, when the bucket is used to grab and remove the ash from the ash pit.

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and aims to provide an attachment for an ash crane and a method for removing ash from an ash pit that can remove solidified ash from the ash pit while minimizing the impact on the normal operation of the ash crane. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] To solve the above problems, one aspect of the present invention provides an attachment that can be attached to and detached from the bucket of an ash crane, wherein by using the ash crane with the attachment attached to the bucket and closing the bucket, ash outside the effective gripping range of the bucket in the ash pit is scraped and moved to the center of the ash pit, and the outer dimensions of the attachment when the bucket is open are set to be approximately equal to the inner dimensions of the wall surface of the ash pit. The attachment comprises a scraper for scraping ash outside the effective gripping range of the bucket, and a structure to which the scraper is fixed and fastened to the upper and lower parts of the bucket in the open state using fastening members. This is an attachment for ash cranes.

[0010] Another aspect of the present invention is a method for removing ash from an ash pit using an ash crane and an attachment that can be attached to and detached from the bucket of the ash crane, comprising: a normal operation step of using the ash crane with the attachment detached from the bucket to grasp the ash in the ash pit and remove it from the ash pit; and a solidified ash removal step of using the ash crane with the attachment attached to the bucket to scrape off ash outside the effective grasping range of the bucket in the ash pit and move it to the center of the ash pit, wherein the normal operation step and the solidified ash removal step are repeated. [Effects of the Invention]

[0011] According to the present invention, solidified ash in the ash pit can be removed. Furthermore, since the attachment can be removed from the bucket during normal operation of the ash crane, the impact on the normal operation of the ash crane can be minimized. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0012] [Figure 1] This is a front view of the ash crane. [Figure 2] This is a diagram illustrating the normal operation of the ash crane. [Figure 3] This is a front view of the ash crane with the attachment mounted on the bucket. [Figure 4] This is a process diagram for the solidified ash removal process. [Figure 5] This is a perspective view of the attachment. [Figure 6] This is a front view of the bucket and attachment. [Figure 7] This is a diagram illustrating the process of attaching an attachment to a bucket. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0013] Hereinafter, an attachment for an ash crane and a method for removing ash from an ash pit according to embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings. However, the attachment for an ash crane and the method for removing ash from an ash pit according to the present invention can be embodied in various forms and are not limited to the embodiments described herein. These embodiments are provided with the intention that those skilled in the art will be able to fully understand the invention by making full disclosures in the specification.

[0014] Figure 1 shows the ash crane 1. Figure 1 shows the ash crane 1 with the attachments removed. The ash crane 1 is equipped with a crab bucket 3 suspended from the trolley of the ash crane 1 (not shown) by a chain, wire, etc. (hereinafter referred to as chain 2). By performing a travel operation of the ash crane 1 (an operation in which the trolley of the ash crane moves perpendicular to the plane of the paper on rails installed along the beams of the building), the crab bucket 3 moves perpendicular to the plane of the paper. The ash crane 1 may be capable of only the above travel operation, or it may be capable of both a travel operation (an operation in which the trolley and girder of the ash crane move perpendicular to the plane of the paper on rails installed along the beams of the building) and a traverse operation (an operation in which the trolley of the ash crane moves left and right along the girder). By lowering the chain 2, the crab bucket 3 is lowered. By raising the chain 2, the crab bucket 3 is raised.

[0015] The club bucket 3 includes a club bucket main body 4 and a pair of buckets 7a and 7b that are rotatably connected to both sides of the club bucket main body 4 via shafts 5a and 5b. A control power supply is supplied to the club bucket main body 4 by a cable (not shown). A drive source such as a hydraulic cylinder (not shown) for opening and closing the buckets 7a and 7b is connected to the buckets 7a and 7b by a link. The solid line indicates the state where the buckets 7a and 7b are open, and the two-dot chain line indicates the state where the buckets 7a and 7b are closed. By operating the buckets 7a and 7b to open (for example, by contracting the hydraulic cylinder), the buckets 7a and 7b rotate nearly 90° in the opening direction and the buckets 7a and 7b open. By operating the buckets 7a and 7b to close (for example, by extending the hydraulic cylinder), the buckets 7a and 7b rotate nearly 90° in the closing direction and the buckets 7a and 7b close.

[0016] The bucket 7a includes a bottom plate 11 provided with a plurality of claw portions 12, a pair of side plates 13 rising from both side edges in the depth direction of the bottom plate 11 (the direction orthogonal to the paper surface of FIG. 1), and a back plate 14 substantially perpendicular to the bottom plate 11 and the side plates 13. The plurality of claw portions 12 are arranged at equal intervals in the depth direction of the bottom plate 11 at the tip of the bottom plate 11.

[0017] The bucket 7b is substantially symmetric with respect to the bucket 7a about the left and right. A plurality of claw portions 12 are also arranged at equal intervals in the depth direction of the bottom plate 11 at the tip of the bottom plate 11 of the bucket 7b. However, the claw portions 12 of the bucket 7a and the claw portions 12 of the bucket 7b are arranged alternately, that is, their positions are shifted in the depth direction of the buckets 7a and 7b. In the closed state shown by the two-dot chain line in the figure, the inner surfaces 15 of the buckets 7a and 7b can be in close contact with each other.

[0018] FIG. 2 shows a process diagram of normal operation. The ash pit 21 extends in a direction orthogonal to the paper surface of FIG. 2. The main ash generated by incineration in the incinerator may be conveyed to the ash pit 21 by an ash conveyor, or the fly ash removed by the exhaust gas treatment equipment may be conveyed to the ash pit 21 by an ash conveyor.

[0019] In the normal operation process, the ash crane 1 is used to grab and carry out the ash in the ash pit 21. Specifically, the traveling operation of the ash crane 1 is performed to move the club bucket 3 above the ash in the ash pit 21. Next, the lowering operation of the chain 2 is performed to lower the open buckets 7a, 7b until they contact the ash. When the buckets 7a, 7b contact the ash, the lowering operation of the chain 2 is stopped, the closing operation of the buckets 7a, 7b is performed to grab the ash. Then, the lifting operation of the chain 2 is performed to raise the club bucket 3, and the traveling operation of the ash crane 1 is performed to transport the club bucket 3 to the ash discharge position such as the ash discharge hopper. And by performing the opening operation of the buckets 7a, 7b, the ash is loaded onto the truck. In the normal operation process, the above steps are repeated until the required amount of ash is carried out.

[0020] As shown in FIG. 2, near the wall surface 22 of the ash pit 21, there remains ash that cannot be grabbed by the buckets 7a, 7b. The remaining ash hardens over time and becomes fixed ash 18. In order to remove the fixed ash 18, an attachment is attached to the buckets 7a, 7b, and a fixed ash removal process for removing the fixed ash 18 is performed using the ash crane 1 with the attachment attached to the buckets 7a, 7b.

[0021] FIG. 3 shows a state where attachments 8a, 8b are attached to the buckets 7a, 7b. The attachments 8a, 8b include a scraper 9 for scraping the fixed ash 18 outside the effective grabbing range of the buckets 7a, 7b, and a structure 10 to which the scraper 9 is fixed and which is fastened to the upper and lower parts of the open buckets 7a, 7b using fastening members such as bolts and nuts.

[0022] FIGS. 4(a) and (b) show the process diagrams of the fixed ash removal process. In the fixed ash removal process, using the ash crane 1 with the attachments 8a, 8b attached to the buckets 7a, 7b, the fixed ash 18 outside the effective grabbing range of the buckets 7a, 7b is scraped and moved to the central part of the ash pit 21.

[0023] Specifically, as shown in Figure 4(a), the chain 2 is lowered to lower the open buckets 7a and 7b, and the attachments 8a and 8b are inserted into the solidified ash 18 on the side of the effective gripping range of the buckets 7a and 7b. The outer dimensions of the attachments 8a and 8b when the buckets 7a and 7b are open are set to be approximately equal to the inner dimensions of the wall surface 22 of the ash pit 21, and are set to be slightly smaller than the inner dimensions of the wall surface 22 of the ash pit 21, taking into account the range of motion of the attachments 8a and 8b.

[0024] Next, by closing the buckets 7a and 7b, the attachments 8a and 8b scrape off the solidified ash 18 outside the effective gripping range of the buckets 7a and 7b and move it to the center of the ash pit 21. The closing operation of the buckets 7a and 7b is a slight closing operation (slightly rotating the open buckets 7a and 7b in the closing direction) as shown in Figure 4(b), but when gripping the ash 19 that has been moved to the center of the ash pit 21, the buckets 7a and 7b may be closed completely.

[0025] Next, the chain 2 is raised to lift the club bucket 3 and open buckets 7a and 7b. Then, the chain 2 is lowered again to lower the open buckets 7a and 7b, insert the attachments 8a and 8b into the solidified ash 18, and close buckets 7a and 7b. By repeating this operation multiple times, the solidified ash 18 can be removed down to near the bottom of the ash pit 21, as shown in Figure 4(b).

[0026] After removing the solidified ash 18, the club bucket 3 is carried to the bucket storage area, and the attachments 8a and 8b are removed from the buckets 7a and 7b. Then, using the ash crane 1 with the attachments 8a and 8b removed from the buckets 7a and 7b, the above normal operation is carried out to grab the ash 19 that has been moved to the center of the ash pit 21 and transport it out of the ash pit 21.

[0027] Figure 5 shows a perspective view of attachment 8a. Figure 6 shows a front view of bucket 7a and attachment 8a. Since attachment 8b is approximately symmetrical to attachment 8a, unless otherwise specified, the configuration of attachment 8a will be described below, and the configuration of attachment 8b will be omitted.

[0028] The attachment 8a comprises a scraper 9 for scraping off solidified ash 18 outside the effective gripping range of the bucket 7a, and a structure 10 to which the scraper 9 is fixed and fastened to the upper and lower parts of the open bucket 7a using fastening members 24 and 25.

[0029] The scraper 9 is wedge-shaped with a pointed lower end and extends in the depth direction of the bucket 7a. As shown in Figure 3, the scraper 9 is positioned on the left and right outer sides of the buckets 7a and 7b and at approximately the same height as the claw portions 12 of the buckets 7a and 7b so that it can scrape off the solidified ash 18 outside the effective gripping range of the bucket 7a.

[0030] As shown in Figure 5, the structure 10 is a frame structure made of steel. The structure 10 comprises, for example, a pair of columns 31a, 31b and a pair of lower frames 32a, 32b fixed to the pair of columns 31a, 31b. The columns 31a, 31b are made of channel material so as not to bend. The lower frames 32a, 32b are frame-shaped or U-shaped and are provided only below the columns 31a, 31b so as not to obstruct the range of motion of the bucket 7a. In addition, the lower frames 32a, 32b are reinforced by diagonal braces 32a1, 32b1 so as not to deform when scraping ash with the scraper 9, and the columns 31a, 31b and the lower frames 32a, 32b are reinforced by support bars 33a, 33b.

[0031] To reduce weight, the structure 10 may have numerous holes, but not so large as to deform the structure 10. Reducing the weight of the structure 10 makes installation and transportation easier. Also, since ash often contains slaked lime and is often alkaline, the entire structure 10 is coated with corrosion-resistant paint. The weight of the attachment 8a is set to, for example, 30 kg to 50 kg so that one or two people can carry it.

[0032] As shown in Figure 6, a plurality of (for example, two) lower fixing brackets 35 are fixed to the lower part of the structure 10, positioned between the claw portions 12 at the bottom of the bucket 7a. The lower fixing brackets 35 are, for example, roughly L-shaped. The lower part of the bottom plate 11 of the bucket 7a is inserted into the lower fixing brackets 35. The lower part of the structure 10 is attached to the lower part of the bucket 7a by fastening the lower fixing brackets 35 to the lower part of the bottom plate 11 of the bucket 7a using fastening members 25 such as bolts.

[0033] The upper part of the structure 10 is provided with a plurality (for example, two) of upper fixing brackets 37 that are fastened to the bucket eye 36 at the top of the bucket 7a. The upper fixing brackets 37 are fixed to the columns 31a, 31b and support bars 33a, 33b using fastening members 26 such as bolts. The upper part of the structure 10 is attached to the top of the bucket 7a by fastening the upper fixing brackets 37 to the bucket eye 36 of the bucket 7a using fastening members 24 such as bolts and nuts.

[0034] Figures 7(a) to 7(d) show the process diagrams for attaching attachments 8a and 8b to buckets 7a and 7b. As shown in Figure 7(a), the ash crane 1 carries the club bucket 3 to the bucket storage area, opens buckets 7a and 7b, and lowers them to near the floor. Then, the attachments 8a and 8b, placed on the trolley 41, are transported to near buckets 7a and 7b.

[0035] Next, as shown in Figure 7(b), the buckets 7a and 7b are raised slightly so that they are positioned above the roughly L-shaped lower fixing bracket 35. Then, the attachments 8a and 8b on the trolley 41 are brought closer to the buckets 7a and 7b so that they are in contact with them.

[0036] Next, as shown in Figure 7(c), the buckets 7a and 7b are lowered, and the lower parts of the bottom plates 11 of the buckets 7a and 7b are inserted into the approximately L-shaped lower fixing brackets 35 of the attachments 8a and 8b (see Figure 6). Then, the lower fixing brackets 35 are fastened to the lower parts of the bottom plates 11 of the buckets 7a and 7b using fastening members 25 such as bolts. In addition, the upper fixing brackets 37 are fastened to the bucket eyes 36 (see Figure 6) using fastening members 24 such as bolts and nuts. In this way, the attachments 8a and 8b can be attached to the buckets 7a and 7b.

[0037] Finally, as shown in Figure 7(d), raising buckets 7a and 7b completes the work. The installation process takes a short time, about 20 minutes with two people and about 30 minutes with one person. Removal is the reverse of the above procedure.

[0038] The ash crane attachment and the method for removing ash from the ash pit according to this embodiment have been described above. The ash crane attachment and the method for removing ash from the ash pit according to this embodiment have the following advantages.

[0039] By using the ash crane 1 with attachments 8a and 8b attached to buckets 7a and 7b, the solidified ash 18 outside the effective gripping range of buckets 7a and 7b in the ash pit 21 is scraped and moved to the center of the ash pit 21, thus removing the solidified ash 18 from the ash pit 21. Alternatively, by using the ash crane 1 with attachments 8a and 8b removed from buckets 7a and 7b, the ash in the ash pit 21 can be grasped and transported out of the ash pit 21, so that the attachments 8a and 8b do not interfere with the normal operation of the ash crane 1. Therefore, the impact on the normal operation of the ash crane 1 can be minimized.

[0040] Since attachments 8a and 8b can be attached to and detached from buckets 7a and 7b without modifying them by drilling holes or welding metal fittings, this does not adversely affect buckets 7a and 7b during normal operation, and attachments 8a and 8b can be attached to existing buckets 7a and 7b.

[0041] Since the attachments 8a and 8b include a scraper 9 for scraping ash outside the effective gripping range of the buckets 7a and 7b, and a structure 10 to which the scraper 9 is fixed and fastened to the upper and lower parts of the open buckets 7a and 7b using fastening members 24 and 25, the attachments 8a and 8b can be attached to the buckets 7a and 7b without modifying the buckets 7a and 7b. Furthermore, the strength of the attachments 8a and 8b can be increased. In addition, the weight of the attachments 8a and 8b can be reduced, and the attachments 8a and 8b can be attached to and detached from the buckets 7a and 7b in a short amount of time.

[0042] Since the structure 10 of attachments 8a and 8b includes a lower fixing bracket 35 that is positioned between the lower claw portions 12 of the open buckets 7a and 7b, attachments 8a and 8b can be attached to buckets 7a and 7b without modifying the claw portions 12 of buckets 7a and 7b.

[0043] Since the structure 10 of attachments 8a and 8b is equipped with an upper fixing bracket 37 that is fastened to the bucket eye 36 at the top of the open buckets 7a and 7b, attachments 8a and 8b can be attached to buckets 7a and 7b without modifying the buckets 7a and 7b.

[0044] In the solidified ash removal process, by closing the buckets 7a and 7b with the attachments 8a and 8b attached, the solidified ash 18 outside the effective gripping range of the buckets 7a and 7b is scraped and moved to the center of the ash pit 21. Thus, the scraping of the solidified ash 18 and the movement of the scraped solidified ash 18 to the center of the ash pit 21 can be performed simultaneously. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0045] 1... Ash Crane 7a, 7b... Buckets 8a, 8b... Attachments 9... Scraper 10...Structure 11…Bottom plate of the bucket 12... Bucket claws 18… Ash outside the effective gripping range of the bucket (solidified ash) 21... Ash Pit 24, 25… Fastening members 35...Lower fixing bracket 36... Bucket eye 37… Upper fixing bracket

Claims

1. An attachment that can be attached to and detached from the bucket of an ash crane, By using the ash crane with the attachment mounted on the bucket, the bucket is closed to scrape off ash outside the bucket's effective gripping range within the ash pit and move it to the center of the ash pit. The external dimensions of the attachment with the bucket in the open position are set to be approximately equal to the internal dimensions of the ash pit wall. The attachment for the ash crane comprises a scraper for scraping ash outside the effective gripping range of the bucket, and a structure to which the scraper is fixed and fastened to the upper and lower parts of the bucket in the open state using fastening members.

2. The attachment for a ash crane according to claim 1, characterized in that the attachment can be attached to and detached from the bucket without modifying the bucket.

3. An attachment that can be attached to and detached from the bucket of an ash crane, Using the ash crane with the attachment mounted on the bucket, the ash outside the effective gripping range of the bucket in the ash pit is scraped and moved to the center of the ash pit. The attachment comprises a scraper for scraping ash outside the effective gripping range of the bucket, and a structure to which the scraper is fixed. The attachment for the ash crane comprises a lower fixing bracket which is positioned between the claws at the bottom of the bucket in an open state and attached to the bottom plate of the bucket using a fastening member.

4. The attachment for an ash crane according to claim 3, characterized in that the structure of the attachment is fastened to the upper part of the bucket in the open state using a fastening member.

5. An attachment that can be attached to and detached from the bucket of an ash crane, Using the ash crane with the attachment mounted on the bucket, the ash outside the effective gripping range of the bucket in the ash pit is scraped and moved to the center of the ash pit. The attachment comprises a scraper for scraping ash outside the effective gripping range of the bucket, and a structure to which the scraper is fixed. An attachment for a ash crane, wherein the structure of the attachment comprises an upper fixing fitting fastened to the bucket eye at the top of the open bucket using a fastening member.

6. The attachment for an ash crane according to claim 5, characterized in that the structure of the attachment is fastened to the lower part of the bucket in the open state using a fastening member.

7. A method for removing ash from an ash pit using an ash crane and an attachment that can be attached to and detached from the bucket of the ash crane, The normal operational process involves using the ash crane with the attachment removed from the bucket to grasp the ash in the ash pit and transport it out of the ash pit, The system includes a solidified ash removal process in which the ash crane, with the attachment mounted on the bucket, scrapes off ash outside the effective gripping range of the bucket in the ash pit and moves it to the center of the ash pit. A method for removing ash from an ash pit, comprising repeating the above-mentioned normal operation process and the above-mentioned solidified ash removal process.

8. In the aforementioned solidified ash removal process, The method for removing ash from an ash pit according to claim 7, characterized in that by closing the bucket with the attachment attached, ash outside the effective gripping range of the bucket is scraped off and moved to the center of the ash pit.

9. The method for removing ash from an ash pit according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the attachment can be attached to and removed from the bucket without modifying the bucket.

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