Extensible Leg Spacer for Inflatable Blasthole Plug Depth Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
In mining bench blasting, existing inflatable blasthole plugs require manual adjustment and inflation, leading to inefficiencies as operators must wait for the plug to reach the desired depth before moving to the next blasthole, wasting time and increasing the risk of over-drilling and back-filling.
Innovation Solution
A spacer for inflatable blasthole plugs with extensible leg formations that can be adjusted to the desired depth, allowing the plug assembly to be dropped into the blasthole and inflated in place, eliminating the need for manual tethering and reducing setup time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual tethering and waiting for plug expansion is used, then the plug can be held at the correct level, but time is wasted and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The leg formation is extended to the required length before the plug is inserted into the blasthole. This preliminary positioning action eliminates the need for waiting during insertion, as the plug is pre-configured to reach the correct depth immediately upon deployment, thereby resolving the contradiction between positioning accuracy and productivity
Solution Approach 2:
The tethering function is extracted from the plug system and replaced by the extensible leg formation. The legs provide self-contained positioning capability without requiring external tethering equipment or manual holding, allowing operators to work independently and continuously across multiple blastholes
2Productivity
If the leg formation is extended to desired length before deployment, then rapid deployment is enabled, but the spacer size increases when extended
Solution Approach 1:
The leg formation is designed to be extensible rather than fixed, allowing it to change length dynamically. When not in use, the legs are retracted to minimize volume; when deployment is required, they extend to the needed length. This dynamic capability enables rapid deployment while maintaining compact storage volume
Solution Approach 2:
The extensible leg formation can be collapsed or nested within the body of the spacer when not in use, significantly reducing the overall volume of the moving object during transport and storage, while allowing full extension when deployment is required
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is an extensible spacer (14) for an inflatable blasthole plug (10) in the form of a collapsed bag (12). The spacer (14) includes a body (14.1) attached to the bag (12), and an associated leg formation (16) which may include leg segments (16.1, 16.2).