Mining Machine Guide Shoe with Curved Surfaces for Rack Engagement
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional longwall shearers experience poor engagement between the trapping shoe and the rack due to wear, leading to reduced machine control and increased maintenance frequency.
Innovation Solution
A drive mechanism with a guide shoe featuring a surface angled or curved to maintain engagement with the rack, including a hook with a surface oriented at an oblique angle to the plane of the rack, ensuring secure alignment and reducing wear.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional guide shoe with flat surfaces is used, then the initial engagement between the guide shoe and rack is adequate, but wear occurs over time resulting in poor engagement and reduced machine control
Solution Approach 1:
The guide shoe incorporates angled and curved surfaces instead of flat surfaces. Specifically, the guide shoe has a first surface angled relative to the direction of movement and a second surface curved to engage with a corresponding curved surface on the rack. This curvature design maintains consistent engagement and contact pressure between the guide shoe and rack throughout operation, preventing the poor engagement that occurs with flat surfaces after wear.
2Reliability
If the guide shoe surfaces are made angled or curved to maintain engagement, then machine control is improved, but the complexity of manufacturing the guide shoe increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide shoe applies the angled and curved surface features only to the specific engagement surfaces that contact the rack, while other portions of the guide shoe can remain simpler in form. This localized application of complex geometry minimizes manufacturing complexity while achieving the desired improvement in engagement quality and machine control.
Data Source
AI summary
An interface between a guide shoe of a mining machine and a rack includes a first surface positioned on the guide shoe. and a second surface positioned on the rack. At least one of the first surface and the second surface including a profile oriented at an oblique angle relative to a plane of the rack.