Pivotable Hoist Rope Guide With Spring Damper
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electric rope mining shovels face difficulties in directly measuring hoist rope tension, leading to rope slack and increased wear, which reduces the life of the ropes and can cause oscillations and potential damage.
Innovation Solution
A rope guide mechanism with a pivotably coupled arm and spring damper system that maintains positive engagement with the rope, using sheaves or rollers to manage tension and reduce oscillations, and includes a sensor system to determine rope tension and adjust winch operation accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the hoist ropes are paid out and reeled in during digging cycles, then the dipper can be raised and lowered to perform digging operations, but the ropes become slack and oscillate, causing wear against the rope guide members and boom
Solution Approach 1:
The rope guide arm is made pivotable rather than fixed, allowing it to dynamically adjust its position in response to rope tension changes. The spring damper provides dynamic cushioning that adapts to varying rope slack conditions during digging cycles, maintaining continuous positive engagement without rigid constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The spring damper is pre-configured to provide cushioning force before rope slack causes damage. By positioning the spring damper to bias the arm toward maintaining rope engagement, the system prepares in advance to absorb shocks and prevent wear, rather than reacting after damage occurs.
2Measurement precision
If direct measurement of rope tension is attempted, then the operator can know whether ropes are slack or under stress, but direct measurement is difficult to implement
Solution Approach 1:
The spring damper acts as an intermediary mechanical element that translates rope tension into arm position changes. Instead of directly measuring tension with complex sensors, the system uses the spring damper's mechanical response as an indirect but reliable indicator of rope tension state.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex electronic tension measurement systems with a purely mechanical indication system. The arm's position, influenced by the spring damper, provides mechanical feedback about rope tension without requiring sensors, electronics, or complex measurement instrumentation.
3Reliability
If the rope guide arm is made pivotable with spring damper, then positive engagement with the rope is maintained, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The spring damper performs multiple functions simultaneously: it cushions rope slack, biases the arm to maintain engagement, and provides mechanical indication of tension. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components, offsetting the added complexity with consolidated functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The pivotable arm with spring damper is a self-regulating system that automatically adjusts to maintain rope engagement without external control. The spring damper self-adjusts its cushioning force based on rope tension, and the arm self-position to maintain contact, eliminating the need for external actuators or control systems.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The rope guide reduces slack and oscillations, extends the life of the ropes and associated components, and provides a mechanism for accurately determining rope tension, preventing high-impact loading on the boom.
Implementation Method 1
a spring damper coupled between the boom and the arm, the spring damper biasing the arm to rotate in a first direction about the first end, the spring damper generating a biasing force
Implementation Method 2
the spring damper generating a biasing force that causes the first rope-contacting element and the second rope-contacting element to maintain positive engagement with the rope
Data Source
AI summary
A rope guide that includes an arm, a rope-contacting element, and a spring damper. The rope guide is pivotably coupled to the boom of a mining shovel. The combination of the arm, spring damper, and rope-contacting element maintains a nominal tension in the rope, thereby reducing the likelihood of wear and fatigue on the rope.