FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention in general relates to the development of the Composite Ceramic Wear Resistant chute Liner/panel to improve the flow-ability and the overall liner life in both impact and abrasion conditions.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Wear panels are typically used in the minerals, mining, foundry, milling and materials handling industries in order to increase the life of equipment, decrease maintenance downtime and increase throughput. Such panels are typically secured to the floor and walls of chutes, hoppers, bins, tanks, separator devices, fan housings and other equipment to provide an area of cover or lining where abrasive or corrosive material such as crushed rock, coal, ore, grain and other abrasive aggregates causes rapid wear.

The composition or material selection of these liners depends upon the application where the lining will be used either for handling big size particles or handling fines, impact zone or sliding zone and other such identified zones. But Some application/equipment handles both bigger size/lumps and smaller size/fine particles thus experiencing both impact and sliding wear resulting in decreased liner life and efficiency.

The present invention meets the abovementioned long felt needs of liner capable to sustain itself under both impact and abrasion conditions providing increased life.

The prior art liners have drawbacks as they are expensive to manufacture, require specialized tooling to fabricate and assemble, require the use of screws, anchors, adhesives or rubber substrates to bond portions of the wear panels together, are difficult to cut and assemble on site, require long-lead times and typically experience de-lamination and cracking. However, when ceramic edges are exposed to wear, the edges easily chip. In addition, when the ceramic wear members are encapsulated in polyurethane or rubber, delamination can occur; during hot moulding rubber process, thermal shock can damage the ceramic or other wear members and create a less preferable product; and a hot casting off-site facility is typically required for manufacture and assembly which can increase cost and lead-times. Bonding ceramic to other wear materials can be complicated and unreliable. Further, the use of screws and anchors in order to attach wear members can create weaknesses in the members causing cracking, are more expensive to manufacture, require tooling and are difficult to assemble on site. Additionally, when wear panels are assembled off site and delivered to a customer site in whole, if dimensional or figuration changes must be made, such wear panels are difficult to cut and burdensome to manoeuver.

The present invention meets the abovementioned long felt needs of liner capable to sustain itself under both impact and abrasion conditions to ensure improved liner resistance to both impact impingement wear and abrasive wear.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is the principal objective of the present invention to ensure an improved impact resistance of the ceramic lining so as to ensure an improved flow of bulk material within transfer points where there is a mixed concentration of both big sized particles/lumps and fines.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention provides the design for a new innovative liner incorporating plurality of mechanically interlocked ceramic tiles and Hardox rider bars placed in vertical strips between rows of ceramic blocks enabling the liner to sustain impact from lumps/ large particles size greater than 60 Millimeters and improved flow for fine particles. Hardox ribs withstand the impact and the ceramic inlay allow for improved flow ability of the fine material, which finds its way down the transfer point. The fines also act like a material cushion to the impacting lumpy particles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The nature and scope of the present invention will be better understood from the accompanying drawings, which are by way of illustration of a preferred embodiment and not by way of any sort of limitation. In the accompanying drawings:

Fig 1 illustrates the product/liner (Cerahard) in accordance with the present invention;
Fig 2 illustrates the figure of the product (Cerahard) along with the sectional views in accordance with the present invention;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following describes a preferred embodiment of the present invention, which is purely for the sake of understanding the present invention and not by way of any sort of limitation.

The present invention in particular provides a composite liner having a combination of hardox bars (3), interlocked ceramic blocks (2) and rubber (4). Such a combination provides with a liner (1) resulting in improved resistance to wear, improved resistance to impact and improved liner life than conventional liners. The salient feature of this invention is the dual nature of the liner (1), which combines ceramic blocks (2) and hardox (3) along with a Rubber base layer (4), which allows for both impact resistance, abrasion resistance along with the shock absorbing nature of the rubber (4) used as the binding material in the composite liner (1) as shown in Fig 1 and Fig 2.

The hardox (3) withstands the impact wear due to its ductility, the ceramic (2) withstands the abrasive wear due to its high wear resistance and low coefficient of friction. The rubber (4) act as a binding agent in the liner (1) and as a shock absorber. The fines fill into the crevices between the hardox (3) bars and form a dynamic bed of freely flowing fine material, which adds to the cushioning against the heavy and lumpy bulk material, also the mechanical locking of ceramic blocks (2) ensures the improved stability of the liner (1).

The present invention compromises of plurality of ceramic blocks (2) and hardox bars (3). Each individual hardox bar (3) and ceramic block (2) is bonded with rubber (4) from both vertical surfaces and bottom surface as shown in fig. 2. As these blocks (2) and bars (3) are embedded in rubber (1), rubber help in withstanding impact loads on the liner (1) as rubber (4) absorbs the energy and acts as binding agent. The liner (1) is provided with a metal backing plate (5) so as to fix the liner in the chute. Generally, it is fixed with the help of studs (6) as shown in fig. 2.

The said liner (1) can be used in any transfer point where there exists a combination of both large lumps and fines. The size of the liner (1) may vary according to the application as shown in figures and the distance between the hardox (3) ribs can be varied to accommodate varying particle sizes and ore characteristics.

The basic constructional feature of the composite liner as described will be further explained in the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings: -

Figure 1 represents a composite chute liner (1) compromising of plurality of mechanically interlocked ceramic blocks (2) along with hardox bars (3) between the rows of ceramic blocks as shown in figure 1. These hardox bars (3) and ceramic blocks (2) are embedded in a rubber matrix (4).
Figure 2 represents the top view and the sectional views of the arrangement shown in figure 1 shows that the rubber matrix (4) also has a back plate (5), which is adapted for fixing the liner on the chute wall by means of studs (6). As shown in figure 2 the liner assembly embedded in rubber, to absorb impact load during the material handling.
Figure 2 is the detail view of the assembly of components for the liner (1). As shown the whole assembly withstand on the metal backing plate (5) with the help of binding agent that is rubber (4), both ceramic blocks (2) and hardox bars (3) are embedded in the rubber as shown in figure 2.
There is a thick layer of rubber (4) between the metal backing plate (5) and the ceramic blocks (2) and hardox bars (3) as shown in figure 2. This layer of rubber (4) is given in accordance to absorb the impact energy and provides cushioning for ceramic (2) and hardox bars (3).
Figure 1 and Figure 2 represents the assembly of the liner (1) compromising ceramic blocks (2) and hardox bars (3). The hardox bars (3) are greater in height in terms of ceramic blocks (2) as shown in figure-2 to ensure that no impact from greater/lumpy particles comes on ceramic blocks (2). The fines fill into the crevices between the hardox (3) bars that is on the ceramic blocks and form a dynamic bed of freely flowing fine material, which adds to the cushioning against the heavy and lumpy bulk material. The protrusion of hardox bars (3) in terms of ceramic blocks (2) is to accommodate the impact load of lumpy/large sized particles. The gap between the Ceramic row (2) and protruded hardox bar (3) is shown in figure 2. Example for thickness of components is shown in table-1.

Liner Thickness 60mm
Hardox Thickness 40mm
Ceramic Thickness 25mm

Table-1

The liner dimensions and Raw material specifications may vary according to the application but the overall design will remain consistent and in correct proportions.

Figure 2 represents the binding of ceramic blocks (2), hardox bars (3) and the metal backing plate (5) with the help of the rubber (4). The rubber layer (4) provided between the ceramic units (2), between ceramic (2) and hardox bars (3) along with their adjoining surfaces throughout the body of the liner (1), provides the desired cushioning effect to reduce the impact force which damages the ceramic blocks (2) and the hardox bars (3). This also ensures that the ceramic blocks (2) and the hardox bars (3) do not get dislodged easily during operation.
The hardox bare (3) can be replaced with any other material such as iron, alloys of iron, casted metals and so on may be used and all such materials fall within the scope of the present invention.
It would be clear from the liner assembly (1) compromising of interlocked ceramic blocks (2), hardox bars (3) and rubber (4) withstand impact load by providing padding effect. Also this configuration enhances the overall life in the material handling where concentration of both lumpy and fine materials is handled. Thus improving the flow and productivity.

Many modifications may readily be contemplated by those skilled in the art to which the invention relates. Many further modifications may readily be contemplated. The description set out above is particularly applicable to high rate clarification applications. However, in conventional clarification where the upstream or downstream processes herein described are not used, the teachings according to the invention may have considerable merit and are also applicable. The specific embodiments described, therefore, should be taken as illustrative of the invention only and not as limiting its scope as defined in accordance with the accompanying claims.

Claims:-

1. A composite ceramic wear liner (1) comprising of :
a plurality of mechanically interlocked ceramic blocks (2), Hardox rider bars (2) placed in vertical strips between rows of ceramic blocks (2) having rubber layer/films (4) between them along respective adjoining surfaces such that, the ceramic blocks (2) and hardox bars (3) are bonded with each other and metal back plate (5) with substantial strength; and wherein
the said layer of rubber (4) is placed between the metal back plate (5) and matrix of ceramic (2), hardox bars (3) to provide cushioning such that impact force is substantially reduced.
2. The composite liner (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said liner (1) is configured to accommodate both big size materials/lumps as well as fine material, for improved life and flow ability.
3. The composite liner (1) as claimed in claim 1 and 2, wherein the said liner (1) comprises of protruded hardox / metal bars (3) between rows of ceramic blocks (2) placed in between the gaps of two parallel bars (3); wherein said Ceramic blocks are (2) in depression forming inlay or a bed for fines.
4. The composite liner (1) as claimed in claim 1,2 and 3 wherein the said liner(1) comprises of an array of protruded hardox /metal bar (3) and ceramic blocks (2) in depression between them and a layer of film of rubber (4) binding them, wherein the layer on sides of ceramic blocks (2) and metal bars (3) binds them with the rubber base layer (4)which acts as a cushion to reduce the impact force on ceramic blocks (2) and hardox bars (3).
5. The composite liner (1) as claimed in claim 3 and 4, wherein said hardox/metal bar (3) is in protrusion and ceramic blocks (2) in depression so as to take impact loads of lumps through hardox bars (3) and fines particles to flow through valley formed between bars on the bed made up of ceramic blocks (2) in depression.
6. The composite liner (1) as claimed in claim 3, 4 and 5, wherein the said gap between the hardox bars (3) are in fixed proportion incorporating ceramic blocks (2) between them.
7. The composite liner (1) as claimed in claim 1,3,4,5 and 6, wherein the metal bars (3) can be any metal such as iron, hardox, aluminum or any other iron alloy, aluminum alloy or any other metal, metal alloy or material with high hardness.
8. The composite liner (1) as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said metal/hardox bars (3) and ceramic blocks (2) are embedded in rubber matrix (4) which compromises at least a metal plate (5) for fixing the liner on the chute wall by means of studs (6) and the blocks (1) of two adjacent rows are arranged to be asymmetric with each other.
9. The composite liner (1) as claimed in claim 7, wherein the said metal back plate (5) is made of iron or steel or other alloys of iron or aluminum.
10. The composite liner (1) as claimed in claim 1,3 and 4, wherein the liner dimensions and Raw material specifications varies according to the use but the overall configuration remain consistent and in correct proportions.