Flexible tube cleaning lance drive apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9981822-B2
Application number	US-201715459327-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2017
Priority date	Jul 24, 2014
Publication date	May 29, 2018
Grant date	May 29, 2018

Abstract

A flexible lance drive device is disclosed that has, in a compact housing, a drive motor between an inner and an outer wall, a linear array of pairs of driven upper and lower drive rollers outside the outer wall coupled to the drive motor via shafts extending through both of the inner and outer walls. Each driven roller is fastened to its shaft via a quick release device. A drive sprocket is fastened to each shaft outside the inner wall. The drive motor is coupled to each of the drive sprockets via a serpentine belt carried outside the inner wall. The lower driven rollers are rotatably carried by the inner and outer walls. The upper driven rollers are rotatably carried by a block positioned between the inner and outer walls and coupled to the lower driven rollers by a pair of parallel links releasably biased by a piston driven linkage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A quick release drive roller and axle apparatus for use in a flexible high pressure fluid lance drive, the apparatus comprising:
a cylindrical drive axle having an axially extending closed slot adjacent a distal end of the axle, wherein the slot has opposing ends and is closed at each end of the slot;
a ball nosed spring plunger disposed in a cross bore spaced from the closed slot through the distal end of the axle;
a spline disposed in the closed slot; and
a drive roller having a central bore and an axial slot along the central bore, wherein when the drive roller is assembled onto the drive axle, the spline engages the axial slot along the central bore and the ball of the ball nosed spring plunger extends outward from the cross bore radially away from the closed slot and engages the drive roller to retain the drive roller on the axle.

2. A flexible lance drive apparatus comprising:
a housing having a front wall and a rear wall, an outer section, an inner section and a mid section defined between a pair of spaced outer and inner walls perpendicular to and extending between the front and rear walls;
a drive motor disposed in the housing operably engaging a plurality of drive axles extending across the pair of spaced outer and inner walls arranged in an array of parallel axle pairs in the housing, each axle supporting a drive roller adapted to engage one or more flexible lances positioned in an axial plane through the housing perpendicular to the drive axles;
wherein at least one of the drive axles has an axially extending closed slot adjacent the distal end of the at least one axle, wherein the slot has opposing ends and is closed at each end of the slot, a ball nosed spring plunger disposed in a cross bore spaced from the closed slot through the distal end of the at least one axle, a spline disposed in the closed slot, and a drive roller releasably carried on the at least one axle covering the axial slot and engaging the spline in the axial slot and a ball of the ball nosed spring plunger extends radially outward from the cross bore engaging the drive roller to releasably retain the drive roller on the axle.

3. A flexible lance drive apparatus comprising:
a generally rectangular housing having a front wall and a rear wall, an outer section, an inner section and a mid section defined between a pair of spaced outer and inner walls perpendicular to and extending between the front and rear walls;
an array of upper and lower drive rollers in the outer section each rotatably supported by an axle shaft passing through the spaced outer and inner walls;
a drive sprocket fastened to each of the shafts in the inner section of the housing;
wherein each lower drive roller shaft is rotatably supported in a fixed position in each of the outer and inner walls and supported by both the outer and inner walls; and
each of the upper drive roller axle shafts is parallel to the lower drive roller axle shafts and is rotatably supported by a block carried in the mid section of the housing by parallel pivoting link members each extending from the block parallel to one of the outer and inner walls and wherein each pivoting link member is fastened to one of the outer and inner walls adjacent one of the lower drive roller shafts.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the array comprises three or more pairs of upper and lower drive rollers each configured to receive and hold therebetween a plurality of flexible lances.

5. The apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the upper shafts are each disposed in slots in the inner and outer walls and the block is pivotally supported by a pneumatic cylinder fastened to the housing.

6. The apparatus according to claim 3 further comprising a serpentine belt in the inner section of the housing connected between each of the drive sprockets and the drive motor operable to synchronously rotate the rollers.

7. The apparatus according to claim 3 further comprising at least one of the drive roller axle shafts having an axially extending closed slot adjacent a distal end of the axle;
a ball nosed spring plunger disposed in a cross bore through the distal end of the axle shaft spaced from the closed slot;
a spline disposed in the closed slot; and
a drive roller having a central bore and an axial slot along the bore, wherein when the drive roller is assembled onto the at least one axle, the spline engages the axial slot along the central bore and a ball of the ball nosed spring plunger extends radially outward from the cross bore and engages the drive roller to retain the drive roller on the at least one axle.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 further comprising each of the drive axle shafts having an axially extending closed slot adjacent the distal end of the axle shaft, a ball nosed spring plunger disposed in a cross bore through the distal end of the axle shaft spaced from the closed slot, a spline disposed in the closed slot, a drive roller releasably carried on the drive axle shaft and wherein the spline engages the axial slot along the central bore and a ball of the ball nosed spring plunger extends radially outward from the cross bore to releasably retain the drive roller on the axle shaft.

9. A flexible lance drive apparatus comprising:
a generally rectangular housing having a front wall and a rear wall, an outer section, an inner section and a mid section defined between a pair of spaced parallel outer and inner walls perpendicular to and extending between the front wall and the rear wall;
an array of upper and lower drive roller pairs in the outer section each rotatably supported by an axle shaft passing through the spaced outer and inner walls;
a drive sprocket fastened to each of the axle shafts in the inner section of the housing and connected to a drive motor via a serpentine belt;
wherein each lower drive roller axle shaft is rotatably supported in a fixed position in each of the outer and inner walls; and
each of the upper drive roller axle shafts is rotatably supported by a block carried in the mid section of the housing by at least two parallel pivoting link members each extending from the block parallel to one of the outer and inner walls in the mid section and wherein each pivoting link member is fastened to one of the outer and inner walls adjacent one of the lower drive roller axle shafts.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the upper shafts are each disposed in slots in the inner and outer walls and rotatably fastened to the block pivotally supported by a pneumatic cylinder fastened to the housing.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9 further comprising at least two pairs of pivoting link members connecting the block to the inner and outer walls adjacent the lower drive roller shafts.

12. The apparatus according to claim 9 further comprising at least one idler wheel contacting the serpentine belt for maintaining tension on the serpentine belt.

13. The apparatus according to claim 9 further comprising at least one of the drive roller axle shafts having an axially extending closed slot adjacent a distal end of the axle shaft;
a ball nosed spring plunger disposed in a cross bore through the distal end of the axle shaft;
a spline disposed in the closed slot; and
a drive roller having a central bore and an axial slot along the central bore, wherein when the drive roller is assembled onto the drive axle shaft, the spline engages the axial slot along the central bore and a ball of the ball nosed spring plunger extends radially outward from the cross bore engaging the drive roller to retain the drive roller on the axle shaft.

14. The apparatus accord

Assignees

• Stoneage Inc

Inventors

• Barnes Jeffery R

Classifications

• F28G15/04

  Feeding and driving arrangements, e.g. power operation · CPC title

• B65H2404/1521

  rotating, pivoting or oscillating around an axis, e.g. parallel to the roller axis · CPC title

• F28G3/163

  from internal surfaces of heat exchange conduits · CPC title

• B08B9/0433

  provided exclusively with fluid jets as cleaning tools · CPC title

• B65H2402/60

  Coupling, adapter or locking means · CPC title