SYSTEMS, METHODS AND DEVICES FOR SUPPLYING COARSE GRANULAR MATERIALS TO A REMOTE LOCATION

• US 20080035675A1
• Filed: 08/10/2007
• Published: 02/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kris A. Norman
• Original Assignee: Kris A. Norman
• Inventors: Norman, Kris A.
• Application Number:
  US11/837,379
• Publication Number:
  US 20080035675A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 222/181.3
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 88/28 Construction or shape of discharge section
• CPC Class Codes: F23B 50/12 the fuel being fed to the combustion zone by free fall or by sliding along inclined surfaces, e.g. from a conveyor terminating above the fuel bed

Abstract

A hopper, usable to supply material into an interior of a structure, includes walls that define a supply opening and a tapering supply space, a supply outlet and spout, a cover that extends over the supply opening, mounting structures that are attachable to the structure, and barrier structure(s) that extend across the supply opening. A guide surface inside the hopper guides the material to the supply outlet. The barrier structure(s) catch agglomerations of the material, and can be used to break up such agglomerations and/or to prevent large objects from the entering the supply space. The hopper is attached to wall(s) of the structure using the mounting structures. A supply pipe extends from the hopper through a floor/wall of the structure and terminates at an appliance to be supplied with the material using the hopper. The cover includes a gasket that seals the supply opening when the cover is closed.

Claims

1. A hopper usable to supply a flowable material to a device that consumes such flowable material, the device located within a structure at a location within the structure that is separated from and below the hopper, comprising:

at least a front wall, a rear wall and a pair of side walls that define an interior space within the hopper;

a supply outlet opening formed in the rear wall;

an shaped guide surface extending between the front and rear surfaces and sloping downward from the front wall to the rear wall, the shaped guide surface further extending between the pair of side walls such that the shaped guide surface passes below at least a portion of the supply outlet opening, such that material supplied to the interior space is guided into the supply outlet opening;

mounting structures formed in or on the hopper such that the hopper is connectable to a wall of the structure;

wherein, when the flowable material is supplied into the interior space of the hopper, the flowable material is guided by the angled guide surface through the supply outlet opening.

2. The hopper of claim 1, wherein the front and rear walls oppose each other and the pair of side walls oppose each other.

3. The hopper of claim 1, further comprising a cover structure that extends over an opening to the interior space of the hopper defined by top edges of the front, rear and side walls of the hopper.

4. The hopper of claim 3, wherein the cover structure comprises:

a lid;

a plurality of side wall that extend from the lid; and

at least one connecting member that connects the cover structure to at least one of the front, rear or side walls of the hopper, the cover structure rotatably between a closed position where the lid extends over the opening and an open position where the lid is spaced away from the opening.

wherein at least three of the side walls of the cover structure extend outside of at least some of the front, rear and side walls of the hopper when the cover structure is in the closed position.

5. The hopper of claim 4, wherein the cover structure further comprises gasket material placed on inside surfaces of the plurality of side walls of the cover structure, such that a seal is established between the cover structure and at least some of the front, rear and side walls of the hopper when the cover structure is closed.

6. The hopper of claim 4, wherein:

the hopper further comprises a channel formed at least in part by the rear wall of the hopper, the channel opening upward, extending into the interior space, and extending laterally outside of the pair of side walls of the hopper; and

the cover structure is sized such that, when the cover structure is in the closed position, a rear one of the side walls extending from the lid that is adjacent to the rear wall is located in front of the rear wall and extends into the channel.

7. The hopper of claim 4, wherein:

wherein all of the side walls of the cover structure extend outside of all of the front, rear and side walls of the hopper when the cover structure is in the closed position.

8. The hopper of claim 1, wherein:

1

a front assembly comprises at least the front wall and the side walls of the hopper; and

a rear assembly comprises at least the rear wall of the hopper.

9. The hopper of claim 8, wherein the rear assembly further comprises a first set of flanges attached to the rear wall.

10. The hopper of claim 11, wherein the front assembly further comprises a second set of flanges, the second set of flanges extending from the side walls of the hopper such that the second set of flanges are adjacent to the first set of flanges of the rear assembly.

11. The hopper of claim 8, wherein the front assembly further comprises the angled guide surface.

12. The hopper of claim 11, wherein the angled guide surface is attached to at least one of the front wall and at least one of the side walls of the hopper.

13. The hopper of claim 8, wherein the front assembly further comprises a set of flanges, the set of flanges extending from the side walls of the hopper.

14. The hopper of claim 1, further comprising at least one barrier structure extending across the interior space, the at least one barrier structure usable to bar an object greater than a desired size from moving from above the at least one barrier structure to below the at least one barrier structure.

15. The hopper of claim 14, where in the at least one barrier structure extends at least one of between the front and rear walls and between the side walls.

16. The hopper of claim 14, where in the at least one barrier structure is one of at least a plurality of bars, a plurality of rods or a grid structure

17. The hopper of claim 1, wherein and a supply pipe extending from the appliance through a floor or the wall of the structure is connectable to the supply outlet opening, wherein, when the flowable material is supplied into the interior space of the hopper, the flowable material is guided by the angled guide surface through the supply outlet opening into the supply pipe.

18. The hopper of claim 1, further comprising a spout extending from an exterior surface of the rear wall and extending around the supply outlet opening formed in the rear wall.

19. The hopper of claim 1, wherein the mounting structure comprises a first set of flanges extending from the rear wall.

20. The hopper of claim 1, wherein the mounting structure comprises a first set of flanges attached to the side walls.

21. The hopper of claim 1, wherein the mounting structure comprises:

flanges extending from at least one of the rear wall and at least one of the pair of side walls; and

a plurality of mounting holes formed in the flanges, such that the hopper is connectable to a wall of the structure.

22. The hopper of claim 1, wherein the shaped guide surfaces is an angled guide surface located within the interior space, the angled guide surface extending between the front and rear surfaces and sloping downward from the front wall to the rear wall, the angled guide surface further extending between the pair of side walls such that the angled guide surface passes below at least a portion of the supply outlet opening, such that material supplied to the interior space is guided into the supply outlet opening.

23. The hopper of claim 1, wherein:

the front wall, rear wall and pair of side walls that define an interior space within the hopper form an inner shell, the hopper further comprising an outer shell that rests on a support surface and that extends around and supports the inner shell a distance above the support surface; and

the mounting structures formed in or on the hopper are formed in the outer shell.