A hoist controller is the controller for a hoist. The term is used primarily in the context of electrically operated hoists, but it is apparent that the control systems of many 20th century steam hoists also incorporated controllers of significant complexity. Consider the control system of the Quincy Mine No. 2 Hoist. [1] This control system included interlocks to close the throttle valve at the end of trip and to prevent opening the throttle again until the winding engine was reversed. The control system also incorporated a governor to control the speed of the hoist and indicator wheels to show the hoist operator the positions of the skips in the mine shaft.
A hoist is a device used for lifting or lowering a load by means of a drum or lift-wheel around which rope or chain wraps. It may be manually operated, electrically or pneumatically driven and may use chain, fiber or wire rope as its lifting medium. The most familiar form is an elevator, the car of which is raised and lowered by a hoist mechanism. Most hoists couple to their loads using a lifting hook.
A control system manages, commands, directs, or regulates the behavior of other devices or systems using control loops. It can range from a single home heating controller using a thermostat controlling a domestic boiler to large Industrial control systems which are used for controlling processes or machines.
The Quincy Mine is an extensive set of copper mines located near Hancock, Michigan. The mine was owned by the Quincy Mining Company and operated between 1846 and 1945, although some activities continued through the 1970s. The Quincy Mine was known as "Old Reliable," as the Quincy Mine Company paid a dividend to investors every year from 1868 through 1920. The Quincy Mining Company Historic District is a United States National Historic Landmark District; other Quincy Mine properties nearby, including the Quincy Mining Company Stamp Mills, the Quincy Dredge Number Two, and the Quincy Smelter are also historically significant.
The hoist controllers for modern electric mining hoists have long included such features as automatic starting of the hoist when the weight of coal or ore in the skip reaches a set point, automatic acceleration of the hoist to full speed and automatic deceleration at the end of travel. [2] Hoist controllers need both velocity and absolute position references taken, typically taken from the winding drum of the hoist. [3] Modern hoist controllers replace many of the mechanical analog mechanisms of earlier controllers with digital control systems.
In underground mining a hoist or winder is used to raise and lower conveyances within the mine shaft. Modern hoists are normally powered using electric motors, historically with direct current drives utilizing Ward Leonard control machines and later solid-state converters (thyristors), however modern large hoists use alternating current drives that are variable frequency controlled. There are three principal types of hoists used in mining applications:
A skip is a large open-topped waste container designed for loading onto a special type of lorry. Instead of being emptied into a bin lorry on site, as a wheelie bin is, a skip is removed, or replaced by an empty skip, and then tipped at a landfill site or transfer station.
Analogue electronics are electronic systems with a continuously variable signal, in contrast to digital electronics where signals usually take only two levels. The term "analogue" describes the proportional relationship between a signal and a voltage or current that represents the signal. The word analogue is derived from the Greek word ανάλογος (analogos) meaning "proportional".
