Abstract: A deflectable vane member for a coal mill pulverizer throat. The vane is yieldingly mounted in the throat with a spring support member whose force is designed to hold the vane rigidly in place during normal operations, and to yield when the vane is struck by large debris with sufficient force. The spring support member causes the vane to spring back into its operative position after it has yielded to the debris.

Abstract: A deflectable vane member for a coal mill pulverizer throat. The vane is yieldingly mounted in the throat with a spring support member whose force is designed to hold the vane rigidly in place during normal operations, and to yield when the vane is struck by large debris with sufficient force. The spring support member causes the vane to spring back into its operative position after it has yielded to the debris.

Abstract: A burner isolation valve or gate for use in the coal-delivery pipes of coal-fired power plants. Safety regulations often require that two valves be placed in the coal delivery line between a combustion chamber and an exhauster or pulverizer type deliver source to isolate the section of pipe in between for maintenance and other access. The invention includes a novel valve plate and actuation assembly, a novel housing adapted to sealingly enclose the valve plate, and a novel sealing mechanism for the valve plate and housing adapted to keep coal fines and dust out of the outboard portion of the housing in which the valve plate rests in the valve-open position.

Abstract: A burner isolation valve or gate for use in the coal-delivery pipes of coal-fired power plants. Safety regulations often require that two valves be placed in the coal delivery line between a combustion chamber and an exhauster or pulverizer type deliver source to isolate the section of pipe in between for maintenance and other access. The invention includes a novel valve plate and actuation assembly, a novel housing adapted to sealingly enclose the valve plate, and a novel sealing mechanism for the valve plate and housing adapted to keep coal fines and dust out of the outboard portion of the housing in which the valve plate rests in the valve-open position.

Abstract: In a delivery pipe for pulverized coal fines from a coal mill to a combustion chamber, a device for diffusing unevenly distributed coal flow evenly across the pipe. In a first form, the invention comprises a plurality of static, lateral, linear diffuser elements comprising rows of protrusions or teeth spaced laterally across the coal flow path in the pipe, preferably in a staggered and overlapping relationship. In a second form, the diffuser elements are rotatably mounted across the coal flow path in the pipe, and may be rotated at different speeds and in different directions. The diffuser elements spaced across the coal flow path in the pipe may be supplemented by peripherally-mounted diffuser elements at the inlet of that portion of the pipe or housing to provide an angled pre-diffusion of the coal flow from the sides of the pipe toward the lateral elements extending across the interior of the pipe.

Abstract: In a delivery pipe for pulverized coal fines from a coal mill to a combustion chamber, a device for diffusing unevenly distributed coal flow evenly across the pipe. In a first form, the invention comprises a plurality of static, lateral, linear diffuser elements comprising rows of protrusions or teeth spaced laterally across the coal flow path in the pipe, preferably in a staggered and overlapping relationship. In a second form, the diffuser elements are rotatably mounted across the coal flow path in the pipe, and may be rotated at different speeds and in different directions. The diffuser elements spaced across the coal flow path in the pipe may be supplemented by peripherally-mounted diffuser elements at the inlet of that portion of the pipe or housing to provide an angled pre-diffusion of the coal flow from the sides of the pipe toward the lateral elements extending across the interior of the pipe.

Abstract: An improved coal mill exhauster fan having an elongated, conical hub welded to the blades and engaging the rear shroud plate to eliminate air gaps along the rear of the fan assembly and to assist in axial to radial directional changes of the coal flow; two-piece blade assemblies having a sub-blade welded directly to the hub and shroud plates, and a protective liner removably secured to the sub-blades only, for example by bolts; a plurality of swept-back stiffener ribs welded to the rear undersides of the sub-blades, hub and shroud to increase rigidity, and with angled deflector faces to reduce erosion; and an improved hub cap or spinner seal which extends further toward the housing inlet than traditional Cooley caps and which forms a smooth, non-turbulent extension of the hub relative to the incoming coal flow.

Abstract: An improved vane of the type adapted for use in the classifier cage of a bowl mill type coal pulverizer. The improved vane is designed such that its lower end extends below the classifier cage inlet when the vane is mounted in the inlet. In a preferred form, the vane has a generally trapezoidal shape with a longer lower edge. The vane is additionally bent or curved over a major portion to direct coal tangentially toward the surface of the classifier cone.

Abstract: An improved classifier cage for bowl mill type coal pulverizers which have been converted from stationary throats to rotating throats with reversed flow direction. The direction of the classifier vanes is reversed such that the rotational flow direction of coal/air from the rotating throat is generally maintained as it passes through the classifier cage into a classifier cone, rather than being reversed in "U-turn" fashion. A further improvement is made in the geometry of the classifier vanes to create a better downward and tangential redirection of the flow into the classifier cone.