Cooling a ranging arm gear case on a longwall shearer

摘要

A cooling system for the gear case in the ranging arm of a longwall shearer, the ranging arm including a plurality of single gears mounted in a row within an elongated housing. The cooling system includes a coolant injection system in each of the single gears, each coolant injection system including a longitudinal opening in the gear axle, and a coolant injection tube mounted inside the longitudinal opening. The coolant injection tube has a diameter smaller than the diameter of the longitudinal opening. A coolant supply line is connected to and in communication with the coolant injection tube, and a coolant outlet is connected to and in communication with the longitudinal opening adjacent the one end of the longitudinal opening, so that coolant leaving the end of the coolant injection tube travels back along the coolant injection tube and then out of the gear axle thereby removing heat from the single gear.