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October 15, 2018

Movers and shakers: Bulk-handling equipment used for grain handling

by Doug Anderson, Marketing Manager, Guttridge Ltd, UK

Virtually everything that we touch has, at some point in its life cycle, been through bulk handling equipment. Doug Anderson, Marketing Manager at Guttridge Ltd, discusses the various types of conveyors used in grain handling, highlighting the benefits and limitations of each and explains the importance of protecting the material being conveyed.

 


Conveyer types
There are four main types of conveyor used for the handling of grain - the screw conveyor, the rolling belt conveyor and the chain and flight conveyors. Each type of conveyor has benefits and each has certain limitations.

Choice of machinery can often come down to personal preference of the person specifying the system and may often be influenced by experience with certain types of conveyor, be that good or bad.

Of course, as technology improves, the characteristics of the machinery changes and evolves which means that specifiers should not make quick decisions on which type of conveyor to use for a certain requirement. It’s important to make careful, educated choices and to fully consider the positives and negatives, benefits and limitations of each type of conveyor when designing a system.

Screw conveyor
Screw conveyors are frequently used in conveying of grain and are a popular choice as they are simple in design (taking inspiration from Archimedes’ screw over 2000 years ago), robust and easy to maintain. Screw conveyors are also relatively low cost and modular in design allowing them to be built to meet bespoke requirements. The screw conveyor also provides accuracy of control to allow the materials being handled to be fed at various rates as required.

Belt conveyor
A rolling belt conveyor carries granular or pelletised material from point to point and is open to all weathers but does come with the option of enclosure panels for dust containment and also to make it weather tight. Materials can be discharged at fixed or variable intermediate positions along the length of the conveyor, via a range of versatile carriage options, such as bucket elevators or tail end hoppers.

The belt conveyor can be enhanced by adding the tripper facility, which can be used for situations such as carrying materials into docks. A tripper belt conveyor can move high volumes of material into storage bins very effectively.

Moving from one end of a row of silos to the other, they ensure even-fill and eliminate overfill. They are used for high throughput where there is little or no concern over the amount dust created.


Read more HERE.
 

The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.


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