Bulk Solids Handling Equipments

There are various types of bulk solids handling equipments including:

Belt conveyor Chain conveyor Screw conveyor.
Pneumatic conveyor Haulage Conveyors Bucket Conveyors
Cable Conveyors Roller Conveyors Vibratory conveyor

Belt conveyor
A belt conveyor consists of an endless flat and flexible belt of sufficient strength, made of fabric, rubber,
plastic, leather or metal, which is laid over two metallic flat pulleys at two ends, and driven in one direction
by driving one of the two end pulleys. Material is placed on this moving belt for transportation. The active
half of the belt is supported by idler rollers or slider bed. The return half of the belt may or may not be
supported, as it generally does not carry any additional load other than its own weight. The endless belt is
kept taught by a belt tensioning arrangement.

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 General Characteristics
(i) Belt conveyors operate in one vertical plane, horizontally or with an inclination (up or down) depending
on the frictional property of the load conveyed.
(ii) For changing direction of the materials being conveyed, in the horizontal plane, more than one belt
conveyors are needed.
(iii) Conveying capacity of a conveyor can be controlled by changing belt speed.
(iv) Belt conveyors are generally employed for continuous flow of materials.
(v) Metal/special belts can carry hot, abrasive or reactive materials.

Types of Belt Conveyors

1. Flat Belt Conveyor:
In this conveyor, the active side of belt remains flat supported by cylindrical rollers or flat slider bed. The
conveyor is generally short in length and suitable for conveying unit loads like crates, boxes, packages,
bundles etc. in manufacturing, shipping, warehousing and assembly operations. Flat belts are conveniently
used for conveying parts between workstations or in an assembly line in mass production of goods. Figure 1
shows a flat conveyor.
2. Troughed Belt Conveyor:
In this conveyor, comparatively wide flat belt is supported on troughed carrying rollers or shaped supporting
surface so that the two edges of the active side of the belt are elevated from the middle part to form a trough.
This provides a greater carrying capacity than a flat belt of equal width for conveying bulk materials or those
materials which would slide off flat belts. These conveyors are used in handling bulk materials of different
classes. The return side of the belt is generally kept flat supported on cylindrical rollers.
The troughed conveyors which are used within a plant for moving bulk materials from one point to another,
are generally termed as ‘‘normal’’ or ‘‘transfer’’ conveyors. These are comparatively of shorter lengths, and
path of movements are in straight line in a horizontal or an inclined plane. The stresses in the belts being
within limits of cotton fabric belts.
However, troughed belt conveyors are often used for transportation of bulk materials over long distances, by
means of a series of conveyors, over paths that are combination of inclines, declines and horizontal sections,
following the natural contours of the ground. These are generally termed ‘‘long-centre’’ conveyors. There is
no clear demarcation between a normal or long-centre conveyor. Long center conveyors are those where belt
tension is high warranting use of high tension quality belts with less belt stretch, and low acceleration
through gradual starting controls for the drive. By using a number of conveyors in series, it is possible to
change the direction of materials movement at the junction of two conveyors, called ‘‘transfer terminal’’.
Long-centre conveyors are used for jobs like: (i) transportation of the output of mines to the processing
plants, (ii) materials from shipping ports to the storage/transport loading sites, (iii) materials from outdoor
storage yards to inside plants, (iv) movement of materials between plants etc.
3. Closed Belt Conveyor:
In a closed belt conveyor, the specially fabricated belt, after being loaded with the material, can be wrapped
completely around the load. It essentially forms a closed tube moving along with the material. The
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advantages of a closed belt conveyor are: (i) it can handle fragile materials safely and without breaking by
reducing inter particle collision, (ii) it can handle fine bulk materials without being swept by air (however, it
is not really air tight at loading and unloading points), (iii) ability to handle corrosive and reactive materials
without contamination and (iv) the tubed belt can travel around bends in more than one plane and hence
versatile in layout.
The lengths of these conveyors are generally limited. Different designs of closed belts have been
manufactured and used in different countries. Different designs for closing two ends of the belt have been
developed by different manufacturers.
4. Metallic Belt Conveyor:
This is a flat belt conveyor where the flexible belt is replaced by a cold rolled carbon or stainless steel strip
belt of thickness from 0.6 mm to 1.2 mm. The ends of the steel strip are lap joint riveted with a single row of
special wide flat head rivets. A steel belt runs flat on cylindrical idlers or runs troughed on resilient idlers
(made by suitable length of springs). Apart from all rolled strip steel belts, wire-mesh, belts of different
designs have been used. The entire length is made up of short length sections. One of the designs is made up
of flat wire spiral sections, shown in Fig. 6.1.4. The wire-mesh belts are more flexible and the design
considerations are similar to a rubberized textile belt conveyors.
Metallic strip belt conveyors are used in food, chemical industry and for conveying hot and reactive loads.
Wire-mesh belts are being widely used to handle unit and lump materials through furnaces (up to 1000°C
temperature), as mobile base for baking industry and also for wetting, cooling, dehydrating and similar
operations

5. Portable Conveyor:
Short length flat conveyors carried on a wheeled structure is termed portable conveyor. These are
particularly useful for loading and unloading of trucks / transport vehicles. The inclination of the conveyor
can generally be adjusted to suit application.

Parts of a Belt Conveyor

Belt conveyors typically consist of a series of sections that make up an entire conveyor. Shorter units can be
single self-contained conveyors. All belt conveyors consist of several sections:
• Intermediate beds
• Drive
• Take-up
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 • End pulleys (end brackets)
• Nose-over (Optional)
• Power feeders (optional)
(a) Slider flat belt conveyors are the least expensive type of belt conveyor and also the simplest to
manufacture. As the name suggests, the belt slides over the bed of the conveyor, which is usually a formed
steel section. Two common cross-sections are shown in Figures 1 (a) and (b).

Figures 1. Cross-section: (a) One-piece formed slider bed and (b) Three-piece slider bed

(b) Belt-on-roller conveyors are more expensive belt conveyors, but they have advantages. The BOR
conveyor uses a series of rollers rather than a sliding surface to support the belt. This greatly reduces the
friction between the belt and the carrying surface. It also increases the length of conveyor or the weight of a
product that a particular drive can handle. The roller spacing is based on the characteristics of the products
being handled and is typically 3, 4, 6, or 9 in.
There are some drawbacks to BOR conveyors. As you can see in the cross-section in Figure 2, there is a gap
between the edge of the belt and the side of the conveyor. Small items can fall through this gap and flexible
items can get wedged under the belt. The full range of potential materials to be handled should be taken into
consideration when selecting which conveyor type to use.
The BOR is shown with adjustable guard rails that are used to keep the product on the conveyor. They can
also be used on the slider bed conveyor in lieu of the fixed, formed steel side pans.

Figures 2. Cross section of belt-on-roller conveyor

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 Common Sections of Flat Belt Conveyor
Intermediate sections are the simplest of the common sections. They are basically a straight bed ranging
from 12 in. to 12 ft. long.
End Pulleys or End Brackets
End pulleys, as would seem obvious, are located at either end of the conveyor to allow the belt to bend
around from the top carrying surface to the return side. A snubber roller is typically included next to an end
pulley. This snubber roller is used to keep the belt centered on the conveyor (Figure 3).

Figure 3. End pulley configurations.

End brackets typically use a 4-in. diameter pulley and can also include a pop-out roller that aids in
supporting small products as they transition between conveyors. The pop-out roller is also a safety device in
that it allows a larger gap between the pulley and the next conveyor to minimize the possibility of injury.
The roller pops out so that no one can get caught between the roller and the moving belt. If the roller is fixed
in place, it can cause a wringer effect that could catch a finger or piece of clothing and pull a person into it.
Some applications for very small products require the pulley to be very small to minimize the transition gap
and product instability. In these cases, a nosebar end bracket is used. Typically, these are a specialty item and
have a 1 in. diameter or smaller round bar or row of bearings acting as the end pulley (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Nose bar configuration.

Drive of Flat Belt Conveyor
There are two types of drives that are commonly employed: the end drive and the center or mid drive.
As the name implies, the end drive is located at the discharge end of the conveyor (Figure 5). The use
of an end drive eliminates the need for one of the end pulleys. The end drive is typically designed to bolt
onto the end of an intermediate bed. End drives tend to be less expensive, but are limited as to how long a
conveyor they can pull. Due to the diameter of the drive pulley, a pop-out roller is frequently included to
support smaller product across the transition.

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 Figure 5. End drive.
Center or mid drives are located somewhere along the length of the conveyor (Figure 6); ideally
toward the discharge end and not necessarily exactly in the center. The center drive works best when it is
within the last third of the conveyor’s length. This location reduces the amount of belt under tension, thus
extending the belt life. The center drive can be either an individual bed that is located between intermediate
beds or a stand-alone unit that is bolted onto the bottom of any intermediate bed.

Figure 6. Center or mid drive.

Belt conveyors are driven by the friction of the belt wrapped around the drive pulley. More wrap and greater
contact area provide better performance. In an end drive the power transmitted to the belt is limited by two
conditions. First, the pulley is driving the back of the belt, which is typically smooth to minimize friction on
the bed surface. Second, the radius of the pulley is limited. In a center drive, the belt is wrapped around the
drive pulley with the top face of the belt in contact with the pulley, so there is typically more friction and
thus more power transmitted to the belt. Another advantage of the center drive is that as power requirements
increase, larger pulleys can be used, thus increasing the contact area.
The length of Take-up of Flat Belt Conveyor
The take-up is typically a stand-alone section that is bolted to the bottom of an intermediate bed. The length
of take-up required for a conveyor is dictated by the stretch of belt used and overall length of the conveyor.
Most drive assemblies include take-up for belt tensioning. Where the take-up requirement is too long for the
drive take-up to handle, an additional take-up unit can be added.
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There are two types of take-ups: manual and automatic. The manual take-up requires someone to tension the
belt periodically. The automatic take-up can employ a series of springs or air cylinders or some other means
of keeping pressure on the belt. The key is to keep even pressure on the belt side to side.
Nose-overs or radiused break-overs
Nose-overs or radiused break-overs (RBOs) are employed when the belt conveyor is being used in an
inclined or declined position. The nose-over is a transitional section that allows the belt to bend over from
the inclined bed to an upper horizontal bed without an abrupt transition that would create a lot of friction and
wear to both the belt and the conveyor beds. Figures 7 and 8 show slider bed nose-overs. Slider bed nose-
overs either can be a series of flat sections with or without transition rollers between sections or they can be
a single smooth radiused section as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 7. Slide bed nose-over without transition rollers.

Figure 8. Slide bed nose-over with transition rollers.

Figure 9. Radiused nose-over.

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Power Feeders
Power feeders, like nose-overs, are used with inclined and declined conveyors. The power feeder is used
when the lower end of the belt conveyor is mated to a wheel or roller-type conveyor. Power feeders, rather
than having their own separate drive, are typically slave driven from the primary belt conveyor. This is done
through the use of sprockets and a chain as shown in Figure 10. An alternative to the slave drive is a
continuous belt that is routed around a series of pulleys as shown in Figure 11. Notice that an inherent flaw
in the continuous belt design is the size of the gap that the product must span due to the size of the pulley on
the power feeder. This needs to be taken into consideration before a decision is made. The power feeder
provides a smooth transition from the inclined bed without the issue of the product jamming into the side of
the rollers as shown in Figure 12..

Figure 10. Slave driven power feeder.

Figure 11. Continuous belt power feeder.

Figure 12. Product jamming into rollers during transition

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Belt conveyors have attained a dominant position in transporting bulk materials due to such inherent
advantages as their economy and safety of operation, reliability, versatility, and practically unlimited range
of capacities. In addition, they are suitable for performing numerous processing functions in connection with
their normal purpose of providing a continuous flow of material between operations.
Conveying of a Variety of Materials
The size of materials that can be conveyed is limited by the width of the belt. Materials can range from very
fine, dusty chemicals to large, lumpy ore, stone, coal or pulpwood logs.
Closely sized or friable materials are carried with minimum degradation. Because rubber belts are highly
resistant to corrosion and abrasion, maintenance costs are comparatively low when handling highly
corrosive materials or those that are extremely abrasive
Materials that might cause sticking or packing if transported by other means are often handled successfully
on belt conveyors.
Wide Range of Capacities
Belt conveyors are capable of handling hourly capacities in excess of any practical requirement.
Belt conveyors operate continuously — around the clock and around the calendar when required — without
loss of time for loading and unloading or empty return trips. Scheduling and dispatching are unnecessary as
the material is loaded to and unloaded from the belt conveyor automatically.
Belt conveyors are capable of handling tonnages of bulk materials that would be more costly and often
impractical to transport by other means.
Adaptability to Path of Travel
Belt conveyor systems provide the means of transporting materials via the shortest distance between the
required loading and unloading points. Belt conveyors provide a continuous flow of material. Paths of travel
can be quite flexible, and the length of the routes can be extended repeatedly, as required.
Horizontal curves eliminate the constraints of the straight line conveyor and reduce the installed and
operating cost of belt conveyor
Curved conveyors further enhance the reliability, availability and environmental advantages of the standard
belt conveyor by eliminating the infrastructure and dust control requirements at transfer stations.
Steep Angle Conveying
Characteristics of bulk materials such as density, effective angle of internal friction, lump size and shape, are
all factors which dictate the maximum incline angle up which material can be conveyed by a standard belt
conveyor without having it roll or slip backwards on the belt.
Cleats are available in various sizes, shapes and configurations with most allowing the belt to run in either a
troughed or flat position. Cleated belts are usually restricted to short conveyors where few or no return idlers
are needed and either the material does not stick to the surface or where the carryback is acceptable.
Loading, Discharging, and Stockpiling Capabilities
Belt conveyors are very flexible in their capabilities for receiving material from one or more locations and
for delivering it to points or areas, as required by plant flow sheets. They can provide the main transportation
artery while being loaded at several points or anywhere along their length by equipment which provides a
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uniform feed to the belt. Material can simply be discharged over the head end of each conveyor or anywhere
along its length by means of plows or traveling trippers.
Reliability and Availability
Belt conveyors are operated at the touch of a button, at any time of the day or week. When required, they
can and often do operate continuously, shift after shift. They can be housed so that both they and the material
being transported are protected from elements that would otherwise impede the movement of trucks and
certain other means of transportation.
Environmental Advantages
Belt conveyors are environmentally more acceptable than other means of transporting bulk materials; they
neither pollute the air nor deafen the ears. They operate quietly, often in their own enclosures which, when
desirable, can be located above the confusion and safety hazards of surface traffic or in small tunnels—out
of sight and hearing. Furthermore, they do not contaminate the air with dust or hydrocarbons.
Overland belt conveyor systems can be designed to blend into the landscape, resulting in an unscarred, quiet,
and pollution-free operation.
Safety
Belt conveyors operate with an extremely high degree of safety. Few personnel are required for operation
and they are exposed to fewer hazards than with other means of transportation. Material is contained on the
belt and personnel are not endangered by falling lumps or the malfunction of huge, unwieldy transport
vehicles.
Also, belt conveyors offer less hazards to careless personnel than is inherent in other means of transporting
bulk materials. The conveyor equipment itself can be protected from overload and malfunction by built-in
mechanical and electrical safety devices.
Low Labor Costs
Low labor requirement is fundamental with belt conveyors as compared with other means of transportation.
Belt conveyors have low operating costs and provide a higher return on investment than competitive
methods — some belts may conveyed well over 100 million tons before wearing out.
Low Power Costs
Low energy requirement is fundamental with belt conveyors as compared with other means of
transportation. Because belt conveyors are operated by electric power, they are less affected by the prices,
shortages, and other limitations of liquid fuel. They consume power only when they are being used. There is
no need for empty return trips or idling in line for the next load.
On long systems the declined portion often assists in propelling an inclined or horizontal portion. Some
conveyor systems are completely regenerative. The cost of power for belt conveyor systems has always
contributed to their extremely low operating costs, and this advantage has increased substantially with the
rise in the cost of liquid fuels.
Low Maintenance Costs
Maintenance costs for belt conveyors are extremely low compared with most other means of transporting
bulk materials. Extensive support systems, such as those commonly associated with truck haulage, are not
required. Component parts are usually housed and have very long life compared with that of motor vehicles.
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Usually, they need only scheduled inspection and lubrication. Any repairs or replacements can be anticipated
and unscheduled downtime avoided. Parts are small and accessible so replacements can be made on the site
quickly and with minimal service equipment. Also, adequate inventories of spare parts can be maintained at
a low cost and require relatively little storage space.
Long-Distance Transportation
The economic benefits of low operating costs for labor and energy, as well as some of the other advantages
outlined above, have led to a widespread adoption of belt conveyor systems as a means of transporting bulk
materials over increasingly long distances. Not only were these systems the best investments at the time they
were installed, but the recent dramatic increases in the costs of both labor and liquid fuel have greatly
enhanced their present value.

Design of Belt Conveyors

The designing of a conveyor belt begins with an investigation into the service requirements and the
stipulation of the principal data characterizing the specific application. The optimum conveyor belt cannot
be selected by means of the principal data alone, as the operating method and the belt conveyor design also
have a considerable influence.
Belt conveyors Design Calculation

Chain conveyor
The term chain conveyor means a group of different types of conveyors used in diverse applications,
characterized by one or multiple strands of endless chains that travel entire conveyor path, driven by one or
a set of sprockets at one end and supported by one or a set of sprockets on the other end. Materials to be
conveyed are carried directly on the links of the chain or on specially designed elements attached to the
chain. The load carrying chain is generally supported on idle sprockets or guide ways. The endless chains
are kept taught by suitable chain tensioning device at the non-driven end.
General Characteristics
Different types of chain conveyors are used in wide varieties of applications. It is, therefore, not possible to
have a set of common characteristics for all these chain conveyors. Special characteristics of individual type
of chain conveyors have been described while discussing them.
Chain, compared to belts of a belt conveyor, have certain advantages as well as disadvantages. The major
advantages are that the chain easily wraparound sprockets of small diameter, and the drive is positive i.e. no
slippage takes place between chain and sprocket. The chain stretch is also little. The disadvantages of chain
are its high weight, high initial cost, higher maintenance cost and most importantly, limited running speed
because of dynamic loading that come into play in chain-sprocket drive causing intensive wear at high
speeds (dynamic chain loading has been discussed in section 6.2.5.). Maximum length and maximum lift of
chain conveyors are limited by the maximum allowable working tension of the chain used.

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Types of Chain Conveyors
(a) Apron or Pan Conveyor:
This is the most common type of chain conveyor. It consists of one or more strands of endless chain, usually
link plate roller type, running in steel guides. Rollers ensure minimum pulling effort in the chain, while
roller guides supported on the superstructure of the conveyor, carry the entire load of the materials and
chains. The carrying surface of the conveyor is composed of a series of plates or shapes called apron, which
are attached to the links of the chains through cleats. The bed created by the aprons is used for carrying bulk
materials as well as unit loads. When the conveyor aprons have vertical flanges on all sides to form a pan
like shape, if is specifically called a pan conveyor. Materials carried by the apron is discharged over the
sprockets at the driven end, and the conveyor chain with aprons comes back empty on its return Journey.
These are generally slow speed conveyors with a speed range of 20 to 35 mpm.
Generally apron and pan conveyors are used to perform severe duties of conveying large quantities of bulk
load such as coal, ore, slag, rock, foundry sand etc. These are frequently used for feeding materials to large
crushers, breakers, grinders and similar machines. Specially designed aprons are used for conveying unit
loads, coils, hot forgings. Part of an apron conveyor may be run through a liquid or water bath for washing
of the materials and then allow drainage of liquid from wet materials. Apron conveyors can have flexible
layout to follow combined horizontal and inclined movement in the same vertical plane.

(b) Cross-Bar or Arm Conveyor:

This type of conveyor consists of a single or two strands of endless chain, to which are attached spaced,
removable or fixed arms (or cross members) from which materials are hung or festooned. The arms may be
replaced by shelves/trays to support packages or objects to carry them in a vertical or an inclined path.
Special arms are designed to suit specific load configuration. Depending on the design of arms, they are
called by different names, some of which are: (i) pendent conveyor, (ii) pocket conveyor, (iii) wire mesh
deck conveyor, (iv) removable-crossbar conveyor, (v) fixed cross-bar (or arm) conveyor, (vi) swing tray
conveyor.
(c) Carrier chain & Flat-top chain conveyor:
Carrier chain conveyor consists of one or more number of endless chains to which may be attached one of
the many different attachments for the purpose of carrying unit materials or objects. In many cases, the
materials are conveyed while being directly in contact with the chain/chains. These conveyors have a broad
application in practically all fabricating and processing industries. Different designs of attachments are used
for different types of materials.
(d) Trolley Conveyor:
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These conveyors consist of a series of trolleys supported from an overhead endless track and propelled by an
endless chain or cable, with the loads usually suspended from the trolleys. This is one of the most versatile
type of chain conveyors which can work in horizontal and inclined paths, vertical curves and horizontal
turns to follow complicated routes.
Different structural members are used as track for overhead trolley-conveyor which include I-beam, double
angles, T-rails, steel bars, pipes and fabricated sections. However, I-beam is the most common track. These
tracks are laid at a higher level, suspended from roof, building structures or hung from floor-mounted
columns, and routed around obstacles. Overhead operation allows free floor space and no interference with
equipment or traffic at the floor level. For this reason, trolley conveyors are also called overhead conveyors
(e) Power and Free Conveyor:
These conveyors are basically a special design of the Load-propelling or pusher trolley conveyors. In a
normal pusher trolley conveyor the non-powered trolleys, supported from a monorail, carry the load and are
pushed by dogs/pushers attached to the chain trolleys mounted on a separate track. A power and free
conveyor is one in which the power trolleys run directly above the free trolleys, which run in double channel
track, and arrangements are made such that at desired points the non-powered load carrying trolleys may be
engaged to or disengaged from the power trolleys.
The power trolley dogs/pushers are rigid attachments on the trolleys or chain. They engage or disengage
with the free trolleys by switching them in from a branch line to the mainline, and by horizontal turns and
vertical curves in the power line. The switching operations can be made mechanically or through actuation
of pneumatic cylinder synchronous with movement of power trolleys.
(f) Suspended Tray Conveyor also known as Swing-Tray Conveyor:
These conveyors consist of two strands of chains between which are pivot mounted a series of trays to carry
in-process movement of various unit loads (forged components, boxes etc.) along complex contours
comprising horizontal and vertical paths in one vertical plane. As the trays are pivot mounted from the links
of the chains, the trays along with their loads always remain suspended vertically irrespective of the path of
the chain.
Suspended tray conveyors are loaded on vertical sections manually or automatically by specially designed
loading devices. These conveyors are particularly used for raising /lowering of loads between floors, convey
materials between processing equipment, carry loads without transfer between interlinked horizontal and
vertical sections. The conveyor may be used for carrying load through processing stations like drying,
pickling chambers etc.
Components of Chain Conveyor
The major components of a chain conveyor are : (i) Pulling chain, (ii) Sprocket to drive and support the
chain, (iii) Take-up arrangement, (iv) Drive arrangement and (v) Various other components specific to
various type of chain conveyors.

Design of Chain Conveyors

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 SCREW CONVEYORS
A screw conveyor consists of a continuous or interrupted helical screw fastened to a shaft which is rotated in
a U-shaped trough to push fine grained bulk material through the trough. The bulk material slides along the
trough by the same principle a nut prevented from rotating would move in a rotating screw. The load is
prevented from rotating with screw by the weight of the material and by the friction of the material against
the wall of the trough.
A screw conveyor is suitable for any pulverized or granular non viscous material, and even at high
temperature. The conveyor is particularly suitable for mixing or blending more than one materials during
transportation, and also for controlling feed rate of materials in a processing plant. Abrasion and
consequently certain amount of degradation of the material is unavoidable, hence it is not suitable for brittle
and high abrasive materials. It is also not suitable for large-lumped, packing or sticking materials.
Descriptive Specifications
A typical screw conveyor is shown in the Figure below. The screw shaft, if short (up to 5 meters), is
supported at two ends. But for longer shafts (up to 40 to 50 m), they are supported by bearing hangers, at
intermediate points. The shaft may be solid or hollow. Hollow shafts are lighter and can be easily joined to
make a long shaft. The screw shaft is driven at one end, and the design may permit discharge of material
from the bottom or one end. Opposite handed screw at two sides will cause the center discharge. The U-
shaped fabricated trough are generally covered at the top to avoid particulate pollution. The bottom portion
of the trough is of circular cross section matching the diameter of the screw. Generally a radial gap of 10
mm to 20 mm is kept between the screw and the trough, depending on size of the screw.

Screws of different constructional design and style are used. Continuous screws are generally made from 4
to 8 mm sheet steel circular section with a hole corresponding to the size of the shaft. One radial slit is made
in this section, and then formed into one pitch of the screw. The section is welded to the shaft and welded or
riveted to each other to form the entire length of the screw. The screw may also be cast integral with the

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shaft. The paddle type flights consist of cast straight or curved segments fixed to the shaft. A ribbon screw is
fixed to the shaft by means of radial rods.

The drive unit comprises of an electrical motor, gear box and couplings.
Material is fed through the feed hopper fixed on the trough cover. A number of discharge sprouts with rack
gears for closing and opening as required, are provided. Screw conveyors are generally operated horizontally
or at a small inclination (10° to 20°). However, there are special designs where the load is moved vertically
up or at a small angle to vertical. These are called vertical screw conveyors.
Screw Conveyor Design
(a) Recommended Dimension of a Screw Conveyor:
The dimensions of principal components of a screw conveyor are nominal diameter of the helical screw,
pitch of the screw, diameter of screw shaft, width of trough determining the gap between trough and screw,
trough height from center of screw shaft, thickness of trough material and nominal thickness of screw
flights. There are standard specifications for all above components.

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 Pneumatic Conveyors
Pneumatic conveying is the process of conveying granular / powdered materials by floating the materials in
a gas, primarily air, and then allowing it to flow to the destination through a closed pipe. The operating
principle common to all types of pneumatic conveying is that motion is imparted to the material by a fast-
moving stream of air. Thus, any pneumatic conveyor consists of an air supply equipment (blower or
compressor), pipelines, product storages, air lock feeders and dust filters.
Advantages and disadvantages of Pneumatic Conveying
Pneumatic conveying system is used for delivery of non-sticky, dry materials via pipelines to various storage
or process points which are economically inaccessible by conventional conveyors. The major advantages of
using pneumatic conveying system are as follows:
(i) Materials can be picked from one or more points and can be delivered to one or more points in a plant or
even outside to a different plant.
(ii) The conveying of materials take place through air tight piping and auxiliary system and hence neither
pollutes the environment nor the materials get contaminated with foreign materials.
(iii) It offers plant and operator safety in handling fine powdery materials which may be toxic in nature or
fire prone.
(iv) If offers a flexible system. The conveying pipe lines can be routed and rerouted with little efforts as per
demand of the operations.
(v) It makes possible unloading of materials from ships, barges, transport vessels directly to storage bins.
(vi) It is self cleaning system, preventing accumulation of materials in the conveying system. Because of
this, the same installation may be used for conveying different materials.
(vii) If offers a low maintenance cost system. It also offers a lower cost materials handling system compared
to handling and storage of bulk materials in bags or small containers.
(viii) A pneumatic system can be operated automatically and can easily be integrated into manufacturing
processes as feeders.

Despite many advantages cited above, there are certain limitations/disadvantages of pneumatic conveying
systems. These are:

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(i) The types of materials suitable for pneumatic conveying is limited to materials which are dry, granulated,
pulverized, crushed etc. and essentially free flowing.
(ii) Friable or too abrasive materials are not suitable to be transported by pneumatic conveyors.
(iii) The movement of transportation is fixed (uni-directional).
(iv) Relatively high energy consumption per unit weight of materials transported.
(v) The length of pneumatic conveyors are limited. Vacuum systems are limited to 500 m while high
pressure systems up to 2 kms or marginally more.
Types of Pneumatic Conveyors
Pneumatic conveyors are broadly classified into following three groups, based on application:
A. Pipeline Conveyor.
B. Air-activated Gravity Conveyor (Airslide).
C. Tube Conveyor.
A. Pipeline Conveyor
Further classification of pipeline conveyors are made on the basis of air pressure used. The following
classifications may be made:
(a) Low pressure system, in which the operating air pressure is normally limited to 1 atomsphere (760
mmHg) gauge, supplied by a positive displacement lobe type blower (roots blower). These systems are
restricted to short distances (up to 500 m) and small flow rate. These systems are further sub-classified into:
(i) Positive pressure system.
(ii) Negative pressure (or suction) systems.
(iii) Combined negative-positive pressure (or combination) system.
(b) Medium Pressure System, with air pressure from 1 to 3 atmospheres, gauge.
(c) High Pressure System with air pressure from 4 to 7 atmospheres, gauge.
Medium and high pressure systems are essentially positive pressure type systems.
Positive pressure system:
A positive low pressure pipeline system is one in which a positive air flow, created by a positive
displacement blower, effectively transport slow flowing materials over a distance up to 500 meters.
The major characteristics of this system is that it can pick up material from one source and discharge the
same to more than one points. Fig.1 illustrates a typical positive pressure system. Referring to this figure, the
basic principle of operation can be explained as follows:

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 Fig.1. A typical positive pressure system
A positive displacement blower (lobe type or roots blower) sucks air from the atmosphere through a suction
filter and delivers pressurized air into the conveyor pipe line. Materials to be conveyed are introduced into
the pipelines from the feeding bin/hopper through different types of air lock feeder at controlled rate. Air
lock feeders are used at the outlet port of the feeding silos for discharge of materials into the pipeline,
without being blown out from the top of such silos because of high air pressure. The materials so introduced
are immediately air laden and blown to one or a number of receiving bins / silos through diverting valves,
also called change over valves.
The diverting valves are generally designed for one inlet and two outlets, but multiple outlets are also
possible. The valves are operated either manually or through remote controlled actuator. The air, after the
material get discharged at the receiving hoppers, is made to pass through an appropriate dust removal
system, before it is allowed to escape back to atmosphere. The principal advantage of this system is that the
blower does not handle dusty air. However, the major disadvantage of the system is the possible leakage of
high pressure air along with materials to the surroundings.

Negative pressure (or suction) system:

In this type of conveyor, a positive displacement blower creates a vacuum in the conveyor pipe line, which
causes the material to be sucked through one or multiple nozzles and conveyed to a receiving hopper. The
conveyed material is separated from the air stream and collected in the hopper. The air is generally made to
pass through a dust collector to be freed from remaining finer particles of materials and then released to the
atmosphere. Schematic view of a negative pressure pipeline conveyor is shown in Fig. 2. Easy flowing
materials like cereals, grains, powdery materials etc. are conveyed in suction conveyors. In this system,
materials from multiple storage points may be collected and transported to a single storage point.

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The major advantage of this system is that at leakage points, air from surroundings enters the system, and
hence air pollution through materials leakage is virtually nil. Therefore, this system is particularly useful for
toxic and very fine powdered materials. However, the major limitation is that, if the air is not totally
separated from the conveyed materials, dust laden air passes through the blower and tends to damage it.
Moreover, the distance and volume of conveying is also limited because the actual vacuum created inside
the pipeline is often not below 0.3 atmosphere (230 mmHg), absolute.

Fig. 2. Negative pressure system

Combined negative-positive pressure (or combination) system:
In this system the principles of both positive pressure system and suction system are employed. This type of
pneumatic conveyor is particularly employed when materials from more than one points have to be picked
up and simultaneously delivered to multiple delivery points. For this system generally one positive delivery
blower is used. Two separate blowers may also be used for the suction line and pressure line of the
combination system. The suction side of the blower conveys material from the storage points to an
intermediate receiving station. The suction air passes through this intermediate receiving station and then
through a cyclone separator and a further dust cleaner, if required, and enters the blower. The compressed air
is then thrown into the pressure delivery pipe line, into which the material from the intermediate storage is
discharged through necessary air lock feeder. From there, material is conveyed to the multiple storage silos
as per a positive pressure system already discussed. A typical scheme of the system is exhibited in Fig. 3.

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 Fig. 3. Positive-negative pressure system
Medium and high pressure systems:
These systems are basically similar to a positive pressure system in its operational principles. The difference
is the range of air pressure used. Because of use of increased air pressure, the medium and high pressure
systems principally differ from a low pressure system in two aspects. Firstly, the type of air supply
equipment will vary according to the pressure selected. Secondly, the feeding devices used will be different
to make the system leakproof.
A single stage rotary compressor is used for a medium pressure pneumatic conveying system while a double
stage rotary compressor is normally used for a high pressure system. The medium pressure system generally
operate continuously while a high pressure systems may be used for continuous, intermittent or batching
operations.
In medium pressure system generally screw feeder (also termed screw pump) is used for feeding materials
from the feeding hopper / silo to the conveyor pipe. Screw feeders are suitable for safe (no leakage of air
through hopper) operations upto an air pressure of 2.5 to 3.0 atmospheres, gauge. For high pressure system,
feeding of material is done through blow tank (also called chamber feeder) type line charger.
In these medium and high pressure systems, the materials flow takes place in the dense phase i.e. the mass
flow ratio of material particles to air is over 15. The low pressure systems operate at dilute phase i.e. mass
flow ratio being less than 15.
Selection of pneumatic handling system depends on properties of materials like bulk density, particle size;
material characteristics like moisture content, abrasiveness, corrosiveness, fragility etc. and other factors like
distance of conveyance, environmental considerations etc. The air velocity necessary for pneumatic
conveying depends on the bulk density and size of the material.

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 B. Air-activated Gravity Conveyor (Airslide).
Dry powdered materials, when aerated acquires fluidity and can move along a plane having a slope of only
4% to 5%. This principle is adopted in an airslide for short distance movement of powdery materials at a
fairly controlled rate.
An airslide consists of an inclined covered metallic trough with a longitudinal porous partition in between.
Over the partition the material moves. Low-pressure air is allowed to enter from the bottom of the porous
partition. The air fluidizes the powdered / pulverized material and makes it flow along the inclined partition
due to gravity. Schematic diagram of an airslide is shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4. Schematic views of an airslides

Airslides are generally used for controlled movement of materials i.e. as feeders. For their simple design,
low costs, low power consumption, high handling capacity combined with small overall dimensions, simple
erection & adjustment and absence of moving and wearing parts, they are, in many cases, preferred over
screw or vibrating feeders. Materials such as cement, ash, coal dust etc. can be effectively conveyed by
airslides.
C. Tube Conveyor.
When small piece goods in standardized containers, called carriers, are transported pneumatically over short
distance through pipe, it is called Tube conveyor. This type of transportation of piece goods are used in
telegraph offices, banks, stores, newspaper offices and also in industries. The pipes of these installations
may be round (up to 100 mm diameter) or elliptical. The carriers are moved at speeds range of 6 to 12 mps.

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