STORAGE
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MOVERS AND SHAKERS Bulk-handling equipment for grain handling
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By Doug Anderson, Marketing Manager, Guttridge Ltd, UK irtually 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. 84 | October 2018 - Milling and Grain