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Bulk material transport made easy by Rebecca Sherratt, Production editor, Milling and Grain ith a thirty-year history in providing storage solutions for silos, warehouses, railcards and ships, Vibrafloor SAS have refined their products to suit client specifications and offer a unique and innovative method of moving and emptying bulk materials from storage containers. As the name suggests, Vibrafloor’s unique flexible steel plates utilise vibration to create waves what gently sweep the products towards the outlets for reclaiming. Using this wave method, products become fluidised, and therefore able to be gently swept into troughs and other storage or transport containers. Multiple steel modules cover the floors of silos and ships, ensuring to move every grain of produce, so none is left in the bottom of the storage container. Their automated, low energy consumption technology guarantees an easy, risk-free transport process, with no clean-up needed and high reclaim rates. Vibrafloor’s floor panels appeal to such a diverse range of customers, due to their fluidity in moving any bulk material, ranging from wheat, soybeans, sulphur, woodchips and even sticky materials such as potash. Vibrafloor panels have been used not just in agricultural industries, but also the aquaculture sector, manufacturing and woodwork, alongside industrial and biomass industries. When the Vibrafloor panels vibrate, the area where the biggest bulk of product has built up, (also known as the high-pressure zone), discharges and breaks down; an action Vibrafloor often compare to a controlled ‘avalanche’ of product, with a pressure of 80-220 tonnes per m2. As the product is aired and moved down the storage facility, it is forced to enter the low-pressure zone, where waves develop, and the product can cleanly and thoroughly exit the storage silo, separated, clean and without any wastage left in the silo. With dust-proof panels, Vibrafloor ensures that product is not wasted, nor does any damage occur to the plates via debris. No routine maintenance of panels is needed, as they care for
92 | October 2018 - Milling and Grain
Benefits of Vibrafloor technology: • 100 percent clearance, nothing gets trapped • No major moving or wearing parts • Suffers minimal wear from abrasive products • Low energy use • No routine maintenance • No dust or product degradation • No vibration or stress transfer to structure • Unmanned automatic operation Vibrafloor installations are suitable for a variety of bulk storage facilities: Biomass Silos: Wood-pellets, wood-chip, sawdust, bagasse, husk, Animal Feed Silos: Soy bean meal, canola meal, feed pellets Food and Agricultural Silos: Raw or refined sugar, flour, bran
Cereal Silos: Wheat, barley, malt, maize, soy bean, canola Industrial Silos: Cement, fly-ash, potash,
themselves and fit securely into storage containers, with no room for produce getting trapped or clogging up plate machinery. The 690W motor has been optimised to ensure it effectively moves bulk of up to 70 tonnes per m2, without being so harsh it potentially damages delicate produce. The Vibrafloor panels can also handle temperatures of up to 90 degrees Celsius. Upon request, Vibrafloor panels can also come with aeration ducts integrated into each panel, to maximise airflow and ensure an even more thorough cleaning and emptying of the storage facilities.
Manufacturing
As Vibrafloor expanded to become an international company,