Belt bucket elevator

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Head of an elevator in a flour mill
Elevator belt of a grain elevator with belt buckets

A belt bucket elevator (also: elevator ) is a mechanical continuous conveyor for vertical conveying . This energy-efficient means of conveyance was built into the first automated grain mills around 250 years ago. The term "elevator" has become commonplace for a belt bucket elevator in the mill and feed industry. In America, a “grain elevator” is understood to mean the entire silo system . "Elevator" also means passenger elevator in Anglo-American usage .

construction

An endless belt (multiple polyester - polyamide inserts with rubber pads ) with screwed-on cups runs in a closed housing .

  • The incoming goods (grain, feed raw materials, etc.) are scooped from the buckets at the elevator foot.
  • The goods are conveyed upwards in an elevator shaft (made of sheet steel). In the second shaft the empty cups run down again.
  • In the elevator head , the centrifugal force ejects the material in a parabolic curve from the buckets. The minimum speed for this is 1.6 m / s, since otherwise it will be backfilled into the descending strand, which reduces efficiency and leads to wear, dust swirling and the risk of explosion.
  • It is usually driven by a gear motor .

Between four and ten cups can be mounted per meter of belt. The conveying speed is usually between approx. 1.8 and 3.8 m / s. High-performance elevators convey up to 500 t / h.

Since elevators represent a very large source of danger for dust explosions, effective aspiration must be ensured to prevent dust deposits inside.

Further safety devices are prescribed or common:

history

At the end of the 18th century , the elevator was invented in the mill operation, when the steam engine appeared and made the mills into a machine house independent of location. Until now, they have always been tied to a location where there was water or wind . These new types of milling machines had to carry out the vertical transport of grain and grist as cheaply as possible and without a great deal of human intervention. Later on, elevators or bucket elevators were used for all kinds of loose bulk goods .

Individual evidence

Commons : Bucket elevators  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  1. Manual flour and peeling mill P. Erling (Ed.) Verlag Agrimedia GmbH, Spithal 4, 29468 Bergen / Dumme, ISBN 3-86037-230-0 .