When passing stones is a good thing
A gypsum wallboard plant discovers severe-duty rotary valves that allow proper discharge of gypsum rocks and powder from its storage silos.
As some of us know from personal experience, passing stones can be a painful ordeal. The plant engineer at National Gypsums Burlington, N.J., plant found that this was true not for anyone on his staff, but for the plants storage silos. The plant had installed new heavy-duty rotary valves to discharge gypsum rocks and powder from the silos, but the valves would only operate for about 15 minutes before the rocks jammed and broke the valves. After that experience, the plant tried vibrating tube conveyors to discharge the gypsum, but in this case, it was the powder that was the problem. It flooded the conveyors, causing the line to shut down. By this time, the plant was discouraged by its two costly and vain efforts and wasnt sure it was going to find a solution to its stone-passing problem.