Controlling material flow to your blending process with a weighbelt feeder
A successful blending operation depends on accurate feeding. Using a weighbelt feeder to add raw materials to your blending process can improve blend consistency and help you conserve raw materials. This article explains how to select a weighbelt feeder and choose a control method that will integrate the feeder with your blending process. Later sections give practical tips on installing, calibrating, and maintaining the feeder. Illustrated sidebars describe two weighbelt feeder installations.
A feeder that controls material flow by weight is called a gravimetric feeder. Unlike a volumetric feeder, which controls bulk material flow into a process by feeding a certain volume of material per unit time at a given motor speed, a gravimetric feeder controls material flow by directly measuring the material's weight and then controlling the feedrate around the desired rate in units of weight per unit time.