Feeders with moving slots improve grain elevator's material flow
When a grain elevator's screenings bridged in storage vessels, installing new feeders improved material flow and reduced downtime.
Hopper railcars deliver several types of grain and oil seeds, including wheat, barley, oats, and canola, as well as bran pellets to Pacific Elevators Ltd. in Vancouver, British Columbia. Pneumatic guns unload the materials into a holding pit. A system of belt conveyors and bucket elevators moves the materials to steel bins and concrete silos that are about 100 feet tall and hold from 100 to 1,200 metric tons [the contents of about 1 to 15 hopper railcars]. Depending on the amount of material to be moved, belt, drag, and screw conveyors and bucket elevators move the materials to and throughout the plant in quantities determined by the elevator's shipping requirements.