Common Material Discharging Ways of Bucket Elevators

PK Machinery mainly offers bucket elevators with belt type,ring chain type and plate chain type which is mainly suitable for feed mills, flour mills, rice mills, oil, starch factory, grain depot, port terminals and other bulk materials conveying industry.

 

According to different discharging ways, bucket elevators also can be divided into: centrifugal type bucket elevator, gravity type bucket elevator and hybrid type bucket elevator. The introduction is described as follows:

1. Centrifugal type: it is using centrifugal force to throw the material away from discharging outlet which is applicable to the material that is dry with fast lifting speed and small particle.
2. Gravity type: under the effect of gravity, the material will discharge along the bucket back , it is suitable for material which is large and fragile.
3. Hybrid type: centrifugal force and gravity force , which is suitable for material with poor fluidity and big humidity .

The Reasons for Bucket Elevator Head and Tail Wheel Wears Seriously

1.Serious wear problem is caused by the lack of lubricating oil in head to tail wheel, lubricating oil is used to reduce the effect of friction between the components, the working load of bucket elevator is focused on the two wheels, if lacks of lubricating oil, the friction will become greater, the hole that connect sprocket and main axis will be worn seriously, the head wheel and tail wheel will work in unstable condition, the lifted material will also fall down, so the head wheel and tail wheel must be well lubricated.

2. Material particles that conveyed by the bucket elevator is relatively large, the hardness is relatively higher, there will be few materials falling off from equipment during operation, since the sprocket is bigger, the material is very easy to hit the head wheel and tail wheel, after a long period of time the wheels will be deformed, so the material size of conveying material must match with selected bucket elevator. 

3. Unsuitable construction material selection of tail wheel and head wheel, processing quality is not qualified, it is sure to have some troubles when use it, in addition, the strength for head wheel and tail wheel of the bucket elevator to bear is very large, low quality will surely has serious wear and tear with faster rate, so we must accurately calculate the pressure of sprockets to bear when the choosing head wheel and tail wheel and select appropriate metal material for processing technology to produce durable sprockets.

The Traction Components and Tensioning Methods of Bucket Elevators

The components of bucket elevator traction include rubber belt, ring chain, plate chain etc. In respect to TD rubberbelt bucket elevator, TH ring chain bucket elevator, and NE plate chain bucket elevator, the selected tensioning methods are different. This is due to the function of each bucket elevator is different. Currently, the common uses of tensioning methods are screw tensioning, heavy hammer lever tensioning, heavy hammer tensioning, compound tensioning etc.

1.Screw tensioning, the screw rod is installed at the bottom of machine, the nuts are fixed on the U-shaped slot of the supporting plate, the supporting plate can be adjusted horizontally by rotating the screw rod, the lower mechanical bearing is fixed on the supporting plate which can cause the lower pulley to tie up the component. This tensioning method is suitable for rubber belt bucket elevator, the rubber belt has certain elasticity which can adjust the tensioning screw rod to ensure the stability of rubber belt after being stretched.

2.The force of the heavy hammer lever tensioning is applied on the supporting plate, the lower bearing is fixed on the supporting plate, so that the lower part of the sprocket is tied up with the respective components. This is an automatic tensioning device. Since heavy hammer lever contains certain degree of mobility, therefore it must always maintain the tension of the compartment for good operation. Usually it is applied to the chain drive of the elevator. In order to have an efficient result, chain skidding and slipping off have to be avoided.

If you want to know more about the components of bucket elevators traction, please pay attention to our the latest FAQ.
It is published by PK machinery company.( www.pkmachinery.com)

Bucket Elevator Maintenance Notes

1.During operation, all doors must be fully closed; there must be appropriate lighting facility in the place of the lower and upper section inspection doors which open frequently ,if there is failure during operation, please stop the bucket elevator at once and eliminate the failure, if there are any defects are not suitable to eliminate immediately, the impact to the work is nor too much, please keep it in the maintenance record and eliminate the failure when troubleshooting, the supervisor should always check the working condition of each part, but when the machine is running ,all cleaning and repairing work is not allowed.

2.The bucket elevator should be started up without load, and stop the machine before all materials inside the buckets are all discharged. 
3.The tension device of lower bucket elevator section should be appropriately adjusted, keeping the belt with normal working tension, the supervisor should always observe the working situation of bucket and belt, damaged buckets should be removed.

 

4.The bucket elevator can not reverse, if reverses, the chain will run off track, and it is very troublesome to eliminate this problems.
5.Even feeding, increasing the feeding rate suddenly is not allowed .The feeding rate can not exceed the transmission capacity of bucket elevator, otherwise it will be easy to cause material accumulation at the bottom.
6.Add lubricating oil appropriately in time.
7.Replace the chain and bucket which are badly worn or damaged timely.

Do You know the Solution if Motor Base of Bucket Elevator Vibrates?

(1) The bucket elevator motor itself rotates abnormally, please take down the rotor and check the static balance.
(2) The installation precision of gearbox and the motor is poor, the centring exceeds the required range, please readjust the centring.
(3) The installation precision of motor base is not good enough, levelness exceeds the specified requirements, motor, please take down the motor and machine the motor base again.

(4) There is error in installation of sprocket, please readjust to guarantee the concentricity of large and minor sprocket. 
(5) The sprocket tooth profile is poor, please take down the sprocket and machine the tooth profile again, to ensure the consistency of the tooth profile.
(6) The tightness degrees of sprocket is inappropriate ,please adjusted length and maintain moderate tightness.

 (1) The bucket elevator motor itself rotates abnormally, please take down the rotor and check the static balance.

(2) The installation precision of gearbox and the motor is poor, the centring exceeds the required range, please readjust the centring.
(3) The installation precision of motor base is not good enough, levelness exceeds the specified requirements, motor, please take down the motor and machine the motor base again.

(4) There is error in installation of sprocket, please readjust to guarantee the concentricity of large and minor sprocket. 
(5) The sprocket tooth profile is poor, please take down the sprocket and machine the tooth profile again, to ensure the consistency of the tooth profile.
(6) The tightness degrees of sprocket is inappropriate ,please adjusted length and maintain moderate tightness.

What Problems Will be in the Material Lifting Process of Bucket Elevator?

In the material lifting process of bucket elevator, there may be such problems: insufficient material lifting rate, insufficient material discharging rate and material leakage phenomenon, only they are resolved timely ,the bucket elevator can have best effects .The reasons and solutions are as follows:

(1) insufficient lifting rate:

The material is likely to be caked on the bucket or chute, clean and remove the materials regularly according to caking condition. There is also possibility that the storage capacity of bucket elevator upstream equipment is insufficient which causes less feeding material, as result, the bucket elevator can not reach the design capacity, so we should try to improve the production capacity of upstream equipment. If the speed is slow, we have to change the speed ratio of the sprocket. Or it is caused by improper or wrong material calculation, check the calculator and material proportion, calculate again.

(2) insufficient material discharging rate:

The capacity of bucket elevator downstream equipment is small, make the discharge chute block, so we should improve the capacity of the downstream equipment of bucket elevator. It may also cause by small chute size or inappropriate chute angle ,so adjust the discharging chute. There is also a possibility that the material is caked on the chain bucket or inside the chute, so we need to remove material and maintain the bucket elevator periodically.

(3) material leakage phenomenon:

If the material leaks from the gap of head section and bottom section, please add the sealing gasket or glue with sealant . Replace new sealing gasket ,glue with sealant and tight the flange bolts if there gasket of bucket elevator flange is broken. If it is caused by large material feeding height difference and feeding pressure, please change the material feeding method and add the feeding buffer device.

How to Trouble Shoot Bucket Elevator Belt Problems?

As a continuous conveying machinery for loose materials conveying equipment, bucket elevator has been widely used in food, feed, chemical and other industries, it is applicable to vertical conveying for powder, granular and small lump materials. The advantages of bucket elevator are: simple structure, high efficiency, low malfunction, etc. However, failure always happens in our daily operation which will affect the working performance. Here we will talk about the failures and troubleshooting of bucket elevator.

1.bucket belt deviation
A. Failure cause : the main reason of bucket belt deviation is that when bucket belt is stretched, the adjustment is not timely or not appropriate .
B. Troubleshooting: adjust the tensioning device or gravity tensioning device at the bottom of the elevator, make the hopper with appropriate tightness and keep two axis of bucket elevator under parallel.

2. bucket belt slip
A. Failure cause: bucket belt is too long or balance weight is too light.
B. Troubleshooting :if the bucket belt is too long, you can cut a section of belt and hang it well; If the balance weight is too light, you should add balance weight until you belt slip phenomenon is eliminated.

Do You Really Know How to Maintain Bucket Elevator Chain and Belt?

Compared with the belt of bucket elevator, the chain is easier to maintain, so let's first talk about how to maintain the chain of bucket elevator. The chain is made of metal material, the biggest impact is the tensile strength between the scratches and the material in our daily operation, so we need to do two things when we maintain the bucket elevator.
1.Wipe with oil on the surface of the chain, the oil will form a protective layer on the chain surface, thus it can extend the period of the chain scratches cycle when bucket elevator works.
2.The molding of each chain ring is not made one time, we can find there is welding place on each ring of the chain, so we must pay attention to the usage condition of the welding place when we maintain the bucket elevator, if there is crack ,please repair welding timely.

Next we will introduce the maintenance method bucket elevator belt, as we know the belt is soft so it is easy to affected by buckets and conveying materials, sometimes there may have tearing phenomenon, here we have three solutions to solve the problems. 
The first method is hot vulcanizing, it is a method by using of vulcanizing machine, hot vulcanizing material to repair seamlessly with high strength, this method can make the belt eliminate damage and recover completely .
The second method is to cold patching, which is mainly use special belt cold bonding agent ,glue and special tools to repair in filling type, if there is a small area of tearing, this method is very effective. The third method is mechanical repair using by rivet, screws or clip to connect the tearing parts or layer peeling parts together, but one shortage of this method is temporary usage, it can’t use for long-term.

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Conveyors Designed for Pakistan Soda Ash Plant were Finished Production

Project name: Dense ash plant expansion project

Equipment name ,model and quantity:11 units of MS320 scraper conveyor,3 units of TB250 Bucket elevator,4 units of LS315 screw conveyor.

After three months’ production, scraper conveyor, bucket elevator and screw conveyor designed for Pakistan soda ash plant finally have been finished!

With rich engineering design experience and professional technical ability, PK machinery wins the highly praise from clients. We are sure this cooperation will lead a big step and build a solid foundation in Middle East market!

 

PK machinery is a professional manufacturer which has been engaged in designing and fabricating belt conveyor, bucket elevator, screw conveyor, vibrating screen etc. for several years. Further information please click: www.pkmachinery.com.Glad to be your loyal friend!

 

www.pkmachinery.com

How to deal with the phenomenon of bucket elevator returning material too much

The phenomenon of returning material in operating bucket elevator is that the material can’t completely discharge from the bucket elevator but some falls into the inside of machine. When lifting the material, if there is returning so much material, it will reduce production efficiency, increase power consumption and material broken percentage.

 The reasons why there is returning so much material and the approaches to solve them are as following:

1.The speed of hopper is so fast. When the bucket elevator lifts different materials, the speed of hopper is different. In general, lifting dry powder or granular material, the speed is about 1~2m/s; lifting lump material, the speed is about 0.4~0.6m/s; lifting wet powder or granular material, the speed is about 0.6~0.8m/s. If the speed is too fast, the material will be discharged in advance and then causes the phenomenon of feeding material back. At this time, we should bring down the speed of hopper according to the lifting material.

2.The discharge tongue plate in die exit is installed improper. If the discharged tongue plate is far from dumped position, it will cause return material. So we should adjust the position of tongue plate in time.