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18-20 2549

Mass flow rate analysis of screw feeders in horizontal conveying

1 1
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10800
0-2913-2500 8632 0-2587-4336 ana@kmitnb.ac.th

Mr.Anucha Hirunwat1 and Mr.Asawin Yodrux 1

1
Department of Materials Handling Technology, Faculty of Engineering,
King Mongkuts Institute of Technology North Bangkok, Bangsue, Bangkok 10800, Thailand,
Tel: 00-2913-2500 ext 8632, Fax: 0-2587-4336, E-mail: ana@kmitnb.ac.th

Abstract
In screw feeder design, it is necessary to use both theory
and experiment to obtain the accurate results, particularly to
determine the mass flow rate or power consumption of the screw
feeder in horizontal conveying. There are several factors having
the effect on the mass flow rate, which are the bulk density, the
screw speed, the radial clearance between the screw blade and
the screw feeder rail, the diameter of screw shaft, and the pitch
of screw blade. There will be also some unpredictable factors,
such as the inconsistent of material properties, and the amount of
material left in the screw feeder rail.
In this work, the mass flow rate of agriculture product, such as
broken rice and rice bran, was studied using the screw feeder in
horizontal conveying. The dimensionless analysis was used to
create the functions of the mass flow rate. The experimental
results were used to define the exponential indices of the mass
flow rate functions. It was found from this study that the mass
flow rate of screw feeder is the most important factor to
determine the power consumption in driving the screw shaft. In
the other hand, the mass flow rate can be predicted from the
(Exponents) power consumption of screw feeder.

Keywords: screw feeder, bulk density, mass flow rate.

1/2545
1.

2

2.

[3]
R.Rautenbach W.Schumacher
3 Polyethylene powder, Quartz flour
Calciumhydro- silicate

(Weighting
method)


2


180
6
6

 1. 2 4 , 6
9 3
2. 1 1 2 4 , 6
9 3
(
)

(Dimensional analysis)

()
(n) (D)
(d) (T)
()

3

m = ( )a ,(n )b ,(D )c ,(d )e ,(T ) f , ( )g (1)

[ MT 1 ] = [ ML3 ][ T 1 ][ L ][ L ][ L ][ L ] (2)

(2)
L : 0 = - 3a + c + e + f + g (3) h + 2r ()
V = 2 (9)

M : 1 = a (4) 2. sin
T : -1 = -b (5)


a b (3) c

e, f , g

a = 1, b = 1, c = 3-e- f - g

(Dimensionless groups)

m = ()1 (n)1 (D )3 e f g (d )e (T ) f ()g (6)
e f g
d T
m = ()(n) (D ) 3 (7)
D D D

d e T f g
m (8)
= , ,
nD 3 D D D

(D)
4





2









5



(Exponents)
( V , m3 ) ( , kg / m3 )
(n, /)
4 5

3.

(
m = 0.1251 V 0.5642 n ) (10)

3.1
1.
()

R.Rautenbach W.Schumacher
[3] ( V , m 3 ) , ( , kg / m 3 )
2. (n, /)

m = ( 0.0028 ln( V ) + 0.0197 ) n (11)

3.
[1] Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association. Screw
Conveyor Book No.350. 2 nd ed. Washington DC. :
Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association, 1980
[1] [2] R.M.Nedderman. Statics and kinematics of granular
materials. Cambridge : University of Cambridge, 1992
[3] R.Rautenbach and W.Schumacher. Theoretical and
Experimental Analysis of Screw Feeders. Trans Tech
Publications, 1994