Chapter 9: Screw Conveyors

• The screw conveyor, one of the

oldest and simplest methods used for
the movement of bulk materials. The
movement of the materials is forced
through the trough by a rotating
screw, which is formed by a helical
blade attached to the drive shaft.
Cont’d
Conveyor Components

• a. The Conveyor Screw

consists of spiral flying
mounted on a pipe and is
made either right or
left hand to suit the
screw rotation and the
desired direction of
material travel.

Typical Screw Configurations: (a) Helical Spiral (b) Ribbon Spiral

(c) Cut Flights
b. The Drive Shaft, End Shaft and
Coupling
The drive shaft supports the conveyor
screw section and keeps it in alignment.
The end shaft is located at the end
opposite the drive shaft.

Couplings are used to connect

successive conveyors screw section
when more than one section is necessary
to make up the total length of conveyor.
 Cont’d

Installing Screw Section in Trough and Fitting it onto

Coupling
c. The End Seals
The plate seal is an economical, effective
sealing device, designed for exterior
mounting between the end bearing and
the trough end. Split gland seals are
designed for interior or exterior
mounting. The universal type of seal is
arranged for use with waste packing or
with cartridge type lip or felt seals.
Packing gland seals are effective means
for sealing the conveyor both internally
and externally.
 Cont’d
• Air purge shaft seals are arranged for
attaching to standard or special trough
ends. A constant air pressure is
maintained to prevent material from
escaping from the trough along the shaft.

(a) (b) (c)

Various End Seals

 Cont’d

(d) (e)
Various End Seals

d. The Conveyor Complete with the Trough

and the Drive
The trough is the enclosure in which the material
is confined and guided in its movement. A shaft
mounted speed reducer makes a simple and
compact drive combination.
Typical Drive Arrangements

With specialised design, the unit may

operate at a slope or in the vertical
position. There could be many drive
arrangements to meet the practical
limitation like space, type of drive, etc.
 Cont’d

Fig.10.5 Typical Drive Arrangements: (a) Vertical

(b) Horizontal and Vertical (c) Steep Slop
Typical Applications
Screw conveyors serve a wide variety of
purpose in many industries.

1. When the materials are extremely hot,

cast screws and troughs may be used or
the screws and troughs may be made of
high temperature alloy metals.

2. If the materials are sticky or viscous,

ribbon flight screws may be the choice.
Furthermore, special coatings applied to
the screw and troughs may also aid the
flow of the material.
 Cont’d
3. When extremely abrasive materials are
to be conveyed they may require screws
and troughs made of abrasion resistant
metals or the screws may be provided
with hard surface flights.

4. When the materials are corrosive it may

be desirable to make the conveyor
screws and troughs of stainless steel,
Monel metal, nickel, aluminium, etc.
 Cont’d
5. When the materials are to be mixed, a
conveyor screw of ribbon flights or cut
flights or one of these combined with
paddles may be used to obtain the
desired results.
6. If materials are to be heated or cooled,
while conveying, they may require
jacketed troughs arranged for circulating
heating or cooling media.
7. When contaminable materials are
handled they may require self lubricated
bearings, screw and trough construction
which will eliminate pockets, creels, etc.
Design Considerations

The trough is commonly fabricated from

flat sheet from 2 to 8mm thick. The screw
pitch t = (0.5 to 1.0) D. The screw
diameter D is at least twelve times that
for loads of uniform lump size and at least
four times the maximum lump size in case
of unsized bulk materials. Conveyors
handling heavy materials operate at around
50rpm and those designed to convey light
loads, at up to 150rpm.
 Lump Size
Lump size ratio( R ) is a function of screw conveyor radial
clearance and lump size. The ratio is used to determine
the correct screw conveyor design based on maximum
bulk material lamp size.

𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝑅=
𝐿𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒
The cross-sectional loading of a screw
conveyor is given by
 D2
A =
4
Where,  = the capacity factor which take
account of the accumulation of
load at inner bearing
D = screw diameter

Values Capacity Factor

Material 

Heavy-weight abrasive loads 0.125

Heavy-weight mildly abrasive 0.250

Light-weight mildly abrasive 0.320

Light-weight non abrasive 0.400

The hourly capacity can be calculated by

Q = 3.6 A v k tons/hr
where , k= is a factor introduced in designing inclined
conveyors
v = the speed of the conveyor [m/s]
 = specific weight of the material [kg/m3]

Values of k corresponding the Inclination 

 (degrees) 0 5 10 15 20

k 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.65

Conveyor Speed
tn
v=
60
where , t = pitch of the screw (lead) [m]
n = rpm of the screw

The capacity formula can be rewritten,

 D2 tn
Q = 3600   k
4 60

= 47  t  n  D  k  
2
From practical experience,
n = 60/ D for light non− abrasive load
n = 45/ D for heavy non− abrasive load
n = 30/ D for heavy abrasive load

The power requirement in kW at the drive

shaft for horizontal conveyors,
QL
N h = C0
367
where , N h = power requirement for horizontal conveyor
C o = friction factor
L = conveyor length [m]
 Cont’d
And for sloping installation
QH QL
Ns = + C0
367 367
Where, Ns
= power requirement for inclined conveyor
H = level difference

Q
Load per meter [kg/m] q=
3.6 ν
 Cont’d
Axial force, P [kg]

Mo where ,
P= M 0 = the resisting moment
r tan( +  ) N 0 = N h for horizontal conveyor
= N for inclined conveyor
s

102 N o  60
Mo = r = radius at which the force P
2n is applied
r = (0.7 to 0.8 ) 
D
N0 2
= 975 kg  = reduced friction angle,
tan  = 
n
 = screw helix angle
 The friction factor is adopted based on
experimental data.
Material
Co

Flour, cereal, saw dust 1.2

Peat, Soda ash, pulverised coal, finely ground chalk 1.6

Coal (lump anthracite and bituminous, air dry brown), rock salt 2.5

Gypsum, dry clay, sand, cement, ash, lime, moulding sand 4.0
 Exercise
Determine the hourly capacity, power requirement, axial force, load
propulsion rate and load per meter for horizontal screw under the
following condition.
- Material to be conveyed: light and non abrasive load
- Conveying length = 20m
- Bulk weight of material = 1.65
- Slop = 0.8
- Speed reducer = 0.9
- Screw helix angle = 170
- Capacity factor = 0.125
- Material friction factor = 4
- Level difference = 10m