Faculty of engineering

Mechanical Engineering Dept.

Material Handling

Instructor:
Dr. Mohamed Abdallah Bhlol
Assistant Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
Faculty of Engineering
Helwan University
 Chapter (3)
Screw conveyor
 Lecture outline
General description and purpose

Different configuration of screw

Screw conveyors applications

Screw conveyor problems

Calculations of screw conveyors

 Solved examples
 General description
Screw conveyor
 The screw conveyor usually consists of a shaft mounted screw
rotating in trough and of the drive unit setting the shaft in rotary
motion.

As the shaft rotates, the material fed to it is moved forward by the
thrust of the screw or flights.
 General description
Screw conveyor

 The material to be conveyed is

filled into the trough by one or
more feed hoppers.

 The load is prevented from

turning with the screw by the
weight of the material and by the
friction of the material against the
walls of the trough.

 A number of discharge spouts

with rack gears for closing and
opening as required, are provided.

Vertical screw conveyor Inclined screw conveyor

 General description
Different shapes of screw conveyors
 General description
Main parts of screw conveyors
 Different configurations of screw
The screw of the conveyor may be right –hand (usual type) or left-hand, single,
double or triple-thread.
Types of screw

Short-pitch
or Ribbon Paddle-flight Cut-flight
continuous screw screw screw
screw
Notes:

Short –pitch screw is used for dry granular or

powdered materials that do not pack.

Ribbon screw is applied for lumpy and clinging

materials.

Paddle and cut-flight conveyors are used as a means

of blending and homogeneous mixing of two or more
grades of materials.
 Screw conveyor applications

 A screw conveyor is suitable for any pulverized or

granular non viscous material, and even at high
temperature.

The conveyor is particularly suitable for mixing or

blending more than one materials during transportation,
and also for controlling feed rate of materials in a
processing plant.

Screw conveyors are used for low and medium

capacities (up to 100 m3/hr) for short runs. They are
usually 30-40 m long, reaching 50-60 m only
exceptionally.
 Screw conveyor problems
 Abrasion and consequently certain amount of
degradation of the material is unavoidable, hence it is
not suitable for brittle and high abrasive materials.

 It is also not suitable for large-lumped materials.

 Overloads cause bottlenecks near the intermediate

bearings, obstruct the shaft revolving and stop the
screw.

 Higher power consumption.

Abrasion of conveyor tube.

 Calculations of screw conveyors
Capacity (Q)


Q C D 2  n  s  i  60    
4
Where:
Q = capacity (Mp/hr)
C = factor depend on inclination angle β (see table 17)
γ = bulk weight (Mp/m3) (see table 2)
Φ = load efficiency (depend on class of material (see table 15))
D = screw diameter
S = screw pitch = 0.8D
n = screw or shaft r.p.m
i = no. of stars
D.s.n (see table 16)
 Calculations of screw conveyors

Class of A B C
material
φ 0.45 0.3 0.15

Power transmitted (No)

Q..L
L
No  ( 0  sin  ) HP
270

Q.L
No  ( 0  sin  ) KW
367
 Calculations of screw conveyors
Where:
L = conveying length
ωo = resistance factor for screw conveyor (see table 2)

H
sin  
L
Torque(Mo)
N0 Kp.m No in HP
M o  716.2
n
N0 Kp.m No in KW
M o  975
n
 Calculations of screw conveyors
Velocity (v)

n s i
v m/sec
60
Axial thrust (P)

Mo
P
r tan(   )

r = 0.4 D
is tan α = µ
tan 
2 .r
 Calculations of screw conveyors
Where:
Ψ = helix angle
µ = coefficient of friction

Weight per meter length (GLM)

Q Kp/m
G LM 
3.6  v
 Solved examples
Example (1)

It is required to design a horizontal screw conveyor to handle a

quantity of sand Q = 35 Mp/hr, conveying length 30m. Find the
following:

(a) Screw parameters (D, s, n)

(b) Driving power (HP, KW)
(c) Load velocity
(d) Torque
(e) Axial load
(f) Load per meter of the conveying length
 Solved examples
Solution

(a) Screw parameters(D, s, n)

 2
Q  C  D  n  s  i  60    
4
From table (17) at β = 0 C=1

From table (2) at sand material γ = 1.6 Mp/m3

class of material is C
µ = 0.8
ωo = 5
At class of material C from table (15)
ϕ = 0.15
Assume no. of starts i = 1
 Solved examples
Solution

 2
Q  C  D  n  s  i  60    
4
 2
35  1  D  n  s 1 60 1.6  0.15
4

 D 2  n  s  3.094
From table (16) take D2.n.s = 3.1808

D = 400 mm s = 355 mm n =56 r.p.m

 Solved examples
Solution

(b) The driving power (No)

Q.L
 No  ( 0  sin  )
270
35  30
 No  (5)  19.44 HP
270
Q.L
 No  ( 0  sin  )
367
35  .30
 No  (5)  14.31KW
367
 Solved examples
Solution
(c) The load velocity (v)

n  s i
v 
60
56 0.3551
  0.331m / sec
60

(d) The torque (Mo)

N0
 M o  716 . 2
n
19 . 44
 716 . 2  248 . 6 Kp .m
56
 Solved examples
Solution

(e) The axial load (P)

Mo r = 0.4 D = 0.4 x 400 = 160 mm

P 
r tan(   )
tan α = µ = 0.8
is 1 355 α =38.65o
 tan    0.353
2 .r 2 160
  19.44o

Mo 248.6
P    969Kp  0.969Mp
r tan(   ) 0.160 tan(19.44  38.65)
 Solved examples
Solution

(f) Load per meter of the conveying length (GLM)

Q
 GLM 
3.6  v
35
  29.4 Kp / m
3.6  0.331
 Solved examples
Example (2)

Cement is conveyed by horizontal screw conveyor with one feed

hopper A and two discharges B and C. The first discharge is at length
L1 while the second is at L1+L2 from the feed hopper. The conveyor
can be discharged at B and C simultaneously or separately at B or C.
Given: D = 500 mm, n = 50 r.p.m, L1 = 8 m, L2 = 10 m, and Qb/Qc = 2/3
Determine:

(a) Maximum capacity, and

(b) The required minimum and maximum motor power.
 Solved examples
Solution

(a) Maximum capacity


Q  C  D 2  n  s  i  60    
4
From table (17) at β = 0 C=1

From table (2) at cement material γ = 1.5 Mp/m3

class of material is B
µ = 0.65
ωo = 3
At class of material B from table (15) ϕ = 0.30
Assume no. of starts i = 1 S = 0.8 D
 Solved examples
Solution

(a) Maximum capacity


Q  C  D 2  n  s  i  60    
4

Q  1  ( 0 . 5 ) 2  50  0 . 8  0 . 5  1  60  1 . 5  0 . 30
4
Mp
Q  106
hr
(b) Minimum and maximum motor power

Q.L
 No  ( 0  sin  ) HP
270
 Solved examples
Solution
(b) Minimum and maximum motor power

There are three cases:

1. The conveyor discharge at (B) separately
2. The conveyor discharge at (C) separately
3. The conveyor discharge at (B, C) simultaneously

1. If the conveyor discharge at (B) separately

Qmax .L1
 No  ( 0  sin  )
270
106  8
 No  (3)  9.422 HP
270
 Solved examples
Solution
(b) Minimum and maximum motor power

2. If the conveyor discharge at (C) separately

Qmax ( L1  L2 )
 No  ( 0  sin  )
270

106  18
 No   (3)  21.2 HP
270
 Solved examples
Solution
(b) Minimum and maximum motor power

3. If the conveyor discharge at (B and C) simultaneously

In this case: Qmax. = Qb + Qc

106  Qb  Qc ------ 1

Qb 2
 ------ 2
Qc 3
From eq. (2) in (1)

2
 106  Q c  Q c
3
 Solved examples
Solution

Mp 2 Mp
 Qc  63.6  Qb   63.6  42.4
hr 3 hr

42.4  8
 Nob   (3)  3.76HP
270
63.6 18
 Noc   (3)  12.72HP
270
Max. motor power = 21.2 HP When C discharge separately

Min. motor power = 3.76 HP Power of B when B and C discharge

simultaneously