METHODS, PROCESSES AND

EQUIPMENT INVOLVED IN
HANDLING OF SOLIDS
a. Feeders and Storage silos
FEEDERS
✗ machineries used in assembly and manufacturing
applications to move or “transport” materials or
products to a designated storage or to other processing
equipment.
Types of Feeders
Rotary Feeders
✗ rotating element or vane discharges
powder or granules at a
predetermined rate
✗ often used with large amounts of
solid materials
✗ power comes from an internal
combustion engine or an electrical
motor
Vibratory Feeders
✗ use both vibration and gravity to
move material
✗ used to transport a large number of
smaller objects
✗ uncontrolled recovery of the
materials from top of the feeder
✗ controlled delivery of the material
form bottom of feeder
How it works?
Example: PILL BOTTLING SYSTEM
1. A large batch of pills is dumped into the top of the
vibratory feeder.
2. Gravity will pull the pills toward the bottom of the
feeder where they can exit one at a time so that they
can be counted.
3. Once the correct number is in the container, the feed
is stopped until a new bottle is palced in the
position.
Screw Feeders
✗ used for handling bulk materials, in
which a rotating helicoid screw
moves the material forward, toward
and into a process unit.
✗ very similar to screw conveyors in
their basic structure, both of which
are based on the principles of the
Archimedean screw.
Screw Feeders
✗ capable of delivering dense slurries
and dry granular products with great
accuracy at a range of operational
speeds.
✗ drive is controlled by servo motors
capable of precise stop-start and
speed control.
VOLUMETRIC SCREW FEEDERS
• amount of material transported is carefully calculated and
controlled by adjusting the speed at which the screw turns.
• very accurate feed values to be maintained.
• rotational speed may be preset or constantly adjusted.
GRAVIMETRIC SCREW FEEDERS
• delivery rate is controlles by adjusting the rate of which the
material is introduced into the machine.
Apron Feeders
✗ a limited-length version of apron
conveyor also known as plate -belt
feeder; plate feeder.
✗ allows automatic control the
volume of materials that are added
to a process.
✗ construct is from heavy, durable
materials like steel.
Apron Feeders
✗ the belt portion of the apron feeder
is made from thick steel trays or
pans.
✗ can be found in mining operations,
factories and concrete plants.
✗ cannot be used in applications
where precise feeding and
measuring is required.
How it works?
1. Materials that will be carried by the apron feeder are held into
a large hopper above one end of the belt. The amountof
material that reaches the feeder is determined by the distance
between this hopper and the top of the feeder.
2. As the hopper deposits materials onto the apron feeder, the
metal pans that make up the belt travel horizontally like a
conveyor belt.
3. When the trays reach the end of the belt, they dump, or feed
the materials into another vessel.
Bowl Feeders
✗ used to feed parts to an assembly line or
piece of manufacturing equipment.
✗ individual components exit the feeder at
specific intervals and enter the next step in
the assembly process.
✗ each bowl feeder uses special sensors to
spot jams or parts thar may be misaligned.
✗ one drawback is its precise operation.
How it works?
In a standard application:
1. the bowl feeder sits below a hopper or bin.
2. workers fill the hopper with bulk material, and these
objects fall into the feeder below.
a. Feeders and Storage silos
STORAGE SILOS
✗ A silo is a pit structure used to store bulk materials like
cement, carbon black, woodchips in large industries.
Based on the bulk material it carries, the silos can have
several types like tower silos, bunker silos and bag silos.
The engineers design and construct the silo structure to
gain maximum life and storage duration.
Types of Silos
Tower Silos
✗ Tower silos have a diameter of 4 to 48
meters with a height of 3 to 40m. Tower
silos are constructed using wood, steel, or
concrete. The most commonly used silos
are tower silos. Air slides or augers
facilitate the unloading of cement or
woodchips or grain from the silos. It can be
unloaded into trucks or conveyor belts or
rail cars. 
Bunker Silos
✗ Bunker silos are trenches, which are filled
and packed with the help of tractors and
loaders. Bunker silos are made from
concrete walls. Plastic tarp covers the fully
packed bunker silos to make it
airtight. Loader or tractor can unload the
materials from the bunker silos.
Bag Silos
✗ Bag silos are used to store grains and
fodder. It is made out of plastic or hermetic
bags or tubes. Bag silos have a diameter of
2 to 21m. The height of the silo depends on
the quantity of material intended to store.
Bag silos are one of the most economical
silos.