Have a material that is a mix of metal particles ranging in size from +0.75" to minus 50 mesh. Batch weights range from ~310 lbs to ~360 lbs. Problem is avoiding segregation through blending, dumping to and during intermediate hold and then dumping to press die cavity for compaction. Am looking for recommendations as to how to avoid this problem.As seen in Powder Bulk Solids Ask the Experts!
Our recommendation would be to use a horizontal motion conveyor to reduce segregation. Unlike conventional vibrating conveyors that use a vertical pitching motion to propel material with repeated impacts which can cause product breakdown, a horizontal motion conveyor employs a single-drive mechanism to move the product. This mechanism provides a unique horizontal differential motion which glides the product down the pan. The consistent conveying motion throughout the length, width, and depth of the product bed helps prevent build-up. And because it isn’t dependent on impact to provide motion, the horizontal motion conveys deep product beds uniformly, with no stratification. This video shows how horizontal motion conveying can help prevent segregation. Other horizontal motion conveying videos are also available.
Does the Slipstick come equipped with trough covers?
Yes, the trough can be open or enclosed with covers.
Can the Slipstick be enclosed?
Yes, the Slipstick can be round as well as rectangular. A rectangular section is a more space-effective design than a round section as the volume of conveyed material in a round section is much less than a
rectangular cross section for a given bed depth.
I do not have the space to floor mount a conveyor, can the Slipstick be installed overhead? The Slipstick Conveyor can be designed for overhead suspension from support steel or plant ceiling rubber bushed rods are used to allow the conveyor to swing like a pendulum.
I am conveying dusty material, can sealed inlet and outlets be placed within the conveyor? Inlets and outlets may be installed anywhere along the length of the trough. They may be open or sealed with flexible boots. Dust pick-ups may be installed for extraction of any airborne dust created at material transfer points (the horizontal motion of the Slipstick itself does not create dusting)
Can the Slipstick carry out product transfers?
The Slipstick can be designed with several gate options: easy clean, pinch free, pivot, plug, and rail.
How does a horizontal motion vibrating conveyor work without any vertical motion?
In horizontal, zero-pitch, conveying, the translation comes from a differential or slower forward movement relative to the retraction, which is quick. The lack of vertical motion provides a much smoother and more gentle handling of the material being conveyed. When the material is not fragile or even hard and abrasive, this same motion reduces the wear on the pan.
What kind of capacities can be expected on a differential horizontal motion type conveyor?
Horizontal motion conveyors will generally handle more depth of material but at somewhat lower travel rates compared to other vibrating conveyors. The overall capacity is pretty close to screw conveyors as well in similar widths. Many belt conveyors can move more material because they can run faster. With horizontal motion, different materials with different shear strengths, friction coefficients, and densities will vary both the travel rate and the depth that can be carried. Different pan surfaces and more aggressive drives can move more material or material that is low in shear strength or sticky. For example; “Jello” or uncured rubber cubes would be a challenge.
Can you do size screening on a horizontal motion conveyor?
Screening is not a good characteristic on a conveyor that does not have any vertical acceleration. With gentle handling also comes reduced little energy to dislodge nearsize pieces that get caught in the openings. Some rough scalping is possible where occasional large oversize pieces are removed from the bulk of much smaller pieces.
Can the Slipstick screen?
No. The gentle, horizontal motion of the Slipstick does not make this conveyor especially suitable for screening fine material out of a product stream. The Slipstick motion does not stratify a product bed by particle size so fines do not readily sift to the bottom of the material bed to come in contact with the screen surface. However, with a bar screen the conveyor can be used to scalp oversize material in some applications.
What is the typical lifespan of a Slipstick?
We have Slipsticks still in operation, which were first manufactured in 1974. Providing the machines are used for their intended purposes and routine inspection is carried out to ensure correct functioning, we believe all our machines should be operational for atleast 25 years.
What are the advantages of a horizontal motion conveyor vs. a vibratory conveyor?
The horizontal motion conveyor design offers a number of advantages over conventional
vibrating conveyors, screw conveyors, and drag conveyors often used in bulk handling
applications. Compared to conventional vibrating conveyors, which are usually
powered by springs and convey material through the impact on the conveyed material,
the horizontal motion conveyor provides gentle transportation. Fragile materials like
food products, agglomerated powders, and extruded, flaked, or pelletized products are undamaged and remain intact during the conveying process using the horizontal motion conveyor, the Slipstick.
Will the Slipstick operation produce dust?
The Slipstick can be enclosed to ensure a dust tight seal. But the quick forward, slow return settles dust.
What is scalping?
It is the separation of part of the total feed as course oversize by retention on openings (round, square, or slotted) more than half again as large in diameter or width as the largest particle in the undersize.
What is screening?
Screening means removing part of the total feeds as a fine fraction passing through the screen openings.
What is sizing?
Separating a particulate material into three or more fractions. If two screens are used, the sized fraction passes through the coarser screen and is retained on the finer screen. The oversize and undersize fractions are not sized unless the top size of the former or bottom size of the latter has been limited by previous screening.
Are all vibrating screens alike?
No. The only thing in common for all the various types of vibrating screens is that they move with some kind of regular motion, either reciprocating or circular.
What type of mesh screen is preferred for precision screening?
Square mesh screens maintain their specified opening dimension more accurately than slotted.
What is the best screen for my abrasive product?
Flat-top screens last longer than the standard double-crimp style.
When do I need to use a Grizzly?
Use a Grizzly when width, not length, is the criteria for oversize retention.
What is screen blinding?
When the openings of a screen are closed, either by plastering with damp sticky material or by wedging of on-size particles in the opening.
What is the most effective protection against blinding?
Electric heat.
Why is low pressure air used to separate a dry mixture?
The lighter materials are lifted from the deck surface and allowed to float down the inclination of the deck.
I have a wide range of particle sizes to separate, what is the most efficient way to accomplish separation?
First, you will want to screen the particles into manageable size ranges prior to separation. Where significant variations in shape are found to be detrimental to separation efficiency, size reduction may be added to the process to reduce the range of variation.
When should I use a stoner?
It is used when separation of a smaller amount of dense material from a lighter product. Commonly found in separations of contaminants from agricultural products.
How do I know my gravity separator is performing correctly?
You must run test separations.
I would like to move wood pellets from a bulk bag to a hopper - what would you suggest?As seen in Powder Bulk Solids Ask the Experts!
Handling wood pellets from a bulk bag can be approached several different ways. Assuming elevation is needed, a screw, drag, or inclined belt conveyor can work with few restrictions. Bucket elevators may have some application in combination with vibratory feeders/conveyors.
Lateral transfer alone could be achieved with vibrating conveyors, although natural frequency tuned versions could have issues with varying head loads. Horizontal motion vibrating conveyors can handle various head load conditions.
As seen in Powder Bulk Solids Ask the Experts!
We have little cylindrical pellets that can crush and are a bit sticky coming out of a semi-works extruder and going to a dryer. The flow is very small - continuous at 90kg/hr and 0.6 bulk density. The path is not long (~20 ft), but is torturous (over up over down). Do you have any suggestions?
Provided that side to side obstructions are not involved, we believe that a belt conveyor with really low friction/non-stick belt would be a good approach. The success would depend on how sticky the material is on a compatible belt.
As seen in Powder Bulk Solids Ask the Experts! We are a supplier of wood pellets and we have customers who are building their own storage units to take bulk delivery. Our truck has an augered boom that will deliver the pellets at a desired height. Normally, we will just feed into the top of a silo. Customers are designing piping systems to catch our pellets outside and bring them into a storage container in a garage or basement. I need to determine at what angle a fill pipe without any mechanical means needs to be angled for the material to flow after it is augered from our truck.
Without using approximations, our best recommendation would to do an actual test with your product on a curved surface with similar surface finish. That being said, 60 degrees from horizontal is a frequent, conservative starting point.
As seen in Powder Bulk Solids Ask the Experts! We are evaluating whether drying our waste treatment sludge from a filter press is the right thing to do. We have selected a Jmate Dryer to do the job. The dryer pushes the sludge cake through a plate, creating pellets of wet sludge to a metal belt. The dryer then uses natural gas to dry the sludge to hard pellets with a discharge temperature around 500ºF. From the dryer, at 50 in. off the floor, we need to move these pellets out to a metal roll off container 7 ft high and 24 ft long, and fill it from back to front using a conveying system.
What would be the best conveying system to use? We are trying to do this inexpensively since we don't care if the pellets get damaged, but we don't want a dust storm at the roll-off either, or blowing dust from the roll off when it is on the road.
Given your parameters, I would recommend a screw conveyor with a method for partial discharge along the length of the roll-off container. Simple holes with partial covers set manually is one method to discharge over a long length.
There are telescoping belt conveyors that would give more distribution options, but I believe that they would be more expensive. A vibrating conveyor would work well with lower maintenance, but elevating and support would be uneconomical factors.
As seen in Powder Bulk Solids Ask the Experts! We would like to develop a test method(s) or procedure to measure the handling characteristics of our dry bulk product in order to improve our bulk product. We have experienced bin and storage concerns and we would like to provide a measure to gauge improvements and product variation. Particle size measurement (PSD) is a bulk characteristic but not necessarily a direct indication of the dry fluid handling properties. What are the best property measurement methods to determine fluid handling characteristics?
In addition to size distribution, there are other factors that influence flowability; bulk density, particle shape and friction, state of fluidization, compaction, etc. We have found that angle of repose is a basic gage. Freeman Technology, Texture Technologies, and others take this several stages further and might be helpful as a resource.
What are the advantages of a horizontal motion conveyor vs. a vibratory conveyor?
The horizontal motion conveyor design offers a number of advantages over conventional
vibrating conveyors, screw conveyors, and drag conveyors often used in bulk handling
applications. Compared to conventional vibrating conveyors, which are usually
powered by springs and convey material through the impact on the conveyed material,
the horizontal motion conveyor provides gentle transportation. Fragile materials like
food products, agglomerated powders, and extruded, flaked, or pelletized products are undamaged and remain intact during the conveying process using the horizontal motion conveyor, the Slipstick.
Our vibratory conveyor tends to break too much of our product and causes some of the coating and seasoning to come off. What can we do?
Consider replacing vibratory conveyors with the Slipstick Horizontal Motion Conveyor. Fragile materials like food products, agglomerated powders, and extruded, flaked, or pelletized products are undamaged and remain intact during the conveying process. The key to horizontal motion conveying is the action of the conveyor upon the inertia of the conveyed materials. During the slow advance of the conveyor’s cycle, material is at a relative rest on the conveying surface. The quick return segment of the cycle gently slides the conveying surface under the material bed. Repeating this cycle 200 – 300 times per minute serves to smoothly convey the material up to forty feet per minute along the length of the conveying surface.
Do the slats need to be tracked on my slat conveyor?
No slat chains do not need to be tracked.
Can I transport raw food on a slat conveyor?
Yes in fact there are very few products that cannot be transported on a slat conveyor. Slats are available in plastic or stainless steel.
Can I accumulate product using a slat conveyor?
Yes there are many different types of material available from very low friction to extremely high grip. Once again it is vital to select the correct slat chain for your product.
Can a slat conveyor be made USDA/3A sanitary standards?
Yes. Most of the slat conveyors we design are food sanitary compliant.
Are slat chain conveyors more expensive than the traditional belts?
Initially they are, but the slat would expect to outlast a traditional belt. It is also easier to clean, easier to replace, you can just replace one link rather than the whole belt and there are no tracking problems.
Can I request a visit from one of your sales staff to visit my facility?
Yes, we'll be more than happy to accomodate your needs in a site visit. Contact us for arrangements.
Do you provide training?
Yes, we have an experienced field technician. Contact us to arrange a training session.
What are your payment / terms and conditions?
Please fill free to read through our terms and conditions. If you still have questions, please feel free to contact us.
Why should I buy from Triple/S Dynamics?
Equipment is Lower Maintenance
Longer Life
Flexibility in machine design
Many Options Available
Less external vibration
Quiet Operation
Easy assembly & set up
We’ve been around since 1888
What are your capabilities?
We design and manufacture processing equipment such as horizontal motion conveyors, gravity separators, fluidized bed separators, slat conveyors, belt conveyors, screeners, trommels, waste processing equipment, and vibratory conveyors. Turnkey operations are also available.
What design services does Triple/S Dynamics offer?
Complete turn-key systems engineering
Fully integrated controls
Systems for USDA/3A applications available
Why is Triple/S Dynamics market leaders?
We've been in business for over 120 years. Our founders created the first of many of the separation equipment that are used today. We are committed to research and development and enhancing our product range. We represent the highest standards of workmanship, quality, reliability and consumer services.
What are Triple/S Dynamics selling features?
Optimum efficiency, quality, standards, minimum down-time, hygiene, reliability and no spillage, improved consistency, highest standards of machine safety, minimized product damage. We’ve also been engineering and manufacturing for over 120 years.
What if I am un-happy with any part of Triple/S Dynamics?
You can e-mail us at sales@sssdynamics.com, which will be forwarded to the President and your sales engineer. You will have your e-mail acknowledged and an investigation into the cause.
I have a suggestion for Triple/S Dynamics, who do I contact?
Please contact us and we'll be sure to deliver your suggestion to the appropriate person.
Can I order parts online?
Yes! Order replacement parts for all your conveying systems, processing equipment, separation equipment, and bin fillers manufactured by Triple/S Dynamics. Replacement parts and services are available for all F.E.C. product handling equipment as well. You can order parts online 24/7. Please use our order form on our Parts & Services Page.
