Conveyor sizes range from 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10-inch diameter systems. They run dust free, leak free when handling wet products, and consume very little energy. Horsepower requirements are set at 1 HP to 25 HP when conveying materials with bulk densities of up to 320 Lbs/Cu.Ft. and single transfer lengths over 220 feet delivering rates that can exceed 2,200 Cu.Ft./Hr.
Single conveyor transfers are designed to allow for direction changes using bent pipe and drive turn stations. Drive turn stations carry the chain and disc assembly with product through 90-degree turns to reduce the overall drag load on the system. Adopting this approach will lower the overall horsepower requirements, have the system run quieter and will reduce drag wear that occurs on disc, chain and drive sprocket assemblies. With the proper design, the chain, disc and drive sprocket assemblies last over 15 to 20 years of service life while running in continuous operation applications.
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Dry Material Considerations
As durable and reliable as this technology is, it conveys product in a gentle manner. The product is protected withing the disc-to-disc cavity length that serves to protect the product from excess handling. The product is nested between the moving conveying disc maintaining consistent particle size distribution and minimal breakage. With line speeds from 20 to 70 FPM, powders with a set particle distribution move at the same speed to outlets making sure product characteristics remain consistent over the transfer.
Low conveying speeds prevent product breakage, degradation and fines generation. Finer, and lighter particles are not transferring at a higher speed than heavier particles. This guarantees consistent product quality.
Delicate products such as charcoal, nuts, and corn puffs, are conveyed with this technology without any sign of product degradation or surface marking or pinching.
Controlling and eliminating dust is an inherent benefit to this technology. As a sealed pipe system, these conveyors can be used where dust and odor must be kept within the system and not vent to the atmosphere. When in proximity to adjacent personnel work areas, residential, commercial, or environmentally sensitive areas, this technology will keep product conveying in an emission free manner.
As an atmospheric pressure type technology, no venting licenses are required when adopting tubular chain conveyors as new transfers. If venting air to the atmosphere needs to be reduced because of changing municipal zoning, the tubular chain conveyor is an ideal technology to adopt.
Sticky Material Considerations
When handling sticky materials, the tubular chain conveyor is equipped with accessories that brush, wipe, shake and push material over the outlet to ensure the material is released with minimal carry-over in a fluid manner and minimal build up within the conveyor. Pipe I.D. polishing is used to keep surfaces slippery and wet or dry wash packages are made available. Disc design is also optimized to remove hardware and void volumes that can collect and retain material.
Difficult to convey products such as high fat content weigh powders, titanium dioxide powders, gypsum pastes and slurries along with sugars and salts are all being conveyed using tubular chain conveyor.
Hot Material Considerations
Tubular chain conveyors are used to conveyor materials at temperatures up to 400 C. They can be equipped with water cooling jackets to cool the material as the material is carried through the conveyor. Handling hot materials requires unique design and material selection.
Discs materials are selected to ensure mechanical stability and wear characteristics are maintained at higher surface and internal temperatures. Discs constructed of polymer will run reliably with good durability with material temperatures up to 100 C. For higher temperatures, cast iron, steel and composite discs have been used to convey hot materials reliably with durability in mind.
Thermal expansion of the piping system is also accounted for with the use of special gasketing materials, sliding expansion style joints and floating end sections that allow the conveyor assembly to adjust to the hot operating temperatures. An engineered, custom design approach has proven successful in applying tubular chain conveyor technology to the demanding process industry applications of transferring hot materials.
Abrasive Material Considerations
With abrasive materials, abrasion resisting design is applied to extend the life of components. This will include special inlet geometries, inlet design and drop point surface treatments. Heat treating of pipes and chain to surface harden wear surfaces is applied to ensure run life of these wear components are doubled and tripled. Special disc design and the use of composite materials is also adopted knowing polymer discs will have very short service life if not reinforced and protected from abrasion wear.
Conveyor sizing and layouts are specifically optimized to build in reliability and durability when using tubular chain conveyors to handle abrasive materials. Proper engineering ensures operating chain tensions are minimized to limit the surface contact pressure with abrasive material. With the right approach, materials such as tungsten powders, mineral aggregate, sand crystals, silica powders, and biochar are conveyed using tubular chain conveyor technology over several decades.
The tubular chain conveyor technology delivers flexible transfer and process related solutions. With multiple layout and throughput options and handling products without product degradation, this technology is available in carbon steel and stainless-steel construction able to be adapted to industrial and food/sanitary type applications.
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With over 45 years of tubular chain conveyor expertise and know-how, Luxme International delivers custom designed tubular chain conveyors to gently and quietly handle and transfer dry, sticky, abrasive and hot materials.
