My company is designing a feeder to convey scrap shredded aluminum and a mixture known as fluff. This is in a scrap yard so this fluff consists of anything that is shredded that is not steel. This fluff is typically the foam from car seats, insulation, dirt, etc. The fluff is very absorbent which causes the product density to range from 12 lbs/ft^3 to 45 lbs/ft^3. My customer is providing two motors from an existing feeder for us to use in the design. I want a second opinion on whether the motors are large enough

Motors:

2 unbalanced mass electric vibrators mounted to trough (for linear motion)

Line of motion 25 degrees to the plane of the deck (22 degrees from horizontal)

900 rpm

203 in-lbs static moment each

Trough:

11 ft long x 8 ft wide x 1 ft deep

3-degree inclination

3700 lb empty weight ------------------------ stroke = 0.22” --- g=2.5

Estimated 5300 lbs fully loaded --------------- stroke = 0.15” --- g=1.76

The max necessary capacity is around 150 TPH (very rough estimate based on calculated max capacity of the conveyor feeding the shaker)

Are these motors sufficient? Should g be higher? How can I calculate a flow rate? Keep in mind that we are not screening the material; we are just trying to spread it out for a downstream process.

Thanks in advance,

Rob Brooker

Covington, KY ■