I have found, rely on, Reynolds catalogues which are free and very authorative. There are others from Germany and USA.

Standards are a very touchy issue for chain conveyors and even if they existed I would still rely on the manufacturers' data. ■

Most folks/makers recommend 0.6ms^-1. The latest authority I came across was published by the Material Handling Engineers Association (MHEA for short) who published a recommended practice. It might still be in print. When you see recommended practice it usually means there is no legal standard for reference in a litigation. CEMA for belt conveying is often quoted as a standard although the opening page clearly states that it is not a standard but perhaps a good guide. There might be a chain conveying standard lurking within ASME of ASTM which CEMA references. BUT...

...The manufacturers quote their speeds and things based on prior experience or even testing. Since there is so much variance across a material and it's local properties a standard cannot possibly cover all cases and that is why they hardly exist: let alone apply. Download the Reynolds publications and save trouble. I say save because chains are troublesome beasts on a good day. ■

Hello,

As said in earlier post, the catalogue of well known manufacturer of chain, sometime have chain conveyor design information and same become very useful.

Drag chain conveyor or drag flight chain conveyor design method is very well known among concerned parties.

It involves A) Friction coefficient between material and trough bottom / sides B) Friction coefficient between chain and guides. This can be of rolling type or sliding type C) Rankine formula for material side pressure for calculation of material friction resistance at sides.

These calculation are on the basis of engineering science, applied to each chain conveyor according to its operational features. The points mentioned above enable to design conveyor resistance, tensions, power, etc.

Have designed many chain conveyors, but incidently none asked for said standard. You can refer to standards publication list by ISO / DIN / BS and see if there are such standard.

Ishwar G. Mulani

Author of Book: ‘Engineering Science And Application Design For Belt Conveyors’. Conveyor design basis ISO (thereby book is helpful to design conveyors as per national standards of most of the countries across world). New print Nov., 2012.

Author of Book: ‘Belt Feeder Design And Hopper Bin Silo’

Advisor / Consultant for Bulk Material Handling System & Issues.

Pune, India. Tel.: 0091 (0)20 25871916

Email: conveyor.ishwar.mulani@gmail.com

Website: www.conveyor.ishwarmulani.com ■

Originally Posted by mohandes

Is there any limitation for the lowest allowable speed of chain conveying?

Have you ever heard about the speed of 0.02 m/s for chain?

Surely the lowest speed is no speed. All conveyors are capable of this speed. It boils down to throughput. 120cm min^-1 was sometimes applied in moving bed bunker applications, a forgotten art, with hydraulic motors -Staffa or Haggelund. If you can get it to move low speed is no issue. Look up Sumitomo reducers. ■