I will not be the only one to tell you this, but you should consult with a company that designs and builds grain transporting systems that are used in ports of entry.

You should enquire in Hong Kong or in Perth or Sidney Australia to find a supplier of this equipment. ■

Soya Beans are classified as moderately abrasive (index 18-67) product based on this belt velocity should be kept relatively low to give the buckets a reasonable life. However belt velocity on bucket elevators are dependent on bucket shape (velocity has to be sufficient to enable discharge without back legging) in addition the pulley diameter has also to be considered. Based on the CC (Close Centre) bucket and a pulley diameter of 1200mm we would use a max. velocity 2.2 m/sec. Suggest using 18x8 plastic buckets with the elevator having 4 rows of buckets.

Should you require more information please do not hesitate to contact me. ■

Dear Shuijn,

Reference your questions the following :

Speed for this material will be fine but will also depend of projection of the bucket.

Please let me know which bucket you use and i will give you

a full calculation for your elevator.

Hope to hear soon from you so we can solve this project.

Kind regards,

VAV Aandrijvingern BV

Perry van der Ploeg

Sales Manager

tel 0031 71 4023701

fax 0031 71 4029814

email contact@vav.nl

site www.vav.nl ■

Dear Sir,

I am with Sweet Manufacturing, the manufactuer of the "Quality Line" of bulk material handaling equipment. We are very interested in working with you on this request for the bucket elevators. If you could please email me you current contact information, and that of your company, we would be glad to quote this request for you. After quoting the elevators, we will be able to give you a figure for the recomended speed for your application. You can reach me at the following email:

sales@sweetmfg.com You can also visit our website: www.sweetmfg.com We look forward to working with you and your company soon.

Josh Kilgore

Sales Coordinator

Sweet Manufacturing

937-325-1511 ■

Dear sir,

We can supply your needs with compatible price, please advise how to contact you?

e-mail me at info@amerya-metal-industries.tk

Regards

M-Khalifa ■

Dear Mr. Shijun,

American literature mentions low speed elevator and high-speed elevator for handling of grains / soyabean. Considering your capacity, you are likely to get recommendation for high-speed elevator, from supplier. The supplier of such elevator analyses the discharge phenomenon of material from bucket, which depends upon bucket shape, belt speed, head pulley diameter, and time interval available for material to get discharged during its passage in specific arc of travel.

The allowable speed mentioned is ranging from 2 mps to 4 mps. But specific diameter of pulley uses specific belt speed.

Coming to your question about speed, it might happen that the proposed elevator might have certain belt specifications and certain pulley diameter; and accordingly the mentioned speed. Your mentioned speed 2.8 to 3.5 mps is likely to be attributed to specific features of the elevator rather than simple rule of maximum allowable speed for soyabean. For your information, American literature mentions belt speed of about 3 mps in conjunction with 1200 mm diameter head pulley, but this is applicable to their shape of bucket and trajectory layout at head end.

Above is general hint to look for probable reason and you may interact with the likely supplier of elevator for more clarity / reason for particular speed.

Regards,

Ishwar G Mulani.

Author of Book : Engineering Science and Application Design for Belt Conveyors.

Author of Book : Belt Feeder Design and Hopper Bin Silo

Advisor / Consultant for Bulk Material Handling System & Issues.

Email : parimul@pn2.vsnl.net.in

Tel.: 0091 (0)20 25882916 ■