Blast furnace stockhouse arrangement

A stockhouse arrangement for a metallurgical furnace comprising:

• a set of storage bins for granular material;
• a material feeding device associated with said set of storage bins, the material feeding device being arranged above said set of storage bins and allowing to selectively fill each of the storage bins with granular material;
• a raw material feed system to convey raw granular material to the material feeding device;
• a respective weighing hopper arranged downstream of each storage bin and comprising an outlet associated with a feeding gate;
• a charge conveying system for collecting and conveying material selectively discharged from the weighing hoppers through their respective feeding gates;
• wherein said material feeding device is configured to screen raw granular material arriving from said raw material feed system such that only material with desired granulometry is forwarded to the respective bin(s),
• wherein said material feeding device comprises a screen unit receiving granular material from the raw material feed system, said screen unit comprising one or more screens of predetermined mesh size and being configured to filter out undersized granular material and forward oversized, desired material to the respective storage bins,
• wherein said material feeding device comprises intermediate conveyor means configured for transporting material with desired granulometry from the screen unit to a respective bin,
• wherein said intermediate conveyor means include a movable, bi-directional conveyor belt that receives material with desired granulometry from the screening unit;
• the movable, bi-directional conveyor belt is arranged above the storage bins;
• the movable, bi-directional conveyor belt is configured so that its ends can be aligned with respective storage bins in a row, to deliver material therein, and so that it can be moved along the row of storage bins.