Sizing and separating granular particles
AssigneeGulf Conveyor System S Pty Ltd
InventorColin Benjamin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for sizing and separating granular particles within the bulk granular solids by creating a graded granular flow comprising multiple sized fractions with gradation of the particles according to particle size between relatively fine fractions and relatively coarse fractions; and capturing at least a portion of granular flow. The system (11) comprises means (25) for creating the graded granular flow, and means (30) for capturing at least a portion of the graded granular flow. The graded granular flow is split into separate streams, one of which is subsequently captured by intercepting that stream. The intercepted stream may be collected or redirected for further processing.
Claims24
A method of sizing and separating granular particles according to particle size in a flow of bulk material having plural granular particle size fractions, the method comprising:
- creating a flow path for said bulk material;
- propelling said flow of bulk material outwardly and downwardly through the air along a curved path under the influence of gravity to produce bulk material components having different trajectories;
- performing a preliminary particle separation on said flow path to separate said flow path into plural streams of bulk material components, one of said plural streams containing bulk material components having a lower trajectory and the other of said plural streams containing remaining component material;
- transforming said remaining component material in a smooth controlled downward flow in which there is minimal disturbance to said remaining component material into a graded granular flow comprising multiple sized fractions with gradation of the particles according to particle size between relatively fine fractions and relatively coarse fractions, said transformation comprising creating an inclined flow pathway for said remaining component material, said inclined flow pathway configured to adjust the flow of particles in said remaining component material by reason of differences in effective friction between said particles in said remaining component material which leads to differential speeds between particles in said remaining component material with finer particles in said remaining component material underflowing larger particles in said remaining component material and to spread said flow of remaining component material laterally within said inclined flow pathway into said graded granular flow, and
- capturing at least a portion of the resulting graded granular flow.
A system for sizing and separating granular particles according to particle size in a flow of bulk material having plural granular particle size fractions, said system comprising:
- a conveyor for creating a flow path for said bulk material and for propelling said flow of bulk material through the air outwardly and downwardly along a curved path under the influence of gravity to produce bulk material components having different trajectories;
- a preliminary particle separator for performing a preliminary particle separation on said flow path to separate said flow path into plural streams of bulk material components, one of said plural streams containing bulk material components having a lower trajectory and the other of said plural streams containing remaining component material;
- a transfer chute for transforming said remaining component material in a smooth controlled downward flow in which there is minimal disturbance to the remaining component material, into a graded granular flow comprising multiple sized fractions with gradation of the particles in said graded granular flow according to particle size between relatively fine fractions and relatively coarse fractions, said transfer chute comprising a chute body, an entrance zone, a discharge zone, and an inclined flow pathway intermediate said entrance and discharge zones, said inclined flow pathway configured to adjust the flow of particles in said remaining component material by reason of differences in effective friction between said particles in said remaining component material which leads to differential speeds between particles in the remaining component material with finer particles in said remaining component material underflowing larger particles in said remaining component material and to spread said flow of remaining component material laterally within said inclined flow pathway into said graded granular flow, whereby to create said graded granular flow exiting said transfer chute, and
- wherein at least a portion of the resulting graded granular flow is captured.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.