Bulk materials loading device
AssigneeGladstone Port Authority
InventorAlan Huth
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Bulk material is fed by a conveyor (10) into a hopper at the upper end of an upright extendible conduit (12). A fractionally opening gate (14) at the lower end of the conduit controls the rate at which the material in the conduit is discharged onto a discharge conveyor (15). Level sensors (13) detect the level of material in the hopper (18). A programmable logic controller (17) has its inputs connected to the sensors (13) and a belt weigher (11) associated with the conveyor (10), and controls the opening of the gate (14) to maintain a substantially full column of material in the conduit (12). The material discharged into the hopper (18) therefore moves slowly down the conduit in a controlled fashion, with minimal dust generation and product degradation.
Claims13
Apparatus for loading bulk material, comprising
- a conduit having an inlet at its upper end adapted to receive a flow of the material, and having a discharge outlet at its lower end,
- a controllable gate mechanism at the lower end of the conduit for regulating the flow of material through the outlet,
- means for sensing level of material in the conduit, and
- control means having an input connected to the level sensing means and adapted to control the operation of the gate mechanism to maintain the conduit substantially or nearly full of material during steady state operation, characterised in that the gate mechanism is able to be fractionally or partially opened by the control means.
A method of loading bulk material in which the material flows into the upper end of a conduit and is discharged through a controllable gate mechanism having a fractionally variable opening at the lower end of the conduit, the method comprising the steps of
- sensing level of material in the conduit, and
- controlling the opening of the gate mechanism so that the conduit is substantially or nearly full of material during steady state operation.
Apparatus for delivering bulk material, comprising
- an upright conduit,
- means for sensing level of material in the conduit,
- a controllable outlet at the lower end of the conduit, and
- control means for controlling the outlet to maintain the material in the conduit at approximately a desired level,
- characterised in that the outlet is a fractionally variable opening.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.