My feeder design is not critical, so I will attach any type of feeder to my mass flow bin, and it should still flow in mass flow, right?
WRONG! The feeder design is as important as the bin design. An improperly designed feeder may draw your product preferentially from the bin, converting it from mass flow to funnel flow. You have wasted your money modifying your bin. The feeder must be designed to discharger your product over the entire cross-sectional area of your outlet. If you take advantage of the benefits of a wedge shaped hopper configuration, you will likely use a screw or belt to control discharge rate. This feeder must increase in capacity in the discharge direction, thereby pulling from the entire outlet cross-section. If you have questions that you would like answered, please email me and I will try to answer them or at the very least get an answer for you. Help others by posting your comments, suggestions and experiences with bulk solids feeding or any other materials handling concerns you may have on our On-Line Help Forum. For past Ask Joe ! Articles, visit the Ask Joe! Archived Articles. Guest articles fo
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