Bucket Elevators: Transporting Flowable Materials Efficiently

By Author: Carolyn Clayton
Total Articles: 496
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Bucket elevators are commonly used for carrying materials such as, fertilizer, grain, or other flowable materials that are in bulk. These products are hauled in a vertical direction, instead of a horizontal one. The entire mechanism consists of the buckets used to contain the material, a belt to carry the buckets, some form of motor or other means to get this belt to move, and any additional equipment needed to load the buckets with the material.

These elevators are very sturdy and able to move material that is a variety of sizes and weights. Due to the vertical motion of these elevators, the speed to move the belt must be fairly high. Elevators with buckets that is less vertical and on more of an incline can be set a lower speeds. The distance between these buckets doesn't really matter, as long as there is room for the belt to continue around the curve at the ends of the belt cycle. While the vertical elevator needs the speed to get the buckets to empty, the inclined elevator can be at a lower speed.

The name for this type of elevator is derived from the original design. This model actually used individual steel ...
... buckets for hauling the material and each of these were attached to a long flat chain. Today the buckets tend to be constructed of plastic and the belt is rubber instead of chain. Pulleys are used to move the rubber belt and are located at the top and bottom of the system. Most elevators use an electric motor to run the belt and the entire system is located within a shaft system. This is usually to protect the grain or fertilizer from the elements outside. These types of materials are damaged by water, so the shaft system is important.

Grain elevators use elevators with buckets to move grain from the hauling source to the proper bin. The earliest grain elevators were ran on steam. Today they are ran on electricity and these grain elevators also use electrical devices that are explosion-proof.

The fine dust dispersed into the air from flour and other grains is high combustible. There have been plenty of grain elevator explosions because of this, so the need to keep sparks from occurring in grain elevators is a high priority.

Purchasing a kit to build a bucket elevator is possible or they can be build from scratch. The type of bucket used will depend on what sort of material is being hauled. The speed of each elevator will vary also.

Centrifugal elevators have widely spaced buckets and travel at high speeds, so that the material can be quickly thrown from the bucket. Continuous elevators carry materials that are more fragile and damage easily. The speed of these elevators is much lower and buckets are close together.

Bucket elevators have made the job of getting flowable materials successfully from one place to another for storage or transport. These machines provide maximum efficiency, are extremely easy to operate, and perform fantastically.
For more information on Bucket Elevators and Conveyor Systems please visit Gough & Co (Engineering) Ltd.