Feeder Conveyor

Belt feeders

Belt Feeders are state of the art for emptying hoppers with crushed material. The belt runs at flat idler stations with maximum 0.5 to 0.7 m/s belt speed. The bulk material shape at the belt is rectangular defined by the spacing of the chute side walls and the adjustment of the shear gate. For longer transport distances (20 m and more) the material has to be transferred to a standard trough conveyor - a conveyor system with less chute wear and lower power demand.

The feeder conveyor

If the distances between hopper discharge and the next system feeding point is between 20 m and 75 m a feeder conveyor could be used as a combination of the feeder (hopper discharge) and conveyor. This type of conveyor has a standard trough shape (35° to 45° troughing angle) at the full length. Hopper side wall lengths are reduced to the discharge area section length only. A shear gate limits the material height at the belt. The shape of this shear gate defines the contour of the material surface. Feeder conveyors run with maximum 1.4 m/s belt speed and 80 % to 100 % capacity utilization. Compared to the combination between feeder and separate conveyor the feeder conveyor has lower CAPEX and OPEX because of the saving of a transfer point and the lower amount of friction between chute site walls and material.