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Feature title: Residue-free conveyance of grain

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Residue-free
conveyance of grain
by Dr Ing Niels Blomeyer, Head of Research & Development, Schmidt-Seeger GmbH, Germany
R
ecurring food scandals put
consumer confidence to
the test again and again. To
counteract this loss of confidence,
in this respect, the European Union
felt the need to establish a set of
22 | march - april 2010
Conveyance Feature
rules in which not only the general maximum traceability of products, to make
principles and requirements of the
food law but also adequate methods
sure that a product recall can be initiated
quickly and efficiently if there is reasonable
for food safety are stipulated. evidence to suspect unsafe food.
Since the quality of the end product is Legal framework
hardly separable Requirements of the European Union
from the qual- with respect to an ‘integrated concept’ for
ity of the raw food safety include the complete food chain,
materials used, from the grower up to the end user, includ-
an ‘integrated ing the food production.
concept’ for The legislator pursues three economic
food safety aims for the commercial handling of food: To
has guarantee a high protection level for people’s
been health, with a simultaneous protection of
pur- the consumers’ interests while ensuring the
sued. smooth functioning of the European single
To market and a harmonisation of the interna-
ensure tional trade at the same time.
comprehen- With the enactment of the regula-
sive consumer tion (EC) No. 178/2002 of the European
protection it is Parliament and the Council on January 28,
necessary, that 2002, the European legislature has provided
in addition to pre- a binding set of rules, laying down the general
ventive measures principles and requirements regarding food
for food safety safety and thus forming a common basis for
and a guarantee of the measures taken by the single member
Grain &feed millinG technoloGy
Feature Conveyance
states and EU as whole in order to ensure received or supplied to other businesses or example, the guideline for the traceability in
safe food. consumers. An adequate recording system the feed sector). The legal basis of this guide-
According to this regulation, all enter- must be established by each respective firm line was taken from the European Animal
prises involved in the product development for this purpose. Feed Hygiene Act No. 138/2005, which
process (primary production, food process- In most cases, however, a correct control adopts and concretises the traceability from
ing, storage and distribution) are responsible
for food safety, as well as the food trading
institutions.
The food law shall aim, among other “The European Union felt the need to
things, “... at the following: “To establish a
comprehensive system of traceability within establish a set of rules in which not only
food and animal feed businesses, so that
targeted and accurate withdrawals can be the general principles and requirements
undertaken or information given to consum-
ers or control officials, thereby avoiding the of the food law but also adequate
potential for wider disruption in the event of
food safety problems.” methods for food safety are stipulated”
Article 18 of the regulation stipulates
that the traceability of food at all stages of
production, processing and distribution must
be ensured, and that systems and methods of the goods received and goods shipped the general regulation (enacted in 2002).
are to be implemented in order to make should be sufficient. Future demands of the market will put on
available the information required to the So far, the Federal Office for Consumer both food producers and the food industry
competent authorities on demand. Protection and Food Safety has only supplied and will be dealt with in accordance with
Food and feed businesses must always a few selected branches with precise and these valid legal provisions.
be able to identify products that they have detailed codes of conduct in this respect (for To improve the accuracy of the batch-
r w e b site
u
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Ann revue
Grain&
anglaise paysage.indd
feed 1
millinG technoloGy 24/03/10
march - april 2010 | 16:29:36
23

related traceability involving different prod-
ucts conveyed one after the other, one might
think about using suitable conveying and
handling systems.
To avoid athe mixing of product residues
in the conveying systems, it must be ensured
that such systems are largely residue-free,
that is, it is essential to ensure that none or
only insignificant product residues remain in
the conveying systems.
Technological differences
With regard to product residues
remaining in a conveyor, the technological
differences of the various conveying sys-
tems are to be taken into account. Due
to the different conveying principles, some
conveying systems are more suitable for
24 | march - april 2010
Conveyance Feature
be characterised as ‘residue-free’ due to
their conveying principle.
It must be considered, however, that this
residue-free and clean conveying method is
very expensive: The possible mass flow of
pneumatic conveying systems is generally
lower than that of mechanical systems.
Moreover, the specific energy consump-
tion is about 2.5 to three times higher than
in mechanical conveying systems. The very
loud air blowers must possibly be installed in
sound insulated rooms to meet the require-
ments of the emission protection guidelines.
- Belt conveyor
The discharge behaviour of most belt
conveyors is good.
During the transport of adhesive bulk
goods, such as oleaginous crop plants, resi-
dues are often sticking to the carrying side of
the conveyor belt. In most cases, however,
such residues can be easily removed by
scrapers.
Due to the open construction, increased
dust emission into the environment of belt
conveyors must be expected which in fact
involves more cleaning but will not impair
the residue-free transport. The technological
reasons are therefore sufficient to call the
belt conveyor residue-free.
- Screw conveyors
The discharge behaviour of horizontal
and slightly inclined screw conveyors is only
mediocre.
“The transport and
the residue-free transport of grain
than others.
storage of grain must
be safe and traceable
- Pneumatic transport
In principle, the pneumatic con-
veyor is composed of the following at all times”
components: The airflow generator
(blower or suction unit) which pro-
duces the airflow; the piping system
and the intake and discharge equip-
ment for bulk goods. Residues of bulk material remain in the
The components coming into contact conveyor most of the times. Especially in
with bulk goods can usually be designed in the gap between screw flight and trough
such a way that no residues remain in the where a layer of product is almost always
conveyor. If the piping system is leak-proof, left behind which the screw flights are unable
bulk goods cannot escape into the surround- to discharge. This gap is not adjustable
ing environment. either, that is, it cannot be minimised further
Most pneumatic conveyors can already because one would risk that the screw flight
Grain &feed millinG technoloGy
Feature Conveyance
pushes against the trough which would lead
to increased grain breakage due to jammed
bulk material particles.
In most cases, this residue layer can only
be removed by manual cleaning.
The potential for optimising the screw
conveyor with regard to residue-free trans-
port must be considered rather slim.
The advantage of the enclosed design,
however, is that it is environmentally friendly,
as no bulk material can escape and thus pol-
lute the surrounding environment.
- Trough chain conveyors
Most bulk goods can be well discharged by
trough chain conveyors.
Product residues pile up mostly in gaps
and dead spots. The enclosed design enables
a clean transport, without letting bulk mate-
rial or dust escape into the environment.
We believe that there is a big potential
for optimising the trough chain conveyor in
respect of residue-free transports, as gaps
and dead spots can be influenced by design
features.
- Bucket conveyors
In bucket conveyors or elevators, most
residues accumulate of course in the eleva-
tor foot.
There are usually larger dead spots where
bulk material residues accumulate, because
they cannot be collected by the buckets.
Further residues like to settle on all horizon-
tal surfaces inside the bucket chain conveyor.
The aforementioned problems can be
influenced by a clever arrangement of the
machine parts, enabling an optimisation of
the given potential.
Definition of residue-free
conveying systems
By using the example of the screw con-
veyor, we want to demonstrate that many
conveying systems will never be able to
guarantee an absolutely residue-free trans-
port for technical reasons. However, a final
remnant must usually be accepted.
By means of residue-free conveying sys-
tems, Schmidt-Seeger GmbH tries to keep
these final remnants as marginal as possible.
In order to illustrate the various techno-
logical differences of the individual conveying
systems, the definition cannot be based on
the absolute value of a remnant but must
include a relative value in relation to the
conveying system.
Regrettably, technical literature does not
Grain &feed millinG technoloGy
offer any statements concerning limit
values so far. A generally accepted
definition is not available. The defi-
nition of Schmidt-Seeger GmbH is
therefore as follows: “The residues in
conveyors of residue-free design are
less than 20 percent compared with
conventional designs.”
With this definition of residue-
free conveying systems it is possible
to compare the various conveying
systems (taking into account their
characteristic technical features) with
regard to the respective product resi-
dues.
Optimisation of conveyors
Using the example of the trough
chain conveyor and the bucket chain
conveyor we want to demonstrate
which measures can be taken to
accomplish a residue-free transport in
these conveyors.
- Trough chain conveyors
The discharge behaviour of the
bucket chain conveyor is generally
good.
The form of the screw flights tion of the tensioning device, this guide plate
at the conveying chain ensures that will be at a constant distance to the clamping
almost all bulk material is discharged wheel. A tensioning station with the men-
by the conveyor. tioned guide plate is shown here.
However, in dead spots and gaps, To prevent an accumulation of grain
which cannot be reached by the con- inside the conveyor, one tries to avoid
veying chain, grain is left behind all the horizontal areas without intervention of the
same, especially in the gap between chain.
inner trough wall and screw flight, For that purpose, the outlet is positioned
or in the dead spot in the tensioning as far in front as possible, and the dead spot
station behind the deflexion pulley. before the drive wheel is equipped with a
Our aim is to at least reduce these
residues by optimisation, or preferably
further guide plate by means of which grain,
which is transported beyond the outlet, can
to eliminate this problem completely.
The aim of a trough chain con-
slide into the outlet after all.
Apart from the aforementioned design
veyor with residue-free transport was modifications, the following further measures
defined such as that, after the empty will be taken:
running time of the bucket chain Use of discharge devices (plastic slide
conveyor, less than a dozen of grains rails, brush scrapers, etc.)
should be left in the trough chain Prevention of foreign substances from
conveyor. getting inside the conveyor, which might
Various actions are taken to deform the wings of the conveying chain
achieve this ambitious aim. Reduction of clearances on joints
The tensioning station, for instance, Apart from all adjustments/optimisations,
will be equipped with a guide plate by it must of course always be ensured that the
means of which grain, which has fallen trough chain conveyors are still easy to clean
behind the clamping wheel, will slide and maintain.
back to the front within the reach of
the chain. - Bucket conveyor
In order not to impede the func- Most residues accumulate in the elevator
march - april 2010 | 25

foot and other horizontal areas inside the
conveyor housing.
These are exactly the spots to be tackled
by optimisation. Regrettably, it is impossible
to avoid accumulation of residues in the
elevator foot completely (without the use of
additional equipment).
To prevent the buckets from strik-
ing against the inner boundaries of the
foot along with damage of the buckets
involved, a certain clearance between
inner wall of the housing and outer
path of the buckets must always be
maintained.
The aim of a bucket chain conveyor
“All enterprises involved
in any stage of product
development process
and the food trade are
responsible for food safety”
with residue-free transport was defined
as such that, after optimisation, it must
be ensured that residues may only be left
in the elevator foot, and that the volume
of these residues should be less than
20 percent, compared with conventional
designs.
To meet this demand, all horizontal
areas inside the bucket chain conveyor
26 | march - april 2010
will be eliminated (as in the trough chain
conveyors).
All grain which is not transported will
therefore fall back into the foot.
To reduce the volume of residues in
the foot, the path of the buckets through
the housing will be imitated in the foot
area. By carrying along the lower housing
part during belt tensioning, the clearance
between outer path of the buckets and
inner wall of the housing remains constant.
This clearance can be adjusted to only a few
centimetres.
As shown here, all residues pile up
in the middle of the elevator foot due
to the inclined floor.
If the residue level in
the foot reaches the
path of the buckets,
the overlaying layer
of the residues is fed
out. The cross sec-
tion surface of the
remaining residues is
just below 18 per-
cent of the cross
section surface of
the residues without
the copied housing
bottom.
In theory, the final
remains in the elevator foot could be dis-
charged via a flap in the middle of the foot,
to make the bucket chain conveyor com-
pletely residue-free.
However, this would either require oper-
ator intervention by hand or some kind of
device for discharge or some other kind of
utilisation of the product.
From a practical point of view, however,
Feature Feature
T Bearing 2 T Bearing 1
T Motor
Speed sensor
Alignment top
Save
such a solution is usually much too expensive
and not worth the effort.
conveyors
Conclusion
The transport and storage of grain must
be safe and traceable at all times.
This is one of a number of new regu-
lations and guidelines and all enterprises
involved in any stage of product develop- Alignment bottom
ment process and the food trade are respon-
sible for food safety.
The use of residue-free conveying sys-
tems helps to guarantee a batch-related
Eco Dry – The new Speed sensor
traceability with highest possible accuracy. Generation of Cereal Dryers
However, due to technological differ-
ences, it is impossible to achieve absolutely
residue-free transports in each conveyor
type. By means of design modifications and
new production technologies, it is indeed
possible to optimise conveying systems
T Bearing 3 T Bearing 4
with regards to residue-free transport. As
a result of this we are able to maintain the
quality of the product by avoiding a mix of
consecutively conveyed products, and we
are also in a position to comply with the ...created by Schmidt-Seeger.
legal requirements on our customers. The advantages:
References
● high energy saving potential of up to 20% per ALT605 ALS197/906
drying period (for maize in combination with continuous cooler) bearing temperature speed/-alignment
Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 of 28 January 2002,
● reduced CO2 emissions resulting thereof control
laying down the general principles and requirements of
● more even drying results
food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority
and laying down procedures in matters of food safety.
● product protecting drying process For safety concerns in your mill
www.bestmalz.de: Explanations to EC regulation ● less discharge of fines (canola, flax) call Agromatic
178/2002, 2003 Feel free to contact us. We will be happy to explain the
Günthner W. A.: Lecture notes on “bulk handling difference to you!
and conveying systems“, chair of fml, Technical
University Munich, 2007.
Agromatic AG ATEX
Switzerland (head office) Gemany Austria
Blomeyer N.: Residue-free conveying and handling
Schmidt-Seeger GmbH, Agromatic AG Agromatic GmbH Agromatic Ges.m.b.H
systems for grain, technical lecture at the POWTECH CH-8637 Laupen D - 01454 Radeberg A-2201 Gerasdorf
Eichstaetter Strasse 49, 92339 Beilngries – Germany,
2008, Nuremberg, 2008. Tel. (+41) 55 256 21 00 Tel. (+49) 3528 4521 45 Tel. (+43) 2246 2925
Telefon: +49 8461 701-0, Fax: +49 8461 701-133 Fax (+41) 55 256 21 11 Fax (+49) 3528 4875 32 Fax (+43) 2246 27655
info@schmidt-seeger.com, www.schmidt-seeger.com
Grain &feed millinG technoloGy march - april 2010 | 27
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