In fine chemical production, how can powdered raw materials be fed automatically?
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The raw materials used in the chemical products we produce are all in powder form, such as stearic acid and lead oxide. The reaction vessels are located on a platform 8 meters high; so how can automatic feeding be achieved? At the moment, we rely on manual methods: cranes are used to lift the raw materials onto the platform of the reactor, and then workers add the materials bag by bag. I think this approach is too primitive and results in low production efficiency. Is there anyone among you who has worked with or designed such a process? Please give me some advice.
There are still many places where materials are manually fed in. . . . In my previous job, material feeding was also done manually. . . . Automatic feeding is also an option, but it may not be practical. . . .
This post was last edited by lnzjiangsu on 2010-10-21 at 22:00. A powder bin should be installed at a higher position; a lift is used to feed the powder into it. Below the powder bin, a metering bin equipped with an electronic scale is placed, and a metering screw (dragon type) is added below that metering bin. By adjusting the frequency of the inverter controlling the metering screw, it is possible to achieve automatic, precise dosing based on the amount of weight measured by the scale over a given time period. . .
Vacuum material handling, or pneumatic conveying, or by adding a silo upstairs.
Reply to 3# lnzjiangsu: Thank you, floor 3. I have also considered the issue of the silo; there are some specific factors that need to be taken into account. The height of the silo I plan to design is 24 meters, and the problem of lifting material does not need to be resolved at this stage. I have considered the feasibility of using pneumatic conveying, but given that the density of lead oxide is 9.52, it’s unclear whether pneumatic conveying can be used for this purpose. Regarding quantitative measurement, could floor 3 provide a specific solution? The accuracy of measuring the powder amount needs to be ensured. We still don’t have a concrete plan for measurement; I’m seeking advice on this.
Reply to 5# Zhu Hongbin: Design a metering tank whose bottom is directly connected to the metering dragon. The motor of this metering dragon is equipped with an inverter; by adjusting the settings of the inverter, the rotation frequency of the dragon can be changed. Based on the desired flow rate, it is possible to determine the diameter of the dragon’s blades as well as its rotation frequency. During automated adjustment, verification is carried out using the electronic scale in the metering tank
Reply to 6# lnzjiangsu: Thank you, that makes sense. It can be considered.
What is explained on the 6th floor is similar to the principle of Mettler’s “weightless scale”.
We recently took on a project with the same issue. The factory requires automatic material feeding, but no suitable solution has been determined yet? The plan for the sixth floor is good, but is there anything more convenient? Is it possible to use robotic arms to automatically feed the powdered raw materials in bags? I would appreciate your advice