Stable processes in weighing and dosing in mills: vibration prevents bridging, segregation, and process downtime in bulk material handling
A medium-sized plant, component, and system manufacturer for the bulk solids industry was faced with recurring process issues during the design of milling and dosing systems. In the operation of weighing, dosing, and conveying lines, disruptions occurred particularly with fine-grained and poorly flowing bulk materials:
- Bridging and material compaction in silos and hoppers
- Segregation between grinding, conveying, and dosing processes
- Fluctuating or inaccurate fill weights during bagging
- Repeated plant downtime and increased cleaning effort
- Consequence: Process stability was limited, product quality fluctuated, and plant availability decreased measurably.
To improve the flow properties of bulk materials and to stabilise dosing and conveying processes, vibration solutions from NetterVibration are used. Depending on the application, material, and system requirements, rotary vibrators of the NCB, NCR, and NCT series, pneumatic interval knockers of the PKL series, as well as electric external vibrators of the NEG series are employed. Especially with cohesive or poorly flowing media, vibration helps to reliably minimise typical bulk handling issues:
- Improved material flowability and reduction of bridging and material buildup
- Loosening/removal/prevention of deposits and blockages through targeted mechanical impulse action
- Stabilisation of conveying and dosing processes to increase process reliability and consistency in material flow
- Reduction of material bridging and flow disturbances
- Stabilisation of material flow for critical bulk materials
- Improvement of dosing and weighing accuracy
- Increase in process stability and plant availability
- Easy retrofitting to existing systems, e.g. with NKK
- Automation & low maintenance: control of the knockers via the control room eliminates manual effort, e.g. hammering with a rubber mallet, and increases safety
- Protection of the plant: knockers generate vibrations that are gentle on the silo shell, unlike harsh manual intervention
