Sticking material slows down bin cleanout
NAVCO was approached by a customer for help in addressing an issue with bin cleanout at their food production facility. The material, a corn and soybean mix, has a tendency to build up on the walls of the existing live bottom as it passes through the bin. Unlike other situations, the buildup of the material on the walls did not impact the flow of the material through the bin during production. However, when it came time for cleanout, this layer of material was causing the facility problems with cross contamination. The built-up layer is difficult to remove, leading to the operations team having to hit the bin with hammers to get the material to release. Looking for a way to reduce or eliminate this time-consuming task, the food production facility reached out to NAVCO to see what could be done.
After discussing the application with the customer, NAVCO was able to provide a solution to address the sticking material. NAVCO’s solution included:
Repetitive Impact BH 2.00s
Based on the bin size and live bottom wall thickness, NAVCO recommended using (2) Repetitive Impact BH Vibrators per bin. The repetitive nature of the BH Impacting Vibrators makes quick work of detaching the stubborn material from the bin wall.
Custom Bin Map
NAVCO’s engineers reviewed the bin and provided a custom bin map for the optimal placement of the vibrators. They determined that the vibrators should be mounted halfway up the coned wall section of the bin and spaced 180 degrees apart. This placement ensures an area of influence that covers the full surface area of the cone where the material build up is occurring.
Accessories
In addition to the vibrators, NAVCO also supplied an inline filter / regulator / lubricator (FRL) and channel mounts. The FRL will ensure that the vibrators are supplied with lubricated, clean, and properly regulated air, resulting in a long productive operating life. Channel mounts were provided along with welding instructions to ensure that the vibrators would be mounted securely to the bin and maximize energy transfer to the material within.
The customer agreed with the proposed solution and installed the BH 2.00 vibrators on the bin in their food production facility. After using the vibrators for a couple of weeks, the facility reported back that they were able to significantly reduce the time needed for their cleanout procedure and that operation of the bin vibrator system resulted in all stagnant material being discharged.
