When a large nickel mine located in the South Pacific purchased two side-by-side truck load bins to handle a sticky, high-moisture content dewatered tailings, the mine chose Kamengo to design and deliver both the storage bins and Feeders.
Kamengo truck load out bin discharging cohesive PGM filter cake from a 3m (10-foot) wide discharge bin into trucks.
This is an example of a 53,000 ft3 (1,500 m3) ROM Coal Ore Truck Load-Out Bin.
A standard ROM truck load out bin consists of a large conical hopper and silo that is discharged using a very large clamshell gate. Unfortunately, these systems suffer from chronic bridging and flooding from collapsing rat-holes.
In summary, a conical hopper is satisfactory bin shape as long as the discharge opening is large and that the hopper is discharged evenly from its entire opening. The challenge with a clamshell gate is that it operates partially open in order to control the flow of discharge. When the opening is not fully live, bridging and the formation of rat-holes should be expected.
The solution to a ROM truck load out bin has two parts.
The first part is to choose a bin shape that promotes reliable discharge. Kamengo’s preferred method for a tall, large storage bin handling a moderately difficult flowing material is to use “expanded flow”. Expanded flow uses a combination of mass flow and funnel flow, and is typically the most cost-effective bin shape for a tall and very large storage bin.
With expanded flow the bottom of the bin discharges in mass flow and the top of the bin discharges in funnel flow. The benefit of expanded flow is that one is able to benefit from the advantages of both flow patterns while minimizing their drawbacks. The expanded flow hopper shown combines a chisel hopper with a funnel flow cone and circular silo. A benefit of this arrangement is that bin wall loads are handled efficiently, reducing the overall cost of the bin.
The second half of the solution is to pair the expanded flow bin with a fully-effective feeder – that is a feeder that withdraws material evenly from its entire infeed opening. This is necessary to achieve mass flow in the lower portion of the bin, and to avoid the formation of rat-holes, which are particularly dangerous for large truck load-out bins. By definition, to achieve mass flow, where the stored material comes down as a single body, the feeder must withdraw material evenly from its entire opening. If the Feeder withdraws material selectively from the bin discharge outlet, sections of material in the bin will be stagnant and rat-holes will form.
A great example of a fully-effective feeder is the Kamengo Feeder. In addition to being fully-effective, the Feeder offers consistent metering, and can be made as wide as needed and as long as wanted. As a result, the Kamengo Feeder offers valuable advantages when designing for a difficult flowing material.
To learn more about the physics of storage bin and feeder design as well as the root causes of bin plugging, please download our white paper entitled: The Design of Reliable Storage Bins and Feeders for the Mining Industry.
This is an example of a met coal railcar loadout bin that is suffering from chronic bridging and rat-holing. It is a good example of poor bin geometry combined with uneven discharge that is resulting in inconsistent discharge.
The existing bin consists of of twin funnel flow (first-in, last-out) pyramid hoppers leading to small square discharge openings. One discharge opening is metered with a screw feeder and the other is metered using a clamshell gate.
The combination of the small openings and multiple shallow walls as well as the behavior of the feeders results in a hopper that cannot reliably discharged with only gravity. Because the discharge openings are small one would expect a tendency for stable rat-holes to form over the openings, and for the bins to suffer from erratic discharge. Finally, a consequence of having a first-in, last-out discharge is that stagnant material is left along the silo walls. Stagnant material will gain strength over time, further creating the conditions for plugging and erratic discharge.
The solution to fixing this problem storage and feed system has two parts. The first half of the solution is to reconfigure the hopper to include steep sloped walls, and move away from pyramid style hoppers to more conservative plane flow hoppers with a wide and long discharge opening. The wide and long discharge opening is required to overcome the bridging dimension of met coal. Overcoming the bridging dimension is necessary to ensure that the material cannot bridge over the feeder.
Changing the bin geometry will promote a mass flow discharge. Mass flow is a first-in, first-out discharge pattern. The definition of mass flow is that during discharge, the entire mass of stored material comes down as a single body (single mass). The tell-tale sign that you have mass flow is that material is sliding down the bin walls. To achieve this, material must discharge evenly from the entire discharge outlet of the storage bin. This requirement leads to the second half of the solution.
The second half of the solution is to pair each plane flow hopper with a fully-effective feeder – that is a feeder that withdraws material evenly from its entire infeed opening. Again, by definition, to achieve mass flow, where the stored material comes down as a single body, the feeder must withdraw material evenly from its entire opening. If the Feeder withdraws material selectively from the bin discharge outlet, sections of material in the bin will be stagnant and funnel flow will ensue.
A great example of a fully-effective feeder is the Kamengo Feeder. In addition to being fully-effective, the Feeder offers consistent metering, and can be made as wide as needed and as long as wanted. As a result, the Kamengo Feeder offers valuable advantages when designing for a difficult flowing material.
To learn more about the physics of storage bin and feeder design as well as the root causes of bin plugging, please download our white paper entitled: The Design of Reliable Storage Bins and Feeders for the Mining Industry.
This is an example of a tall truck load-out bin designed specifically to handle difficult flowing cohesive, high-moisture content dry-stacked tailings filter cake.
Standard truck load-out bins use a clamshell or slide gates to meter discharge. Unfortunately, many of these systems suffer from chronic bridging and rat-holing.
In summary, these bins suffer from chronic plugging because when the clam shell or slide gate is only partially open it induces a funnel flow discharge pattern despite the fact that the geometry of the storage bin may be correct, where if the slide gate or clam shell were removed, the bin would self-empty in a mass flow or first-in, first-out discharge pattern. Funnel flow (which is a first-in, last-out discharge pattern) can be made to work with a very large discharge outlet. However, when the discharge outlet is constricted, gravity is insufficient to overcome the strength of the bulk solid at the discharge outlet, and hence chronic bridging and rat-holing is expected.
Ideally, a cohesive bulk solid such as a high-moisture content filter cake should be discharged in mass flow, or a first-in, first-out discharge pattern. The definition of mass flow is that during discharge, the entire mass of stored material comes down as a single body (single mass). To achieve this, material must discharge evenly from the entire discharge outlet of the storage bin. The tell-tale sign that you have mass flow is that material is sliding down the bin walls. In contrast, with funnel flow, material is stagnant along the hopper walls. When the clam shell or slide gate is only partially open, then material is not permitted to withdraw evenly from the entire discharge outlet of the storage bin because the slide gate has limited the “live” opening, causing some sections of material in the storage bin to be stagnant during discharge. The result is a funnel flow discharge pattern.
The solution to a reliable truck load-out storage bin for handling cohesive materials such as high-moisture content filter cake is simple. First, ensure the geometry of the storage bin is correct, such that if the Feeder were removed, the entire bin would self-empty with gravity in a mass flow or first-in, first-out discharge pattern. Typically, Kamengo would recommend a plane flow hopper with a long and wide discharge opening, as this is among the most conservative bin shapes. Second, pair the storage bin with a fully-effective feeder – that is a feeder that withdraws material evenly from its entire infeed opening. By definition, to achieve mass flow, where the stored material comes down as a single body, the feeder must withdraw material evenly from its entire opening. If the Feeder withdraws material selectively from the bin discharge outlet, sections of material in the bin will be stagnant and funnel flow will ensue.
A great example of a fully-effective feeder is the Kamengo Feeder. In addition to being fully-effective, the Feeder offers consistent metering, and can be made as wide as needed and as long as wanted. As a result, the Kamengo Feeder offers valuable advantages when designing for a difficult flowing material.
To learn more about the physics of storage bin and feeder design as well as the root causes of bin plugging, please download our white paper entitled: The Design of Reliable Storage Bins and Feeders for the Mining Industry.
This is an example of a tall 30,000 cu-ft (825 cu-m) truck load out storage bin designed to handle construction and demolition wood waste and other difficult flowing fibrous materials.
Processed construction and demolition wood waste gains strength very quickly when it is subject to compaction, including compaction under its own weight in a storage bin. When processed C&D wood waste compacts it gains shear strength very quickly. Compact C&D wood waste enough and you will form bricks that have the strength of a cement block. It is this strength that enables the material to bridge over wide openings.
Processed construction and demolition wood waste is a relatively low-density material, and this means that the force supplied by gravity to keep the material moving is less relative to other bulk solids. With gravity being the primary force for emptying the storage bin, it is easy to design a storage and feed system where the strength that C&D wood waste gains under compaction exceeds what gravity can break. These storage bins suffer from erratic discharge and/or chronic plugging.
Processed construction and demolition wood waste is a highly variable material. It can be stringy and have long sticks. A conservative design includes using a wide and long bin opening, steep and lined bin sloping walls, and using a feeder that pulls evenly from the entire opening of the storage bin.
Standard truck load out bins use clam shell gates to control discharge. The problem is that when the clam shell is partially open, a funnel flow discharge pattern is induced, which introduces a high risk of bridging and rat-holing. Further, there is little control in how the truck is filled and the loads that are transferred to the truck.
The solution to a reliable C&D waste truck load out bin that provides a controlled discharge of material has two parts.
The first half of the solution is to use a plane flow hopper shape with a wide and long discharge opening. A plane flow hopper only converges in one plane at a time, and is vertical in the opposite plane. The plane flow hopper is the most conservative hopper shape. The purpose of using a conservative bin shape with a long and wide discharge outlet is to employ a geometry where if the Feeder were removed, the entire bin would self-empty with gravity in a mass flow or first-in, first-out discharge pattern.
The second half of the solution is to pair the plane flow hopper with a fully-effective feeder, which withdraws material evenly from its entire opening. A fully effective feeder is, by definition, necessary to actually achieve a mass flow discharge pattern in the hopper, which is necessary when handling a difficult flowing fibrous bulk solid.
Kamengo’s proposal is to use a plane flow shaped truck load-out storage bin with a vertical section and roof to provide up to 30,000 cu-ft (825 cu-m) of live storage. The storage bin has steep sloping walls, and each sloping wall is lined with a single seamless sheet of UHMW. The storage bin has a wide and long 6-foot by 24-foot opening, which is necessary to overcome the bridging dimension of C&D waste.
The storage bin is paired with a Kamengo Feeder. The Kamengo Feeder is capable of filling a range of truck beds. Of critical importance, the Kamengo Feeder withdraws material evenly across both its entire length and width. The result is that the stored material is withdrawn evenly from the full discharge outlet of the truck load out bin. An even withdrawal of material is absolutely required to achieve a first-in, first-out discharge. The Kamengo supplied PLC has a user interface where the truck driver selects their truck-type and is given instructions on starting the loading procedure. Based on the truck type, the Kamengo Feeder, which delivers a consistent, predictable volumetric discharge, will deliver the volume desired for the chosen trailer type.
To learn more about the physics of storage bin and feeder design as well as the root causes of bin plugging, please download our white paper entitled: The Design of Reliable Storage Bins and Feeders for the Biomass Industry.
