The Most Common Ways of Conveying Product To and From sifting machinery

Screw conveyor

Used to convey semi solid materials and dry powders from one part of the production process to another, the screw conveyor is most commonly used in the food, chemical and metallurgy industries. It is the conveyor of choice for these industries as it is a fully enclosed system which provides dust free conveying which is especially important in these industries as both the product and operators need to be protected. Whilst the screw conveyor can be used to transport product around the factory it can also be used to control the flow rate of material onto and away from vibro sifters. The screw conveyor is often used with the Russell Compact Sieve®.

Screw feeders

The design of a screw feeder is somewhat similar to a screw conveyor however the three main differences between the two are that feeders are flood-loaded, are capable of controlling the flow rate from the storage system onto the next production process and the speed of operation can be varied. Screw feeders are used in all industries. Since the flow rate of material can be controlled, the screw feeder is often used with our Finex Separator™ as the constant feed rate which can be achieved with this conveyor is essential when grading.

Vibratory feeders

Although not similar in design to the screw feeder as it uses vibrations to move material instead of a screw, the similarity between the two systems lies with the fact that they both give accurate controlled feeding. Since it does have this same feature the vibratory feeder is also used with the Finex Separator™ range of vibro sifters.  It is mostly used for dry products such as granules and coarse powders and is especially well suited for abrasive non-toxic products such as diamonds.

 Manual feeding

Prolonged manual feeding of material onto vibro sifters is physically intensive which is why it is normally only used when screening small batches of product, for example in the bakery industry when sieving flour. The Compact 3in1 Sieve™ with its low-level bag tipping station has been designed specifically for this type of application and makes manual feeding of bagged ingredients slightly easier.

Pneumatic conveying

Pneumatic conveying can either be positive/blowing or negative/sucking. Whilst both can be used in all industries there are some instances where because of the differences between the two there is a preference. Positive/blowing pneumatic conveying is normally used in the aggregate industry as it offers long distance, large volume conveying. Negative/sucking pneumatic conveying is the opposite and offers small volume, short distance conveying which is why it is often used in the pharmaceutical industry. The Compact Airswept Sieve™ and Blow Thru Sieve™ are the ideal vibro screens for pneumatic conveying.

In-line

For companies who want their production line to operate continuously an in-line vibro sifter is connected via pipework to other parts of the production line. This allows the product to flow to and from the sifter in one automated operation. To control the flow of the product, valves are placed onto the pipework giving a desired and consistent production rate.  The straight through design of the Russell Compact Sieve® means it is often the machine of choice for in-line conveying.

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