Summary  Electric motor - ranges from 360W to 7.5 kW  The speed of the wire-rope assembly is about one quarter of the air speed in pneumatic systems, but very much faster than the speed of most mechanical handling equipment.

 Aerated material. The degree of aeration depends on the material. Flour for example, aerates more than wheat. Flour has a compacted density of 560 to 640kg/m3 and an aerated density of only 130 to 160kg/m3. Wheat has a compacted density of 720 to 770 kg/m3 and a density in the moving FLOVEYOR of 560 to 610kg/m3.

So the throughput of aerated flour in an F3 FLOVEYOR (for example) is 5.5 tons/hr - much less than aerated wheat at 30 tons/hr.  Material is fed into the slow moving centre of the sprocket. It accelerates and moves to the outside by centrifugal force.  The wire-rope assembly drives the air around in the tubes. The moving air then moves the material. The plastic discs fit loosely in the tubes and housings. They move fast and can fluidise a surprisingly wide range of materials.  Drive position can be at the top or bottom for short/medium units and top only for longer and drag units.  FLOVEYOR Drag Units are slow speed machines that incorporate multiple inlets and/or outlets, placed in variable positions with a choice of control type. FLOVEYOR Drag Units are customised to suit individual applications and product type. They can be used in conjunction with standard FLOVEYOR units to provide the total material distribution solution.

Details

The FLOVEYOR is designed to convey dry powders and granules through aero mechanical displacement. The FLOVEYOR is a Tubular Conveyor in which all the moving elements operate within the material being conveyed.

The essential moving elements are a rope assembly, which consists of a steel wire rope on which plastic discs are fixed at equal intervals and two terminal sprockets of a specially developed shape.

The rope assembly travels at high speed compared with chain or bucket type machines. The discs are a loose fit inside the tubes and housings and due to their speed of travel, they displace both air and material. This action tends to fluidise materials which generally are not considered to possess fluid properties. The conveyed materials are suspended between the travelling discs by the pressure cells created within the tube, due to this method the FLOVEYOR is capable of high output exceeding other handling systems of comparable size, weight and/or price. In addition, the material being handled experiences minimal degradation.

The materials of construction of the FLOVEYOR have been chosen after extensive R&D to produce an economical, light weight and versatile machine. It is readily maneuverable, corrosion resistant and offers value without expense.

The FLOVEYOR is similar in some respects to a centrifugal fan in its operation. In the FLOVEYOR fan blades take the form of plastic flights attached to a steel wire rope, instead of the fan blades rotating about the shaft centre, they are made to travel completely through a parallel tube system. Material is introduced into the equivalent of the suction inlet where it is thrown centrifugally into the air stream created by the rope assembly, inturn is carried by this air stream to the top or delivery end of the FLOVEYOR where it is discharged centrifugally. No air of any significance enters or leaves the FLOVEYOR unlike the centrifugal fan where large volumes of air pass completely through the fan.

If the FLOVEYOR is run empty, air trapped between the flights (or discs) on the rope assembly travels around the circuit continually without entering or leaving the machine. When material is introduced into the feed end of the FLOVEYOR, air is displaced equal in volume to that of the material introduced, this air filters its way slowly and inconspicuously up through the material lying in the hopper. At the top of the FLOVEYOR, material thrown out of the discharge appears to leave the machine within the top section of the vertical discharge opening. Air is drawn into the machine in the lower portion of this opening to fill the space previously filled with material. Thus there is a gentle movement of air inwards from the top of the FLOVEYOR down the return tube and out through the hopper. For each 1 cubic foot (cf) (0.028 cm) of the material which the FLOVEYOR handles, there is a corresponding movement of 1 cf (0.028 cm) of air through the machine.

With a pneumatic conveyor it is essential to have some form of air separator to separate material from air (cyclone). In the FLOVEYOR on the other hand, the discharge point can be connected through an enclosed system to the container being filled. Then each cf (0.028 cm) of the material which enters that container displaces one cf (0.028 cm) of air, which finds its way through the system and out through the material feeding into the hopper.

It is only in the case of very fine industrial materials that the escape of air through the hopper may become significant. In this instance it is desirable to fit a dust collection device to the FLOVEYOR hopper. Alternatively the hopper may be loaded inside some sort of sealed and ventilated chamber. The speed of the FLOVEYOR rope assembly is about one quarter of the air speed in pneumatic systems but it is faster than the speed of most mechanical handling equipment. Consequently the FLOVEYOR is capable of high outputs (taking into consideration its size) without experiencing the difficulties of having to separate air from material as with a fan.