What are the main types of Bucket Elevator?

Moving, lifting, or using heavy goods or items for any process, vertically, can be a challenging task at hand on a regular day for any industry. Even though this situation can look dreadful at first, we can easily overcome it using machines or equipment designed specially to focus on the safe transport of items – material handling equipment. If any material needs to be lifted vertically, then in most cases “Bucket Elevator” can be a fitting solution. In fact, in many industries Bucket Elevator has become a common bulk material handling system because of its adaptability and design form and can be used from the initial production stage to the finishing and packing processes. In this article we will discuss in detail about their types, applications and uses. You will learn who can use which types and to and make your choice accordingly.

What are Bucket Elevators?

Bucket Elevators, also known as Bucket Conveyors, act like Buckets and move accumulated or bulk products vertically. The role of the conveyor is to prevent their contents from draining out and is made of an interdependent loop of buckets that stay aligned when moving vertically from horizontally. In this speedy and automatic process, material is loaded at the front (or “boot”) in the conveyor belt. Each bucket by default automatically ‘discharges’ (deposits the material at the end of the run). To pick up the material and to deposit it, the same buckets are used. 

It’s essential to know that they are not used for wet or greasy substances because there can be discharge issues if there’s any kind of build-up. They work best while moving powder, dry, or light materials like – coal, minerals, aggregates, fertilizers, lime, woodchips, Animal feeds, and many more. If designed accurately, these machines can be highly dependable and capable. The designing of these machines depends on the transporting content and the required height that it must travel.

Types of Bucket Elevators

There are 3 major types of Bucket Elevators:

1. Centrifugal Bucket Elevator

In this process, the conveyor moves free-flowing material in the outward (centrifugal) force. Buckets are uniformly spaced on a chain. These buckets dig into the material which is in the inlet and right after the top turn of the chain, material is thrown out of the discharge throat, to maximize centrifugal force. To make sure that the material does not go anywhere but discharge ends, these buckets are placed within metal housing. The left – over, if any, will fall inside only and the same cycle will continue. These types of conveyors are considered best for higher speed and their performance is much better with fine material.

Uses: Very alluring option for sugar, grains, mineral and chemical applications.

2. Continuous Bucket Elevators

These buckets are different as compared to Centrifugal Bucket Elevators in the sense that their purpose is to transport light and/or fragile contents. In these machines there are no gaps between the buckets which prevents any spillage completely. Their speed is as slow as 3-5 feet per second, comes in various ratings and shapes like C, Z, and S. In this process, no digging is involved, and the buckets are filled by inlet. And they are later deposited in a way that all the content is only affected by gravity. Since the content is handled with such care, this process can surely handle friable and fragile products. Product damage is also minimized because of prevention of aeration.

Uses: Applications that require minimum turmoil, mining and plastic industries and some severe duty uses.

3. Positive Discharge Elevator

Positive discharge elevator is a different kind of elevator. Here, their buckets pass over an extra sprocket. The job of this sprocket is to jolt out the material from the discharge end. The speed of the conveyor is so slow (2-4 feet per second) that there are no chances of breaking the product or even unwanted spilling. Because of low speed, to compensate for time, the size of the buckets is comparatively large. Every manufacturer has a unique customised design of the buckets in this type of elevator.  Also because of these customisations, they become more expensive than the other bucket conveyors. 

Uses: when the Importance must be given to the purity of the product, this conveyor can be used. Products like – dried fruits, cereals, nuts, and other similar products.

Applications of Bucket Elevator

So many industries use bucket elevators because of its originality and uniqueness. Some of them includes: 

• Power Plants

• Fertilizer Plants

• Pulp and Paper Mills

• Lime Processing Facilities

• Steel Production Plants

Conclusion

We hope that this article helps you understand all about Bucket Elevators, their types, its various uses, and applications and how it can be distinct from each other. We hope that with the help of this article you can choose the right kind of conveyor. We would be glad to have feedback from our readers. It helps us to give better output every time when we get connected to our viewers.