Solex expands to bulk material handling market
Don Horne
Solex Thermal Science is expanding its presence in the bulk solids market with a new lineup of discharge feeders for the burgeoning bulk material handling market.
The Canadian-based technology provider, a recognized global leader in bulk solids thermal exchange for more than 30 years, has announced the initial rollout of three uniquely designed and in-house fabricated discharge feeders for different applications such as sand, sugar, seeds, minerals and fertilizers.
“Reliable, uninterrupted mass flow of bulk solids plays an important role in material handling systems efficiency while maintaining product quality. Through our expertise in designing and fabricating moving bed heat exchangers, Solex Thermal Science has decades of experience in designing discharge devices that have been proven to achieve desired flow behaviours,” says Solex Thermal Science CEO Lowy Gunnewiek. “Our world-tested equipment can be tailored to different material flow properties, while providing operators with maximum control and a guaranteed first-in-first-out flow sequence.”
Solex’s discharge feeder lineup includes:
• Vibrating louvers: Best suited for lighter material applications such as sand, sugar or plastics. Solex’s vibratory discharge uses a series of partially overlapping louvers carefully positioned within a self-supported frame that vibrates linearly to offer a full live-bottom system. The system is designed to ensure mass flow by allowing product to flow along the multiple overlapping shallow louvers into a series of slot openings.
• Sliding frame: Best suited for medium-duty applications such as seeds, beans or delicate granules. The feeder is comprised of a fixed part made up of a series of small mass flow hoppers that feed the material toward the sliding frame. As the sliding frame moves horizontally back and forth, the solids are subsequently discharged from the mass flow hoppers.
• Oscillating gate: Best suited for heavy-duty applications such as minerals, fertilizer and other high-density granular solids. In Solex’s oscillating gate, the product splits into the two symmetrical mass flow funnels, created by the fixed outer walls and the moving inner walls at the centre that form a pair of slotted shaped openings that the material flows through.
“With all our discharge feeders, our scientific design approach combined with practical engineering, we carefully account for the transition between the silo or bin to the discharge, a critical aspect in achieving the desired flow characteristics. In addition, we consider the spatial constraints and equipment used to convey the bulk solids after passing through the unit,” says Solex Thermal Science Global Sales Director Pedro Moran. “In all cases, our experienced staff work to ensure the right feeder is customized correctly for full-scale implementation.”
Solex leads the world with its high-efficiency, indirect heat exchange technology for the heating, cooling and drying/conditioning of free-flowing granular materials such as solid granules, pellets, beans, seeds and particles.
Over the past 30 years, the Canadian-headquartered company has installed more than 800 heat exchangers in more than 50 countries worldwide with applications such as fertilizer, oilseeds, sugar and industrial materials.
