How Does A Screw Conveyor Work?

The screw conveyor can convey powder or granular materials from horizontal to vertical at any angle. This article will explain the working principle of the screw conveyor in detail.

Working principle of screw conveyor

When energized, the drive rotates the shaft through the bevel gear, the screw element starts to rotate, the helix rotates around the shaft and remains close to the bottom of the tank, the material usually enters the inside of the screw conveyor from the feed port, and the material will be trapped in the gap of the screw blades In between, with the movement of the screw, the material also moves forward along the path of the part, conveying the material in the trough from the feeding point to the discharging point.

 Structure principle of screw conveyor

Trough: is a U-shaped container in which the material is enclosed during conveyance, the trough is usually made of steel plate and is available in standard lengths, if longer troughs are required, a greater number of such units are joined together .

Spiral element: usually consists of helical blades (the conveying mechanism is like a screw), a simple screw is a segmented conveyor. It is made by twisting a long ribbon into a spiral. These standard threads are welded to the central shaft. Alternatively, the conveying elements are suspended along the length of the trough with the help of hangers.

Drive end and discharge end: At the drive end, the shaft is connected to the bevel gear, power is transmitted through the shaft to the screw, the shaft rotates around the shaft and remains closer to the bottom of the tank. The feed is usually introduced through a common feed port to provide a uniform flow of material. On the discharge end, an open chute or an open bottom chute is used to receive material.

Screw conveyors are used to convey finely divided solids or pasty solids, materials with light, medium weight, abrasive, non-abrasive and different densities can be easily handled using screw conveyors, it is a versatile conveying system , special threads and shells can be used for mixing, dehydration, heating and cooling operations, and can process materials of about 280 meters cubes per hour.