Van Beek, Drunen, the Netherlands, reports that it is now possible to provide accurate real time monitoring of how much product a screw conveyor is handling. This development is the result of exclusive cooperation with Dutch weighing specialist Penko Engineering. It allows users, for example, to decide how many grams of a particular material per minute may be supplied to a process. The screw conveyor then adjusts its speed to this. The conveyor can also be programmed to stop on reaching a certain weight, or first empty itself and then stop.

 

During operation it is possible to observe the material speed (m/s), number of kg/s, how many kg have already been transported and the control of the flow regulation from 0 to 100%. This is possible by determining the mass of the screw plus contents with special strain gauge recorders. The movement and the speed can be fixed with a speed monitor.

 

Visitors to last year’s Industrial Processing exhibition in the Netherlands were the first to see this innovation and were able to try out the weighing screw. With the press of a button they were able to increase or reduce the capacity easily, upon which the screw conveyor responded immediately by adjusting the speed. They could also give the screw the command to stop transport after a certain quantity of material. www.van-beek.nl 

 

 

A weighing screw at the Van Beek plant, showing (below) the control panel