Bin Activators

Bin Activators

Bin Activators have been proven worldwide to give a continuous, but controlled flow of difficult-to-handle materials from bulk storage silos, through the controlled use of vibration.

It has been established that under vibration, the shear strength of product in a storage vessel decreases. The action of the Bin Activator is to break down shear strength and thus induce flow. When the activator is switched off, the shear strength is restored and product once again ceases to flow.

By careful design, the Bin Activator eliminates ratholing, degradation and segregation of materials within the silo, ensuring an even flow of material on a mass-flow basis (the first-in, first-out principle).

Bin Activators are ideally suited to cylindrical vessels, but can be successfully applied to square or rectangular bins. Their low profile allows for a substantial reduction in the silo height and associated building costs.

Operation:

With difficult-to-handle materials, most flow problems occur after the material has flowed down the silo.

Powerful horizontal thrusts from the external vibratory motors break the vertical bridge of material between the baffle cone and dish, to feed material into the discharge cone. Horizontal vibrations are also converted by the baffle cone into vertical vibrations which travel up through the material to break any bridging likely to take place.

The Bin Activator induces a mass-flow condition within the whole silo. This balanced condition allows the material to move towards the annulus from both the periphery and the core of the silo at the same rate, thereby remixing any segregation that has occurred during the filling operation. Ratholing within the silo cannot occur as the material in the core of the silo is supported by the baffle cone.