THE ANALYSIS OF FLOW MEASURING HOPPERS FOR HETEROGENEOUS LOOSE MEDIA
This study deals with the analysis of mechanical feeders and batchers that find application in various technological processes and industrial fields. Feeders are usually classified according to their design features into two groups: conveyor-type feeders and non-conveyor feeders. Batchers are used to batch solid bulk materials. Less frequently they are used for liquids. In terms of a batching method, they are divided into volumetric and weighting batchers. Weighting batchers do not ensure sufficient batching accuracy. Automatic weighting batchers include a weight control sensor, and the systems for automatic material feeding and automatic material discharge control. In terms of operating principle, batchers are divided into gravity batchers and batchers with forced feed of material using conveyors and pumps. Improved consumption of raw materials, decreased loss of materials, easy handling in automatic control systems of industrial facilities allows increasing the quality of technological processes and improving labor conditions. The batch feeder proposed by the authors is a volumetric batcher that has no comparable counterparts among conveyor-type feeders and allows solving the problem of targeted feeding of bulk material batches increasing reliability and the airtightness of the device.