Vertical bucket elevator

Vertical bucket elevator is a mechanical equipment for continuously conveying powder, granular and small block materials. The traction member drives the bucket to circulate. The material enters from the bottom feed port, is scooped by a special bucket, and moves upward with the traction member. After reaching the top, it is discharged by centrifugal or gravity. The empty bucket returns to the bottom to re-circulate, realizing the vertical transportation of materials from low to high. This equipment is suitable for working conditions with conveying heights ranging from several meters to hundreds of meters. Working principle of Vertical bucket elevator
Based on the continuous cycle process of material loading, lifting and unloading: the material enters from the bottom feed port of the equipment, is scooped by the bucket, and moves upward with the traction member. After reaching the top, it is discharged by centrifugal or gravity unloading. The empty bucket continues to circulate to the bottom for reloading. The traction member usually adopts a high-strength rubber belt or chain, and the head sprocket or pulley is driven by the drive device to rotate to form a continuous circulation motion. The material filling factor is controlled between 0.6-0.8. For materials prone to dust, the equipment is equipped with a closed casing and a dust removal interface to prevent dust from overflowing. Vertical bucket elevator Structural composition and technical characteristics
Drive device
It consists of a motor, a reducer and a transmission sprocket. It adopts a combination of a hard-toothed reducer and a variable frequency motor to achieve stepless speed regulation. The driving power is calculated and determined according to the conveying volume, lifting height and material characteristics, and a safety factor of 10%-15% is usually reserved. The head bearing seat adopts a split structure to facilitate the installation and maintenance of the sprocket or pulley.
Traction components
Rubber belt: Suitable for working conditions with a conveying volume of ≤150m³/h and a lifting height of ≤50m. It adopts a multi-layer nylon canvas or steel wire rope core reinforcement structure with a tensile strength of 1000-3000N/mm.
Ring chain: Forged from alloy steel, with a pitch of 50-200mm, a breaking load of 4-6 times the working load, and is suitable for heavy loads and high temperature environments. Hoppers
According to the characteristics of the materials, they are divided into deep hoppers, shallow hoppers and pointed hoppers:
Deep hoppers: small front wall slope, large capacity, suitable for dry loose materials;
Shallow hoppers: large front wall slope, thorough unloading, suitable for wet sticky materials;
Pointed hoppers: extended side walls to prevent material from spilling, suitable for powdered materials.
The spacing between hoppers is 1.5-3 times the hopper width to ensure that the materials are fully loaded.
Tensioning device
Spiral tensioning or gravity tensioning is used to maintain the reasonable tension of the traction component. The spiral tensioning stroke is 1%-2% of the lifting height, and the mass of the gravity tensioning counterweight is 30%-50% of the tension of the traction component.
Casing and accessories
The casing is welded from steel plates, and sealing gaskets are set at the segmented joints. There are inspection doors at the top and bottom, and observation windows are set every 2-3 meters in the middle. The inlet and outlet are equipped with manual or pneumatic gates to achieve flow control. Vertical bucket elevator uses and application areas
Vertical transfer of cold chain logistics
In low-temperature storage systems, vertical bucket elevators achieve continuous vertical transportation of food in the temperature range of -25℃ to 4℃. The equipment is equipped with a double-layer polyurethane insulation shell, and the surface condensation control system maintains the shell temperature ≥5℃ through an electric heating film. The hopper uses a food-grade silicone seal to prevent condensed water from penetrating.
Intelligent loading and unloading of bulk cargo at ports
In automated terminals, vertical bucket elevators, intelligent ship loaders, and belt conveyor systems form a continuous loading line. The equipment is equipped with a laser scanner to monitor the material flow in real time, and the hopper filling rate is controlled by PLC to achieve a dynamic weighing accuracy of ±0.3%. The loading capacity of a single device is 1,200 tons per hour, which saves 25% energy compared to traditional loading processes.
Deep shaft lifting in underground mines
In kilometer-level deep shaft mines, vertical bucket elevators replace traditional bucket lifting systems. The equipment uses a multi-rope friction drive and is equipped with an automatic tension balancing device to ensure that the tension deviation of multiple steel wire ropes is ≤5%. The vertical bucket elevator can stably cope with the physical characteristics and process parameter requirements of different materials by optimizing the matching of traction components, buckets and drive systems. The equipment has the characteristics of compact structure, corrosion-resistant materials and intelligent control. At the operational level, the equipment needs to be regularly calibrated for tension, worn out and lubricated to ensure operating accuracy and service life.