Engineering News

Industrial facilities, mines and power stations often rely on dust suppression and extraction systems to provide solutions to dust ingress on conveyor belts and transfer points, says Weba Chute Systems. The company asserts that correctly engineered transfer chutes, however, are more effective in minimising dust than the traditional approaches.

Weba Chute Systems technical director Alwin Nienaber argues that 50% to 80% of the dust problem around conveyors and transfer points can be resolved by applying the right chute system design and positioning equipment correctly.

“Many of the dust suppression and dust extraction systems that are applied in these applications are expected to do more than they are capable of,” he says. “A preferable approach is to get the chute design right first, and then apply these other systems to deal with the residual dust load.”

Nienaber explains that the advantages of using properly engineered transfer chutes include health and safety benefits, cost savings and easier monitoring and maintenance of critical equipment during operating hours.

“… excessive dust can reduce an operation’s efficiency, so there is an opportunity to improve overall productivity by fixing the dust problem,” he says. “Other equipment in these areas also gets heavily coated with dust, and needs regular cleaning to ensure optimal performance. Cleaning becomes yet another avoidable cost.”

He notes that a good chute design avoids uncontrolled velocity and impact of material. A lack of control over the way material flows will degrade the material and create higher levels of aeration – which leads to dust dispersal.

“Our philosophy at Weba Chute Systems is to ensure that material flows more easily and remains consolidated as a homogenous stream,” he explains. “We base our designs on the ‘supertube’ effect, which also allows the controlled transfer of material onto the conveyor belt. Not only does this reduce dust, but it also cuts down on the wear rate of the belt itself.”