Inclined screw conveyors -DEM analysis of the impact of intermediate bearings

The design and sizing of high inclination screw conveyors for bulk materials is still often based on experience from the equipment manufacturers. To assure an efficient sizing based on trusted calculation methods the Institute of Materials Handling Material Flow Logistics (fml), Munich, Germany, is working on a research project, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), which is aimed at analyzing inclined screw conveyors. By the use of simulations by the discrete element method the influence of intermediate bearings on the conveying process, which is very hard to constitute analytically and experimentally, can be analysed.