Phenomenon of shrinking bulk solids in silos
Have you ever experienced mystery? A container has been filled with bulk material, after some time the level was checked again and it has decreased. Astonishingly, nothing had been removed?
Actually, this sounds familiar to all of us, doesn´t it? The flour in mum´s storage tin has changed its level over time along with flow characteristics. When turning the can upside down - the flour still stays unperturbed. What happened? The flour has settled, the air in the gaps has escaped, the filling level has decreased and the bulk density has increased.
Bulk solids specialists refer to this observation as the ”time consolidation of bulk solids”, which is important for silo design and the dimensioning of discharging systems. Another key variable in the design of the silo and the peripheral technology is the moisture content of the bulk material. This can be determined, using various standard methods of sampling and oven drying, drying scales or sophisticated electronic measuring methods.
We have been offering measurement technology for bulk solids since the 1990s. The underlying TRIME technology has been continuously improved over the last 40 years and offers a highly accurate measurement solution for monitoring silos, their feed and discharge.
A new generation of sensors for use in ATEX zones has recently been developed for the measurement tasks described above.
