EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON TUBE JAMMING THROUGH A WEDGE-SHAPED HOPPER

摘要

A wedge-shaped hopper is frequently utilized as a tube feeder in the electric heater process. When falling from a wedge-shaped hopper, the tubes often form an arch near the outlet and stop the feeding process since a pile of tubes pass through a small hopper outlet one by one. This research aims to investigate the effect of process factors on the tube feeding process by applying Taguchi's method and to design a wedge-shaped hopper that never jams. Chosen process factors are the wall angle of the hopper, outlet width of the hopper, number of test tubes, vibration strength of the vibrators and tube materials. Experimental results show that a large wall angle, a wide hopper outlet, a few tubes and a weak vibration are optimal settings. The wall angle and the outlet width of the hopper are more influential to reduce the jamming for all tube materials. A hopper that hardly jams can be designed by using optimum conditions.