New DEM Conveyor Transfer Chute Design Software

摘要

Morley, WA, Australia - Helix Technologies, a leading developer of belt conveyor design software based in Perth, Australia, recently released a new Conveyor Transfer Chute design program. The program uses the Discrete Element Method, called DEM, to calculate and simulate the path a bulk material follows through a transfer chute. The DEM method is gaining international acceptance as a realistic way to predict the flow of a bulk material, and coupled with the increase in computing power delivered by standard desktop PC's, this method is now at the forefront of technology. DEM particle flow technologies are the subject of research at many institutions including the CSIRO in Australia and Universities around the world. Traditionally, transfer chutes were designed by relying on experience because analytical calculations can only be applied to the first part of the chute such as the parabolic discharge trajectory. What happens to the material flow after it leaves the pulley and impacts a chute wall is not easy to determine and engineers have had to rely on past experience and trial and error. In some cases, scale models of the transfer are built and tested before a final design can be adopted and this physical modeling is time consuming and expensive.