Patent ID: 8739963
Filing Date: 2014-06-03
Classification: B65G

Abstract:
1. A system for treating a material, comprising: first and second screw conveyors arranged in parallel, each screw conveyor having a rotary shaft and a helical flight extending radially outward therefrom, the flighting of the first screw conveyor overlapping with the flighting of the second screw conveyor; and first and second actuators operably coupled to the first and second screw conveyors, respectively, in a one-to-one dedicated relationship and operable to rotationally drive the screw conveyors independently of each other at a same or differing rotational speeds; and a control system programmed to control the actuators to variably adjust the relative rotational speed of the screw conveyors to adjust an axial position of the flights with respect to each other to thereby control a clocking position of the screw conveyors relative to each other between an advanced clocking position and a retarded clocking position and to adjust the axial position of the flights with respect to each other to prevent the overlapping flights of the screw conveyors from colliding with each other, wherein in the advanced clocking position a front surface of the flighting of the first screw conveyor is in close proximity to a back surface of the flighting of the second screw conveyor, and in the retarded clocking position a back surface of the flighting of the first screw conveyor is in close proximity to a front surface of the flighting of the second screw conveyor.