Abstract:
A system and method for causing a differential flow rate to exist in a downspout so as to reduce abrasion of a bottom side of said downspout and to sort dry bulk material flowing therethrough. The present invention reduces the velocity of the mass of the dry bulk material, such as corn, thus preserving grain quality and reducing the exit velocity at the lower end of the spout.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of a utility application filed on Jul. 6, 2012, and having Ser. No. 13/543,317 entitled “FLOW-RETARDING CHUTES AND SPOUTS AND METHOD FOR DELIVERING DRY BULK FREE-FLOWING MATERIAL TO A LOCATION” which is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention generally relates to grain and dry bulk material handling, and more particularly relates to chutes and downspouts, and even more particularly relates to methods for constructing systems for conveying dry bulk material through a chute or downspout while reducing the speed at which material is flowing over the bottom surface of the chute or downspout. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In recent years, grain elevators and feed mills have necessarily become increasingly efficient in their operations. Many customers of elevators and feed mills now operate on a “just-in-time” basis. Consequently, it is becoming increasingly important to minimize the duration of any elevator or mill downtime. 
     In the past, grain handling equipment manufacturers have manufactured downspouts and chutes which carry material from one position to another position. Typically, these downspouts were round and would wear out at their bottom surface because of the abrasion of the grain or other material flowing through the spout. Typically, these spouts would need to be rotated and/or replaced frequently, depending upon the nature of their use. One attempt to prolong the time between replacement of the downspouts has been to employ rectangular-shaped downspouts. 
     While these round and rectangular spouts have enjoyed much success and have been used extensively in the past, they do have some drawbacks. 
     First of all, the frequency of replacement or maintenance of these spouts has been less than desirable. 
     Secondly, maintenance, repair and/or replacement of these spouts often require considerable downtime for unloading, loading or transfer operations and depending upon the spout, may completely shut down the entire unloading operation while the replacement is performed. 
     Thirdly, because these downspouts are often very long and extremely heavy, they often require the use of a crane to support and lift the spouts. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 7,028,824 addresses many of these concerns. However, there is considerable labor involved in assembling the downspouts of the &#39;824 patent with its numerous flow retarding members spanning the width of the downspout. 
     Consequently, there exists a need for improved methods and systems for providing, maintaining, repairing and replacing equipment for delivering dry bulk material in an efficient manner. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for delivering dry bulk material in an efficient manner. 
     It is a feature of the present invention to utilize an assembly of several chutes or downspouts with internal bottom surface flow-retarding panel members. 
     It is an advantage of the present invention to extend the service life of a chute or downspout. 
     It is another feature of the present invention to have said internal bottom surface flow-retarding members be replaceable laser cut, partially laminated abrasion resistant steel (ARS) bolt-in panels. 
     It is another feature of the present invention to stagger the connection point between adjacent ARS panels so that they do not coincide with joints between spouts or chutes. 
     It is another advantage of the present invention to permit flange-less interconnection of chutes and downspouts. 
     It is another advantage of the present invention to reduce the need for welding flanges on previously galvanized chutes and downspouts. 
     It is another advantage of the present invention to permit bolt shaft hole drilling through laminated portions of the ARS panels. 
     It is yet another feature of the invention to provide for variably configured and sized holes in the flow-retarding members so as to adapt the system for differing types of dry bulk material. 
     It is another advantage of the invention to tailor performance of the system of the present invention to particular uses. 
     The present invention is an apparatus and method for delivering dry bulk material to a different position, designed to satisfy the aforementioned needs, provide the previously stated objects, include the above-listed features, and achieve the already articulated advantages. The present invention is carried out in a “wasted time-less” manner in a sense that the time consumed in replacing chutes and spouts has been greatly reduced. The present invention is also carried out in flange-less manner, in the sense that some flanges used to connect adjacent spouts or chutes have been eliminated. 
     Accordingly, the present invention is a system and method including a spout having a bottom chute liner with structure therein configured for trapping and catching material therein and thereby retarding flow of the material adjacent to the bottom chute liner. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention may be more fully understood by reading the following description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, in conjunction with the appended drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is an end view of a drag conveyor housing of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is an enlarged portion of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a top or plan view of the drag conveyor housing of  FIG. 1  after the top has been removed. 
         FIG. 4  is a side or elevation view of the drag conveyor housing of  FIGS. 1 and 3 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Now referring to the drawings wherein like numerals refer to like matter throughout, and more specifically referring to  FIG. 1 , there is shown an end view of chute  100  of the present invention, which is taken on line  1 - 1  of  FIG. 3 , which chute  100  is shown here as a rectangular drag conveyor housing, but other types and shapes of chutes and spouts could be used as well. Chute  100  includes a right side  102  which can be a single piece of material made to have a “U” shape with a housing top receiving portion  130  and a similar lip on its bottom end. Bottom  104  is coupled to right side  102  and left side  106  with a series of spaced apart bolts  120 . The combination of bottom  104 , right side  102  and left side  106  form a channel of the chute  100 . Top  108  is shown in  FIG. 1  coupled to right side  102  and left side  106 . The materials and methods used to manufacture chute  100 , including right side  102 , bottom  104 , left side  106 , top  108  and the bolts  120  used to couple the sides together could be similar to those which were used in various prior art drag conveyor housings. Optionally, disposed within chute  100  is a plurality of paddles  110  and other structure for moving and guiding the paddles  110  within the chute  100 . A key aspect of the present invention is that the chute  100  is lined so as to reduce failures and/or maintenance associated with friction of the dry bulk material moving therein. Bottom liner  114  is shown with a bottom backer plate  124  coupled thereto. Bottom backer plate  124  is needed only in the areas around where bolts  120  will be used. Bottom liner  114  is preferably a ¼ inch thick AR400 Abrasion Resistant Steel plate that has been laser cut to create an array of spaced apart holes which are sized and configured to capture some of the dry bulk material therein and at least temporarily hold some of the dry bulk material so as to create a relatively static layer of material adjacent the bottom liner  114  with a faster moving flow above the static layer. This results in the faster moving material wearing against the dry bulk material in the more static layer and thereby creating material on material friction instead of material on chute or chute liner friction with its known deleterious consequences. Bottom backer plate  124  may be a thinner and easier to cut and drill material than the AR400 or other wear material such as hardened steel bottom liner  114 . For example, bottom backer plate  124  may be a 14 gauge plate which is laminated (welded) to the bottom liner  114  after the laser cut holes are created, so as to at least partially cover some of laser cut holes which extend completely through the bottom liner  114 . Preferably, bolts  120  with hex heads or any other shaped heads such as square are recessed into a matching hole in the ¼ inch bottom liner  114 . The underlying bottom backer plate  124  has a smaller round hole to receive the shaft of the bolts  120  but too small to allow the heads of bolts  120  to go through. 
     This relationship between the bottom liner  114 , bolts  120  and bottom backer plate  124  can be more readily understood by referring to  FIG. 2 . 
     Now referring to  FIG. 3 , there is shown an assembly, generally designated  300 , of the present invention which includes a full chute  100  (which could be  120  inches in length or other suitable length), disposed centrally in  FIG. 3  and two partial chutes  100  disposed on either end of the central chute  100 . Chute  100  is shown from the top down with the top  108  having been removed. The top horizontal lines and the bottom horizontal lines in  FIG. 3  are the outside edges of the housing top receiving portion  130  of right side  102  and left side  106 . Disposed inside of chutes  100  are two full and one partial bottom liner  114 . At the left side of  FIG. 3  chute  100  is unlined for a short distance. Bottom liner  114  has a liner left side end  302  which is bolted to the bottom  104  via a plurality of bolts  120 . The left most bottom liner  114  is shown ending with liner right side end  304  which abuts the central bottom liner  114  at its liner left side end  302 . Both bottom liners  114  are bolted to the bottom  104  at their respect ends. Also shown are a series of intermediate lines of bolts  120  at approximately 15 inch intervals, i.e.; there are 3 intermediate lines of bolts  120  between the liner left side end  302  and the liner right side end  304  of each respective bottom liner  114  which are shown as being 60 inches in length or ½ the length of the chutes  100 . Midway in the leftmost bottom liner  114  there is shown two adjacent parallel lines of bolts which go through the bottom  104  at the ends  320  and  322  of the bottom liner  114 , this occurs at about 30 inch intervals. This bolting of adjacent chutes to the same bottom liner  114  which extends between them provides for the ability to have a stable flangeless connection between adjacent chutes  100 . Bottom liner  114  is shown with hatch marks and it does not show the array of laser cut holes for retarding the movement of material immediately adjacent to the surface of bottom liner  114 . The size and configuration of these holes can be made different for chutes which carry different types of dry bulk material. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 4 , there is shown a side view of the chute  100  taken on line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 3 . The left side liner  116  is shown bolted to the left side  106 , via a series of parallel lines of bolts  120  which are in registration with the lines of bolts  120  through bottom  104 . This registration need not exist and in some embodiments it may be staggered with respect to the lines of bolts  120  through the bottom  104 . Left side liner  116  is shown not extending to the top of the left side  106 . In a chute or spout that does not have a conveyor therein, it may be desirable to extend left side liner  116  to the top of left side  106 . 
     It is thought that the method and apparatus of the present invention will be understood from the foregoing description and that it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construct steps, and arrangement of the parts and steps thereof, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of their material advantages. The form herein described is merely a preferred exemplary embodiment thereof.