Analysis of features of the design of a screw feeder for the purpose of improving its work
Authors: Kazak Iryna , Motrych Volodymyr 
Published: July 2021

Feeders are an integral part of the modern technological process, they establish and regulate the pace of production, ensure its rhythm, contribute to increased productivity and increase output.

The aim of the article is to investigate and analyze the types of feeders, in particular the design features of a screw feeder, to determine its advantages and disadvantages. In order to increase the efficiency of the screw feeder, to propose a way to improve its design based on the modernization of the screw.

The types of feeders are considered in the article, and the main attention is paid to the study of the advantages and disadvantages and design features of the screw feeder most common in technological processes of various industries as the simplest in design and often structural features of screw feeders in modern sources, which showed that the issue of the screw configuration screw feeders are not adequately studied in terms of uptime and the factors affecting this aspect indicate relevance.

Currently, in the works of modern domestic authors and in the industries of various industries, waste-free screw feeders are considered. The article describes in detail these feeders developed by TechTron in two versions - the gutter and pipe. Today, there are also studies of a screw conveyor with additional blades on the spirals of the screw, in which the relationship between its structural and functional parameters is established.

An analysis of the considered design features of existing screw feeders in modern sources has shown that issues of design features, namely the configuration of screws of screw feeders, have not been studied enough in terms of uptime and factors affecting this aspect, indicating the relevance of this issue to solve a specific problem of increasing work efficiency. The advantages of screw (screw) feeders compared to other types of feeders, such as continuity of supply, tightness, simplicity of design, the ability to create excess pressure at the outlet of the screw, the ability to aggregate with other equipment in industrial plants, have led to their widespread use in many industries in various technological processes.The main disadvantage of screw feeders is the low productivity due to the communication of the auger blade of the transported material, not only translational motion, but also rotational, which leads to turning the material together with the auger. Also a disadvantage of screw feeders is the rapid operation of the screw and the loading pipe due to overloads.

To increase the efficiency of the screw feeder and eliminate one of its most important shortcomings - sensitivity to overload, resulting in accumulation of material inside the chute, stopping the feeder and reducing its performance and operational reliability, screw configurations were changed. Namely, the advanced screw was divided into two zones A - the loading zone, B - the main zone of the screw. Such a structure has a spiral surface and a cylindrical casing of smaller diameter D1 in the loading zone than the diameter of the spiral surface and a cylindrical casing in the main zone D2 of the screw feeder. The advanced design of the screw feeder works as follows. During loading of the feeder, the bulk material fills the entire space under the loading device with a continuous flow, including the spiral surface D1 of the screw. When the screw  is rotated, the material completely filled the cylindrical casing  with a diameter of D1, having a fill factor of j1 = 1, moves in a continuous flow through section A. When approaching the material to section B, by increasing the diameter of the spiral surface to D2, the fill coefficient decreases to j2, which ensures the operation of the screw feeder without accumulation of material and increases its operational reliability.