# Measurement of Amount for Steel Abrasive Material Transported by Special Scraper Conveyor
## 2 Materials and Methods  
It is a well-known fact that transport of bulk solids is considered to be a specific technological process, which is unavoidable within the framework of diverse technological systems operating in many industrial branches. Different transport machines and transport equipment with various design solutions, transport capacities and conveying speeds are usually used. Operators of the transport machines have to dispose of suitable information in order to ensure safe and reliable functioning of the whole transport system. The technological centers with the installed conveying technologies must be precisely calibrated and correctly operated. Information concerning dependence of the amount of transported material on the conveying speed and on charging of the conveying system is necessary for the operator of the given transport system. The above-mentioned dependence is one of the most important pieces of information in the case of many transport systems, especially in the case of conveying systems designed for continual transport of bulk materials. One of such transport machines, which are used for conveying of bulk solids, is the scraper conveyor. A specific constructional modification of the scraper conveyor is for gathering of abrasive material from the floor into the abrasive blast cabinets, because design solutions and dimensions of this conveyor are suitable for installation inside of the blast cabinet area.  
The main operational part of this special scraper conveyor is the movable frame equipped with the transversally fixed scraping membranes, which are rotationally fitted to the frame in the pins on both sides of the membranes (Figure 1). The moveable frame moves longitudinally, whereas it oscillates forward and backward on the rolling support installed within the basic static frame. Functioning of this conveyor consists of two specific phases. The first phase encompasses shifting of the moveable frame forwards, together with the scraping membranes, in the material transport direction. The membranes are fixed in vertical positions during this phase and in this way they gather or scrape the material. Thus, this is the conveying stroke of the moveable frame. The second phase is shifting of the moveable frame to scrape membranes backwards, whereas the membranes are released during this reverse motion. For this reason, the material is not transported in this case--i.e., this return stroke is an empty stroke. Repeating of these two phases (two kinds of strokes) creates a closed operational cycle with periodical shifting forwards of the transported material. Propulsive energy is ensured by electric drive of the conveyor.  
Realization of various experimental measurements during current operation of the real transport equipment--for example, measuring of actual amount of the transported material--is a very demanding process and as such it is usually almost impossible. There  
Figure 1: Special scraper conveyor without electric drive: 1—moveable frame, 2—scraping membranes and 3—basic static frame.  
fore, most of the relevant operational information and data that are obtained from producers of the transport machines (including the conveyors) are based only on the calculations, theoretical analyses or computer simulations using, for example, DEMs.  
Taking into consideration the above-mentioned facts, our research team developed special experimental testing equipment within the framework of own research activities. This specific experimental testing equipment enables the simulation of the real operational conditions of the laboratory conditions and, in this way, measuring of the transported amount of bulk material in accordance with the real operation.