Patent ID: 8573895

Claim:
An unloading apparatus for low-lying storage bunkers, comprising: a feed chamber for receiving material from storage bunkers at a bottom level; a lifting device for lifting the material to a high level, the lifting device comprising, a discharge pipe with a delivery end to which a transport line for conveying the material away to a spatially remote delivery point can be connected, a pressure vessel having a vertical conveyor arranged therein, the vertical conveyor having a first end located in the feed chamber and a second end in a top region of the pressure vessel, and a discharge pipe with a first end in a bottom region of the pressure vessel and leading out of the pressure vessel with the delivery end of the discharge pipe; a pressurizing device which pressurizes the pressure vessel via a first valve and activates a conveying air nozzle of the discharge pipe via a second valve; and a controller designed for filling the pressure vessel by means of the vertical conveyor, fluidizing the material by means of the pressurizing device and conveying the material away via the delivery end of the discharge pipe and the transport line.