Patent ID: 7798809

Claim:
A method of operation of a bulk good grate cooler that transports the bulk good step-wise by the walking floor principle to cool heated bulk goods that are transported from a bulk good inlet connection via conveyors to a chilled goods discharge connection, while a cooling grate and the hot bulk goods distributed on the grate are supplied with cooling air passed from the bottom up, which cooling air flow is regulated by control systems arranged beneath the cooling grate, the control systems comprising a plurality of control system cases each being saturated with cooling air and housing a movable internal body, comprising the steps: continuously measuring at least one parameter comprising a bed height of the bulk good, a bed temperature of the bulk good and a cooling air flow resistance through the bulk good bed, intervening via a control during the operation of the grate cooler to alter at least one of a local cooling air volume flow and a local speed of conveyance of the bulk good bed on the cooling grate in response to changes in the measurement of the at least one parameter, initiating the alteration of the control characteristics of the cooling air volume flow control system by an automatic mechanical change in position of the movable internal body within the control system case in response to a pressure differential within the control case to automatically adjust a variable flow rate of cooling air through the control case towards the cooling grate, and measuring the bulk good bed height at neighboring cooling grate planks in a conveying direction and using the height measurements to activate drives of individual grate planks to achieve a targeted transverse distribution of the bulk good bed throughout an entire width of the cooler.