Dear Shri Ashwini Bhatnagar,

You already know that the belt speed will depend upon the length of conveyors that means whether these are in plant conveyors or these are for long distance conveying.

In case of in plant conveyors, we will have a combination of varied length of conveyors and complicated flow path at transfer houses. This puts restriction on the speed to be used because (1) we cannot have different speed and thereby different belt widths for different length of conveyors and (2) at high speed the chute size will become prohibitive and also it will not be good for the life of belt.

Therefore, please inform whether you are referring to reasonably long conveyor (in kms) or in plant conveyors ranging from tens of meter to hundreds of meter.

You can get only indicative response about the probable speed. Often, the speed to be used depends upon the specific plant and the buyers choice / prejudices.

Regards,

Ishwar G Mulani.

Author of Book : Engineering Science and Application Design for Belt Conveyors.

Author of Book : Belt Feeder Design and Hopper Bin Silo

Advisor / Consultant for Bulk Material Handling System & Issues.

Pune, India.

Tel.: 0091 (0)20 25871916 ■

Hi Ash

12 000t/h of iron ore is a respectable amount.

But is it ROM? what is the max lump size?

Regards

LSL Tekpro ■

Hi there Ash..

I would use an 1800mm wide belt at 4.6m/second, assuming a bulk density of about 2.5t/m^3. This gives about an 80% fill factor using a conservatively low surcharge angle of 10 degrees which you need for fine material.

For a long overland you could go narrower and faster to save some money i.e. 1650mm (1600mm for you?) at 5.6m/second.

Make sure that you feed the belt at a velocity within 10% of the receiving belt speed though, or you will not get much of a surcharge at all.

Cheers

LSL Tekpro ■

Careful about the microns and 4.5 m/s. At lower micron levels you will liberate the particles from concentrate surface. There are standard formulae to relate the settling time verses micron size that will guide you to select the necessary belt speed and shrouding to control dust requirements for the site.

Of course there are other factors to consider, such as, cross-wind speed, transfer chute fugitive dust control, et al. Since you do not offer the size distribution and dust control criteria, we can do no more than babble. ■