Challenge
At the bottom of their rotary train dump, a power plant on the Ohio River near Paducah, KY had two reciprocating feeders that were no longer feeding reliably and needed to be replaced.
Approach
After inspecting the installation, General Kinematics Vibratory Feeders with Variable Force (VF) wheels were recommended. With these feeders, a feed range of 10-2000TPH with surges would be achieved without damping and causing outages. GK’s VF wheels reduce the rotating unbalance to minimum setting for startup and shutdown, eliminating the need for resistance braking upon shutdown.
VF wheels provide variable force output as a function of air pressure, resulting in an improved range of flow capacity, without the use of a variable frequency drive. GK’s two mass system with VF wheels offers superior performance with less motor horsepower and simplified controls, as compared to brute force type feeders, or inverter controlled systems.
Solution
The installer, Power Techniques, took out the reciprocating feeders that were unreliable and couldn’t give consistent feed rates, and the GK feeders were installed. According to Cary Henken at Power Techniques: “They were well built and go from 10 to 2000 tons per hour reliably.”
Results
The installation went smoothly and the feeders have run reliably. The power plant has expressed their satisfaction that the feeders have met and exceeded all their expectations.
Learn more about GK’s vibratory feeders with variable force configurations or reach out to our team of GK experts today!
