Application of Slide Gate Valve for Isolation of Silo and Feeders

As we all know that various bulk solids material exhibit varied characteristics which makes the design and manufacturing of effective bulk handling equipment to be quite complex. Due to such varied characteristics no particular slide gate valve or for that matter any flow control valve is applicable for all the application. Necessary customization is required for the manufacture of slide gate valves.

 

Wrong valve selection, design and configuration can result in losses due to downtime attributable to inaccuracies and inefficiencies in the processes resulting due to wrong selection. Major problems that can arise are downtime, material wastage, inefficiencies in conveying, inaccurate weighing, leakages in atmosphere leading to dusty working conditions, frequent maintenance, etc. 

Slide gate valve is specifically designed to handle dry and free flowing bulk solids through gravity discharge from silos, hoppers, bins, bulk bags, chutes, etc.  The valve is versatile and suited for many dry bulk solids handling applications. Applications include shut off / cut off, control or metered material flow of non abrasive to moderately abrasive powders. Granular material or pellets can also be handled using slide gate valves.

One of the important application of the slide gate valve is isolation of the feeder and silo in order to enable the maintainance of the feeders with ease. The feeder can be rotary, belt or screw type. . In such cases care must be taken that the slide gate valve is operated in a completely open or completely closed condition only. In case the gate is operated in the partially closed condition, the protruding slide plate will cause funnel flow pattern in the silo, thereby causing flow problems. 

Some times in case of belt or screw feeders it is advisable to use rod type gate valve instead of slide gate valve. The rods can be closely spaced for the cut off operation. Although complete stoppage of bulk material is not possible for the rod type gate valves, these sufficiently obstruct the flow of the material.