Examining solutions from

a variety of different
manufacturers, IM looks at
the different feeders
available on the market
This crushing plant in Canada
includes three FAM AF3400x21
apron feeders
F
eeders must provide reliable and
uninterrupted flow from some upstream
source. It must be a method of controlling
the flow. When a feeder stops, solids flow
should cease
1
. It must provide the desired
degree of control of discharge rate over the
necessary range.
The feeder must provide an effective interface
with the source of material flowing on to it such
that loads acting on the feeder from upstream
are minimal. This minimises the power required
to operate the feeder, particle attrition and
wear on the feeders component parts.
A vibrating feeder is a steel trough or a
grizzly, or a combination of the two, which is
vibrated by either an electrical or mechanical
unit attached to the frame. They all use the
same principle, which is to feed bulk material
in at the top in an uncontrolled fashion and
take material out at the bottom at a controlled
and steady rate. Such a feeder will comprise a
vibrating frame, spring, vibrator, motor
vibrating device and motor. The rotation of
two eccentric shafts causes the feeder to
vibrate. Vibrating feeders should offer long life,
should be easy to adjust (grizzly opening and
deck slope) and maintain and should give
reliable operation. They should be of rugged
but flexible design.
Metso says its feeder series is designed
particularly for continuous use with any hard
and abrasive materials. They combine a robust
frame design with high feeding capacity and a
limited overall height. These features [make
them] ideal for operation in restricted space,
and in both stationary and mobile plants.
Jeffrey Rader is a typical manufacturer,
offering EF and HP models that are
electromagnetic feeders. The NF models are
electromechanical feeders. Electromagnetic
units operate through a controlled high
frequency vibration. This is accomplished with
electrical pulses and a machine that is tuned to
a natural frequency that is higher than the
electrical frequency of the power supply (sub-
resonant tuning). Electromechanical vibrating
feeders are designed such that burden does
not dampen vibration, but actually boosts
BULK MATERIAL FEEDERS
MAY 2010 International Mining 47
BULK MATERIAL FEEDERS
performance. The feeders are tuned near their
own natural frequencies putting them in tune
with the materials they carry.
The Centroload Feeder is the latest
addition to the Jeffrey Rader line; designed to
evenly distribute material directly to the
crusher or Vertical Shaft Impactor. The
company reports users have experienced at
least a 15-20% higher production rate, better
gradation of materials and at least a 10%
improved liner wear in the crusher.
The vibrating chute is another type, and
here again, Metso provides an interesting
example. Its Nordberg TK-Series feeders are
available with a solid pan, screen mesh or
grizzly bars. They have been designed to be
compact in size, light in weight, yet well suited
to hard rock applications. These vibrating
feeders use grease lubricated unbalanced
vibratory motors to create a linear motion.
They can be used for feeding, transporting,
scalping and screening of materials. Most of
the TK-Series vibrating feeders are available
with either squirrel cage motors or hydraulic
drives.
A variety of liners can be used on these
feeders. Ceramic liners deliver longer life and
less wear when handling extremely abrasive
materials. Rubber liners are used for mild
abrasives and for their flip flop type of self-
cleaning effect on hard to move or sticky
materials, such as wet coal.
Haver & Boecker recently developed and
produced a heavy-duty Haver Niagara T-Class

vibrating screen along with a weighty Haver

Niagara

vibrating feeder for track-mounted

operation in Arctic conditions. Both were
specially adapted to the requirements of
Haahjem, a manufacturer of mobile plants,
known for its heavy-duty CTC mobile plants
with total weights of over 100 t.
The focus here was on the adaptability of
the units to achieve the desired performance
as well as high flexibility. In addition,
paramount importance was given to the
machines availability and functionality in a
harsh environment with extreme weather
conditions as part of a Haahjem CTC 136 S3M
track-mobile secondary crushing and classifying
plant with a feed rate of up to 500 t//h. The
unbalance parameters can be quickly adjusted
over a broad range.
The Niagara vibrating screen has been
equipped with pre-heatable oil lubrication
circulation, which allows for a safe machine
start and a long bearing service life in these
low ambient temperatures. The drive of the
Niagara UF

vibrating feeder consists of

robustly built unbalanced motors.
Two of the CTC 136 S3Ms, equipped with a
Niagara UF vibrating feeder 1200 x 4500 and a
Niagara T-Class vibrating screen S150 1800 x
6000 3D, have been sold. One has gone to
Karelia in Russia and the other to Jamal in
Siberia. Haver & Boecker says the Managing
Partner of Haahjem, Kristian Haahjem, is
enormously satisfied with the highly
sophisticated machines made by Haver &
Boecker. This statement is substantiated by trial
runs with material on the premises of Haahjem
at Vigra in Norway.
Belt feeders
This is usually a conveyor belt that is supported
by rollers, ideal when there is a need to feed
material from an elongated hopper outlet.
They are well suited to handling cohesive,
friable, coarse and/or sticky bulk solids. Belt
feeders are designed to introduce large
quantities of bulk material evenly and
consistently into crushing, washing or
screening plants.
In the case of the Nordberg belt feeders
from Metso, the length can vary from 1.5 to 3
m and speed from 0.005 to 0.5 m/s. Power
requirements vary from 2 to 22 kW. This
feeder type is ideal for close volume control of
dry and fine materials. It has a simple and
cheap structure, easy to adjust. The power
requirement is low, and the volume can be
controlled within 1% from a remote station
and with over-riding tie-in to any load.
Belt feeders can of course incorporate
weighing systems for throughput
measurement.
Apron feeders
An apron feeder is ideal for controlled
volumetric feeding or blending of bulk
materials. Apron feeders solve flooding
problems by regulating delivery of material,
and they help control surge loads and prevent
chute jamming. They can be operated at fixed
or variable feeding rates, and when installed at
the bottom of a bin or hopper, apron feeders
permit drawing on stored capacity as needed.
They consist of two strands of tractor-type
chain fitted with fabricated or casted pans. The
chain is supported on standard tractor-type
carrying rollers and plain rollers at the feeders
return side. The equipment design is based on
continuous operations, built to withstand high-
impact loads and therefore suitable for coarse
and abrasive materials. ThyssenKrupp has
engineered apron feeders with pan widths
from 800 to 4,000 mm, lengths as great as 30
m, and capacities of up to 14,000 t/h. Special
designs allow inclinations up to 28 from the
horizontal. The drive system features fixed or
variable speeds, with either a low-speed high-
torque or high-speed low-torque hydraulic
motor combined with planetary reducers or
electro-mechanical drive units.
The new near-pit ThyssenKrupp semi-mobile
crushing system for the Asarco Ray mine is
comprised of a dual truck dump and an
inclined apron feeder, which feeds the ore
from the hopper into a gyratory crusher. The
width between the skirt boards of the apron
feeder is 2.4 m and the centre distance
(length) is about 23.5 m and a conveying
inclination of some 24. It uses a D 9 H
lifetime lubricated chain and three 224 kW
hydraulic drives.
FLSmidth Minerals offers inclined apron
feeders for extracting from a dump hopper
and feeding to a crusher. This feeder is of
heavy-duty design with two roller chains,
travelling wheels and links, and heavy-duty
apron plates bolted to the chain links and
overlapping each other. The machinery frame
is a sturdy welded and bolted mainframe
construction with flat steel rails for the
48 International Mining MAY 2010
This track-mounted rig for operation in the Arctic has
a weighty Haver Niagara vibrating feeder
travelling wheels of the roller chains and
carrying the components of the apron feeder.
The feeders are driven by a dual drive
arrangement with a heavy main shaft, directly
coupled to the motors at both sides of the
main shaft. The main shaft is supported in
double row self-aligning roller bearings
mounted in heavy steel housings bolted to the
machinery frame. The chain wheels are parted
in halves and are turnable to reverse direction.
Features include a hydraulic take-up station
with two single-acting hydraulic cylinders. The
cylinders are pressure-regulated by an
accumulator and a hand pump. There is a
high-pressure grease supply unit for easy
lubrication of the roller chains and the sleeve
bearings of the roller support, including
connecting pipes, high-pressure hose, ball
valves, and grease gun.
There is a chain scraper for collecting and
conveying the spillage from the apron feeder
to the product conveyor. It is a heavy
horizontal angle-iron scraper mounted on
three heavy duty steel chains, powered by a
shaft mounted single or double gear motor
unit at the scraper front end.
To complement the capacity and strength of
the MMD Twin Shaft Mineral Sizer, its heavy-
duty apron plate feeder is designed to handle
the high impact loads created from large ROM
material directly dumped onto it. MMD plate
feeders are often arranged beneath tipping
points, where their combination of reliability
and robustness have proven to give many years
of trouble free operation, the company says.
Apron plate feeders are not all the same, as
MMD found out when it addressed the
requirement for a suitable feeder to install on
its mobile units. The fact that no manufacturer
was able/prepared to supply a feeder capable
of regularly being fed directly on to the empty
apron plates lead MMD to develop its own
range of apron plate feeders capable of being
fed without a protective layer of material on
the flights; a prerequisite for mobile units.
Although the MMD range of apron plate
feeders does not, at first glance, appear to
differ greatly from others on the market, they
do have a number of
unique features whose
benefits, and the fact
that these feeders are
available as a
standalone
units, rapidly became
apparent to users
worldwide, the
company reports. As a
result, they are used
not only on MMD
installations and/or
mobile units, but
also in general
applications which call
for a robust easily
maintained long-life
feeding unit, such
as extracting hard
aggressive materials
from stockpiles. The
single most significant
of said features is the
use of rolled rather
than cast or fabricated
plates, which not only
makes the
flights lighter and
stronger but
significantly diminishes the impact energy of
falling lumps by allowing these to deform
within their elastic limits and then having the
impact rails dissipate those forces into the
mainframe. The closer manufacturing
tolerances were made possible by using rolled
plate and by incorporating an overlapping
tongue assisting to minimise leakages between
the plates. This is a particularly important
attribute when working with aggressive
material where spillage in the sprocket area
can result in high wear.
When designing the plate feeder MMD
placed particular emphasis on reducing
maintenance using only genuine Cat SALT
(sealed and lubricated) rollers and chains,
replaceable wear segments on the sprockets
and automatic lubrication of the shaft
bearings. The range uses the Cat D4, D7, D9
and D11 configurations with units ranging
from 1.5 to 4 m in width. All the
feeders have been designed to be fitted
with variable speed drives, both direct drive
shaft mounted hydraulic motors or
electro mechanical drives with their high
torque and capacity capabilities.
They are constructed from a series of
Metso says the tractor-type apron feeder remains
the preferred design throughout the world
BULK MATERIAL FEEDERS
MAY 2010 International Mining 49
080$8. fll0. F800l$$. 008Wlf. $f08l.
Screening & Processing Size Reduction Storage & Reclaim
Pneumatic Conveying Vibratory Feeders Material Handling
USA: CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS
Jeffrey Rader Corporation
398 Willis Road
Woodruff, SC, USA 29388
Phone: 864.476.7523
Fax: 864.476.7510

learn more at www.jeffreyrader.com/im
Jeffrey Rader is a leading manufacturer of Vibratory Feeders,
Conveyors and Crushers for the Mining Industry.

Our Electromagnetic, Electromechanical and Brute Force Feeders
are unsurpassed in quality and output. With one of the quickest
delivery schedules in the industry, we can build and ship your
equipment when you need it and guarantee it to work.
Our crushers are equipped with our EZ Access

technology
allowing quicker and safer access to the crusher for maintaining
hammers, Duratip

replaceable tips and Slant-Flow

grates.
When you want your equipment to meet specications for
feeding and crushing projects, the easy choice is Jeffrey Rader.
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50 International Mining MAY 2010
BULK MATERIAL FEEDERS
specially rolled steel plates bolted to two
strands of heavy duty Caterpillar chain. Both
the plates and chain are supported by
Caterpillar rollers, which are in turn attached
to a fully welded one-piece steel frame. This
design provides maximum strength throughout
the entire feeder and optimal impact
dissipation.
Metsos NICO hydrastroke feeder is a heavy-
duty, high tonnage feeder of rugged steel
construction. It is easily adapted to almost any
application and designed to provide low
installation, operating and maintenance costs.
Such feeders are available as rod-suspended,
rocker-mounted and roller-mounted.
Chain feeders
FLSmidth ABON chain feeders are designed to
transfer material from the feed side towards
the discharge head chute side of the feeder
at a constant volumetric rate. The feeder
electric motor drives the feeder head shaft via
a torque limiting coupling and bevel helical
reducer. Sprockets on the head shaft mesh
with two strands of the feeder chain, each
strand is situated on either side of the deck.
Flightbars are attached between the two
feeder chains. These flightbars transfer the
material constant volumetric rate to the
discharge end.
The company says ABON feeders have
several unique features. The modular design
of the feeder allows the unit to be easily
broken down into components, no more than
10 t, allowing the unit to be easily barged to
site and easily assembled in-situ. All modules
are keyed and bolted, and when connected will
hold its own load.
Wobbler feeders
Metso says the unique action of its wobbler
feeder provides feeding and scalping of
materials in a single
machine. Even wet, sticky
materials can often be
handled due to the
specially designed self-
cleaning, non-clogging
elliptical bars. Our wobbler
feeders operate with low
power and headroom
requirements, and without
vibration, noise or
transmitted stresses,
making them ideal for
both stationary and
portable applications.
Hazemag notes: Most
raw materials that have to
be pre-crushed for
subsequent processing already contain a
considerable percentage of fines which do not
actually require further crushing. These fine
fractions often have a fairly high moisture
content as well as featuring abrasive inclusions.
It goes without saying, therefore, that it is
expedient to separate such fine fractions from
the feed material flow prior to entry into the
crusher. Hazemag wobbler feeders are
particularly suited to this task.
Wobbler feeders can increase a systems
throughput by scalping out material fines and
letting a crusher handle only the material that
needs to be crushed.
Universal explains that wobbler feeders
provide two functions, feeding oversized
material at a controlled rate and also scalping
out the fines from the fed material. This is
accomplished by football (rugby or American
not soccer) shaped elliptical bars that are timed
with a continuous triple strand roller chain
drive and timed bar sprockets. Each elliptical
bar is timed 90 apart, one bar is tipped up
and the next bar rotated with the tip in a
horizontal position. All bars rotate at the same
rate of speed and this motion moves the
loaded material along the bars until it is
discharged off the feeder. Each bar is
maintained with a fixed gap between
themselves which allows the fines to pass
through the bar gaps providing the undersized
scalped material.
Wobblers are self-cleaning, and can handle
wet sticky material and are very good with
clay. Shot material can be dumped directly
onto the wobbler bed of material or fed with
an apron feeder. With higher capacities and
larger material lump sizes Universal
recommends using an apron/wobbler feeder
combination to reduce the impacting and to
increase the scalping area.
The apron feeder for the new
semi-mobile crushing plant at
the Asarco Ray copper mine
in Arizona was supplied by
ThyssenKrupp Robins in co-
operation with ThyssenKrupp
Frdertechnik, BU Mining
ABONs standard chain has a 152-mm pitch. Chain
breakage is practically designed out because chain
pull is 240 t/strand. This chain feeder operates at low
speeds (0.08-0.35 m/s), which promote long wear life
of chain, sprockets and flight bars
BULK MATERIAL FEEDERS
52 International Mining MAY 2010
Universal has four models, each with
different standard widths and number of bar
combinations. Each one is custom designed to
meet a wide range of tonnage and application
requirements. They are designed to scalp
material from 13 to 152 mm lump size and
tonnages up to 2,500 t/h.
Hazemag & EPR says its VARIOwobbler
represents a new generation of wobbler
feeders for pre-screening operations in
crushing plants. An outstanding feature of the
wobbler is the facility for infinitely varying the
gap between the individual shafts by
means of an effective hydro-
mechanical control system, in order to
determine the screened product
granulometry at the touch of a button
and without the use of any tools. This
system allows for quick and flexible
reaction to changing requirements and
ensures that the feeder is always
adjusted to the correct setting.
Such a system is of particular benefit
when weather conditions fluctuate,
creating changes in the moisture
content, and consequently in the
screening behaviour of the material to
be processed. The gap setting
adjustment facility provides the
optimum means to compensate for any
such variations during the screening
operation. The characteristics and
properties of the recovered material
for instance, the proportion of actual
suitable material, and thus the
screening behaviour can vary. In such
cases, the optimum setting can be
selected similarly at the touch of a
button. Should a coarser product be
desired, the gap setting is simply
widened, and likewise, if a finer product is
called for, the gap can be reduced
appropriately.
In a conventional vibrating screen, to
undertake such changes involves considerable
time and effort in changing the actual screen
grates. The new VARIOwobbler screens can
replace a conventional screen in a crushing
plant without any problem; they can be
designed as single- or multi-stage machines,
according to whether or not existing machine
height differences need to be overcome.
Thanks to the various stages, the material flow
is agitated several times, facilitating the
downward flow of the fine material from the
upper layers of the material bed and
separating these fines from the coarse
material. Additionally, the fines which often
contain a high percentage of the material's
moisture content are removed prior to
feeding to the crusher, avoiding the potential
danger of clogging and caking in the crusher.
The wobbler itself is not affected by sticky
material. All the shafts of the VARIOwobbler
are individually driven.
The use of these units can lead to increased
operational safety and reduced energy and
operating costs. Thanks to the horizontal
material flow on the roller screen, the
downstream crusher is fed evenly and
uniformly in a controlled manner. By separating
the fines, the load on the crusher is reduced,
resulting in less wear and reduced power
requirements, and may even possibly allow the
use of a smaller crusher.
The VARIOwobbler has been designed for
feed sizes up to 1,500 mm, separation:
15-150 mm and capacity up to 2,500 t/h. Its
width is up to about 3.5 m. IM
References
1.Carson, John and Petro, Greg, How to design
efficient and reliable feeders for bulk solids, Jenike &
Johanson, www.jenike.com
Action of a Universal Wobbler Feeder
Stockpiling is usually the final stage of dry bulk
material handling. Sandvik's WE8000i
telescopic chute minimises dust emissions in
the working environment and surrounding
area, as well as reducing stockpile segregation.
Key specifications are a belt width of 800-1,200 mm,
material size 0-32 mm and a maximum of 15 cones
in its make up about 16.5 m
A three-stage Hazemag VARIOwobbler feeder, which
is very suited to separating fines