F

BARGE
UNLOADING
ON THE VAST
EUROPEAN RIVER
NETWORK
The vast river network in Europe, and not in the least
in Germany, France, The Netherlands and Belgium,
represents more than ever a very attractive way of
transporting bulk goods and grains.

The pneumatic tower concept:

In order to further promote fluvial transport and facilitate the

unloading of the typical barge ship sizes from 500 to 4000 tonnes,
VIGAN developed almost 30 years ago its pneumatic tower
concept and has further improved it ever since.
The pneumatic tower is a powerful unloading system and fully
compatible with the scope above. It is generally mounted on a
fixed gantry, although mobile systems are possible, and capacities
can range from 100 Tph to 600 Tph of grain.
The heart of the system is the multistage VIGAN designed
turbine. The turbine is directly driven by a high revolution
electrical motor with frequency inverter steering. Thanks to this
configuration the energy consumption is kept low, recent systems
have energy consumption records as low as 0.6kWh/ton grain.
The powerful vacuum created by the turbine sucks in the cargo
68 | March 2016 - Milling and Grain

at impressive tonnages per hour. In order to unload ships in

the most versatile way, the tower consists of a horizontal and a
vertical telescopic tube system.
At the near end of the vertical telescopic tube is the suction
nozzle. It is an ingeniously designed coaxial tube system allowing
air to come in from the outer ring above the cargo, making a
turn in the cargo to the inner tube, thereby transporting the cargo
through airlift into the vertical and subsequently horizontal
telescopic tube.
The elbow between the vertical and horizontal tube is of the
highest wearing resistance (records of more than seven million
tonnes of grain with one elbow). Both the vertical and horizontal
tubes are steered by electrical hoists. The boom carrying the
suction tube system is mounted on a receiving bin with a
powerful self-regenerating filter: no dust emissions possible.
To maximize reach when unloading the hatches on the barge
the receiving bin is mounted on a slewing ring. The boom can be
elevated by an ultra-safe hydraulic jack: no risk of breaking. By
gravity the grain is finally transported through the air-lock system
into a conveyor system, ready to be stored or processed directly
by the customer.

Tailor-Made:

The Vigan pneumatic tower is a very versatile concept with

excellent wear durability.
- Its operating height is adjustable through the mounting on a
fixed or mobile gantry
- The sucking capacity is adaptable to the need of the customer
- Good reach is provided through:
- A range of boom lengths up to a maximum of 17.5m
- A rotating bin/filter cabin on a slewing ring
- A set of telescopic tubes that consist out of two or three
segments, adapted to the boom length

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- Use of specific alloys and/or steel finishing in the suction tubes
- Mounting of an extremely durable elbow in Ni-Hard
- Smooth operation from a radio command control panel with
one operator
- Auto regenerated filter system to prevent dust emission
- Mounting of engine and turbine in a acoustically isolated
(baffles) cabin for low noise emission
- Mounting of standard elements as to have a sound spare part
availability (also for machines of 25 years and older)
- Possible use of an extra hoist on the boom to facilitate the use
of a Bobcat with the bottom cleaning of the ship

The advantages of barge transport:

- Lower cost as per weight unit transported
- Lower carbon footprint (1 barge of 2000 tonnes, a typical
river vessel, replaces 65 trucks of 30T on the road)
- Reduced noise level in urban areas where the demand
for goods is vast
- Reduced number of manipulations and thus more security
in the total transport chain of bulk goods
- Reduced risk of contamination and damage to the bulk
goods
- No dust emissions during the unloading
- Reduced labour cost as only one operator is needed for
unloading

Milling and Grain - March 2016 | 69

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Operation:

Barges destined for fluvial transport on the European river

network will general carry loads up to 4000 tonnes and will
typically carry average loads of 2000 tonnes. The boom length of
the tower concept is fully compatible with these barge sizes and
will maximize the efficiency upon unloading.
Pneumatic unloading has the benefit of operating close to
full capacity until a nearly empty ship (with hatches if any). In
practice this implies at the start the use of the suction nozzle in
full heap high till medium and even low level. Once too low grain
levels are obtained for proper operation, the operator (one) brings
in the Bobcat (lifted by the hoist installed on the machine boom).
Cleaning the barge in the Bobcat, it is still the same operator that
controls the unloading process. The great advantage is that the
cleaning of the ship starts from one side to the other, maximizing
the operation of the pneumatic system at full capacity and
cleaning the bottom all the same.
The ship can be moved a minimal amount of times without
having to interrupt the unloading operation. Total number of
manipulations are kept minimal, safety is guaranteed and no risk
of damage to the barges whatsoever.
Grains are not damaged during the operation and can be
weighed continuously on a calibrated scale mounted under the
airlock system before being conveyed.

The two old VIGAN pneumatic

unloaders and the newly installed
VIGAN machine at Nord Crales
(Dunkerque, France)

Pneumatic unloading vs competing technologies

With their numerous advantages compared to grabs or other

mechanical devices, the reputation of the pneumatic unloaders is
well-established:

Efficiency: fast and perfect hold cleaning

Indeed, if with mechanical grabs for instance a high unloading

rate can be achieved at the beginning, the final cleaning
operations are time consuming because they require quite
significant attention by the crane operator and the auxiliary
working force in the barge hold in order to coordinate tasks to
achieve maximum efficiency.
The remaining layer of product in the bottom and along the
barge hold borders need to be gathered around the lifting up place
by the grabs: it is usually quite time consuming (a real nightmare
for the manager in charge of productivity targets) and also rather
dangerous for the workers.
On the other hand, pneumatic unloaders behave as vacuum
cleaners and will efficiently suck the product particles down to
the hold bottom. Thanks to the telescopic characteristics of the
pipes and the rotating capability of the boom supporting the
conveying line, the suction nozzle is also able to reach the hidden
corners of the hold.
One single worker can manage the whole barge unloading
including when behaving as the driver of the auxiliary skid
steer equipment and for final brushing of the products around
the suction nozzle.
For barges, it is quite common to achieve an average efficiency
rate of up to 80 percent with a VIGAN pneumatic unloader in
comparison to only 60 - 65 percent with grabs for instance.
The mechanical unloaders will maintain their handling rate
along 80 - 85 percent of the hold volume but the remaining
layer of products in the hold is much more time consuming to
discharge from the ships.
Environmentally friendly:
o No dust and very low noise emissions (urban areas have strict
regulations);
o Slow movements of the boom with its suction pipes in order to
minimize the risks of disturbing nearby wild life;
70 | March 2016 - Milling and Grain

o No spillage around with possible contamination of the river

waters with high nitrogen particle for instance.
Safe to operate:
o Almost inexistent accident risk
o No moving parts (excellent safety records and no damage done
to barges)
Low energy consumption:
o Most recent technological developments such as the
installation of frequency inverters, direct drive of the turbo
blowers, optimized design of the suction nozzle and in general
of the whole pneumatic conveying system allows a low power
consumption which is present around 0.6 0.7 kWh/t for barge
unloading.
Low maintenance costs:
o Excellent durability
o Spare parts represent less 0,04 EURO per ton unloaded
o One operator does it all
o Suction pipes do not require maintenance (no running parts!)
and can be easily repaired: no need to dismantle complex
mechanical system.

Pneumatic success stories

To illustrate the reputation of pneumatic unloading

machines as a preferred choice of equipment for barge
unloading, here are examples of companies who chose to
switch from mechanical type devices like grabs to pneumatic
unloaders:
- NORD CEREALES, in Dunkerque (France): two
VIGAN pneumatic unloaders were delivered to Nord
Crales in 1985. In 2013, they bought a mechanical ship
unloader (CSU), and in 2014, a grab was also delivered. In
2016, they replaced their mechanical unloader by a VIGAN
pneumatic unloader of 600 tons/hour, whereas the two old
VIGAN pneumatic unloaders are still in operation

Do not trust your grain to anything less.

When you have customers counting on you,

every structural support to deliver dependable

there is no time for second best. You need grain

performance year after year.

storage, handling, conditioning and structures

that are built to last. That is why more grain

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and structures will stand up to the challenge.

Brock commercial grain systems.

Contact your Brock dealer today at

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