◄ Diamondback Hopper

► Blenders

► Air permeation units

► Licensed fabricators

► Densifying screw feeder

 

We have custom-engineered Diamondback Hoppers for the coal  industry to eliminate plugging  and severe ratholing that are common with bunkers in use throughout the industry.  These Diamondbacks retrofit single or multiple outlet  bunkers and adapt to square, round or  rectangular openings with special transitions and flanges.

Coal industry Diamondback Hopper

The Diamondback Coal Hopper processes sticky or wet coal through existing two-foot-diameter gates and standpipes without arching or ratholing.

 

The one-dimensional convergence hopper with a racetrack configuration converts any existing two-foot hopper outlet to an equivalent four-foot-diameter hopper outlet without moving parts, without increasing the outlet size or using mechanical flow aids or prefeeders.

 

The hoppers typically fit within the existing headroom and attach with adapters to round, square or rectangular bins.

 

Typical retrofit applications

u   Multiple outlet power plant bunkers 

u   Single outlet bunkers

u   Bottom tunnel reclaim hoppers for coal

u   Truck dump hoppers

u   Rail dump hoppers

u   Dozer-loaded reclaim points

u   New construction for hangup-free operation

 

Features

u   Stainless steel, corrosion and wear-resistant construction

u   Standard pre-engineered designs for any application

u   Standard two-foot-diameter outlets

u   Transitions to circular bins with a predrilled extra flange

u   Custom transitions to a square or rectangular hoppers

      at structurally optimum positions

u   Shipped in sections for on-site bolted assembly

 

We warrant all coal industry Diamondback Hoppers for a period of nine months or longer if we test the coal’s material flow properties.

 

Coal hopper case history: public utility company

 

When the U. S. Government mandated cleaner burning power generating plants, a Midwestern utility company began using Powder River Basin (PRB) coal from Wyoming.  Although PRB is a cleaner-burning coal, it has a history of plugging coal bunkers and reducing plant efficiency. 

 

To help it evaluate problems that might occur in its existing equipment by switching to PRB coal, the utility used an independent lab to test the coal’s flow properties.  All the tests showed that PRB coal would cause severe handling problems in the company’s pyramid-shaped hoppers without substantial modifications. 

 

After reviewing the costly alternatives, including complete hopper replacement, the utility concluded that it could solve the problem by retrofitting its existing hoppers with Diamondback Hoppers.

 

The Diamondback Hopper’s secret lies in its unusual shape.  Like a conical hopper, the racetrack configuration smoothes out any sharp corners, but the Diamondback Hopper diverges downward slightly in key areas, thus conserving energy.  Since the Diamondback minimizes energy dissipation, it achieves flow at flatter angles than a cone and breaks bridges that typically form in a conical hopper.

 

Because the Diamondback Hopper is modular, it was possible to retrofit the utility’s existing equipment with its seemingly incompatible shapes, hopper slope angles and headroom constraints, and still produce a bunker discharge system that allowed the utility to continue using its existing feeders without modifications.

 

When completed, the utility’s first multiple-outlet coal bunker operated flawlessly, without hangups.  In addition, the company solved its problem at one-third the cost of other standard hopper designs.

► Milling industry  hopper

► Oscillating plate hopper

Copyright 2007 Diamondback Technology, Inc.

 

 

Click here to request a free copy of  Retrofitting Coal Bunkers to Eliminate Hangups, written by Dr. Jerry R. Johanson and presented at the 2000 Powder and Bulk Solids Conference.

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