Moving around materials in heavy-duty industrial settings cannot be accomplished with just manual labor. Majority of industrial plants need specialized conveyor systems that enable them to keep materials and end products flowing and organized.

Screw conveyors are devices that allow for seamless, easy, controlled and fast transfer of materials via the process line and implement different methods to do so. The use of this device can be traced back to a long time ago and ever since then has been popularly used in different industries.

Keep reading till the end to know more about screw conveyors and all things related to it.

What is a Screw Conveyor?

A screw conveyor also known as an auger conveyor is a device that looks almost like a typical screw, albeit along with some caveats. It is an industrial equipment that is used for transporting granular solids, liquids, semi-solids and even materials that are non-flowing in bulk quantities from one point to another.

This device is capable of upholding high operational efficiency as the need for manual labor gets eliminated. The screw conveyors mainly include a rotating screw shaft that is typically installed within a trough.

The material moves linearly as the screw shaft rotates. This device can be designed for transporting materials in horizontal, inclined and vertical travel paths. There are different types of screw conveyors that are ideally designated for handling a specific kind of material behavior.

The materials in bulk quantities may be fluidizing, abrasive, non-free flowing, hygroscopic and even hazardous in nature.

Different Components in a Screw Conveyor

There are essentially three components that come into play for screw conveyors to function and they are – conveyor screw, trough and electric motor.

Conveyor Screw

It is the main component of a screw conveyor and this one contributes in making the solid materials push through the trough’s length. The conveyor screw is composed of a shaft with a blade running over lengthwise. The helically looking structure it forms is known as the flight.

Conveyor screws function similarly to enormous screws and the materials get transported in one pitch as these screws rotate in full movement. The axial distance between two flight crests determines the conveyor screw’s pitch.

The conveyor screw remains in its position without moving axially as it rotates to transport the material across its length. Based on the pitch design and their flight, there are different types of conveyor screws available.

Trough

The trough is the components where the screws of the conveyor screw is housed and plays the role of supporting the materials in bulk quantities when they are transported. The length of the trough is backed by either saddles or flanged feet.

Across the length of the trough, there’s a flat, rigid removable cover in order to protect the material in bulk quantities from dust, hazardous elements or any sort of contamination. The trough essentially offers access for bulk materials’ withdrawal and feeding.

The inlet of trough is linked with another device which helps in controlling or metering the material’s volume getting into the screw conveyor.

Electric Motor

The screw conveyor device is powered by an electric motor which is yet another vital component of this device. It is typically situated close to the trough discharge.

This arrangement enables the bulk materials to be naturally pulled toward the drive end and implements tension on the screw flights. It results in reduced wear of the screw conveyor’s components along with less fatigue to them.

Different Types of Screw Conveyors

Since this device has been in use since the dawn of time, it makes quite a sense that the screw conveyor design has gone through several iterations. This results in different types of screw conveyors available for application in industries.

Here are some of the different types of screw conveyors present in the market –

Horizontal Screw Conveyor

It is the most distributed type of screw conveyor because of its easy-to-use design and simple operations. Horizontal Screw Conveyors are capable of transporting 15 to 45% trough loading of materials.

Materials that are more viscous and sluggish have lower trough loading requirement whereas free-flowing and lightweight material can be fed with higher trough load.

Shaftless Screw Conveyor

Also known as the ribbon screw conveyor, this type of device is an enhanced version of a typical design. This advanced design enables flow of material not just through the auger but also around it.

Although this may feel like a small alteration, this design improvement makes a drastic difference in practice. It influences flexibility, range of conveyable materials, complexity and overall efficiency.

The shaftless screw conveyor is inherently non-clogging in nature and can enable transportation of materials without the requirement for internal bearings. The use of this type of screw conveyor is mostly observed for wastewater, food and chemical processing and other essential industrial applications.

There are other types of screw conveyors such as inclined screw conveyors, vertical screw conveyors and more.

Things to Consider When Selecting Screw Conveyors

If you are wondering how you can select the most suitable screw conveyor for your industrial application then here are some vital things that you need to consider.

The design and drive

As mentioned before there are quite a few designs for screws in this device and each of them has their own specific advantages. Some of the screw designs such as the paddled screw will help in extra mixing.

Whereas the short pitch screw design that is typically found in inclined screw conveyors aids in maintaining efficiency. This is why you need to determine the screw design based on the intended function you want to carry out.

Additionally, the design of the screw is pertinent to the drive as sufficient capacity must be there to pull out material from the auger. Hence, getting the suitable drive fitting with the screw shape will enable you to make the right choice for conveyors.

Capacity of Screw Conveyor

You need to consider the capacity of the screw conveyor, therefore, by calculating the material volume per hour that requires to be conveyed, the ideal trough loading capacity can be chosen.

Make sure to get in touch with an expert to make the right choice of screw conveyor for industrial application now.