Elevator buckets

Appointment

Buckets for elevators are important elements of grain harvesting and grain processing machines. Buckets for elevators are an essential part of the equipment for belt elevators and elevators.

The bucket of the elevator is designed for capturing, lifting, as well as vertical movement and unloading of grain or other bulk materials.

Characteristic

Buckets are made from a variety of materials, including metal and plastic. However, recently polymer buckets have become increasingly popular due to their strength, lightness and corrosion resistance.

Buckets are attached to the belt with special bolts, which have a flat head with two spikes on the inside. This prevents the bolt from turning when the nut is tightened. Depending on the width, the buckets are attached to the belt at a certain interval (step) with two, three or four bolts with washers and two nuts. Near the mounting holes, the buckets have a recess into which, when clamped, the flat head of the bolt fits flush with the belt, which does not create additional resistance when the belt moves along the drum.

On belts with a width of more than 600 mm, buckets are arranged in two rows in a checkerboard pattern. When scooping the product, large-width buckets are subject to significant forces and some belt braking (pulsation) will occur. When the buckets are staggered in two rows, the pulsation is smoothed out and its negative impact is reduced.

Buckets are subject to requirements for maximum filling with product and its complete pouring (during unloading) through the unloading pipe; seamless buckets easily cope with this task. 

Metal buckets

The main metal is carbon stainless steel. Wear products can be easily removed from such products. A solid-drawn bucket has smooth rounded shapes, i.e. does not have “hubs” wear and eliminates grain sticking.

UKZ-10

UKZ-20

UKZ-50

UKZ-100

UKZ-175

Reinforced metal bucket

Metal buckets without bottom

To increase the productivity of elevators, buckets without a bottom are used, as well as buckets with a specially designed bottom. Buckets without a bottom are a truncated quadrangular pyramid, open at the top and bottom.

Every 10…15 buckets without a bottom, one bucket with a flat bottom is installed to ensure stable operation of the elevator at low loads and to speed up the cleaning of the shoe when changing the transported product.

When the product is lifted, a kind of grain column is formed on the belt. As experience in operating elevators with buckets without a bottom has shown, their productivity increases by approximately 1.3…1.6 times.

Polymer buckets MASTU

Used for moving grain, seeds, flour, bran, meal, malt, tea, wood fuel pellets (pellets), mineral fertilizers, metal shot, ceramic proppants and other bulk products.

Polymer buckets have a number of advantages over their metal counterparts. They are lighter, which reduces the load on the conveyor and increases its productivity, there is no sparking, minimal noise level during use, the transported substances are not damaged in transit, wet and difficult-to-flow substances practically do not stick to the surface of the container. In addition, they are more resistant to corrosion and various chemicals, which extends the life of the elevator and prevents possible downtime.

One of the main advantages of polymer buckets is their environmental friendliness. They do not contain harmful substances that can pollute the environment when disposed of. In addition, polymer materials can be recycled and used to make new buckets, reducing waste and helping to conserve natural resources.

Advantages of polymer buckets

• Prevents the occurrence of a spark when the edge of the bucket touches the elevator pipe.
• Reduce injury to grain and seeds.
• Eliminates sticking of hard-to-flow and wet products.
• Reduce energy consumption.
• They reduce the mechanical load on the elevator belt and increase its service life.
• Minimum noise level.
• Operating temperature from -400C to +600C.
• They are resistant to corrosion and various chemicals, which extends the service life of the elevator and prevents possible downtime.

It should be taken into account that polymer buckets may have a higher cost compared to metal ones. This may be due to the fact that the production of polymer materials requires more costs for equipment and raw materials. In addition, some polymer materials may have lower strength, which may reduce their effectiveness in heavy-duty applications.

Advantages of metal buckets

High strength and durability.

They tolerate high temperatures well and can work with more abrasive materials.

However, metal buckets can be more expensive to manufacture and require more care as they are susceptible to corrosion. In addition, they may be less environmentally friendly because they may contain harmful substances that pollute the environment when disposed of.