Silo Discharge Method Using Suspended Rack Rail and Worker Scaffold
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Granular powders stored in hollow structures like silos often become fixed due to weight and environmental factors, preventing proper discharge through the bottom discharge port, leading to issues like rat holes and bridges that hinder first-in first-out discharge and cause deterioration.
Innovation Solution
A method involving suspending a rack rail into the silo from the ceiling, building a work scaffold, and using a safety-belted worker to break down the fixed granular powder, creating a passage for discharge, and gradually extending the rack rail to facilitate safe and complete discharge.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If granular powder is stored in a silo, then storage capacity is improved, but the powder becomes fixed and cannot be discharged properly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by forming a passage (rat hole) from the bottom discharge port upward through the stored granular powder before discharge problems occur. This passage is created in advance to prevent the powder from becoming completely fixed, enabling future discharge operations to proceed smoothly without requiring manual intervention to break bridges or arches.
2Productivity
If the silo bottom discharge port is formed in a funnel shape, then discharge efficiency is improved, but the upper portion becomes fixed in an arch shape (bridge)
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the taking out principle by extracting material from the problematic arch/bridge region. A passage is formed upward from the discharge port through the powder, effectively removing a vertical column of powder that would otherwise form bridges. This extracted passage prevents the formation of arches over the discharge port while maintaining the funnel shape for efficient discharge.
3Ease of operation
If a worker manually breaks down fixed granular powder, then discharge is achieved, but worker safety is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-forming a vertical passage (rat hole) from the discharge port upward through the stored powder before workers need to manually break down bridges. This passage is created using a long rod or similar tool inserted from the bottom and rotated or pushed upward. Once the passage exists, workers can safely operate from the top without risk of sudden bridge collapse, as the passage provides a controlled breakdown path.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses an intermediary tool (long rod, passage-forming device) to mediate between the worker and the fixed powder. Instead of workers directly confronting unstable bridges, the intermediary tool creates a stable passage first, which then serves as a safe pathway for subsequent manual breakdown operations. This intermediary structure eliminates the direct safety hazard of working under unstable powder arches.
4Quantity of substance
If new granular powder is charged into the silo, then storage is maintained, but the first-in first-out principle cannot be performed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by maintaining an open passage from the discharge port upward through the stored powder. This passage ensures that newly charged powder from the top flows directly down through the passage to the discharge port, preventing the formation of rat holes that would trap older powder. The continuous passage enables automatic first-in first-out discharge without manual intervention, as new powder naturally displaces and pushes out older powder through the pre-formed pathway.
Data Source
AI summary
A rack rail is suspended into a silo from an opening formed in a ceiling portion of the silo and a lifting body is lowered into the silo along the rack rail from the opening. A work scaffold is built on the lifting body using a part carried into the silo from the opening, a worker connected to the work scaffold with a safety belt pokes and breaks down a granular powder in a state where a discharge port of a silo bottom portion is closed, the poked and broken down granular powder drops to a rat hole (or boring hole), the worker connected to the work scaffold with the safety belt adds a rack rail in a state where the rat hole is blocked with the granular powder, the discharge port is opened to discharge the granular powder stored in the passage, and then the work scaffold is lowered to the added rack rail.