In Memorial : Dr. Harold Wright

United Kingdom -- It is with regret that we announce the death of Dr. Harold Wright, director of Dr. H Wright & Associates, a consulting engineering company involved with the storage, handling, transport and processing of bulk solids.

Recently, Harold has been the secretary of the MHEA (Materials Handling Engineers Association) and was one of the main driving forces behind the successful series of MHEA Bulk Technical Awareness Seminars held each year in the UK and was involved up until his illness with this year’s event to be held at the Hilton Blackpool Hotel on the 23 - 24 April 2009.

He is also vice chairman of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Process Industries Board and over the last 25 years has chaired the IMechE's Bulk Materials Handling Committee several times.

It can be safely said that Harold was one of the more memorable characters of the industry, rumbustious and challenging if you ever had dealings with him, but always enthusiastic and supportive if a particular development had to be taken forward.

His career began in the heyday of the UK’s steel industry with Ashmore Benson Pease/Davy Ashmore, at the time one of the UK's largest plant design contractors. In 1966 he joined BISRA (British Iron & Steel Research Association) as a Senior Scientific Officer in the Raw Materials Handling Section of the newly formed Teesside Research Laboratories and was mentored by such industry luminaries as Sir Charles Goodeve FRS, Dr George Wistreich DSc and Herbert Wilkinson BSc.

In 1970, under the tutorship of Dr JC Williams, he obtained his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Bradford for work relating to the silo design theories of Dr Andrew Jenike. He spent seventeen years with BISRA/BSC as a specialist plant engineer solving problems in belt conveying, crushing, screening and test sieving, segregation, degradation and silo design and latterly became Head of Materials Handling at the Teesside Laboratories.

Taking the expertise he had built up there, he set up his own consulting engineering company in 1983, providing clients with practical, operations orientated, experience from conceptual design through to commissioning on projects associated with storage, handling, transport and processing of bulk materials. He is the author of over 50 technical papers in the field of bulk materials handling and has given presentations in the UK, Belgium, China, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and USA.

He has authored eight ISBN publications covering topics such as bunker design, flow aids, degradation and segregation, screening and test sieving theory and practice, coal handling and rules of thumb in bulk handling.

His specialization in storage systems has made him responsible for over 170 projects for clients in the UK and overseas and he was Leader of the BSI's UK Delegation in the period 1990 - 2000 on the European Union (EU) CEN - TC 148 - WG4 (prEN 617) Standards Committee involved with BS EN 617:2001 - Continuous handling equipment and systems - Safety and EMC requirements for the equipment for the storage of bulk materials in silos, bunkers, bins and hoppers. In June 2003, Harold produced the first Draft of BS 8439 Continuous handling equipment and systems - Guide to properties of powders and bulk materials.

One of his career highlights was to be awarded the IMech's prestigious Solids Handling Award for lifetime service in the field of handling, transport, physical processing and storage of bulk and powdered materials. His demonstrative personality will be sadly missed by family, friends and colleagues alike.

Courtesy: Powder Reporter

Free : Malvern Laser Diffraction Masterclass Series

Malvern, UK -- Starting in January, Malvern Instruments begins a new series of its popular web-based laser diffraction masterclasses.

With participation free of charge, these live events are delivered as a service to all users of laser diffraction particle sizing systems and aim to provide support from basic principles to advanced applications.

The web seminars are also recorded and subsequently made available as free downloads from the Malvern website.  Each class is given by one of Malvern’s laser diffraction specialists and currently seven topics are planned for 2009 covering:

• Demystifying particle size measurements
• Achieving reproducible particle size measurements
• Optical property selection made easy
• Validation of laser diffraction methods
• Setting realistic and meaningful product specifications
• What to do when things have gone wrong
• Comparison of light scattering and image analysis techniques

Paul Kippax, Product Manager for Laser Diffraction Systems at Malvern, is pleased with the positive feedback from around the world that has influenced the further development of the masterclass series.

“More than 500 people benefited from the live masterclasses in 2008, with many more taking advantage of being able to download the recorded events,” he said.

“We anticipate even more take-up for 2009, with laser diffraction users in all industries telling us that the web-based technical and applications support pioneered by Malvern is an increasingly important and convenient part of the mix, complementing the activities of our specialists on the ground and the global support available via our helpdesks.”

Full details of the scope of each masterclass are available on the Malvern website and registration is free.

Source: http://www.malvern.com/

Rotex featured in CBS Sunday Morning story

Cincinnati, OH -- Recently, the Rotex® Screener from Rotex Global, LLC, was featured in the CBS News Sunday Morning story, “The History of Salt, In a Pinch.”

Rotex Screeners feature a unique gyratory-reciprocating motion and an aggressive screen mesh cleaning system that is ideal for salt applications. The highly efficient design of the Rotex Screener also serves hundreds of other applications throughout many industries.

Rotex Screeners provide rapid distribution, stratification, and separation of particles through the gyratory-reciprocating motion of the near-horizontal screen surface. Designed to maintain efficiency and capacity, the positive screen mesh cleaning system contains bouncing balls to keep screen openings clear and aid particle stratification.

The unique gyratory-reciprocating motion begins with a horizontal circular motion at the feed end that immediately spreads the material across the full width of the screen, maximizing screen use. The circular motion gradually diminishes along the length of the machine to an elliptical path, and finally to a nearly straight-line motion at the discharge end.

This motion allows the machine to process material at a high capacity and improves screening performance with near-size material. There is no vertical component to this motion, thus keeping the material in constant contact with the screen surface.

The corrosion-resistant design and construction withstands even abrasive applications, including mined salt, road salt, water softener pellets, and edible salts. Dynamic Absorber drives are designed for long-term, trouble-free service with minimal maintenance. A sliding inlet connection eliminates the need for regular replacement of connecting sleeves.

Rotex Screener models range from one to five screen surfaces for separations from 1/2 inch to 325 mesh. All screener models include completely enclosed positive sealing, stainless steel contact parts, automatic tensioning, and patented spring actuated clamps.

Rotex offers innovative design features developed for hundreds of applications across many industries. Options include sanitary designs, special inlets and outlets, two-deck independently fed screen decks, high-temperature construction, abrasion-resistant linings, floor mounting or cable suspension, and several other options to suit the application.

The recently introduced Apex™ Screener incorporates the same gyratory-reciprocating motion and efficiency performance of the Rotex Screener. In addition, the APEX features such ergonomic features as side access to screens and ball trays. The result is the screener can be maintained efficiently by one person, resulting in increased production up-time.

Source: http://www.rotex.com/

Prater-Sterling’s new "M-Series" Fine Grinder

Bolingbrook, IL -- Prater-Sterling has developed the M-Series fine grinder for grinding dry, free flowing material as fine as 200 mesh (75 microns) with very tight distribution of particle size.

It is best suited for heat-sensitive materials such as resins, sugar, and powder coatings. Utilizing a high-speed impact principle, the feed material is metered into the center of the mill where it is impacted by the rotor.

The feed material is then thrown outward where it impacts with other particles, aiding in the reduction process. After initial impact, particles are projected across the screen and are sheared between the blades of the rotor and the sizing screen or jaws.

This action continues until the particles are properly sized and are discharged through the bottom of the mill.

Precision tolerances are maintained between the rotor blades and the stationary grinding surfaces to allow for accurate control of finished particle size and distribution.

For more information contact:
Prater-Sterling
2 Sammons Court
Bolingbrook, IL 60440
Telephone: 630-759-9595 or toll-free 800-323-5735
Fax: 630-759-6099
Email: info@prater-sterling.com 
Web site: http://www.prater-sterling.com/

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Oystar offers new Fluid Bed Dryer-Granulator-Coater Oystar USA offers the Huttlin HDGC Fluid Bed Dryer-Granulator-Coater enabling all functions to be performed in one product container.

CEMA : Equipment Sales Down 32% in December
The December 2008 Index represents a decrease of 32% from the December 2007 Index of 133.

Bulk Bag Fillers-By-Weight available from Spiroflow New bulk bag fillers-by-weight from Spiroflow systems provides an ideal solution for users wishing to fill bags by weight.

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Mr. Livni needs capacity calculations for shaftless screw:

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Mr. Berridge needs help mounting an airside for hot product:

I am looking for a typical detail for airslide supports when conveying a hot material (hot ash)? I’m thinking I need to accommodate the movement due to heat expansion and cold contraction.

I thought I could hang the support with a pivot connect to accommodate the movement. My client wants to attach the support to the top cover of the airslide so that the bottom pan can be removed easily.

Has anyone done this type of support with an expansion allowance before?.
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Thanks,
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River Consulting LLC
aberridge@riverconsulting.com

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We are touched by the loss of Dr. Harold Wright.  Harold was a fan of Powder and Bulk Dot Com and this newsletter, from its earliest days.  I want to express our deepest sympathies for his family and loved ones in their time of loss.

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Assessing Loads on Silos and other Bulk Storage Structures:  Research Applied to Practice
by Geoffrey E. Blight
Hardcover, 264 pages, 2006

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Advanced Drying Technologies
Second Edition
by T. Kudra and A. Mujumdar
Hardcover, 520 pages, 2009

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Bulk Material Handling
by Conveyor Belt 7
by Mark Alspaugh, editor
Paperback: 108 pages, 2008

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Find more books for the materials handling professional online, visit our Reading Room.

"Spider Diagrams" :
A novel way of predicting Powder Flow
Guest article by E. McGee, Ajax Equipment and D. McGlinchey, Glasgow Caledonian University

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This weeks photo is of Watsontown Brick's new grinding room process takes hard shale from their quarry to an apron feeder and a scalping screen and then conveys the shale to a Stedman Grand Slam impactor. The shale goes to finishing screens, is conveyed to two 100-ton silos.

Photo courtesy of Innovative Processing Solutions.

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