In large bulk material storage areas such as sand and gravel yards, mines, ports, and power plants, have you ever encountered such problems: relying on loaders to repeatedly transfer and stack materials, with low operational efficiency, high labor and fuel costs, and difficult utilization of the storage space?
The stacker conveyor is a core equipment specifically designed for continuous material distribution and storage. It integrates a belt conveyor, adjustable height, rotating, movable, and extendable structure, capable of stably handling various bulk materials such as sand, coal, and grains.
This article will take you through the complete operation process, internal structure, and core advantages of the EXCT Stacker Conveyor, helping you understand how this equipment achieves automated stacking.
The stacker conveyor is an efficient material distribution equipment. It adopts a belt conveyor and a movable, adjustable structure design. After trucks unload various bulk materials such as sand, coal, and grains at the equipment's feed end, the equipment continuously transports the materials through the belt's continuous rotation, and can flexibly adjust the height and conveying angle of the body according to the storage requirements, stacking the materials precisely at the designated position to form a material pile. It can also directly transfer and load onto vehicles.
The EXCT stacker conveyor is flexible in movement and stable in continuous operation, effectively improving the efficiency of bulk material storage and transfer, reducing labor and mechanical transfer costs, and is widely used in large mines, ports, sand and gravel yards, cement plants, power plants, and other bulk material operation scenarios.
How Does a Stacker Conveyor Work?
The entire material stacking operation of the stacker conveyor is a process of multiple mechanisms working together. Let's break it down stage by stage to understand the complete process of material stacking.
Material Reception
After the operation begins, the front feed inlet is responsible for receiving the materials.
The materials can come from loaders, front feeders, or upstream belt conveyors. They fall onto the carrying section of the main conveyor belt and officially enter the conveying process.
Continuous Material Transportation
Driven by the motor and reducer, the rollers drive the belt to continuously rotate.
The troughing idlers support the belt to maintain the trough shape, reducing material spillage. The materials are smoothly transported along the boom, achieving continuous and uninterrupted feeding throughout the process, which is the key reason for its higher efficiency compared to loader stacking.
Material Adjustment
This is the core step for the stacker conveyor to achieve flexible distribution, involving three key adjustment actions.
- Hydraulic Lifting Adjustment: Using the hydraulic lifting mechanism to adjust the boom angle, changing the height and conveying angle of the discharge outlet, thereby achieving layered stacking, with the maximum stacking height reaching 20 meters.
- Rotation Action: The boom can rotate around the rotation center, and the discharge point moves radially along the circumference, forming a fan-shaped or circular material pile in the storage area.
- Extension Action: Equipped with an extendable belt device, it expands the discharge coverage radius without moving the entire machine. When fully extended, the working length of the equipment can reach 60 meters, significantly reducing the frequency of machine relocation.
Forming and Stacking
The coordinated actions of amplitude, rotation, and extension mechanisms continuously discharge materials to the designated area.
The materials are stacked layer by layer, achieving layered stacking and material pile shaping, maximizing the utilization of the vertical storage space, and forming neatly and standardized piles.
Machine Relocation
After one area of material stacking is completed, you can control the walking system to move the entire machine, opening a new storage area and continuing the stacking operation.
Stacker Conveyor Structure
The entire Stacker Conveyor system consists of five major systems, each performing its own function to ensure stable material stacking operations.
Conveying System
The conveying system is the carrier for material transfer, and it includes several key components:
- Drive Pulley: Transmits power and drives the belt to move continuously.
- Bend Pulley: Changes the direction of the belt, forming a closed loop.
- Troughing Idlers: Support the belt in the carrying section, maintaining the trough shape and preventing material spillage.
- Return Idlers: Support the belt in the empty return section.
- Conveyor Belt: The main load-bearing medium for bulk materials.
Boom Conveyor System
The boom is referred to as the "spine" of the stacker.
It is generally constructed using a truss structure or box-type beam structure to support the belt, idlers, and telescopic mechanism, and to bear the main load during material stacking operations.
Slewing System
The slewing system is responsible for driving the boom to rotate around the pivot point.
This mechanism enables the discharge point to move radially, achieving fan-shaped distribution and creating a continuous material pile over a large area.
Traveling System
The traveling system determines the mobility of the equipment and is divided into three mainstream chassis schemes. You can choose based on your own site conditions:
- Fixed Type: Installed on concrete foundations or steel platforms, suitable for fixed material yards that do not need relocation for a long time.
- Wheeled Type: Equipped with a tire chassis, can be towed by a tractor, suitable for small and medium-sized material yards and rental projects.
- Self-moving Tracked Type: Tracked chassis, with its own traveling capability, strong climbing performance, capable of adapting to rough terrain, suitable for mines and quarries, and can be used in conjunction with mobile crushing stations.
Electrical Control System
The electrical control system is the "brain" of the entire equipment.
It is responsible for controlling various actions such as driving, rotation, slewing, and traveling, integrates safety interlock protection functions, and supports remote monitoring to ensure the safety of long-term continuous operation.
Why Use Stacker Conveyor?
Choosing a stacker conveyor can optimize your material yard operations from multiple dimensions such as process, cost, and environmental protection.
Multi-purpose Use
You can use it as a connection between belt conveyors, as a feeding device for downstream processing equipment; or as a material stacking machine in the material yard to complete the material storage operation.
Large Processing Capacity
The equipment can handle up to 5,000 tons per hour, meeting the requirements for large-scale bulk material storage and stacking.
The telescopic belt device can extend the boom length, expand the material stacking coverage area, and reduce the overall machine movement. The maximum stacking height is approximately 20 meters, and the working length can reach up to 60 meters when fully extended, fully exploiting the vertical space of the material yard.
Cost Reduction in Operation
In a complete production line, EXCT stacker conveyor can directly receive the incoming materials from the upstream equipment and complete the material stacking in one step.
There is no need for repeated transportation by wheel loaders, reducing the investment in loaders and manpower, directly lowering the on-site operation costs.
Adaptation to Complex Working Conditions
You can freely choose the driving method based on the site power supply conditions.
The equipment supports electric drive and can also integrate a diesel generator. It can operate normally in both factory areas with stable external power supply and in mining sites without power supply.
Environmental Protection
You can choose to equip noise reduction and dust prevention devices.
It can significantly reduce operational noise, suppress dust, meet environmental protection control requirements, and create a safer working environment for on-site staff.
The Stacker Conveyor relies on multiple mechanisms such as belt transportation, hydraulic extension, rotation, telescoping, and movement to achieve automated continuous stacking of bulk materials.
Compared to traditional loader loading schemes, it can significantly improve loading efficiency, reduce the need for secondary material transportation, and lower long-term operating costs. It is the core equipment for large bulk material storage yards to achieve efficient material distribution.
Are you planning to renovate the storage yard, build a new bulk material production line, or want to replace the traditional loader loading scheme? If so, please contact our technical team. We can customize a specific loading scheme based on your material type, storage yard size, processing capacity, and site power supply conditions, and provide equipment selection suggestions and condition assessment. Contact us immediately to get a one-on-one technical solution!
