scope:

General

Transfer equipment serves to unload and load belt conveyors.

The transfer of materials is an important element of the belt conveying process. The efficiency, functional reliability and the service life of a belt conveyor are largely determined by the design of the transfer equipment.

Each transfer of material entails a change in direction and speed of the materials flow.

A transfer station has to fulfil three principal tasks:

• discharging,
• deflecting, and
• feeding

of the material to be conveyed. Transfer equipment consists of the components linked with the feeding conveyor, i. e. the transfer point, and the components linked with the discharge conveyor, i. e. the feeding or receiving point.

A transfer station consists of the sliding or guiding devices linked with the discharge pulley, which guide the bulk material to the feeding point of the subsequent handling system.

Compared with the supporting structure of the conveying line, the supporting structure of a feeding point is reinforced or of special design, with various equipment options for the transfer equipment, ranging from standard idlers to spring-mounted garlands with impact idlers for shock absorption. Lateral guiding devices of many different designs are used to guide and steady the belt.

In order to protect the belt conveyor and the material to be conveyed and also to minimise power consumption, a transfer station needs to meet the following requirements:

• deflection of the material flow in parallel with the new conveying direction wherever possible
• feeding of the material from a low height of drop and with little difference between the speeds of the discharging and the receiving belt conveyors or conveying means
• protection of the material to be conveyed and of the plant components involved against impact and abrasion
• avoidance of material choking