Question Bank • QB_APE_EXP_032 NAT • 2 Marks

Section 6: Agricultural Process Engineering

Size Reduction and Material Handling

Subtopic: Fluidization of granular solids – pneumatic, bucket, screw and belt conveying

Question Statement:

A vertical bucket elevator has buckets spaced $0.30\text{ m}$ apart along the belt. The belt speed is $1.80\text{ m/s}$ and each bucket has a struck volume of $1.5\text{ liters}$ with a filling coefficient of $80\%$. If grain bulk density is $800\text{ kg/m}^3$, the capacity of the bucket elevator in tonnes per hour ($\text{t/h}$) is ________ (round off to 2 decimal places).

Answer Key:

20.74

Step-by-Step Solution & Explanation

1. Buckets discharged per second $n_b$: $n_b = \frac{v}{S_b} = \frac{1.80\text{ m/s}}{0.30\text{ m}} = 6.0\text{ buckets/s}$ 2. Volume carried per bucket $V_b = 1.5\text{ L} \times 0.80 = 1.20\text{ L} = 0.0012\text{ m}^3$. 3. Volumetric capacity $\dot{V} = 6.0 \times 0.0012 = 0.0072\text{ m}^3\text{/s}$. 4. Mass capacity in $\text{t/h}$: $\dot{m} = 0.0072\text{ m}^3\text{/s} \times 800\text{ kg/m}^3 \times \frac{3600\text{ s/h}}{1000\text{ kg/t}} = 5.76 \times 3.6 = 20.736\text{ t/h} \approx 20.74\text{ t/h}$
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