Chute Edition™ by Overland Conveyor Company is specialized software based upon the Discrete Element Method and developed for the simulation of belt conveyor transfer chute performance. With Chute Edition™, users can take advantage of the benefits Virtual Prototyping has to offer to particle flow system analysis. Users can evaluate chute design concepts by creating an assortment of simulations using different material size ranges, chute materials, belt speeds, flow rates, and other factors. Users can observe the results of these simulations to:
- Identify the locations within a chute where plugging occurs and the conditions that cause plugs
- Compare design concepts to reduce wear on expensive conveyor belt
- Locate/accommodate wear points in chute
- Ensure on-center loading of material on a belt and to predict the shape of the material profile
- Identify locations in the flow where air-entrainment occurs, to prevent dust dispersion
- Reduce the occurrence of “splashing” and spillage
- Minimize material degradation and dust creation
Using Chute Edition™’s intuitive interface, users first create a project in which to store all the information for the system being studied. The system could be a transfer chute or feeder and all the design concepts involved. The Chute Edition™ interface gives the user easy access to their most recent projects.
Next, users create “components” which perform a specific role in the system model. Components include Chutes, Discharge Belts, Injection Boxes (where particles are created), and Material Conditions. Chute Edition™ allows the user to collect surface data for components such as Chutes or Belts through
Watch Video interactionwith AutoCAD or by importing a DXF file that has been prepared for
that purpose.
The next step is to create a Simulation. Simulations are a collection of components that represent the system operating under certain conditions. For example, two simulations can be created that differ only by the material flow rate simply by choosing a different injection box in each.
The last step in the process is to evaluate results. Chute Edition™ allows our users to create many simulations and add them to a queue for sequential processing. Users can queue many simulations before leaving work for the day, and return to work the following morning to find much of the processing done. Once processed, our DEMView software lets users visualize the results. DEMView shows the user the position of each particle in the system at any point during the simulation time-line. Particles can be colour coded according to velocity, pressure, or size to help identify issues.
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