Swiss Aluminium Ltd.

Walter Merz

Hans Friedli

Conveying device for transportation of flowable materials

A conduit for transporting finely-divided or fine-granular, dry bulk materials comprises a material conveyance zone and a zone for introducing the fluidizing medium separated from the first mentioned zone by a material which is permeable to gas and fluids. This conduit comprises at least one each of a closed feeder channel, a closed fluidizing channel and between these a fluidizing base. It runs approximately horizontal. In and/or above the fluidizing base are impeller nozzles with at least one outlet opening for a gaseous or fluid impeller medium. The fluidizing medium is introduced into the feeder channel/feeder channels at a positive pressure of 100-500 mm water column and the impeller medium at a positive pressure of 700-1500 mm water column.

Conduit for transporting finely-divided or fine-granular, dry bulk

A device for loading containers that are open or can be vented, containers for fine particulate materials, said device being part of a pneumatic conveyance system, in particular such a system using dense layer transportation, where the said device comprises essentially a tube-shaped casing, a lifting element, a closing element and a lifting rod which connects the lifting and closing elements and enables the distance between these elements to be varied. The combined weight of the part of the lifting element, that can be moved in the axial direction (A), the closing element and the lifting rod is greater than the elastic force of the lifting element but is smaller than the product of the difference between areas (F.sub.H) and (F.sub.M) and the positive pressure in the supply line acting on the lifting element. The distance (h) of the closing element from the lower edge of the casing is smaller than the stroke of the lifting element. The device can be employed on an alumina silo for charging fused salt electrolytic cells used in the production of aluminum, on a plastic powder silo, a cement silo or a quartz silo for foundries.

Device for loading containers for particulate materials and the use

Compressed air is introduced into a feed pipe system for transporting powdery or granular material in order to promote dense flow conditions. Variable or fixed size restrictions with decreasing size of blocking surface in the direction of the material flow equalize the amount of air entering the feed pipe along its entire length. The compressed air is introduced into the feed pipe through porous materials positioned at least in the region of the restrictions.

Conveyance system for transporting powdery or granular material

Device and process for automatic, process-controlled feeding of electrolytic cells for producing aluminum. Besides a low degree of wear on the feed pipes, a fast and accurate feeding of fluxing agents to a particular cell is assured.

Device for feeding electrolytic cells and method of operating the said

A pneumatic device for unloading cargoes of particulate materials from ships' holds is described in which inside a length of pipe, which sucks the material out of the hold and is principally in the horizontal position, there is at least one fluidizing base which transports the material further and into a silo. The fluidizing or transporting base can be selected to match the requirements for efficient transportation of different kinds of particulate material.

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Kusnacht, Switzerland

Walter Merz