CASE STUDY: MARTIN ENGINEERING, BRAZIL

Safer and more durable transfer chutes

Martin Engineering used EDEM software from ESSS to reduce the impact between the mineral ore and the
conveyor, thereby reducing wear problems and increasing in-service life

artin Engineering is always on the look-out for cleaner, safer and

more productive bulk material handling solutions. One of the
engineering tools that Martin Engineering is using is the Discrete
Element Software, EDEM. This is used in the engineering design of transfer chutes
and in the loading of railroad cars and silos for the mining company, VALE.

Objectives

To minimize breakage and degradation problems in the transported material.

To produce a more consistent flow of ore in the conveyor belts.

To reduce the wear and tear on the conveyor belt due to mechanical

impacts from the ore.

Material dispersion

Initial Design: Mineral ore dispersion caused by the deflector.

Solutions
Martin Engineering in Brazil used EDEM to predict the flow behavior of ore
through one of its transfer chutes and to design a new conveying system that
generates a consistent and compact flow of material with reduced impact
between mineral ore and conveyor.

Benefits
The analyses performed by Martin Engineering reduced the impact force of
the mineral ore on the conveyor belt by more than 40%. This effectively
reduced the degradation in the transported material and increased the inservice life of the equipment.

InitialDesign: Impact on the belt isperpendicular.

Initial Design: Impact force on the conveyor belt.

New Design: Perpendicular impact on the belt is New Design: Impact force on the conveyor belt was
eliminated.
reduced by more than 40%.

- Simulation, analysis and visualization of particulate systems

Developed by the British company DEM Solutions, and exclusively
distributed to the South American market by ESSS, EDEM
is capable of simulating processes and equipments involved in the
transport and handling of particulate and granular materials.

Aligned and
continuous flow

New Design: After optimization, the new design generates a

more aligned and consistent flow.

EDEM allows the design engineer to

predict the behavior of the mineral
ore through the transfer chute. It is
easy to change the geometry and
come up with new designs to obtain
consistent material flow that is
aligned with the conveyor belt. This
ultimately means reduced impact on
the conveying equipment and
reduced wear thus increasing the
estimated in-service life of the
equipment.

Identifying the peak impact loads of

the mineral ore going throughthe
transfer chute allows us to reduce
the amount of protective coating
necessary and hence, the
manufacturing costs. Moreover,
we are able to better understand
the flow of the material and make
necessary adjustments to minimize
mineral stagnation, thereby allowing
us to reduce the 'rock box' size and
to design lighter equipment.

Project Coordinator
Martin Engineering, Brazil