IAC products

IAC is at the forefront of design and construction for automated dry bulk storage systems and transload facilities. Customers praise our commonsense approach to creating systems that move and store their product quickly, safely, and with minimal or no loss.

Materials crushing, milling, and screening operations can be major sources of airborne dust due to the inherent nature of size reduction and segregation processes. Control of dust generated by these operations can be achieved with proper analysis of the sources, identification of appropriate control technologies, and consistent application and maintenance of selected controls.

There are numerous types of equipment used at processing operations to transfer material from one location to another. The material being transferred can range from raw unprocessed ore to fully processed, finished product. Each material transfer methodology has its own strengths and weaknesses. Proper selection of the correct type of equipment is a function of the specific application, taking into account the material to be transferred, transfer distance, and nature of the transfer (i.e. horizontal, vertical, incline or decline).

Screw conveyors are one of the oldest and simplest methods for moving bulk materials. They consist of a conveyor screw rotating in a stationary trough. Material placed in the trough is moved along its length by rotation of the screw. Screw conveyors can be mounted horizontally, vertically, and in inclined configurations.

A typical bucket elevator consists of a series of buckets mounted on a chain or belt that operates overhead mounted on head and tail pulleys. The buckets are loaded by scooping up material from the boot (bottom) or by feeding material into the buckets. Material is discharged as the bucket passes over the head pulley. A steel casing usually encloses the entire assembly and effectively contains dust unless there are holes or openings in the casings.  Dust emissions typically occur at the boot of the elevator where material is being fed into the elevator or at the head of the elevator where material is being discharged.

Pneumatic conveyors are tubes or pipes through which material is moved by pressure or vacuum (suction) systems. Positive pressure systems can be either dilute or dense phases.

A storage vessel is considered as consisting of a bin and a hopper. A bin is the upper section of the vessel and has vertical sides. The hopper, which has at least one sloping side, is the section between the bin and the outlet of the vessel. Although a mass-flow bin is usually preferable to a funnel-flow vessel, the additional investment generally required must be justified. Often, this can be done by the reduced operating costs. But when installation space is limited, a compromise must be made, such as providing a special hopper design and sometimes even a feeder.

Stockpiles and open areas are common at many mining, quarrying, timber and grain handling sites. There are generally two types of stockpiles: long-term and short-term. A long-term stockpile undergoes no disturbance to the pile over a long time period (several months or more). Short-term stockpiles could consist of product or material that is being stored temporarily until it is used in a process.  Surge piles are common short-term stockpiles.

Often there are situations in which mass-flow bins cannot be installed for reasons such as space limitations and capacity requirements and bridging takes place, and unassisted mass flow is not possible. To handle these situations, a number of flow assisters are available, the most desirable of which use a feeder and a short mass-flow hopper to enlarge the flow channel of a funnel-flow bin. The following are usually as effective as the mass-flow types.