Grain silos have long graced the landscapes of farming communities throughout many regions in the world. This is the place where the farmers can bring the product they grow and have it stored for use later. Two concerns that the silo operators have is knowing when to stop adding more grain, and knowing how much is left inside when they are withdrawing it for use. The main types of measuring devices are the tilt switch and the rotary paddle grain bin level indicators.
One kind is the Tilt Switch model. These are dropped using a cable into the silo. One should be aware that using an electrical cable could present a serious problem from occurring. The particles of the grain can be very explosive and can ignite from a single spark. An electrical cable increases the chance a spark can happen.
The three tilt switches that are used are the mechanical, mercury, and solid state types. The mechanical one uses a metal ball that sits on top of a trigger. When the trigger is pushed down the filling process will continue, but when the ball rolls over the filling will stop. This is placed at a level that the operator does not want the material to go past.
The mercury based models function is much the same way as they mechanical ones. The product being put into the structure will reach a certain level and cause the mercury device to tilt. When this happens the trigger is activated to make the filling process stop until the trigger is pressed down again.
One should maintain an awareness of the condition of the mercury based models. This is a highly toxic metal that can cause serious harm to humans and animals who come into direct contact with it. If this should ever leak onto the product being stored, then that product may have to be thrown away.
The solid state units work like the other types. There have been drawbacks in using this kind and have kept it from becoming very popular. Essentially, it is very costly to install and maintain and people would rather avoid using this when they can use one of the others.
The Rotary Paddle models work very differently than the tilt switch types. These have an actual paddle at the end of the device that hangs down into the silo. The paddle will keep on spinning as product is poured in. When the material gets high enough it will stop the paddle from spinning around. This will shut the unit down and keep it from becoming overfilled.
Making sure silos do not get overfilled with product is a concern many operators have when they are filling the silos up. There are a few different ways these operators can make sure this does not happen by using grain bin level indicators. These will serve to stop the process when triggers are activated and shut off the process.
One kind is the Tilt Switch model. These are dropped using a cable into the silo. One should be aware that using an electrical cable could present a serious problem from occurring. The particles of the grain can be very explosive and can ignite from a single spark. An electrical cable increases the chance a spark can happen.
The three tilt switches that are used are the mechanical, mercury, and solid state types. The mechanical one uses a metal ball that sits on top of a trigger. When the trigger is pushed down the filling process will continue, but when the ball rolls over the filling will stop. This is placed at a level that the operator does not want the material to go past.
The mercury based models function is much the same way as they mechanical ones. The product being put into the structure will reach a certain level and cause the mercury device to tilt. When this happens the trigger is activated to make the filling process stop until the trigger is pressed down again.
One should maintain an awareness of the condition of the mercury based models. This is a highly toxic metal that can cause serious harm to humans and animals who come into direct contact with it. If this should ever leak onto the product being stored, then that product may have to be thrown away.
The solid state units work like the other types. There have been drawbacks in using this kind and have kept it from becoming very popular. Essentially, it is very costly to install and maintain and people would rather avoid using this when they can use one of the others.
The Rotary Paddle models work very differently than the tilt switch types. These have an actual paddle at the end of the device that hangs down into the silo. The paddle will keep on spinning as product is poured in. When the material gets high enough it will stop the paddle from spinning around. This will shut the unit down and keep it from becoming overfilled.
Making sure silos do not get overfilled with product is a concern many operators have when they are filling the silos up. There are a few different ways these operators can make sure this does not happen by using grain bin level indicators. These will serve to stop the process when triggers are activated and shut off the process.
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