Z-type bucket elevator for feed industry materials

Monday April-21 2025  15:50:09

Z-type bucket elevator for feed industry materials is a low-damage, closed, three-stage path conveying equipment designed for feed raw materials (such as corn flour, soybean meal, fish meal, etc.). It realizes multi-angle material transfer through the Z-shaped trajectory. With the help of the intermittent lifting of the hopper and the chain drive system, it has the core functions of large-angle conveying, anti-residue, and anti-grading. The bucket structure realizes the gentle lifting of materials and multi-point feeding/unloading, meeting the requirements of material integrity, hygiene and efficiency in feed production.

Z-type bucket elevator for feed industry materials video

How does the Z-type bucket elevator for feed industry materials work?

The Z-type bucket elevator for feed industry materials is a common material handling equipment in the feed industry, used for vertical conveying of various feeds, and sometimes for horizontal conveying. Its working principle is as follows:

The feed is fed into the bucket at the loading point of the lower horizontal section.

The motor drives the top sprocket, causing the belt and its connected bucket to move continuously upward in the vertical section.

When the bucket reaches the predetermined discharge point of the upper horizontal section, they change direction as they rotate around the pulley, causing the bucket to flip. Gravity discharges the feed material from the bucket and feeds it to other equipment.

After discharge, the empty bucket continues to advance along the horizontal section, then moves down the vertical section and returns to the loading point, completing the cycle.

What are the advantages of Z-type bucket elevator for feed industry materials?

The Z-type bucket elevator for feed industry materials is usually located upstream or downstream of the screening equipment in the feed production line. Its characteristics can indirectly help optimize the entire screening process, thereby reducing the pressure of the conveying link:

Anti-blocking and adaptive conveying design

The "horizontal feeding section → vertical lifting section → horizontal unloading section" combined movement is adopted. The horizontal section pushes the material through a low-speed scraper (0.3-0.8m/s) to avoid the compaction and blockage of the bottom material caused by the "digging" of the hopper of the vertical elevator. It is especially suitable for the continuous conveying of sticky materials (such as oily meal).

Multi-point feeding and discharging

Multi-point feeding and discharging can be achieved, which allows the feed production line to have a flexible process layout according to different raw material characteristics and screening requirements. Raw materials of different particle sizes can be lifted to different screening equipment separately, or the materials after primary screening can be lifted to more refined screening equipment.

Flexible conveying, reducing material blockage

The Z-type bucket elevator for feed industry materials uses a bucket for conveying, which has less impact and friction on the material, helping to reduce the additional dust generated during the lifting process, thereby reducing the dust handling pressure in the subsequent screening process and reducing the risk of fine powder blocking the screen.

Anti-stratification, low-damage conveying technology

Mixed materials (such as powder and particle mixtures) are arranged alternately with shallow buckets and deep buckets. The shallow buckets first lift the granular materials, and the deep buckets carry fine powders to reduce stratification caused by particle size differences during the lifting process (the stratification degree is reduced from 30% to <10%).

Recommended mesh size of Z-type bucket elevator for feed industry materials

Material type	mesh range	recommended hopper material	recommended configuration	notes
Powdered material	80-200 mesh	food grade PP plastic	shallow hopper or curved hopper, centrifugal ejection unloading, low speed operation (0.1-0.5m/s)	dust is easy to fly; avoid sticky material accumulation
Granular material	10-40 mesh	PP plastic or stainless steel	deep hopper or shallow hopper, gravity or mixed unloading, medium speed operation (0.5-1m/s), optional multi-point unloading	ensure material The spacing between the buckets is moderate to prevent particles from getting stuck in the bucket.
Small block materials	4-10 mesh	stainless steel or carbon steel	deep bucket, gravity unloading, equipped with torque protector, running speed 0.3-0.8m/s	large bucket capacity is required for coarse materials; check for sharp foreign objects.
Mixed feed	20-100 mesh	PP plastic or stainless steel	arc bucket, mixed unloading, equipped with uniform feeding system, running speed 0.4-0.8m/s	wide particle size distribution; clean the hopper regularly to prevent cross contamination
Powdered material	80-200 mesh	food grade PP plastic	shallow hopper or curved hopper, centrifugal ejection unloading, low speed operation (0.1-0.5m/s)	dust is easy to fly; avoid sticky material accumulation

Application of Z-type bucket elevator for feed industry materials

In the feed industry, Z-type bucket elevators are widely used in various scenarios due to their efficient and flexible conveying characteristics, especially in solving the pain points of dust control, space limitations, and multi-station connection in material transportation.

Connection between raw material warehouse and production line:Feed mills usually need to lift bulk raw materials such as corn, soybean meal, and fish meal from ground warehouses to pretreatment workshops (such as crushing and mixing processes). Traditional vertical elevators need to occupy a higher space, while Z-type bucket elevator for feed industry materials can complete material transportation in low-rise high-rise factories through the Z-shaped trajectory of "horizontal + vertical + horizontal".

Multi-station feeding system:The feed production line needs to feed multiple equipment (such as mixers, pelletizers, and extruders) at the same time. The Z-type bucket elevator for feed industry materials can be equipped with multiple discharge ports, and the materials are distributed to different stations through horizontal segment branches, replacing the traditional complex layout of "one elevator + multiple conveyor belts".

Pet food production line:Pet food (such as cat food and dog food) requires a variety of raw materials (meat, grains, vitamins) to be mixed in proportion and then transported to the pelletizer. The Z-type bucket elevator can be used in conjunction with the weighing batching system to achieve "multi-point feeding and single-point discharging" to ensure accurate formula.

Trace feeding of additives:Trace ingredients (such as enzyme preparations and probiotics) need to be added to the feed, and traditional transportation methods are prone to stratification or residue. The Z-type bucket elevator for feed industry materials can achieve precise metering through a small volume hopper (such as 1-3L), and use pulse dust removal to prevent additives from drifting.

Premix production line:Premixes (such as vitamin premixes) need to evenly mix a variety of high-value raw materials (such as vitamin A, D3). The Z-type bucket elevator can be integrated with a screw conveyor or pneumatic conveying to achieve integrated lifting and mixing, reducing intermediate links.

Z-type bucket elevator for feed industry materials solves the classification, pollution and safety problems of traditional elevators in feed production through multi-stage conveying, low residue design and explosion-proof configuration. Its core value is to maintain the uniformity of premixes (such as vitamins do not settle) and adapt to high-fat/high-humidity materials (such as fish meal, fermented feed).