Conveyor System for pet food, animal feed and grains

The tubular transport system is the perfect mode of transport for a wide variety of products. In this article we will look at:

• What is and how does a Tube Chain Conveyor work?
• Our Tubular Conveyor models and the products transported.
• MIAL Tubular Conveyor: let's learn about some of the systems installed. 
• Advantages of Tubular Conveyors

What is and how does a Tube Chain Conveyor work?

The Tube Chain Conveyor is a fully enclosed conveyor system.

The Tubular Conveyor is made up of a series of circular discs, equidistant from each other and connected to the chain, which gently pull the product along the tube.

This creates an enclosed and dust-free environment.

The basic components making up the Tubular Conveyor are:

• drive unit  
• loading hoppers
• tubes
• loading corners
• unloading hoppers.

A system installed in Northern Italy for Birrificio Garlatti

Section of a system installed in China

How does a tubular conveyor work?

The product is delivered into the tubes through the loading hoppers.

Chains with curved plastic discs provide precise and constant flow of product through the tubes. The pipe diameter varies depending on the product and the customer's needs.

Product is drained from the unloading hoppers, that are made of stainless steel and provided with control valves that open or close the tube section to increase or decrease the amount of product being dropped.

Our Tubular Conveyor models and the transported products

Depending on the customer's needs and the specifics of the project, we can propose 3 different models of chain conveyors, designed in-house and refined over time to ensure maximum performance:

• BIG 60: tube diam.  60 mm [2.4 inches]  -  productive capacity 2 m³/hour  [70.7 ft ³ /hour]   
• BIG 100: tube diam. 100 mm [4 inches]    - productive capacity 12 m3/hour [424 ft³ /hour]  
• BIG 160: tube diam. 160 mm [6.3 inches]     - productive capacity 30 m3/hour [1060  ft³ /hour]    
• BIG 200: tube diam. 204 mm [8.04 inches]     - productive capacity 60 m3/hour [2119  ft³ /hour]    

Each model is ideal for transporting large amounts of products, we mention the most common ones:

Malt, Grains, Feeds, Plastic materials, Thermoplastic elastomers Tpe, wood Pellet, Seeds, Pet food, Bulk ingredients, Granular products, Coffee beans, granular manure, fertiliser powder and many others.

• The choice of model differs depending on the product flow rate (m3/hour) required by the customer.
• The versatility of our models makes this type of conveyor the ideal solution for conveying the product both inside and outside a facility.
• MIAL Tubular Conveyor: Let's find out some of the systems installed in the world.

MIAL Tubular Conveyor: let's learn about some of the systems installed. 

The following are some Tube Chain System designed and installed by MIAL in between 2020 and 2022.

Each installation is the result of know-how acquired by 30 years of experience in the conveyor systems sector.

Every component of the installations is entirely designed, assembly and installed by MIAL.

Tubular Conveyor System for Barley and Malt - at Birra Garlatti Costa, Udine (IT)

Transported products Barley and malt.

Hourly capacity: 2 m3/hour [70.7 ft 3 /hour]  

Tube diameter: 60 mm [2.4 inches]  

Disc diameter: 48 mm [1.9 inches]  

Model: BIG 60

Tubular system for feeds - at Martino Rossi spa, Cremona (IT)

Transported product:  Animal Feed and Seeds

Hourly capacity: 12 m³/hour  [424 ft 3 /hour]  

Tube diameter: 100 mm  [4 inches]  

Disc diameter: 78 mm   [3 inches]  

Model: BIG 100

Optional: Blue plastic discs to make them recognisable to the optical sorter.

Benefits of the Tubular Conveyor

Versatility and Flexibility: when compared to other systems, the tubular conveyor allows the creation of tailor-made systems for every need, with different lengths and capacities.

Energy saving: significant savings in energy consumption compared to traditional conveyor systems (such as screw conveyors, bucket elevators, redler etc.)

Ease of use: this type of conveyor is distinguished by its ease of installation and maintenance, resulting in lower costs compared to traditional conveyor systems.