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  • 1.  Auger speed

    Posted 01-19-2023 12:00
    Hello:
    we have multiple augers and are trying to set up a way to adjust incoming speeds (on the fly) to keep thigs all in balance
    all of these augers are on fixed speed motors and our auger rep told us they do not have a variable speed option. 
    we currently use little sliding gates at the base of our silos to loosely control flow but these often jam up or start sending way too much and overcome the mill. 
    can someone recommend any tricks to overcoming this? 
    or perhaps a variable speed auger supplier?

    ------------------------------
    Michael Smith
    Head Brewer
    Eel River Brewing Co.
    Fortuna, CA
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  • 2.  RE: Auger speed

    Posted 01-20-2023 12:07
    Hi Michael,

    We have dealt with the same issue by putting restrictor plates in the base of our super sack feed hoppers. Ours are square, inverted pyramids instead of cones, so a square plate with a circle cut out adjusts the flow to our chain disc system.  It took a few tries to adjust the aperture to maximize flow without overwhelming the mill.

    Hope this helps some.

    Cheers,
    Jason

    ------------------------------
    Jason Davis
    Director of Brewing Operations
    Freetail Brewing Co
    San Antonio TX
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Auger speed

    Posted 01-20-2023 13:58
      |   view attached
    Hey Michael, a fairly common problem at least from my experience.

    I am not aware of flex auger motors that can run on a VFD. I  have suffered similar problems with these augers - typically we'd flow too fast from the silo and trip the overcurrent on the motor starters and then had to manually turn the auger to free it up enough to re-start. Our chain-disk (cable-vey, chain & puck, etc) conveyer runs on a VFD and we have found that is a really nice feature to dial in malt handling to prevent excess breakage however it still requires some flow restriction at the silo. We upgraded from the simple manual slide gate to one operated with a worm screw (see picture) which allows for very fine adjustments of the spacing with minimal effort or fear of nudging the slide too far. I used these on both flex augers and CD conveyors with great success at multiple locations. They were supplied by ABM and can can be adapted to both a solid wall or a corrugated silo - different silos at different plants I worked at. We did include a pneumatic gate valve underneath the manual slide which is used by our malt handling CP for source selection, this could also be a manual gate valve if that was better for your set up. Finally we used the slide gate supplied by our mill to adjust feed from the dump scale to the rollers to keep those from jamming up. 

    One last thing on flex augers, especially if you installed them yourself. I've found the proper auger length and thus tension to be critical to achieve maximum conveyance rate as well as to prevent wear of the auger housing. Cutting 1-2" of the auger can make a big difference. Also, if your auger was supplied directly by an ag supply company it may have an additional piece where the auger connect to the motor shaft. It is a solid piece that aids in the feeding of certain grains but can be a hindrance to barley grist. We discovered this on the auger off of our mill base and removing it made a huge difference. Sorry I don't have a picture but it was a Chore-time brand and was clearly called out in the manual. 

    Hope that helps!

    ------------------------------
    Campbell Morrissy
    Head Brewer
    pFriem Family Brewers

    PhD Candidate
    OSU - Barley Project
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Auger speed

    Posted 01-20-2023 20:57
    You need 3 phase motors and VFD drivers , That will take care of your issues , I had Malt moving via 3 different Augers and it was easy to set it up .
     


    W. Scott Pyatt
    PO Box 1154 
    Glen Alpine NC 28628

    m: 828-527-8097

     
     




    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Auger speed

    Posted 01-23-2023 14:06
    We had a similar issue with our auger motors in the past.  The motors were pushing grain faster than the grain could go through the piping into the mill.  We had 45 degree elbows that restricted the flow.  We have 6 augers feeding our mill, so 45 degree bends were unavoidable on some of the augers.  We added some "air assist" to help push the grain through the pipes.  The air assist worked but also used too much compressed air if we had a high demand on our system. 
    We eventually got different gear boxes for the auger motors to slow down the flow.  Changing the gear boxes has been working for years now without our motors tripping constantly.  If you have gear boxes between the motor and the auger connection I would check with you auger rep about a different gear ratio.  Or adding a gear box if possible. You won't be able to change the speed on the fly, but with the correct gear ratio you shouldn't need to.

    Hope this helps

    Cheers!

    ------------------------------
    Joel Shields
    Brewer
    Rogue Ales
    Newport OR
    (541) 867-3660
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Auger speed

    Posted 01-24-2023 14:56

    Hi Michael,

     

    Joel's advice is spot on about using a gear box solution to adjust motor output speed on the auger instead of a VFD. Another method I have used on belt driven augers is to install a larger pully on the motor. A larger pulley slows down the rotation speed and thus slows the auger output. A pully less expensive and easier to install than a gear box, but may not provide quite the speed desired and may require a couple different pulleys to figure out which is the best fit, especially with more than one unit. Neither of these options will work for on-the-fly speed control but as Joel says, that may not be necessary once the system is balanced. In any event make sure the belt drive(s) are enclosed for safe operation.

     

    Cheers,

     

    Karl

     

    Consulting Brewer

    Karl Ockert Brewing Services LLC

    www.ockertbrewserv.com

    Cell:  503-887-1938

     




    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Auger speed

    Posted 01-25-2023 11:57
    Another option is a time delay relay wired to the motor(s) to cut the motor(s) in and out. Our silo / auger vendor recommended the Macromatic THR-3856U but we just ended up installing a 3" auger feeding a 4" auger so there was no possibility of the smaller auger overwhelming the larger.
    This one


    ------------------------------
    Jazz Aldrich
    Director of Operations
    Great Basin Brewing Co.
    Reno - Sparks, NV
    (775) 856-1177
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Auger speed

    Posted 01-25-2023 14:50
    Hi Michael,

    We use a choretime flex auger system to bring grist from a grist case that is shared between a 3bbl system and a 15bbl system.  I installed a VFD for this flex auger motor (ours is 3 phase) and it works great to slow down the 3bbl mash-ins.  The motor might technically not be inverter duty but since we don't run below about 40hz minimum and run for less than an hour a day, this has never caused an issue.

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    Robert Fulwiler
    Technical Director
    Fremont Brewing Co
    Seattle WA
    (206) 484-2690
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Auger speed

    Posted 01-26-2023 12:03
    If your main issue is sending too much malt to your mill, this is a great solution Flowscale | Ruiter Innovations (agtronix.com). We had these many years ago at Bell's and we use one here at Ex Novo to great effect, daily.

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    Dave Chichura
    Ex Novo Brewing
    Corrales, NM
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    Original Message


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