Material-Handling Equipment

Structural Components. In most appHcations stmctural foam parts are used as direct replacements for wood, metals, or soHd plastics and find wide acceptance in appHances, automobUes, furniture, materials-handling equipment, and in constmction. Use in the huil ding and constmction industry account for more than one-half of the total volume of stmctural foam appHcations. High impact polystyrene is the most widely used stmctural foam, foUowed by polypropylene, high density polyethylene, and poly(vinyl chloride). The constmction industry offers the greatest growth potential for ceUular plastics. 

As with SMC, appHcations are limited to high volume because of the capital investment in equipment and tooling. Thermoset compression molders require additional heating and material Handling equipment to adapt their process to thermoplastic sheet fabrication. AppHcations include automotive bumper beams, load floors, radiator supports, battery trays, and package shelves. Chair sheUs, military containers, material Handling pallets, trays, and concrete foaming pans are also produced. 

Industrial dryers may be broadly classified by heat-transfer method as being either direct or indirect heat. Dryers evolved from material handling equipment and thus most types of industrial dryers are specially suited for certain forms of material. Dryers are also classified as being batch or continuous. 

Equipment Costs. Equipment costs include the purchased cost of process and materials handling equipment, storage faciUties, waste treatment equipment, stmctures, and site service faciUties. Installation costs such as insulation, piping, painting and finishing, foundations, process stmctures, instmmentation, and electrical service connections are estimated or factored separately. Actual quoted prices from suppHers are the best data, but these are not usually available when estimates are made. The quick, inexpensive cost estimates are based largely on personal cost files, internal company cost data, or pubUshed cost correlations. 

Automotive heavy maintenance and yard material-handling equipment Construction expense ... 

Vibratory-Conveyor Devices Figure 11-62 shows the various adaptations of vibratoiy material-handling equipment for indirect... 

For steel mill auxiliary drives or for material handling equipment, the duty factor normally chosen for slip-ring motors is either 40%c or 60%. 

Applications include electric motor drives for conveyors and other material handling equipment such as stacker reclaimers, crushers, haulages, ball mills, cranes, hammer mills, rotary dryers, centrifuges, reciprocating pumps, winches, fans and wire drawing machines. 

Mineral Oil Hydraulic Fluids. Mineral oil and water-in-oil emulsion hydraulic fluids are used extensively in virtually all heavy industries as well as in construction equipment, automobiles, tractors, trucks, and material handling equipment. Potentially exposed populations include workers in heavy and allied industries and the general population due to the use of hydraulic fluids in automobiles however, this profile does not focus on automotive fluids. The most common route of exposure is dermal contact with the neat fluid, although inhalation of oil mists and vapors may also occur. The components of mineral oil hydraulic fluids are present in many other petroleum-derived products including lubricating oils, so exposure to the major components of mineral oil hydraulic fluids is not limited to hydraulic fluid exposures. 

Improvements in materials handling equipment (conveyors, pumps, transfer points)... 

Some pieces of equipment will be elevated to simplify the plant operations. An example of this is the gravity feed of reactors from elevated tanks. This eliminates the need for some materials-handling equipment. 

Environmental Considerations. The principal environmental problem is the prevention of particulate dust emission, which can be handled by cloth filtration equipment. Filtration of taphole fumes consisting of submicrometer particles, which rapidly dog the filtration media, is both difficult and expensive. Dust collectors operating at low air to cloth ratios are required. Dust created in material handling equipment is of relatively large particle size and easily handled by doth filtration. Treatment of the furnace CO gas stream is complicated by the high temperature of the gas, its explosiveness, toxicity, dust concentration, and partide size. 

FMC Corporation Material Handling Equipment Division Catalog 100, 1983. pp. B.27-B.35. 

FMC Corp. Material Handling Equipment Division, Catalog 100, Homer City, PA, 1983. 

Materials-handling equipment is logically divided into continuous and batch types, and into classes for the handling of liquids, solids, and gases. Liquids and gases are handled by means of pumps and blowers in pipes, flumes, and ducts and in containers such as drums, cylinders, and tank cars. Solids may be handled by conveyors, bucket elevators, chutes, lift trucks, and pneumatic systems. The selection of materials-handling equipment depends upon the cost and the work to be done. Factors that must be considered in selecting such equipment include ... 

Nature of feed and discharge from materials-handling equipment... 

Nonprocess equipment-office furniture and equipment, cafeteria equipment, safety and medical equipment, shop equipment, automotive equipment, yard material-handling equip-... 

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