Everything You Need To Know About Flour Silos

Flour Silo Introduction

Flour silo is a device used to store bulk grain products such as flour. It is mainly composed of a silo body, a feed port, a discharge port, an inspection port, an exhaust port, temperature measurement, material level measurement components, explosion-proof components, etc. Flour silo has the functions of moisture-proof, insect-proof, dust-proof, ventilation and heat preservation, etc., and can effectively store flour or other bulk grain powder products. The material selection of flour silos is generally made of corrosion-resistant materials such as food-grade anti-corrosion treated carbon steel plates, galvanized plates, stainless steel plates, etc. to ensure the durability and hygiene of the silo. Flour silos are usually installed on flour processing production lines, which can realize automated storage and transportation, improving production efficiency and product quality.

 

Flour Silo Workflow

The working principle of bulk flour silos can be simply summarized as three processes: storage, transportation and measurement and protection. It stores flour through a sealed structure, transports flour to the target location through a conveying system during processing and sales, and provides flour to customers through a supply system.

The bulk flour silo distributes flour out of the silo through a conveyor system. The conveying system usually consists of conveyor belts, pneumatic conveying pipes, scrapers, augers and other closed conveying devices. The flour is transported to the target location via conveyor belts and connected to the destination via pipes. The conveying system can adjust the transportation speed and direction as needed to ensure that the flour reaches the target location smoothly.

Bulk flour silos provide flour to customers through a supply system. The supply system usually consists of metering devices, conveying pipelines and unloading devices. Metering devices are used to accurately measure the flow of flour. Supply systems usually have automated control functions that can adjust the supply of flour in real time according to customer demand.

 

Precautions when Storing Flour in Steel Silos

Cleaning and Disinfection: Before storing flour, make sure the steel silo is clean and thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. This prevents the flour from going rancid and becoming contaminated.

‌Temperature and Humidity Control‌: When storing flour, it is necessary to control the temperature and humidity to prevent the outdoor temperature from being too high or too low, causing the surface temperature of the steel silo to change, thereby affecting the temperature inside the silo. Before the flour enters the steel silo, its moisture needs to be reasonably controlled, generally not exceeding 13%. If the moisture is too high, the moisture needs to be reduced before entering the silo to avoid rot due to moisture during later storage.

‌Ventilation, Dust-proof and Explosion-proof‌: When feeding materials into the steel silo, ventilation must be maintained to reduce dust concentration to avoid dust explosion caused by excessive concentration. What's more important is that when designing and installing steel silos, better dust-proof and explosion-proof technology should be used, which can greatly reduce the probability of dust explosions.

‌Safety Measures for Exiting the Silo‌: When exiting the silo, the conveyor system should be opened first, and then the silo discharging device should be opened. According to the amount of material supplied, adjust the discharging control device to an appropriate size to avoid outlet blockage caused by excessive supply. If it is a multi-point discharge design, it should be ensured that the core discharge point and surrounding discharge points can be unloaded smoothly.

Moisture-proof and Insect-proof: Flour absorbs moisture easily, so moisture-proof measures should be taken, such as keeping the silo dry and using sealed containers. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen insect prevention work, clean silos regularly, use insect repellents and other methods.

‌Regular Inspection and Maintenance‌: Regularly check the corrosion of steel plates and perform timely maintenance to ensure load-bearing capacity. Temperature and humidity monitoring is very important, and corresponding facilities should be installed to ensure a suitable storage environment for flour. If abnormalities such as flour heating and condensation are found, ventilation and cooling should be carried out in time.