ABSTRACT
Before selecting a conveyor for a specific application, the properties and handling characteristics of the bulk material must be determined. Conveyor manufacturers often use empirical bench-top tests and observations of actual systems to measure bulk density, particle size, stickiness, abrasiveness, etc. Helpful information is often published by manufacturers’ engineering associations in the various countries. Typical are the publications by the Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association (CEMA) in the United States. Used primarily for mechanical conveying, the CEMA provides terminology, definitions, and test procedures for describing 37 bulk materials. Each measured characteristic is assigned an alpha-numeric classification code designation. It is widely used and appears in many equipment catalogs as an aid in selecting a conveyor. The CEMA publication also includes an extensive list of handling characteristics for common bulk materials.
