I am pretty well versed with manual machining and TIG welding, but hydraulics are foreign to me. I have tried my best to internet-educate myself on the topic of fluid mechanics, but I am desperate for the advice of folks that know better than myself. I am in the planning process of building a volumetric mixer for fine aggregates (a small trailerable unit). Essentially, I will have 2 bins of separate material that need mixed at a 4:1 ratio. I figured on screw conveyor-feeding the two bins over a larger inclined conveyer screw system to mix and discharge the material. Preliminarily, the two material bins will be discharged with 6" diameter screws, and will be geared to discharge at 4:1 over the 12", 10' long mixing conveyor, which will be set on about a 40 degree angle. The bins will hold about 5 and 20 cu. ft. respectively, with an exposed screw lenth at the bottom of the bins of about 3'. The weight of the material will be about 60 lbs per cu. ft. Ultimately, I would like my mixed material to come off the the final mixing conveyor at about 5 cu. ft./minute, give or take. So, I will work on attaching the hydraulic circuit that I have created for the power transmission when I have it figured out how to attach it. For now, I think I will need to power the unit with a 20-30 HP gas or diesel engine (since it will be a mobile mixing unit). I am trying to err on the heavy side just in case. The attached diagram should be pretty explanatory of my plan (if I figure out how to attach it), but I am lost when it comes to line size, and gpm and psi of the sytem. Not to mention, there are so many outputs of motors, that I am sinking deeper and deeper trying to figure this out. I just had a baby, so enrolling in a fluid mechanics school is out . Any and all suggestions and criticism to help me fill in the blanks would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Benny
Benny