Construction, repair and modernization of elevators in Russia

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 20:55

Elevator is most often called a mechanized silo-type granary. Among other things, such complexes include points for receiving and loading agricultural products. Elevators differ from conventional warehouses and barns in that they are designed to store very large volumes of grain. The construction of such facilities should be carried out, of course, with strict observance of the required technologies. The same applies to their repair and modernization.

Statistics

Unfortunately, there is a catastrophic lack of grain storage capacity in Russia. According to studies conducted by Rosstat, the total capacity of elevators, warehouses and KKZ available in our country is about 118 million tons. Formally, this is more than is required to store the entire crop harvested in the fields of the Russian Federation. However, out of 118 tons of capacities in Russia, about 66 tons fall on the capacities of agricultural producers, which have a morally obsolete design. In most cases, these are warehouses and barns built in the 50s of the last century. When using them as storage facilities, up to 20% of the collectedgrain.

Actually, the industrial domestic capacities themselves are very worn out (up to 70%). At the same time, elevators in Russia are usually equipped with silo and bunker structures that do not meet modern technological and logistical requirements at all.

All this leads to significant losses in the harvested crops and an increase in the cost of grain storage. Only the modernization of elevators built in the last century or the construction of new structures of this specialization can solve this problem in Russia.

Varieties of industrial storages

By purpose, all elevators can be classified into:

• bread receiving universal;
• production (usually set up near factories producing cereals);
• transshipment (located near railway junctions or ports);
• state, designed to store grain reserves.

There are also specialized feed storage facilities. In addition, today Russia has launched the production of small-capacity elevators designed specifically for small and medium-sized farms.

Other species

The main types of granaries were discussed above. However, the concept of "elevator" has a broader meaning. Such systems can be used not only for the storage of agricultural products. For example, drilling elevators are hoisting equipment included in the package of towers,designed to hold casing pipes. Structurally, they are a massive body with a hole in the center. When they fail, serious accidents occur on the tower. And therefore, the maintenance and repair of such drilling equipment should, of course, be carried out in a timely manner.

Another type of elevators are used in heating systems. Designs of this type are designed to reduce the temperature of network water to a normal level. Heating elevators are simple pumps that do not require external energy supply. Thanks to a special design, cold water is mixed inside with hot water.

The disadvantage of such equipment is basically the inability to control the temperature of the coolant at the outlet. Therefore, today the heating system with an elevator is often modernized by including an electric drive in the design. The latter is responsible for the movement of the cone-shaped needle, if necessary, blocking the nozzle of the device. Due to its presence, it becomes possible to adjust the amount of water passing through the elevator housing.

Construction of granaries: features

Drilling and adjustable elevators are important design elements of towers and heating systems. However, most often this concept refers to the granary. Therefore, we will further consider in detail how the construction, repair and modernization of such complexes is carried out.

Any grain elevator has asilo work tower. Such a structure can be built from different materials. However, most often brick or reinforced concrete is used for this purpose. The roof, windows and doors of silo towers are arranged in such a way as to completely exclude the possibility of moisture getting inside the storage. The floor must be waterproofed to protect grain from groundwater.

The silo tower is always built on a slab foundation. At the same time, the floor of the first floor in the towers is deepened by 80-250 cm. This is done primarily because of the need to link the receiving devices and platforms of railway and road transport.

In addition to production facilities (control room, control panel, etc.), silos are set up in work towers. They are actually intended for the storage of the grain itself. Most often, the construction of elevators involves the installation of 2-3 large silos. These structures can be made of metal or reinforced concrete.

In addition to silos, bunkers are mounted on the elevators, designed for the release of grain. They differ from silos in that they have a bottom resembling an overturned pyramid.

Industrial storage equipment

The construction of elevators is entrusted to companies specializing in this type of activity. The same firms usually supply all the equipment necessary for the granary. In addition to silos and bunkers, the tower can be mounted, for example:

• cleaning structures (separators, scalpers);
• aspiration system (cleaning of light impurities);
• flow scales.

The movement of grain through the granary compartments is carried out with the help of bucket elevators (elevators) and conveyors of various designs.

Elevator operation principle

The production process of any granary includes the following basic procedures:

• grain acceptance;
• processing it (drying and cleaning);
• storage;
• leave to consumer.

At the elevator receiving point, the grain is pre-sorted according to several characteristics (quality, degree of moisture or contamination, etc.). In the working tower, it is weighed, cleaned, dried and sent along the conveyor to storage. Shipment of grain from bunkers to railway cars is usually done through drop pipes or using special equipment.

Repair of elevators: features

Since the equipment in granaries in most cases is used old, the organization of its maintenance and repair should be approached as responsibly as possible. Thus, it is possible, albeit slightly, but still to improve the quality of storage of agricultural products and minimize losses.

Most often, elevators have to carry out such types of repairs as:

1. Sealing of interpanel seams of structures. Under the influence of negative environmental factors, the joints of storages and silos are gradually deformed andare destroyed.
2. Cleaning silos and sealing cracks in their walls. Structures for this purpose on elevators are constantly subjected to serious horizontal and vertical loads, which leads to the appearance of various kinds of defects. Close up cracks in the walls of silos, usually using a cement-sand mortar. Silos can also be strengthened using the sleeve method.
3. Replacement of technological windows and elimination of intersilo spills.
4. Restoring the bearing capacity of reinforced concrete structures.
5. Roof repairs using mastic.
6. Repair of ventilation systems.

Painting facilities and equipment

Of course, the inside of the elevator storage should always be dry. The concrete surface, on the other hand, is porous and may have many microcracks. In order to prevent an increase in air humidity inside the storage facilities, their walls should be periodically painted. In this case, you need to use special crack-resistant coatings.

Of course, not only the storages themselves should be painted on the elevators. The equipment installed in the premises should also be subjected to such processing: dryers, conveyors, bucket elevators, etc. For the processing of such structures, silver is most often used.

Advantage Benefits

Repair, thus, allows to somewhat reduce the loss of grain at the elevator built in the last century. However, to make the production process as efficient as possible, of course, onlyby performing such an operation as the modernization of elevators and their reconstruction. As already mentioned, in most cases, the equipment and equipment available in the Russian Federation, granaries are obsolete. The advantages of modernizing the elevators built in the last century can thus be considered:

• improving the quality of grain storage;
• increased energy efficiency;
• improvement in the environmental friendliness of grain storage;
• the possibility of clear automatic control over the work of all departments, and, accordingly, a decrease in the number of workers involved.

Modernization of elevators in Russia: equipment replacement

A set of measures aimed at optimizing the operation of the old granary may include the following activities:

• increase drying power;
• replacement of transport mechanisms with modern ones;
• equipping with additional storage and receiving points;
• replacement of obsolete thermal equipment with new one.

Also, the modernization of elevators often involves the elimination of various social problems. This can be, for example, a lack of lighting, dustiness, the presence of blockages of grain in the immediate vicinity of functioning equipment, etc. Sometimes, at the reconstructed granaries, such a procedure as redevelopment of premises is carried out.

Need to upgradethermometry systems

Equipment of this type is one of the main ones at the elevators. The safety of agricultural products depends to a large extent on its uninterrupted operation. The fact is that such a negative phenomenon as self-heating due to excessive moisture very often occurs with grain in bunkers.

When the allowable temperature in the reservoirs is exceeded, measures to save agricultural products must be taken immediately. Unfortunately, in most cases, elevator thermometry systems are also outdated by now and need to be replaced or upgraded.

Features of modernization of the control system

Reconstruction of this type of equipment already in the granary usually allows:

• quickly obtain accurate information about the temperature in different layers of the stored mass;
• Easily and quickly analyze all received data;
• keep records of performed measurements.

Modernization of elevators involves the organization of control systems of various types. Very popular, for example, is thermometric equipment operating on the basis of analog sensors. In the process of implementing the latter, among other things, it is allowed to use the suspensions of the previous generation already available on the elevator.

Sometimes the granary control system is supplemented with noise-insensitive digital sensors. In any case, with a lack of funds, the modernization and automation of the thermometricequipment can be produced in stages without the need for changes in the production process.