The Use of Parametric Modelling to Design Transfer Chutes

and Other Key Components

C.W.Benjamin B.E., FAIM
Gulf Conveyor Group
Introduction
Many companies and individuals working on conveyor system maintenance, have long
recognised that one of the major sources of maintenance and risk is through mis-adventure in
conveyor maintenance is poorly designed transfer chutes. In 1988, Gulf teamed up with Tasman
Engineers to work on developing the transfer technologies being utilised at the Clinton Coal
Loader at Gladstone Australia as a means of substantially addressing these transfer design
issues. The transfer technology is based on fluid mechanics wherein by accurately predicating
the material flow from a head pulley, the material can be turned, at a low angle of incidence, in
the vertical direction. This vertical flow is then be picked up, also at a low angle of incidence and
directed smoothly, with zero to low impact onto the receiving conveyor.
While the variations to the theme are endless, most transfers resulted in a collecting section at
the top, which is termed a 'hood' (figure 1), and a receiving section at the bottom termed a spoon'
(figure 2) The optimising of the design and positioning of the hood and spoon type of transfer has
been subjected to a great deal of research and development. Also through the simplicity of the
concept, many similar designs have been developed by others with the result this type of transfer
would be arguably the most popular type of transfer design in the Australian bulk materials
handling industry today.

Figure 1 ~ Hood

Figure 2 ~ Spoon

The technology has been further advanced to create in line transfers where the hood section of
the transfer is eliminated and a dewatering type transfer utilised. The design also features soft
loading on to the receiving belt.
Dewatering is achieved through a design that is based on accurate calculations of the differential
trajectories of water-laden slurries and normal coarse ore where water is continuously removed
from the material stream. There have been many papers Gulf and others have presented on this
technology some of which is referenced at the end of this paper.

Figures 3 Dewatering chute

Figure 4 Dewatering using differential trajectories

This paper focuses not only on the transfer chute design principles necessary to competently
design a transfer chute, it also discusses the research and development undertaken to speed up
the design process to enable the output design to be translate into the finished product efficiently
and effectively. These principles can also be used quite broadly in engineering design with some
examples presented toward the end of this paper.
Design inputs
To produce an effective design, it is essential that accurate input data be obtained regarding the
particular application. It is imperative at this time that the reader is cautioned that no two
applications are identical and it is a very dangerous assumption that a transfer design can be
simply copied to a different location.
There are up to 46 different input requirements with 19 of theses being absolutely critical to the
success of the design (see figure 5) it only takes one of these change to render significant design
changes to be made. It needs to be understood that the input requirements mentioned results in
over 220 design permutations within the design process with each permutation influencing the
final design output.
Principally however, designing transfer chutes is based on the flow characteristics of the material
and this requires:

Accurate mathematical models to project the material flow

The design criteria for the key elements, the 'hood' and 'spoon, that accommodate the
variations in material properties, flow volumes and material size
The design criteria to accommodate variations in belt to belt height (or material drop)
Feed Conveyor
Belt speed

m/s

Belt width

mm

Belt width

mm

Jib/Head pulley dia

mm

Pulley width

mm

Angle to horizontal at the head pulley degrees

Troughing angle

degrees

Site Height Data

Feed conveyor top of belt to roof

mm

Drop height

mm

Receiving conveyor top of belt to floor mm

Receiving Conveyor
Belt Speed

mm

Belt width

mm

Belt thickness

mm

Angle of intersection degrees

Angle to horizontal

degrees

Troughing angle

degrees

Material properties
Max. oversize lump (on top) mm
Max. oversize lump (on top) degrees
Note: Other information is desired but the above provides the minimum necessary to complete
preliminary design.
Figure 5 Design input data requirements

In combination with the transfer chute itself, the design must then incorporate structural elements
that support the transfer chute, head pulley, fines tray and scrapers. Further design may also be
required to accommodate the various thrust and compression forces created by the conveyor
system dynamics.
As mentioned previously, for a standard belt to belt transfer station there are about 220 design
parameters and integrating the above process even with the aid of the latest CAD programs is
time consuming and prone to inaccuracies as designers needs to interact with the customer,
drawing office and ultimately project engineers/construction engineers who build and install the
transfer chute.
The difficulty encountered utilising the conventional (2-D CAD) methodology proved to be a very
time consuming and often frustrating exercise for all involved. This was principally due to the
design/communication limitations as depicted in figure 6
Process

Comment

Initial contact with the

customer

Usually through marketing efforts or reputation in

the market place

Project brief and obtain

design input data

Sometimes a difficult task as projects can be ill

defined or in early concept

Develop a design concept

to secure the contract

This can be a time consuming and costly

exercise, sometimes without the promise of an
order

Develop preliminary design This can involve much engineering time & effort
concept
with constant interaction with the customer

Translate preliminary
design concept to 2-D
drawing

Involves communicating the design requirements

to the drafting personnel with constant interaction
as the drawings progress

Present design to customer

for draft concept approval

Present the drawings to the customer with

sufficient detail and development to achieve
customers commitment to the design

Amend concept drawings

as seek customer
acceptance

Involves more interaction with the drafting

personnel and the customer possibly resulting in
many time consuming changes

Determine all of the required design parameters

in order to arrive at the correct design. This
Commence detailed design
process involves much research and design data
verification.

Validate the design,

Validate the design using necessary tools to

physical modeling if
possible

ensure that the final design will perform to

specification. When using 2-D drafting methods,
this may even involve costly model making

Commence detailed
drafting ,fabrication,
installation & GA drawings

Many drafting hours are applied to bring the

project to a detailed design stage, This also
involves continued interaction with the design
engineer and the customer.

Check drawings

This usually involves passing the drawings to an

independent person with the appropriate
checking skills. The checker needs to be through
briefed to confidently complete this task

Release for fabrication

It is prudent to thoroughly brief the fabricator with

the job and it can some times be difficult to
communicate the end product requirements
particularly if they have not previously done the
type of work.

Figure 6 ~ Flow-chart showing the typical 2-D design process, initial concept through to finished
product
In order to remain competitive in an ever demanding the market place, it was necessary to
critically review the efficiencies of the entire transfer design process. This resulted in the eventual
adoption of a Parametric 3-D Design package which was to form the base platform onto which a
custom designed transfer chute design package was researched and developed.
To achieve improved design efficiency and productivity, it was necessary to turn to parametric
design technology as distinct from parametric drafting because it promised to deliver exactly what
was required to keep pace with the demands of the market place. The logic of parametric design
has been around for quite some time but has, to our knowledge had been applied in creating one
off designs. The technical philosophy underpinning this approach is one that creates
mathematical models linking the design process to how structural elements must be re-configured
to accommodate changes in the base model.
When one considers the 220 different design permutations of the transfer chute, creating such an
interactive model had some monumental difficulties. This was partially overcome by integrating
the:

The Customers expressed and implied needs.

The Design process.
The modeling of key elements.
And a commercial 3D CAD program.

Combined with a database of previously successful designs it was possible to establish a base
modeling process from which assessments could be made of the design process capabilities thus
validating the new design process. Refer figure 7

Process

Comment

Initial contact with the

customer

Usually through marketing efforts or reputation in

the market place

Project brief and obtain

design input data

Sometimes a difficult task as projects can be ill

defined or in early concept

Develop a design
concept to secure the
contract

This is modeled directly in the parametric 3-0

environment with some added benefit being the
rendered 3-D images as seen in this document
This step also involves modeling the preliminary
design concept as part of the process

Present design to
customer for draft
concept approval

Present the rendered outputs to the customer

which in most circumstances provides sufficient
detail and development
to achieve customers commitment to the design

Amend concept drawings

as seek customer
acceptance

This is usually a simple task as the base

information is built into the basic model - Making
changes is where the 3-D parametric modeling
process excels over 2-D drafting

Commence detailed
design & validate the
design

The model already contains most of the base

information and due to the intelligence of the
modeling tool, it is a simple task to finish the
detailed design and to validate the design with the
built-in simulation tools & "what if" scenarios

Produce detailed
drafting ,fabrication,
installation & GA
drawings

One of the benefits of the parametric design

environment is that the detailed drafting is taken
directly from the model itself. This means that the
design engineer is directly involved in the
production of the drawings, eliminating the need to
translate via a time consuming manual 2-D drafting
process

Check drawings

The parametric 3-D environment, it is possible for

the checker to operate within the regime that
created the design and the drawings. This provides
the checker with the means to not only check the
output result but also to trace their origins for a
better result

Release for fabrication

It has been proven many times over that a better

result is achieved if the people involved can
visualise the output prior to starting. The rendered
images produced by the parametric modeling

process allows this to happen.

Figure 7 ~ The improved and more efficient process using parametric 3-0 modeling
Through the adoption of this new design methodology, it is now possible to accommodate new
design elements and to test the product as simulated modes within the software program without
the added expense of physical modeling or the more risky approach of trialing following
installation of the finished product.
Some of the major benefits of this approach are:
1. Seeing is believing: The output of the design process produces a faithful rendered view of
the final design, offering much more than a 2-D drawing.

Figure 8 Transfer Station for an Underground Application

2. Creates Certainty: You can integrate the model by doing cut aways and rotating it.

Figure 9 Confirmation of material flow characteristics through cross sectional views of

material flow
3. What If? Can create dynamic models that examine "what if" scenarios.

Figure 10 "What if" Analysis of Large Lumps Through the Transfer Chute
4. Changes are quick: You can change the model to accommodate changes in design
including flow rates in minutes.

Figure 11 Normal duty hood with Figure 12 Heavy duty hood without
side plates
side plates and additional stiffeners
5.
6. Due the parametric design capabilities, these and other changes are simple to implement
with the added advantage that the changes made flow automatically through the design
process including the automatic updating of the respective drawings.
7. Less errors: The model generates the design and installation drawings - no drafting
interface

Figure 13 Typical Drawing from the Parametric Design Process

8. Quick
The basic model providing it is not a new transfer concept can be developed in a day

Figure 14 Typical Above Ground Transfer Station

The constraints. With transfer chutes, given that most clients want a complete transfer plus
structural assembly drawings, will require some detailing of the structural components by
conventional drafting. In time this may be able to be taken off the database but as at the moment

such detailing can take a few days. The process however is still extremely quick and by its nature
prone to a lot less errors. (Doing this work rigorously by conventional means can take up to six (6)
weeks).
Having taken the time to develop this parametric design methodology it is now used to do many
other engineering designs. For instance it is used to:

Develop installation and sizing drawings for proprietary scrapers

Figure 15 Belle Banne P Type Scraper

What this effectively translates into for those effectively adopting the new design
methodology is a means to remain competitive in the market place compared with an
organisation that does not use parametric modeling techniques.

To design simple stockpile structure and to examine implications & design features

Figure 16 a & b Examples of stockpile configuration design and analysis

To design new applications for existing technology (patented dustless transfers utilising
Passive Dust Enclosure Conveyor System - "PECS" technology)

Figure 17 Patented passive dust control technology incorporating the hood & spoon
transfer design
New opportunities such as our working with the Newcastle University (NSW Australia) in
developing a comprehensive design model for bins and silos.

Eventually the methodology and process will be extended to most of our engineering designs
because the benefits are many i.e. less errors, once the model is developed as it is much quicker
and empowers engineers to be more creative by allowing them to test options more quickly.
Finally it creates a very accurate and intimate communication between the designer and the
project engineer as the model can develop its own installation drawings and any fabrication
drawings are comprehensive.
This technology is an exciting way to use computers creatively to both save time and improve
engineering processes and engineering outcomes. Eventually it is believed that it will replace the
conventional GA approach to engineering concept designs.
References
1. Benjamin, and Nemeth, J.: Transfer Chute Design for modern materials handling
operations Bulk Solids Handling Vol 21 Number 1 January/February 2001 Trans Tech
Publications Germany.
2. Benjamin, C.W: State of the Art Transfer Chute Design Using 3-0 Parametric Modelling.
Paper presented to Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) Conveyor Belt
111 Conference, February 28 - March 1st 2000, Salt Lake City, USA.
3. Benjamin, C.W., Burleigh, A.C. and Nemeth, J.: Transfer Chute Design - A New
Approach Using 3-0 Parametric Modelling Bulk Solids Handling Vol 19 Trans Tech
Publications Germany January/March 1999. Pp 29-33.
4. Roberts, Alan.W.: 1999 Maximising Feeding and Materials Transfer Through Innovative
Feeder and Chute Design. Paper presented at the Improving Conveyor Performance in
Mining conference 29-30 June in Sydney.
5. Arnold, P.C and Hill, G.L.: Predicating the discharge trajectory from belt conveyors; Bulk
solids handling Vol 10 (1990) No.4 pp 379-382
6. Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association USA: Belt Conveyors for Bulk Materials
Chapter 11.
7. L. Alan Weakly Passive Enclosure Dust Control System Bulk Material Handling by
Conveyor Belt 111 Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration inc ISBN 0-87335- 1983
8. Sundstrom P and Benjamin CW Innovations in Transfer Chute Design National Bulk
Materials Handling Conference, Institution of Engineers, Australia 22-25 September,
Yeppon, Qld ppl9l-195
9. Taylor HJ Guide to the Design of Transfer Chute and Linings The Mechanical Handling
Engineers Assoc UK
10. Belt Conveyors for Bulk Materials Chapter II Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers
Association USA

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