Corn Conveyance and Distribution System

An agricultural processor needed corn moved from a single supply point out to a row of stations, but their plant floor was already full. The only way to get there was overhead. I was the lead engineer on the system, and I started with a site visit to capture the existing steel, clear heights, columns, and maintenance routes before committing to a layout.

The system uses six conveyors: two supply conveyors, an infeed, two distribution conveyors, and a recirculation conveyor that closes everything into a loop. Corn that no station takes keeps cycling until there is demand for it somewhere on the line, so the supply side doesn’t have to predict exactly what each station will need. Every belt runs at the same speed, which kept balancing between stations a matter of where the diverts sit and when they fire. I designed the conveyors, diverts, and chutes, including sixteen sanitary stainless drop chutes that bring product down about seven feet to the stations below.

I designed the overhead support steel and worked with our professional engineer to validate it against the expected loads. We built and trial fit the structure in our shop with the conveyor frame hung from it, so the hanger geometry was proven before anyone was working off a lift at the customer’s site. I then went out to the plant to help install and troubleshoot the system.

Once the system was running, corn husks, which are slightly sticky, began collecting at the tail of a declining conveyor where nothing carried them away. Over time they built up enough to badly stretch the belt. I fixed it two ways. A scraper inside the conveyor frame removes husks before they build up, and an over-center tensioner mounted below the tail roller lets operators release tension and clean out whatever still collects. I learned that a real production system needs both a fix for the problem and easy access for dealing with whatever the fix misses.