| Jacob Bolson - 3/14/2009 13:41
Are they? One thing to keep in mind with a belt conveyor is that the grain has all of its momentum in one direction-->the direction of the belt. This results in the grain kernal continuing on that trajectory until something directs it another direction. The advantage with a grain auger is that the grain has both a longitudal velocity and a rotational velocity, which results in a much smaller force being needed to direct those kernals down into the bin.
There was some undergraduate student research out at Ohio State a couple years ago that addressed this exact topic: grain damage from an auger versus belt.
In my experience yes, especially when handling soybeans. On our seed truck we used auger with steel flighting and switched to a brush type and noticed less damage. The thing with augers is that they have to be run at capacity and at slow speeds to minimize damage. A thing to look at is that all that rotation is causing friction between seed to steel and seed to seed contact multiplied by 100'+ where as the conveyor carries the grain and hitting just at the end which can be minimized by slowing the conveyor down.
This website describes the advantages and disadvantages of several different handling techniques
www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1026.pdf
Regarding the first question another farmer around here uses a batco belt conveyor for transfering seed and unloading his bins. He can load a tractor trailer 950 bu in about 10 min using a 20 or 15 hp motor that according to him is bigger than he needed but is what he had on hand.
Edited by Bear1062 3/14/2009 15:20
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High capacity grain augers
