The pulse-elevator: a pump for granular materials
The pulse-elevator: a pump for granular materials
Granular materials include fuels, foods, feedstocks, and raw materials, and they are frequently created in drilling, exploration, and comminution. However, despite this ubiquity, they can be much more difficult to transport than other materials. Screw conveyors can be used, as can bailing, gas-blowing, and vibro-conveyors, but all have issues related to some combination of complexity, inclination, differential friction, and torque reaction. We propose an entirely new concept: a combination of the vibro-conveyor and the Tesla valve. This ‘pulse-elevator’ is a single piece of inert material, it can operate vertically, it does not depend upon frictional interactions, and it is effectively torqueless. This paper describes the mechanism in analytical, numerical, and experimental terms, and then illustrates two successful experimental use cases: powder uplift from a hopper, and the replacement of augering in a rock-drilling application. These cases are particularly relevant for the facilitation of ISRU and subsurface exploration in space.
33-41
Li, Xuan
ed01c0d5-68e0-4abe-8642-5b9ebf153314
Worrall, Kevin
ce63ae5a-091a-457d-97dd-5ee312bdf4ec
Vedanthu, Aditya
638a3455-8629-4dc5-a283-4e003f0a214b
Scott-George, Andrew
9af058ed-a636-4f27-9f1d-81870cd8725a
November 2022
Li, Xuan
ed01c0d5-68e0-4abe-8642-5b9ebf153314
Worrall, Kevin
ce63ae5a-091a-457d-97dd-5ee312bdf4ec
Vedanthu, Aditya
638a3455-8629-4dc5-a283-4e003f0a214b
Scott-George, Andrew
9af058ed-a636-4f27-9f1d-81870cd8725a
Li, Xuan, Worrall, Kevin, Vedanthu, Aditya and Scott-George, Andrew
(2022)
The pulse-elevator: a pump for granular materials.
Acta Astronautica, 200, .
(doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2022.07.052).
Abstract
Granular materials include fuels, foods, feedstocks, and raw materials, and they are frequently created in drilling, exploration, and comminution. However, despite this ubiquity, they can be much more difficult to transport than other materials. Screw conveyors can be used, as can bailing, gas-blowing, and vibro-conveyors, but all have issues related to some combination of complexity, inclination, differential friction, and torque reaction. We propose an entirely new concept: a combination of the vibro-conveyor and the Tesla valve. This ‘pulse-elevator’ is a single piece of inert material, it can operate vertically, it does not depend upon frictional interactions, and it is effectively torqueless. This paper describes the mechanism in analytical, numerical, and experimental terms, and then illustrates two successful experimental use cases: powder uplift from a hopper, and the replacement of augering in a rock-drilling application. These cases are particularly relevant for the facilitation of ISRU and subsurface exploration in space.
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Accepted/In Press date: 30 July 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 12 August 2022
Published date: November 2022
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 497968
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/497968
ISSN: 0094-5765
PURE UUID: 3d0f6144-f88c-4695-97cc-0ad776d66215
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Date deposited: 05 Feb 2025 17:47
Last modified: 22 Aug 2025 02:46
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Author:
Xuan Li
Author:
Kevin Worrall
Author:
Aditya Vedanthu
Author:
Andrew Scott-George
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