Test of Efficiency of a Screw Conveyor and Design of Additional Coal and Ash Handling Equipment for the University of Tennessee Power Plant

The most primitive and easiest general method of moving any loose material is of course by hands When coal was first used as & means of heat supply to boilers, this coal was placed in the furnace with the use of a shovel, and this method is in use today where the quantity of fuel burned is not sufficient to warrant an expenditure on equipment which could move the required amount of coal.

Today small plants are being replaced by central stations, since both private and public enterprises can obtain heat and power from these stations much cheaper than they can develope it themselves. Thus with the developement of large stations where there is a large power requirement there is an enormous annual coal consumption. In the moving of this coal a net saving may be made where proper equipment is installed to obtain the lowest moving cost per unit of fuel. But on each installation there is an almost entirely different situation to be met, and on the design of this equipment depends the most satisfactory and economical method of coal handling in any particular plant. There are many standard designs of equipment, one of which may be adapted to any plant with some variations where necessary.