How to choose a railcar vibrator for your cargo and railcar
Two things decide the model: what you unload from, and what the cargo is. The tables below give a preliminary answer in a minute. The final選 selection is made by our engineer from your site data — free of charge.
Hopper railcars: fertiliser, cement and grain hoppers
Cargo discharges through the bottom hatches. The vibrator strikes the railcar frame or wall and brings down whatever has bridged. Where two tracks carry loaded railcars on both sides, one turning machine serves both — the head swivels 180°.
| Cargo | Single track | Two parallel tracks | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mineral fertilisers | VH-500 | VH-500T | Practically every type cakes — ammonium nitrate, NPK, potassium chloride, urea — even when treated with anti-caking agents |
| Cement and fine powders | VH-500 | VH-500T | Cement, chalk, lime and apatite concentrate lock themselves in the hatches. Clamp-on eccentric vibrators do not clean the railcar out |
| Ore and concentrates | VH-500 | VH-500T | Wet concentrate bridges and freezes; the material is heavy, so the impact has to be strong — 550 J |
| Coal | VH-500 | VH-500T | Winter freezing is the main cause of delay |
| Meal and compound feed | VH-500 | VH-500T | Oil and moisture in the product slow discharge — the railcar body needs an external impact |
| Grain | Usually not needed | Usually not needed | Honestly: grain rarely causes discharge problems. If your case differs, write to us and we will look into it |
| Mobile use, no installation | VH-200 | VH-200 | A portable 180 kg unit striking the hatches at 280 J, for when a fixed installation does not fit |
Gondolas: residue after discharge
After a rotary dumper, wet cargo stays stuck to the floor and walls — up to 300 kg. A four-person crew needs up to twenty minutes per railcar by hand; the brushing machine does a railcar in three to five minutes, rakes the residue into the end of the body, and keeps people out of the railcar.
| Cargo | What we use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Coal and coke | Sweeper GT | The machine's target case: open flat-bottomed railcars |
| Fertilisers, ore, concentrates | Sweeper GT | Works the same way as long as the railcar is open and flat-bottomed |
| Grain, meal, compound feed | Sweeper GT | Elevators and agri terminals are among the main users |
| Frozen-on cargo | Thawing first | The brushing machine does not take frozen cargo. After thawing — the same three to five minutes |
Rotary dumpers
Even after tipping, some cargo stays in the railcar — especially when it is wet. Some customers run ordinary railcar vibrators alongside the dumper. Work is under way on the VH-500R, built into the dumper and driven by one control system on a single algorithm with it. If you run a dumper and still see residue after tipping, write to us and we will discuss the configuration.
Bins, silos and chutes
This is the RH-200's job: a pneumatic hammer welded to the structure at the problem points, breaking arches, hang-ups and build-up. It suits steel bins, silos, transfer chutes and conveyor troughs with heavy cargo — ore, coal, concentrates. Concrete silos are not its case.
What we will ask for the final selection
cargo moisture and caking tendency, and how long it has been in transit;
railcar design and condition — whether there is a frame for the machine to brace against;
railcars per day and how they stand: single track, two tracks, rotary dumper;
compressed air on site: 7 bar and 2.5–2.8 m³/min per unit;
winter temperature: standard build down to −30 °C, low-temperature build to −40 °C.
Honest limitations
Cargo frozen solid all the way through will not come out with vibration — it needs thawing first, and only then does the equipment work as intended.
At two to three railcars a day, professional equipment usually does not pay off. If your volume is below that, we will say so.
Send us the parameters listed above and we will propose a configuration and a price. The selection is free.
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Tell us about your terminal, materials and railcars — our engineers will get back to you with a recommendation within 2 working days.
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