Bucket Elevators — Vertical Transport with Minimal Footprint
Where material must gain height — feeding silos, screens or dryers — the bucket elevator lifts granules and powders vertically on a fraction of the floor space a conveyor would need. Pro Makina manufactures chain- and belt-type elevators with project-calculated capacity, discharge behaviour and drive.
Working Principle and Design
Buckets fixed to a chain or belt scoop or receive material at the boot, carry it up inside the closed casing and discharge at the head — centrifugally for fast elevators handling free-flowing granules, or gravitationally for slower machines and fragile products. The head geometry, bucket shape and speed must match, otherwise material falls back and capacity collapses.
Selection between chain and belt follows the duty: chains tolerate heat and abrasive products; belts run faster and quieter on free-flowing granules. Boot design, feed point and venting decide the real-world capacity as much as the theoretical calculation — all part of our engineering scope.
Typical Applications
- Feeding screens, dryers and granulators at height
- Silo and bunker filling
- Recycle streams in granulation loops
- Vertical transfer in space-limited plants
Technical Features
Chain or belt type
Selected by temperature, abrasiveness and speed requirements.
Discharge engineering
Centrifugal or gravity discharge matched to bucket geometry and speed.
Safety equipment
Backstop, rotation and belt-drift monitoring, explosion venting where required.
Access and service
Inspection doors at boot and head, tensioning stations for easy maintenance.
Data Required for Elevator Design
| Design input | Role in the calculation |
|---|---|
| Material, bulk density, particle size | Bucket type, filling and speed |
| Capacity (t/h) | Bucket size, spacing and speed |
| Lift height (m) | Chain/belt selection and drive power |
| Temperature and dust class | Component and venting specification |
Elevator capacity is calculated from bucket geometry, spacing and speed for your material — quoted per project.
Why Pro Makina
Manufactured in Turkey
Design and fabrication are carried out in our own facility in Eskişehir, Turkey, with full in-house engineering control.
Project-based engineering
Every machine is sized around your raw material, moisture content and capacity target — not sold from a fixed catalogue.
Export experience
We prepare international technical proposals, shipping documentation and commissioning support for overseas projects.
Single point of responsibility
Process design, fabrication, automation and commissioning are managed by one engineering team.
Frequently Asked Questions
Chain or belt elevator — which one do I need?
Chain elevators suit hot and abrasive materials at moderate speeds; belt elevators run faster and are preferred for free-flowing granules like finished fertilizer. We select based on your product.
How is material breakage avoided?
Through correct discharge design and speed: gravity discharge and moderate speeds protect fragile granules. This is part of the sizing calculation.
What safety devices are included?
Backstops against reverse rotation, speed and alignment monitoring, and — for dusty products — venting provisions specified per installation.
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Share Your Project Details
Send us your raw material, capacity and process data. Our engineering team will review your requirements and prepare a project-specific technical proposal.
Bucket Elevators — Vertical Transport with Minimal Footprint
Final dimensions, capacity and drive power are determined per project, based on your raw material analysis, moisture content and process calculations.