Rotary feeders, also known as rotary airlocks or rotary valves, are commonly used in industrial and agricultural applications as a component in a bulk or specialty material handling system. Rotary feeders are primarily used for discharge of bulk solid material from hoppers /bins, receivers, and cyclones into a pressure or vacuum-driven pneumatic conveying system. Components of a rotary feeder include a rotor shaft, housing, head plates, and Packing seals and Bearings. Rotors have large vanes cast or welded on and are typically driven by small electric motors
The basic use of the rotary airlock feeder is as an airlock transition point, sealing pressurized systems against loss of air or gas while maintaining a flow of material between components with different pressure and suitable for air lock applications ranging from gravity discharge of filters, rotary valves, cyclone dust collectors, and rotary airlock storage devices to precision feeders for dilute phase and continuous dense phase pneumatic convey systems
Rotary airlock feeders/ rotary airlock valves are used in pneumatic conveying systems, dust control equipment, and as volumetric feed-controls.
Rotary airlock valves are also widely used as volumetric feeders for metering materials at precise flow rates from bins, hoppers, or silos onto conveying or processing systems.