Flow of granular material out of Hopper: Application in food, agriculture and pharmaceutical industry

A new type of arching and rat-holding free hopper was designed for the flow of granular material by using the Discrete Element Method. Such hoppers are immensely helpful in the food, biopharmaceutical and agriculture industries. The DEM is a complex method that resolves the problem of storage and flow of granular material in a hopper. It is a time taking procedure as the granular particles search for the contact between each other. Initially, when the particles are filled in the hopper, the velocity is greater; however, at the time of discharging material out of the hopper the velocity of flow of granular material at the orifice end is smaller. The total particles are discharged within 0.17 second, having different diameters and velocities.