Silo

A silo is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store grain (see grain elevators) or fermented feed known as silage. Silos are more commonly used for bulk storage of grain, coal, cement, carbon black, wood chips, food products and sawdust.

Three types of silos are in widespread use today:

# Tower silos
# Bunker silos
# Bag silos

Tower silos

Storage silos are cylindrical structures, typically 10 to 90 ft (4 to 30 m) in diameter and 30 to 275 ft (10 to 84 m) in height with the slipform and Jumpform concrete silos being the larger diameter and taller silos. They can be made of many materials. Wood staves, concrete staves, cast concrete, and steel panels have all been used, and have varying cost, durability, and airtightness tradeoffs. Silos storing grain, cement and woodchips are typically unloaded with air slides or augers. Silos can be unloaded into rail cars, trucks or conveyors.

Tower silos containing silage are usually unloaded from the top of the pile, originally by hand using a pitchfork, in modern times using mechanical unloaders. Bottom silo unloaders are utilized at times but have problems with difficulty of repair.

An advantage of tower silos is that the silage tends to pack well due to its own weight, except in the top few feet. The tower silo was invented by Franklin Hiram King.

In Australia, many country towns in grain-growing areas have concrete tower silos to collect grain from the surrounding towns and store it ready for transport by train or road to an export port.

Silo loading and unloading

A "silo unloader" specifically refers to a special cylindrical rotating forage pickup device used inside a single tower silo, but can also refer to the complete conveyance system used to transport the forage to the animals.

The main operating component of the silo unloader is suspended in the silo from a steel cable on a pulley that is mounted in the top-center of the roof of the silo. The vertical positioning of the unloader is controlled by an electric winch on the exterior of the silo.

For the summer filling of a tower silo, the unloader is winched as high as possible to the top of the silo and put into a parking position. The silo is filled with a silo blower, which is literally a very large fan that blows a large volume of pressurized air up a 10-inch tube on the side of the silo. A small amount of water is introduced into the air stream during filling to help lubricate the filling tube. A small adjustable nozzle at the top, controlled by a handle at the base of the silo directs the silage to fall into the silo on the near, middle, or far side, to facilitate evenly layered loading. Once completely filled, the top of the exposed silage pile is covered with a large heavy sheet of silo plastic which seals out oxygen and permits the entire pile to begin to ferment in the autumn.

In the winter when animals must be kept indoors, the silo plastic is removed, the unloader is lowered down onto the top of the silage pile, and a hinged door is opened on the side of the silo to permit the silage to be blown out. There is an array of these access doors arranged vertically up the side of the silo, with a unloading tube next to the doors that has a series of removable covers down the side of the tube. The unloader tube and access doors are normally covered with a large U-shaped shield mounted on the silo, to protect the farmer from wind, snow, and rain while working on the silo.

The silo unloader mechanism consists of a pair of counter-rotating toothed augers which rip up the surface of the silage and pull it towards the center of the unloader. The toothed augers rotate in a circle around the center hub, evenly chewing the silage off the surface of the pile. In the center, a large blower assembly picks up the silage and blows it out the silo door, where the silage falls by gravity down the unloader tube to the bottom of the silo, typically into an automated conveyor system.

The unloader is typically lowered only a half-inch or so at a time by the operator, and the unloader picks up only a small amount of material until the winch cable has become taut and the unloader is not picking up any more material. The operator then lowers the unloader another half-inch or so and the process repeats. If lowered too far, the unloader can pull up much more material than it can handle, which can overflow and plug up the blower, outlet spout, and the unloader tube, resulting in a time-wasting process of having to climb up the silo to clear the blockages.

Once silage has entered the conveyor system, it can be handled by either manual or automatic distribution systems. The simplest manual distribution system uses a sliding metal platform under the pickup channel. When slid open, the forage drops through the open hole and down a chute into a wagon, wheelbarrow, or open pile. When closed, the forage continues past the opening and onward to other parts of the conveyor. Computer automation and a conveyor running the length of a feeding stall can permit the silage to be automatically dropped from above by each animal, with the amount dispensed customized for each location.

Silo hazards

There are also many opportunities for a farmer to be injured, maimed, or killed by the various mechanical systems of the silo loading and unloading process. Filling a silo requires parking two tractors very close to each other, both running at full power and with live PTO shafts, one powering the silo blower and the other powering a forage wagon unloading fresh-cut forage into the blower. The farmer must continually move around in this highly hazardous environment of spinning shafts and high-speed conveyors to check material flows and adjust speeds, and to start and stop all the equipment between loads.

Preparation for filling a silo requires winching the unloader to the top, and any remaining forage at the base that the unloader could not pick up must be removed from the floor of the silo. This job requires that the farmer work directly underneath a machine weighing several tons suspended fifty feet or more overhead from a small steel cable. If the unloader were to fall, the farmer would likely be killed instantly.

Unloading also poses its own special hazards, due to the requirement that the farmer regularly climb the silo to close an upper door and open a lower door, moving the unloader chute from door to door in the process. The fermentation of the silage produces methane gas which over time will outgas and displace the oxygen in the top of the silo. A farmer directly entering a silo without any other precautions can be asphyxiated by the methane, knocked unconscious, and silently suffocate to death before anyone else knows what has happened. It is either necessary to leave the silo blower attached to the silo at all times to use it when necessary to ventilate the silo with fresh air, or to have a dedicated electric fan system to blow fresh air into the silo, before anyone attempts to enter it.

In the event that the unloader mechanism becomes plugged, the farmer must climb the silo and directly stand on the unloader, reaching into the blower spout to dig out the soft silage. After clearing a plug, the forage needs to be forked out into an even layer around the unloader so that the unloader does not immediately dig into the pile and plug itself again. All during this process the farmer is standing on or near a machine that could easily kill them in seconds if it were to accidentally start up. This can happen if someone in the barn were to unknowingly switch on the unloading mechanism while someone is in the silo working on the unloader.

Bunker silos

Bunker silos are trenches, usually with concrete walls, that are filled and packed with tractors and loaders. The filled trench is covered with a plastic tarp to make it airtight. These silos are usually unloaded with a tractor and loader. They are inexpensive and especially well suited to very large operations.

Bag silos

Bag silos are heavyweight plastic bags, usually around 8 to 12 ft in diameter, and of variable length as required for the amount of material to be stored. They are packed using a machine made for the purpose, and sealed on both ends. They are unloaded using a tractor and loader or skid-steer loader. The bag is discarded in sections as it is torn off. Bag silos require little capital investment. They can be used as a temporary measure when growth or harvest conditions require more space, though some farms use them every year.

Safety and silo cleaning

Silos are hazardous, and people die every year in the process of filling and maintaining them. The machinery used is dangerous and with tower silos workers can fall from the silo's ladder or work platform.

There have also been many cases of silos exploding. If the air inside becomes laden with finely granulated particles, such as grain dust, a spark can trigger an explosion powerful enough to blow a concrete silo apart.

There are two main problems which will necessitate cleaning. Bridging occurs when the material consolidates at the base of the silo. Rat holing occurs when the material starts to adhere to the side of the silo. This will reduce the operating capacity of a silo as well as leading to cross-contamination of newer material with older material. There are a number of ways to clean a silo and many of these carry their own risks. However since the early 1990s acoustic cleaners have become available. These are non-invasive, have minimum risk, and can offer a very cost-effective way to keep a silo clean.Fact|date=January 2008 It can also be called silage wrap.

Notable silos

* Schapfen-Mill-Tower, Ulm, Germany, height: 130 metres
* Henninger Turm, Frankfurt, Germany, has an observation deck and 2 revolving restaurants, height: 120 metres
* Silo Tower Basel, Basel, Switzerland, has an observation deck, height: 52 metres
* Quaker Square, Akron, Ohio, is a former set of tower silos that is now a hotel, restaurants and shops

References

*Beedle, Peggy Lee. [http://learningstore.uwex.edu/pdf%5CG3660-4.pdf 4. "Silos: an agricultural success story"] , University of Wisconsin-Extension: 2001, G3660-4.

ee also

*Coal silo
*Granary

External links

* [http://www.silo.org International Silo Association]
* [http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d001601-d001700/d001695/d001695.pdf What To Do In Case Of Grain Bin Entrapment] , from the U.S. National Agricultural Safety Database