The function and classification of coal shed

Coal sheds are large in size and stores tons of coals. As for any thermal power plant, steel plant, cement plant etc where the boilers require the continuous supply of coal, the coal handling plants are a necessity and play a critical role. For continuous supply, the conveyors and stackers reclaimers are installed for effective feeding. To protect equipments from extreme weather conditions and also to protect the coal exposed to these weather conditions, the need to construct the coal shed is important.

Moreover, the dusty conditions created by the coal, it is very important to have the covered coal shed. Due to the fugitive dust emission, the dust particles are carried by the wind and cause pollution. This would pollute the plant area and could damage other utilities of the plant. The loss of coal is also due to spontaneous combustion.So Large quantity of water is consumed daily for dousing the fire . This should be avoided, as excessive moisture in the coal would aid heating of the coal. The erosion due to wind and rain is reduced with the covered storage. By providing the covered storage, the operating expenses of the plant are also lowered.

The covered storage can be longitudinal covered shed or Dome type covered shed.

LONGITUDINAL COVERED SHED

In this case, coal storage will be formed by the conventional rail mounted stacker cum reclaimer. The entire coal and the Stacker cum reclaimer machines will be covered within the shed. The length and span of the shed could be adopted depending on the quantity of storage required. In case of future expansion the length of the shed can be increased and same stacker reclaimer can be used for higher volumes.

DOME TYPE STRUCTURAL STORAGE SHED

In this type of structure, the shape of the shed will be in the semi hemispherical form. There will be a concrete wall up to a certain height from the ground level and the structure will be erected above this wall. The dome structure of various sizes could be adopted depending on the quantity of storage required. A circular stacker and scraper type reclaimer could be used for reclaiming the coal. With this type of shed, coal will be protected from wind and rain,besides the problems associated with these will be avoided. This kind of storage shed can accommodate higher quantity of coal in a smaller area as the height of storage could be increased.