Corrugated Steel Flat Bottom Silo

Corrugated Steel Flat Bottom Silo

SiroSilo manufactures corrugated steel flat bottom silos with high performance, which are capable of storing large volumes of grain efficiently.

The corrugated steel silo is a kind of metal silo, it is constructed of galvanized corrugated steel sheets, and workers use box end wrenches and impact wrenches to connect these sheets with bolts.

And the corrugated silo panels are made by roll forming, hydraulic punching, online curving, and hydraulic cutting.

A corrugated metal silo is customizable for different grains/seeds, its diameter & capacity is designable as per your request.

Such a corrugated steel silo is suitable for storing granular grains & seeds, such as:

• Barley
• Bean
• Canola
• Cereal
• Corn/Maize
• Millet
• Oat
• Oilseed
• Paddy/Rice
• Pea
• Rapeseed
• Sorghum
• Soybean
• Sunflower Seed
• Triticale
• Wheat
• …

The material of corrugated grain bin panels is galvanized high-elastic S350GD steel, its galvanization thickness is usually 0.8mm-4.2mm, max. 600g/m², the total thickness can reach 8.4mm.

Corrugated Grain Bin Panels

Most of the corrugated grain bin panels are produced by roller pressing.

To realize mass production, the silo roll forming machine is essential, such a machine is capable of making different sizes of silo corrugated sheets automatically.

The roller pressing has the following advantages:

• Successively forms the wave shape;
• Eliminates internal stress;
• Small resilience.

Thus, it ensures the corrugated silo panels are highly qualified.

Even if the coil steel is thick, the silo roll forming machine can also convert it at once, as you can see in the following video.

In addition, such a corrugated iron bending machine could work together with an unwinder, leveler, hydraulic punching machine, hydraulic cutter, and online curving machine, directly converting the coiled steel into corrugated grain bin panels.

The following video will show you the various equipment in our factory, including the silo roll forming machine.

Types of Corrugated Steel Silo

According to the bottom type, 2 types of corrugated metal silos are optional:

• Flat Bottom Silo
• Hopper Bottom Silo

If your grain reserves are less than 1500 tons, it’s better to purchase a hopper silo, it is convenient for unloading & doesn’t need grain bin cleaning equipment, lower in price;

If your grain reserves are larger than 1,500 tons or even tens of thousands of tons, then you’d better buy a flat bottom steel silo.

Because the large-capacity flat bottom silo has a floor foundation, it doesn’t need a bottom support structure like a hopper silo.

For large-capacity hopper silos, the support structure cost is quite high, therefore, many customers choose flat bottoms for large-capacity silos.

Flat Bottom Silo Advantages

The flat bottom steel silo has the following advantages:

• Strong Structure for Long Service Life

To improve silo roof carrying capacity, rafters & purlins are optional for your choice.

With stiffeners & wind rings connecting to the cylindrical body, it has high strength & integrity, with no deformation in use.

The roof & sidewall sheets are both made of hot-dip galvanized coils, which have strong corrosion resistance & long service life.

• Complete Auxiliary Equipment

An automatic temperature measurement system monitors the instant temperature inside the silo;

The aeration system effectively prevents food mildew;

And the level sensing system prompts the full/empty state of the material in the silo timely, automatic display & control.

Moreover, it could cooperate with the conveying & discharging equipment to realize automatic material loading & unloading.

• Custom Diameter and Optional Bottom Type

SiroSilo corrugated metal silo ranges in diameter from 5.5m to 32m, with a maximum storage capacity of 26,063 cubic meters, which equals 739,605.13 bushels.

Flat bottom & cone bottom silo bins are optional with different diameters & capacities, a total of more than 200 bin types for your choice.

• One-stop Solution

SiroSilo can provide a one-stop grain storage solution, including steel silo design, manufacturing, sales, and after-sales.

Our corrugated steel flat bottom silo has been exported to the United States, Russia, Germany, Brazil, Thailand, India, and other countries, China’s largest grain, oil, and food company COFCO is our customer.

SiroSilo is a professional corrugated metal silo supplier worthy of your trust.

If you want to know more about our flat bottom silo, welcome to send us an inquiry on this website, or directly contact us via the following Email/WhatsApp.

Email: info@sirosilo.com

WhatsApp: +8617312124727

Grain Silo

What is the Purpose of a Grain Silo?

A grain silo is a bulk material storage facility in agriculture.

It can store all kinds of grains & granular bulk materials, such as corn, soybeans, rapeseed, rice, etc., for long or short periods.

Grain & oil processing plants, feed processing plants, large farms, grain transfer terminals, storage centers, and biofuel companies must equip with grain silos.

Agricultural cooperatives or farmers also purchase bins and silos to store grains, seeds, or fermented feed. They store the grain in the silo bin for a certain period, after the grain price meets their expectations, then sell the grain.

Farm grain silo not only solves the storage problem for agricultural cooperatives & farmers but also improves the grain storage quality.

The farm grain silo prevents the powder from directly polluting the air, prevents moisture from entering, avoids material agglomeration, and protects the material better.

How Does a Grain Silo Work?

Speaking of how a grain bin works, it refers to how it loads material, unloads material, and prevents grain mildew.

Whether it is a flat bottom silo or a hopper bottom silo, there is a feed inlet on the roof.

The bucket elevator & drag conveyor loads material into the grain bin from the inlet, and the level sensor monitors the material level when loading.

When unloading, there is a center outlet & several intermediate outlets at the bottom.

After discharging most of the material from the center outlet, the sweep auger empties the remaining material from the intermediate outlets.

To prevent food mildew, the flat bottom silo & hopper bottom silo equips with temperature control & aeration systems.

With these systems, the temperature & humidity in the silo bin is always normal.

Types of Grain Silos

There are many ways to classify grain bins.

• Construction Materials

According to construction materials, 4 types of grain storage silos are available:

• Concrete Silo
• Brick Silo
• Wooden Silo
• Steel Silo

The steel silo is assembled by galvanized sheet, which is light in weight, low in cost, high in standardization, short in the construction period, wide in use, and easy to realize mechanization in factories.

3 types of steel silo are optional: corrugated, welded, and spiral (Lipp).

• Purpose

According to purpose, the grain storage silos are divided into the following 3 kinds:

• Short-term Storage
• Long-term Storage
• Transit Storage

Ports, docks, and warehouses along the railway have large grain throughput, there is a lot of grain turnover, and fast loading & unloading is especially important.

Large & medium concrete or steel silos are common, their capacity is more than 50,000 tons, always pair with large loading & unloading equipment to work, and maintain high efficiency in operation.

The unloading equipment lifts the grain from the ship/train to the conveying equipment, after the measuring & cleaning, it enters the grain storage silo.

• Capacity

3 types are available: large, medium, and small.

Generally, a small grain storage silo’s capacity is 200 tons or less;

A medium-sized grain storage silo’s capacity is 201-1000 tons;

And large silo bins can store grains of 1,000 tons and above.

• Bottom Shape

There are 2 types: hopper bottom & flat bottom.

How Long Does Grain Last in a Silo?

In theory, as long as the grain’s moisture content keeps at 13% or lower in the farm silo, the grain is always safe in it.

However, most grains are stored from harvest to sale, because the next harvest season needs an empty farm silo.

The silo bin really can store grain for a long time, as time goes by, the grain in the farm silo will gradually lose its nutrition, ultimately affecting the grain price.

Furthermore, the manpower & material resources for storing grain will continue to accumulate over time.

Auxiliary Equipment

Level Sensors

The material level sensor measures the grain level in agricultural silos, the coal level in thermal power plants, and the cement level in cement plants.

Nowadays, the common material level sensors include rotary paddle, weight, heavy hammer, capacitive, microwave, ultrasonic types, etc., in our SiroSilo agricultural silo, it is the rotary paddle type.

Each agriculture silo equips with high & low-level sensors.

When loading material, the high-level gauge detects whether the silo is full;

When unloading material, the low-level gauge monitors whether the silo is close to being empty.

Drying Systems

The grain drying silos are agricultural silos with a drying system, this drying system usually includes hot air fans, a stirring machine/system, and so on.

You could click the above photo to watch the presentation video of grain-drying silos.

Aeration Systems

To avoid grain deterioration, the aeration system is essential for the steel silo.

The aeration system has the following functions:

• Insect Development Inhibition
• Mold Growth Prevention
• Seed Vigor Preservation
• Grain Moisture Reduction

Taking a flat bottom silo with a diameter of less than 8m as an example, a ventilation system includes the following components:

• Roof Vent

Moisturized air rising from the bottom of the bin escapes through this hole, which is usually round, resistant to standing water, snow, and debris, and has a mesh inside to keep birds out.

• Gutter

It is made of hot-dip galvanized steel and installed on the concrete foundation of the silo, “Y”, “H” and “C” layouts are available for you to choose from.

According to the silo size, grain volume, etc., the thickness of the galvanized steel sheet is customizable as per your request.

• Perforated Floor (Aeration Channel)

The aeration channel is made of perforated metal sheets with a galvanized surface, corrugated, and small holes 1 or 1.5 mm in diameter.

The channel distribution is “Y” or “H”, depending on the type and volume of the stored grain.

There is a gutter support under the perforated floor to make the airflow better.

• Air Fan

Fan intake and cool air, greatly reduce air temperature and humidity and then blows the air into the silo through the aeration channel and the gutter.

Cooled air carries the heat and moisture in the grain to the roof vent.

Larger steel silos introduce multiple fans and aeration ducts for ventilation.

Grain Bin Unloader

The auger grain bin is a flat bottom bin, the flat bottom bin is equipped with a sweep auger for emptying material.

The hopper bottom bins don’t need a sweep auger, because grain automatically flows out of the hopper bottom bin under gravity.

A sweep auger is a spiral cleaner, it rotates around the center of the silo and clears the remaining grain from the intermediate outlets.

Grain Bin Construction

The galvanized grain bin construction mainly includes the following basic steps.

Concrete Pad Pouring and Curing

Corrugated grain silos must be installed on a concrete pad to support the weight of a full silo.

So, when you start building a corrugated grain bin, you need to carefully scrape and level the building site, then pour and cure a concrete pad.

Assembling the Roof and the Corrugated Sheets of the 1st Wind Ring

The corrugated steel silo assembly starts from the silo roof and the corrugated sheets of the 1st wind ring.

Bolts, nuts with neoprene washers, and other associated hardware required for assembly are included in the shipment from the manufacturer.

During the construction process, the silo roof is the most vulnerable part, you need to assemble it with great care. You’d better think carefully about the assembly process before doing it.

Assembling the Corrugated Sheets of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th… Wind Ring

After assembling the roof and the corrugated sheets of the 1st wind ring, lift the roof and the 1st wind ring with jacks, and then assemble the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th… and other lower wind rings.

Every time after assembling a wind ring, you must lift it to facilitate the assembly of the lower wind rings.

Anchoring Silo

Drill anchor holes on the concrete pad with a cement drill first, and then use the anchor bolts provided by the supplier to fix the galvanized silo on the concrete pad.

Sealing Silo

To protect the corrugated silo from moisture, you will need to use a foam sealant or tar pad to seal it.

Essential Tools

Two wrenches with long handles are used outside the bin, workers use them to tighten bolts.

And impact wrenches are used inside the bin.

10″ or longer drift punches are especially useful for jacking and aligning corrugated sheets.

In addition, lifting equipment is also a must. Common lifting equipment includes jacks specially designed for corrugated metal silo assembly, cranes, boom trucks, large forklifts (small grain silos only!), etc.

Lifting a metal grain silo with jacks will slow down the entire construction process, but using jacks is safer than other equipment.

Precautions

The total weight of each wind ring plus the corrugated sheets is very large, and a slight bump into someone will cause serious consequences.

Prohibit random personnel from entering the construction site, especially those who are inattentive and careless, which may lead to loss of life or limbs if they are not careful.

Biggest Grain Bin in the World

The United States has the biggest grain bin (corrugated steel) in the world. How much food can it store?

Golden Grallen Energy started construction of an ethanol plant on September 14, 2020. The world’s largest corrugated metal grain bins were built in the plant. A single steel silo has a capacity of 80,000 cubic meters and can store 2.2 million Bushels of corn.

The cylindrical grain bin has a record diameter of 47.55m (156 feet) and a height of 47.24m (155 feet), allowing a Boeing 767 to fit inside it.

Sheffield-based Sukup Manufacturing Co. is solely responsible for manufacturing the giant steel silos.

Grain Bin Cost 2021

The grain bin cost depends on its construction materials and capacity.

For example, for a 1,000-ton steel silo, its price on the Chinese market is USD$28,000.00-USD$38,000.00.

Because Chinese products have price advantages, if you purchase European & American farm silos, the price will be much higher.

Grain Silo Companies

If you enter grain silo companies in the keyword planner of Google Ads, the names of some famous grain silo companies appear in your eyes, such as:

• Afgri
• Scafco
• Sioux
• Sukup
• Symaga

Steel Silo

What is Metal Silo?

Metal silos are cylindrical containers assembled from galvanized sheets, they are suitable for long-term storage of corn, beans, and other grains.

This type of silo is very common near grain & oil plants, feed mills, and ports.

At the top of the metal silos, there is a feeding chute. When loading, the material enters the silo from this feeding chute;

At the bottom of the metal silos, there is a central outlet and several intermediate outlets for taking out the materials.

Due to its comprehensive functions, simple assembly, and easy maintenance, many large farms have gradually introduced metal silos for grain storage.

Metal silos are divided into corrugated, welded & spiral (Lipp) types, we SiroSilo just promote corrugated grain silos and welcome you to contact us for more details about our corrugated grain bin.

Email: info@sirosilo.com

WhatsApp: +8617312124727

Steel Silo Design

The steel silo design covers the following aspects after comprehensive consideration of temperature, pressure, relative humidity, 24h maximum rainfall, altitude, air salinity, wind conditions, and earthquake conditions.

• Structural Design

The structural design includes the following four parts:

1. Silo roof and charging inlet
2. Silo wall
3. Silo bottom
4. Supporting foundation structure and discharging outlet

• Process Design

Any steel grain silo manufacturer must consider the following 4 aspects of process design.

1. Material charging system
2. Dust removal system
3. Mechanical ventilation
4. Pest control
5. Material discharging system

• Electrical and Supporting Facilities

The following facilities are essential in the grain steel silo design.

1. Distribution lines
2. Lighting system
3. Automatic control system
4. Grain monitoring and control system
5. Lightning protection grounding system
6. Fire water supply

Silo Steel Structure

The photo below displays the silo steel structure clearly, you could also click it for more details.

Pros of Corrugated Steel Silos?

Corrugated steel silos are the mainstream food grain silos for turnover storage in the world currently. With the following outstanding advantages, it has won the favor of customers from all over the world.

1. Relatively small footprint, and large capacity, its capacity is between 50 to 100,000 tons.
2. Lightweight, under the same capacity, its weight is only one-sixth of the concrete silo;
3. Material saving, low cost, its price is only 70%-80% of the same capacity concrete silo;
4. The galvanized steel silo could be industrialized and mass-produced with standard materials, and its transportation is convenient;
5. It is very convenient for heat preservation and sealing treatment, fumigation, and air conditioning in the later stage;
6. No seasonal influence on construction, fast progress, short cycle, 6 workers erect a 10,000-ton bin within 15 days;
7. Applicable for cement and fly ash storage, and also suitable for storing petroleum, chemical raw materials, grain, feed, etc.;
8. Easy to use after construction, high operation efficiency, saving management personnel;
9. Dust collection system for material loading & discharging, no pollution to the environment, and is energy-saving;
10. It is detachable to other places.

Steel Grain Silo Manufacturers

The figure below displays the famous steel silo manufacturers all over the world.

As a professional steel silo manufacturer in China, SiroSilo is also worthy of your trust as a COFCO supplier.

You are welcome to send us your inquiry, and we will reply to you within 1 hour during the work period.

Email: info@sirosilo.com

WhatsApp: +8617312124727

Steel Grain Bin Prices

The cost of metal silos on the Chinese market is shown in the following pictures, you can refer to these prices when purchasing metal silos from China.

Welcome you to contact us for a quote, one more candidate means one more choice.

Flat Bottom Silo

Design

As shown in this picture, the flat bottom silo design mainly involves the following components:

• Wind Rings
• Handrail
• Support Cone
• Roof Sheet
• Roof Vents
• Roof
• Cylinder/Body
• Monitor & Control System
• Stiffeners
• Aeration System
• Sealing Fastener (Bolt & Screw)
• Cooling System
• Fumigation System
• Sweep Auger

Components

To help you understand the flat bottom silo more comprehensively, let’s divide it into 4 parts, then introduce each in detail.

SiroSilo corrugated metal silo mainly includes the following 4 parts:

Roof

The C-shaped rafters & purlins significantly improve the roof integrity, such a design is very suitable for the shape of a silo roof and eliminates the common deflection of Z-shaped rafters.

The roof vent cover is made of hot-dip galvanized steel, and its unique structure avoids the rain’s influence on silos.

This section also contains:

• Handrail
• Feed Inlet
• Inspection Door
• Roof Steps
• Catwalk
• ……

Cylindrical Body

The sidewall body consists of corrugated steel sheets, high-strength bolts (8.8) connect these sheets, and the Butyl rubber tape plays the sealing role, thus ensuring silo strength & rainproof effect.

This part also contains:

• Stiffeners
• Ladder to Access Door
• Reinforced Ring (Wind Ring)
• Access Door
• Bolts & Nuts
• Sealing Tape (Butyl Rubber)
• ……

Bottom

This part contains:

• Air Fan
• Sweep Augers
• Aeration Gutters System
• ……

Control System

This section contains:

• Automatic Temperature Measurement System (Including Grain Bin Moisture Sensors)
• Ventilation/Aeration System
• Material Level System (Grain Bin Level Sensors)
• ……

Volume Calculator

A flat bottom bin has a cylindrical body with a conical roof, so you could use the volume equations for cylinders and cones to calculate its storage space.

• V=the volume of the whole flat bottom bin
• V1=the volume of the cylindrical body
• π=3.14
• R=the radius of the flat bottom bin
• H1=the height of the cylindrical body
• V2=the volume of the conical roof
• H2=the height of the conical roof
• ∠=the inclination angle of the bin roof

V=V1+V2=π*R²*H1+1/3*π*R²*H2=π*R²*H1+1/3*π*R³*tan∠

If you know the diameter, cylinder height, and roof height of your flat silo, you could click the following photo to calculate your silo capacity online.

Silo Foundation

To support the weight of the whole flat bottom silo and the material inside it, it is necessary to build the concrete foundation for it, which is the first step in the flat bottom bin construction.

The picture below shows a real flat silo project we undertook in China, from which you could see the concrete foundation under the flat bottom grain bin.

There is a groove left under the concrete foundation and there is a row of discharge outlets above the groove.

You could place a belt conveyor for unloading in the middle of the groove to convey the discharged material to the truck.

Silo Unloader

To unload materials from the flat-bottomed silo, there is a center outlet & several intermediate outlets.

When unloading, most of the materials are discharged through the center outlet, then the remaining materials are emptied through the intermediate outlets by the sweep auger.

This design can maximize the emptying efficiency, easy & quick emptying saves your time & energy and avoids damage to the flat bottom silo.

Price

Undoubtedly, capacity is the most influential factor for flat bottom silo price, the larger the capacity, the higher the price.

The price of a flat bottom silo in the Chinese market is shown in the figure below, it ranges from USD$10,000.00 to USD$100,000.00 according to capacity:

If you plan to purchase a flat bottom silo recently, please send us an inquiry on this site, we are worthy of your trust.

Email: info@sirosilo.com

WhatsApp: +8617312124727

Hopper Bottom Silo

What is a Hopper Bin?

A silo usually consists of a roof, a body, and a bottom, the roof, body, and bottom of a hopper bin are conical, cylindrical, and inverted conical respectively.

The hopper bin stands on the steel structure legs and brackets, after opening the discharge outlet, the internal grain will automatically flow out from the inverted cone bottom under gravity, with no need for unloading equipment.

Because there is a certain height from the hopper bin bottom to the ground, you could place the belt, screw, or drag conveyor under the bin bottom, and the grain can be discharged at any time as needed, which is very convenient.

Hopper bottom bins are suitable for storing granular items with good fluidity, such as corn, rice, wheat, soybeans, feed pellets, and plastic pellets.

Common cone angles are 45°, 60°, and 66°, the cone angle of corn, wheat, soybean, and feed pellets is 45°, the inclination angle of powder materials is 60°, and for some objects with poor fluidity, the inclination can reach 66°.

Components

Cone bottom silos are usually erected on a metallic structure fastened to the concrete ground.

Its height depends on the number of wind rings, each wind ring height is 1120 mm here in China.

The cone bottom bin comprises the following parts: roof, cylinder, hopper bottom, control system, and auxiliary equipment.

Roof

The roof of the hopper silo contains the following components:

• Roof collar/lid
• Roof sheet
• Rafter
• Purlin
• Vent
• Inspection Door
• Roof Stair

Cylinder

The cylindrical body of the hopper bin consists of the following items:

• Body Sheet
• Wind Rings
• Stiffener
• Access Door

Hopper Bottom

The following components make up the hopper bottom:

• Inverted Conical Bottom
• Steel Legs & Bracing (Support Structure)
• Compression Ring
• Bolts & Nuts
• Butyl Rubber

Control System

The following three control systems are widely used in cone bottom bins:

• Temperature Measurement System
• Material Level Sensing System
• Ventilation System

Accessories

The top, cylindrical body, and bottom of the cone bottom bin have a lot of optional accessories for you to choose from.

• Roof Support
• Catwalk
• Handrail
• Ladder to Roof
• Ladder to Access Door
• Spiral Ladder
• Rest Platform
• Air Fan
• Ventilation Conduits
• Slide Gate
• Vibrating Bottom
• Grain Chiller

How Many Bushels Are in a Hopper Bin?

SiroSilo produces hopper bottom bins of different sizes, with diameters ranging from 3.67m to 12.83m, and a maximum volume of 2600 cubic meters.

2,600 cubic meters is equal to 73,781.74 bushels, so you could store 73,781.74 bushels of grain in our SiroSilo’s largest hopper bottom silo.

What is the Difference Between Silo and Hopper?

From the perspective of industry cognition, the hopper is more like a classification under the silo, to distinguish it from the flat bottom silo.

The hopper bottom silo & flat bottom silo have different bottom shapes.

Hopper bottom silo is more convenient for unloading, suitable for use as a transit silo, the silo capacity is generally less than 1500 tons, it is cost-effective;

The flat bottom silo is generally used for large-capacity long-term storage, the unloading is not as convenient as the hopper bottom silo.

Volume Calculator

A cone-bottom bin has two cones on top and bottom plus a cylinder in the middle, so you could also use the volume formula for cylinders and cones to determine its storage space.

• V=the volume of the whole cone bottom bin
• V1=the volume of the cylinder body
• π=3.14
• R=the radius of the hopper bottom bin
• H1=the height of the cylinder body
• V2=the volume of the conical roof
• H2=the height of the conical roof
• ∠1=the inclination angle of the bin roof
• V3=the volume of the conical bottom
• H3=the height of the conical bottom
• ∠2=the inclination angle of the conical bottom

V=V1+V2+V3=π*R²*H1+1/3*π*R²*H2+1/3*π*R²*H3=π*R²*H1+1/3*π*R³*tan∠1+1/3*π*R³*tan∠3

To calculate your cone bottom silo volume online, please click the photo below if you already know its diameter, roof height, cylinder height, and cone height.

Prices

Hopper silo price depends on its capacity and the auxiliary equipment.

The larger the capacity, the more galvanized steel sheets are required and the higher the price; the price of auxiliary equipment is related to its length, height, and power.

Only after the design drawing is made according to your needs, the above data can be determined.

If you plan to purchase a cone bottom bin, you are welcome to contact us by email or WhatsApp, and we will customize it as requested.

Email: info@sirosilo.com

WhatsApp: +8617312124727