Introduction about three different types of metal silo

Galvanized steel silo is a kind of metal silo. Normally we divide the metal silo into three different shapes: flat bottom metal silo, corn bottom metal silo and horizontal metal silo. Knowing the difference between them will guiding us to use them better. It can help you choose the suitable silo.

Flat-Bottom Metal Silos

As we all know and mentioned before, flat bottom metal silo is common seen in food industry, we can find flat bottom metal silos at breweries, feed mills, flourmills, and port facilities. They are the most suitable container to keep grain.
While welded construction is available and popular at one time, flat-bottom metal silos are usually built using galvanized steel plate that are bolted onto a frame made of structural steel stiffeners. All the supporting equipment are galvanize coated in case of rain and other liquid case corrosion. Important supporting equipment for large flat bottom metal silos also include wind rings, which stiffen flat-bottom metal silos for wind loading and bolster their structural stability during filling and discharge, as well as industrial access equipment. The latter can include spiral stairs that wind around the silo and caged ladders to provide access to the inspection door at the top.
A flat-bottom silo may equipped with a sweep auger, the material at the bottom can be unloaded first. A sweep auger will also provide controlled flow for a diverse range of stored materials, which means a flat-bottom silo can be adapted to store diverse materials but not only grain.
This is the biggest difference between flat bottom metal silo and on the contrary, the conical bottom silo is used to store specific material.

Conical-Bottom Metal Silos

Conical bottom metal silo is also called hopper bottom silo, we name these silos according the the shape of their bottom. Cone bottom silo is always designed to store specific material such as sand, salt and other material. They are used for temporary material storage not for long term storage. So the size and quantity of the cone bottom silo is always smaller than the flat bottom silo. They are raised on structural steel supports to permit access underneath, making loading materials for transport easier.
The conical hopper attached to the bottom of these silos allows for an easy, metered unloading, provided the material in the silo corresponds to the silo design. Metal silos with conical bottoms must be precisely engineered for the material they are meant to store if flow is to be properly controlled.

Horizontal Metal Silos

Horizontal metal silo is suitable to store cement, lime, fly ash and other industrial powder material. It is also for temporary storage. Horizontal metal silo is usually large, which is different from cone bottom silo
When installed inside a plant, horizontal metal silos are typically lifted off the ground on structural steel platforms to preserve floor space. This also makes discharge convenient since gravity will do the work of pulling the stored material out of the silo via a chute or hopper.

Customer Design Steel Silos

In spite of these three types of metal silo, there is another type of silo.weather you want flat bottom silo, cone bottom silo or horizontal silo, all you need to do is send us your needs, our professional steel silo architect with more than 10 years experience on steel silo designing will offer you the most suitable steel silo with a reasonable price.
If you have an unusual material, specific quantities, or restrictive conditions, you’ll be better off with a custom metal silo, which means working with a custom metal fabricator who can build one for you.
Contact us for any requirement. We are please to help our customers solve their problems.