Live bins for handling sticky, blocky and/or frozen bulk materials

The design of bins for temporary or long term holding of the bulk materials such as oil sand has supported many innovative design iterations in bulk materials handling sector. A surge bin with narrow geometry from top to bottom enables a reclaiming mechanism to draw a controlled stream of oil sand feed to a subsequent processing step. The overall geometry and arrangement of the bin promote oil sand material flow towards the discharge opening in every zone of the contained volume, while mitigating 'arching' by virtue of the steepness of the bin walls. The primary means of minimizing the effects of freezing, compaction, and plastic flow is to achieve and maintain active flow throughout the internal volume to prevent the loss of effective bin volume. A bin designed to implement features such as the air injection and heating mechanisms will achieve optimal mass flow characteristics for storing and discharging of sand material.