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Pneumatic Conveyors: - Suction or Vacuum System

Pneumatic conveyors transport bulk materials like powder, fibers, and granules through pressurized pipelines using air flow. There are three main systems: suction, pressure, and combination. Suction systems use vacuum to draw material over short distances, while pressure systems are more economical for single to multiple discharge points over longer distances. Proper design considers material properties, capacity, pipe configuration, air velocity, concentration, pressure requirements, and compressor sizing. Pneumatic conveyors offer advantages like flexible routing and automated operation but have high energy costs.

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236 views

Pneumatic Conveyors: - Suction or Vacuum System

Pneumatic conveyors transport bulk materials like powder, fibers, and granules through pressurized pipelines using air flow. There are three main systems: suction, pressure, and combination. Suction systems use vacuum to draw material over short distances, while pressure systems are more economical for single to multiple discharge points over longer distances. Proper design considers material properties, capacity, pipe configuration, air velocity, concentration, pressure requirements, and compressor sizing. Pneumatic conveyors offer advantages like flexible routing and automated operation but have high energy costs.

Uploaded by

Nebiyou Korra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Pneumatic Conveyors

• Pneumatic conveying is a method of transporting bulk


materials in the form of powder, short fiber and
granules over a pipeline as a mixture with air or due to
pressure of air. There are three basic system used.

• Suction or Vacuum System utilizes a vacuum created


in the pipeline to draw the material with the
surrounding air.
Cont’d
• These systems are particularly suited to
moving material from multiple pickup points
to a single location, the reason being that
the bulk of the system's expense is in the
terminal end where the receiver, rotary
valves, and vacuum source are located.
Cont’d

The system operates at 0.5-0.6atm


and is utilized mainly in conveying
light free flowing materials over
short distances.

Pneumatic Conveyor - Vacuum System


• Pressure-type System is ideally suited for
conveying from one pickup location to many
discharge locations. Generally, this type of system
is more economical when going from one point to
several. A pressure system of this type generally
conveys with a product-to-air ratio of about 20kg
of material per kg of air, or approximately 24kg of
material/m3 of air (or 20 m3 of air/m3 of product).
Cont’d

Pneumatic Conveyor -Pressure System


Combination System (Push-Pull System)
This is a system in which a suction
system is used to convey material form a
number of loading points and pressure
system is employed to deliver it to a
number of unloading points. Such
installations are utilized when conveying
over a long distance is required.

Applications and Limitations


Pneumatic conveyors have many
advantages:
• delivery of materials over a path capable
of changing its direction in any plane,
Cont’d

• processing of the material simultaneously


with its conveying,
• an almost limitless number of loading and
unloading points served by a single system,
• air and gas tightness eliminating dust
nuisance and dust hazards
• an almost totally automated conveying with
considerable reduction of losses of
material,
• improved labor conditions and minimum of
human attendance.
The limitations of the system are

• high power requirements (15kWh/t, 10 to


15 times higher than mechanically
conveyors),
• rapid wear of equipment,
• the problem of dust recovery from the
exhaust air
• inability to convey wet, caking and sticky
loads.
Pneumatic Conveyor Components
Intake Units
One of the most delicate problems in
pneumatic conveyors is the introduction
of material to the flow of air at a
regulated rate

a. Nozzle Injector

Nozzle Injector
b. Rotating Valve
Cont’d
c. Stationary Screw Feeder
Rotating valve is used for
non-abrasive materials and
a capacity less than 15t/h
and of conveying length 100
to 200m.

Rotating Valve

Stationary screw feeder is widely


applied for cement and other
powdered materials.
Cont’d

Suction Nozzle

Conveying Pipe and Changeover Valves


Cont’d
The cross sectional area of the separator is 50 to 150times larger than
that of the conveying pipe. The velocity falls as low as 0.2-0.8m/s which
is low enough to clean the conveying air stream even if small particles.

Separator
Design Considerations
In pneumatic conveyor calculations given
are properties of the material, required
capacity Q tons per hour and the
configuration of the conveying pipe.

Required are:
1. Calculated (reduced) conveying length, Lred [m]
Cont’d

Lred   Lhor   Lv   Leqe   Leqv

Where, Lhor = sum of lengths of horizontal sections


 Leqv = sum of lengths of vertical sections
 Leqe = sum of lengths equivalent to elbows
 Lv = equivalent change over valves length
R0
= the ratio of bend radius to the inner pipe diameter
dp
Values of Equivalent Lengths for Elbows

Material R0
Values of Leqv [m] at
dp
4 6 10 20

Powdered 4-8 5-10 6-10 8-10


Granular Homogenous - 8-10 12-16 16-20
Small Lumped Irregular - - 28-35 38-45
Large Lumped Irregular - - 60-80 70-90

The commonly used value for a two-way changeover valve


Leqv = 8m.
2. Conveying air stream velocity, = [m/s]

v air    1  BL 2
red

Where, = factor for the size of load


 particles = specific weight of the load
particles[tons/m
1 3
]
B = factor assumed as equal to (2 to 5) 10 -5, the
lower

values being taken for dry powder materials.
Values of Factor for the Size of Load Particles

Material
Particle Size

Powdered 1-1000(micron) 10-16
Granular Homogenous 1-10mm 17-20
Small Lumped Homogenous 10-20mm 17-22
Medium Lumped Homogenous 40-80mm 22-25
3. Weight concentration of the mixture, :

Graph Showing the Dependence of the Weight Concentration of


the Mixture  on the Reduced Conveying Length Lred
Cont’d
Note: Graph (1): 1- for dry free flowing
materials of high specific weight (  1 =
2.5 to 3.2 t/m3), 2- for materials of a
lower specific weight (  = 1.8 to 2.5 t/
1

m3) but higher moisture content and


high abrasivity. Graph (2): for grain.

4. Air consumption, Vol [m3/s]

Q 2 v air
Vol   d p
3.6 air  4

where Q = capacity of installation [tons/hour]


5. Conveying pipe inner diameter, d p [m]

4Vol
dp 
v air 

6. The required air pressure in the pipe,


[kg/cm2]
H air 
Pcs  4
10
Where,
 air = specific weight of the air
(average for a given vertical section).
For pressure conveying system;

Lred v air
2

Pi  1   Pcs
dp

Where,
 = a factor; for pressure conveying systems,
Lred v air
2
 depends on the value of s
dp
and for suction conveying system:

1.5  10 7
 =
And for suction conveying system
2
Lred v air
Pf  1  Pcs
dp
Cont’d
• The plus sign before in equation is
taken for upward, the minus sign for
downward movement.

Graph Showing the Dependence of Factor  on


the Value of s
7. The required air pressure of the
compressor or air blower, [kg/cm2]
Pb  Pw  Ploss
Where,
Pw = working pressure ,
= Pi for pressure conveying system
= Po  Pf suction conveying system
,
 = 1.15 to 1.25 factor for losses in the intake
unit,
Ploss = pressure loss in the supplying air for
compressors,
Ploss = 0.3 kg/cm2,
P0 = atmospheric pressure = 1atm.
8. The required capacity of the compressor
or blower, [m3/min]

d v air  '
2
p
Vo  Vol ' 
4

where ,
 ' = factor for losses due to leaks = 1.1.
9. The required motor power, [kW]
LbVo
Nb 
60  102

Where, Lb = theoretical work of the blower reduced to


1 m3 drawn in during isothermal
compression [kgm/m3].
 = total efficiency of compressors =0.55 to 0.75.

Pb
Lb  23,030 P0 log .
P0

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