abstract template for Conference: Pneumatic material handling system K.G.O. Wickramasinghe-130651A
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Moratuwa.
Abstract
Pneumatic conveying system is a special material handling system like belt conveyor. The special advantage of pneumatic conveying system is that material is transferred in close circular path, thereby preventing the environmental effect on the material and vice versa. In these topic different parameters such as pressure, air velocity, shape and, particle size distance to be conveyed, which govern the design of the system, are described. The research work carried out on the pneumatic conveying system in the last ten years considering these parameters…show more content… Nowadays, the field of pneumatic conveying has greatly expanded to include nearly all fine granular bulk materials in the agricultural, chemical, cement, food processing industries and pharmaceutical. Unfortunately, the pneumatic conveying method is still very empirical and can lead to many misapplications. Research is still being done by many universities around the world, but the theoretical solutions are often too complex for the practicing engineer. Besides, many of these solutions require experimentally-derived coefficients, which are not readily…show more content… A very wide variety of materials can be handled and they are fully enclosed by the System and pipeline. Based on the quantity of air used and pressure of the system. A typical pneumatic conveying system comprises of four basic units, air mover (Blower), feeder (Hopper or Silos), and conveying pipe line loop and filtration unit. Feeder is a device that is intended to feed the material in to the conveying loop uniformly and that to with lowest leakages. Numerous devices have been developed to feed the materials in to the pipelines.
Some of them are blow tank, rotary valve, screw feeder etc. Blow tank is a type of feeder, which could serve the purpose both for low and high-pressure requirements. Material and air mixture is conveyed through the pipeline loop, containing some stipulated number of bends to provide flexibility of routing. The material of the pipeline is usually mild steel. The bends can, however be made of a hard, erosion resistant material. Bends can be used as horizontal section or as a vertical section in the loop depending upon the flexibility of installation.
The factors involved in the perfect construction of the pneumatic conveying systems can be grouped in to the following