Even though pneumatic conveyors have been designed and operated for years, their successful operation is still more often based on experience rather than science. Pneumatic conveyor problems can result from equipment mismatches, insufficient test data, or incorrect assumptions about the bulk solids being conveyed.
Common problems experienced with pneumatic conveyor systems include:
Throughput limitations – conveying system cannot meet required capacity
Buildup or plugging – gradual pipeline deposition leading to blockage
Particle attrition – tendency for particles to degrade during transport
Pipeline wear – erosion of pipeline/elbows from abrasive or hard solids
Engineers at Jenike & Johanson have the knowledge, experience, and pneumatic conveying testing capabilities needed to analyze and correct these costly problems. We can provide pneumatic conveyor recommendations to alleviate problems with existing systems, as well as engineer a new system and pneumatic pipeline design that operates reliably, safely, and efficiently.
Our conceptual system design typically involves:
Conveying characteristics – measurement of optimum conveying velocity for solids
Pneumatic pipeline design – efficient line layout, including specification of elbows or sweeps
Equipment selection – specification of major components (gas mover, pneumatic pipeline design, separator, etc.)
Operating conditions – details of gas flow, expected pressure drop, solids loading ratio
Innovative features – designs to address abrasive wear, attrition, or segregation in pneumatic pipeline design
Dense phase pneumatic conveyor system
Pneumatic pipeline design