Conveying Options
Assuming you are using a venturi to vacuum not many options.
The other problem is how much of this material you are using /need to move from ground level to elevation.
Are you using black beauty grit and feeding a sand blaster tank for multiple stations?
The other option is using a debagging hopper with a smalll bucket elevator. See below please;
using a barrel lifter/tilting hoist you can make it much easier by allowing gravity to dump out the powder and using a very small blower set up/portable transfer unit from "Whirlair" to create suction and lift the material -easy fix but larger first cost and you never have to worry about it a again.
As I do not know how much material you use, the debagging hopper system from from whirlair allows you to buy the powder in super sacks-one ton bags and the bag dumper has it own hoist for the bag etc.
<www. whirlair.com> they offer complete installation and design for as small or big a system as needed
look at their portable transfer tank systems as I explained earlier. ■
Re: Non-Pneumatic Options
Why not consider an elevating drum tipper. Takes the whole drum and tips the contents into the hopper. ■
Arrel And Ceramic Powder
Originally posted by designer
Why not consider an elevating drum tipper. Takes the whole drum and tips the contents into the hopper.
I suggested that but we do not know what kind of head room he has for a drum hoist. ■
Re: Non-Pneumatic Options
I know you specifically indicated you wanted a non-pneumatic solution, but if you could explain the reasons for your decision to want to avoid pneumatic conveying, I may be able to offer some suggestions
I have nothing against mechanical solutions as some of my best friends are machines, :-), but I also have a "passion" for pneumatic conveying as well.
Regards ■
Re: Arrel And Ceramic Powder
Originally posted by lzaharis
we do not know what kind of head room he has for a drum hoist.
.. perhaps if he gave us a bit more information it would shed a little light .... ■
Re: Non-Pneumatic Options
Thanks for the replies.
There is headroom, although some equipment may need to be moved.
We have a 10 press set up - Eight in 2 "quads", and two bigger presses set off together. (Not a huge operation.) The controllers are overhead on a platform.
I want to avoid puematics due to the drying effect on the powder. The drying is non-uniform, which is making it difficult to achieve the tighter tolerances our customer wants.
With each new generation of parts our customer wants tighter and tighter tolerances. When our current press arrangement was set up 15-20 years ago, the powder variation created by non-uniform drying was not a problem. Now, different story. ■
Re: Non-Pneumatic Options
There are mechanical solutions, a flexible screw or aeromechanical conveyor for example if you want to leave the drum at ground level but there may be some wear and contamination issue that you would need to consider.
Lifting the drum up has already been suggested.
I am intrigued by your reason for wanting to change though. I would have thought that conveying the powder would actually help to make the powder moisture content more consistent not less. It depends upon the ambient temperature and RH of the air you take in of course but if this is insde a building I would have thought the net effect of the conveying could well be positive.
Are you sure your problem isn't variation of moisture content between drums, moisture variation within the drum (if material is packed warm, moisture tends to migrate to the walls of the container) or moisture pick up or loss in the hopper above the machine (the exposed surface between fills will be more subject to this than the rest of the bulk in the hopper).
If it is the conveying system that is causing this, why not just warm, de-humifiy or condition in some other way, the gas going into the conveying system rather than rip out the whole system? ■
Non-pneumatic options
I am looking to convey a spray dried ceramic powder from a 55 gallon drum to a hopper, roughly 15 feet in the air.
Currenlty using pneumatics, but would like to get away from.
What are my options? ■