We are also trying to change over from pipe conveyor concept to pneumatic conveying. We would like to know the operating cost benefit between two.

Thanks ■

This will vary with each installation and must be verified by a study. The pipe conveyor will generally have a higher initial cost but will have substantially lower horsepower.

Remember the maintenance costs for a pipe conveyor will be higher then a convential conveyor. Also you will need a partial or complete spare belt since the belt is special and not available on short notice (usually 6 months). Pipe conveyors also can turnover and spill product.

If you are looking for an enclosed system without horizontal curves consider The Hendrik Group's HoverGlide or Imperial Technologies' Multifold. You can also combine these two technologies.

You can view both these systems including pipe conveyors from my website www.loefflerengineering.com

I will only recommend pipe conveyors when conventional products are not the best economical solution taking into account inital, operating and maintenance costs. As a rule of thumb, if you cannot eliminate two transfers or you require a special curved route do to plant layout, use a convential system. ■

Good morning everyone!

I work in a well known germany company called KOCH which builds normal conveyors and pipe conveyor. To correct what the last person said I can just tell to everybody that the pipe conveyor technologie works very well for a reasonable price. For more informations you can take a look on the followind site: www.kochtrans.com

My oppinion is that whan you go to our site you can built your own oppinion about pipe conveyors from Koch.

Thank you very much for your attention!

Bye ■

This (pipe conveyor) seems to be a interesting subject, but new to me.

Can you kindly tell me, what are the specialities of the fabric used in a pipe conveyor compared to that used in a conventional conveyor?

regards

SD ■

Dear mr. Kayem & Mr. Shah,

Enough discussion for the pipe conveyor has been made. You can select the system as per your need. Pipe conveyor can transport materials safely, with less power, with least dusting, and static charges compared to pnumatic conveying. Its also suitable for abressive materials. But cant take sharp turns as compared to pnumatic systems. Depending on your requirements of handling and lay-out you can choose.

you can mail us your data at fairtech@indiatimes.com



we are manufactures of various belt conveing systems including pipe conveyors.

Regards,

ketan

Fairtech Engineering Co. ■

A word of caution on pipe conveyors. Many brag about their ability to control spillage. Do any in this forum have experience with pipe conveyor spillage?

I have knowledge, pictures and first hand experience with return strand pipe conveyor spillage, when the seam is on the bottom. The spillages are from reputable and well known suppliers on multiple installations. The problems persist to this day. Most clients are not informed and/or are not allowed to visit these sites when a tour is made.

It is not a common event. However, we should be ever cautious in accepting, at face value, generalized claims. I do not wish to bash the suppliers and will thus keep their misfortunes unpublized.

I do endorse the use of pipe conveyors and believe they are becoming more cost effective as the physics are better understood. Still some suppliers are willing to gamble on the unknowns, which is not in the best interest of our industry.

Pipe conveyor technology will be severly tested in the near future with a stretch in their state-of-the art. A supplier will have a big technical hurdle to surmount unless the client lowers the design criteria. Let us hope it will not fail.

Lawrence Nordell

ww.conveyor-dynamics.com ■

Dear friends

pipe conveyors work well.

Some 1o years ago one was installed in Monterrey to feed iron ore to an integrated steel mill, I followed it for 5 years and to my knoledge it still is working well, no spillage.

With heavy, large , dusty and abrasive materials in urban environments and where you want to keep your particle size as large as possible this would be my choice.

return run spillage under wet conditions must be addressed in the design.

If particle size is not relevant , and capacity is small , then you can use pneumatic conveying.

Regards ■

Hello Kayem,

Unfortunately I can not give you quantitative comparisons between pipe and pneumatic systems - so much depends on the material being conveyed and the throughput (tonnage per hour).

However, pipe conveyors tend to be more cost effective when the operating costs are factored in, for high volume transportation.

I agree that pipe conveyors, or any other enclosed belt system, can leak and cause clean-up costs and lost material costs. However, this normally happens when the system is being used to transport more material than originally specified.

If you require specific information for a proposed system, you can obtain iit from the suppliers of both options.

Regards, ■