Pneumatic conveyer is helpful in many production lines because it increases efficiency, convenience and accuracy. But many companies have problem with their pneumatic conveying systems in terms of handling fragile materials. Hence, it’s important to learn properly setting your system to avoid or minimize mistakes throughout production. And if you’re in America, work with Festo USA to help you today.
How to Efficiently Move Fragile Items using \Pneumatic Conveyers
Conveyers make it easy for production lines to transfer materials from one point to another. Say, it delivers raw materials to a processing area, then from the processing area to the packaging area. Thing is, dropping, smearing or spilling materials are common among conveyers. Even advance pneumatic conveying systems encounter such problems as well.
That’s what you want to avoid, since spilled materials means wasted costs in your production. It may interrupt the production as well as cause your facility to become messy too. Hence, be sure to remember these notes to efficiently move fragile materials using pneumatic conveyers:
- Identify Fragile Materials
To begin with, determine fragile materials in your facilities, or if you really have any. Think of raw ingredients such as flour, liquid materials, cookies and some other items which require gentle handling. Those materials have risk of being easily spilled, broken or scattered while being moved by conveyers. The objective is to keep them intact and on good shape while being moved.
- Test your Materials
Next, find a reliable laboratory and have your fragile materials tested. This is to know the appropriate conveying method for each materials. Note that different fragile items have specific handling requirements. Knowing the most suitable method for each of them help in coming up with the right pneumatic conveying system, instead of a mere generalized setup for all fragile items.
Hiring a laboratory to do the test would help you avoid the cost of setting up a full conveying system to see if it fits your materials. It’s fine if you got it right the first time, but considering few possible needed trials makes it costly. The laboratory would test the products, then inform you about the best handling methods for each items. So, you can set it up accordingly in your facilities.
- Identify Appropriate Conveying Types
Consider that there are three main techniques of conveying—the dense phase, semi-dense phase and dilute phase. Dense phase uses conveying method which keeps a material intact, such as keeping coffee beans on its appropriate shape, whereas dilute phase allows some changes on the initial shape of the materials such as with flour. For example, you can drop flour as long as it won’t spill, but you can’t do that with coffee beans.
Then, semi-dense phase runs along the middle of the two techniques.
It’s important to know the best conveying type for each specific materials you have. You may even need to install different types of conveyers in the facility for best results.
- Setting up the Conveyer
Now, you already know the fragile materials in your facility, and how you must convey it throughout production. The next important step is to properly set up your pneumatic conveyers. You must buy or use the right equipment which conveys materials using appropriate methods. Also, be sure to properly install each parts to achieve stability in your production line.
Better yet, hire experts to install the pneumatic conveying system for you.
Handling fragile materials is a tricky feat in many production lines. Avoiding mistakes is valuable, since it means cost and work efficiency in your facility. Hence, remember the notes above to guide you in setting up a pneumatic conveyer system.
Bailey Hudson is a creative content writer from Texas USA. He graduated in 2012 at the Hult University with a degree in Mass Communication. He created Bailey Doest Bark in 2015 and is currently the managing editor of the online portal.
