Solids Processing Air Movers for Dilute-Phase Pneumatic Conveying Selecting the best air mover for a bulk-solids pneumatic-conveying application is a critical design decision. Provided here is information on three classes of air movers when dilute-phase pneumatic conveying is required Gory Liv DuPont 1a typical buk- sols pneumatic- Conveying system, an air mover is used to generate the necessary ar flowrate and pressure requred to transport a solid materal through a speciic pipsine distance at @ given tate, Designing a successful pneu matic conveying system depends ‘on specifying the corect air mover, in terms of volumetric flowrate, pres- ‘ure and motor size, A wide range ‘of machines is potently capable of ‘meeting the requirements ofthe duty However, nota air movers are suited {0 pneumatic conveying appications. “Therefore, understanding the design ‘and operating characteristics of vat- (us a moversis the key to success- fully slecting the right machine This article discusses the operat- ing mechanisms and characteristics of tree diferent types of air movers for diute-phase pneumatic convey- ing: centrifugal fans and blowers; regenerative blowers; and posiive- ‘mated by the folow- ing equation: AT = Toco where is the entropy etclency for PO biower, (70-90%); Puy © the actual absolut inlet pressure in psia, land Payne the actual absolute out. Jot pressure in psi, kis the rato of the specfic heats (or er, 1.4), ‘The blower performance curves are also based on standard cond- ‘ions. When the blower operates at ‘non-standard conditions, such as high or low ternperature and high a- ‘tude, the caleulated blower ai fow '5 the actual cubic feet per minute (ACFM), which need to be converted {o the Blower inet air fow (CFM) at standard conditions. Unike the cor- rection for centfugal fan to change the pressure, here we keep the pres- ‘sure unchanged and correct the ar flowrate drectly, Then, we cen spec- ‘iy the conect blower model using the typicaly increased air flowrate, 4s wall a Is speed an motor Blower protection ‘Several ancilary devices are required to protect a PD blower: Inlet filters. niet Titers and a ‘iter bprossure gage are crtical elements in the proper operation of a PD blower. Inlet fiters clean the incoming air ‘or gas to minimize the entrance of larger particles into the blower. Ths fitvation is critical to prevent large ‘objects or particles from entering the ‘gas chamber and causing material ‘buldup on the impolrs. Ifthe par- ‘icles are 100 large, they can cause the ual to seize, which could result in a costyy repair Diy fiters will in- ‘ease. your power consumption ‘and can cause excessive tempera- {wre rise on your PD blower. Fiters should be cleaned or changed once the pressure drop exceeds 15 in. ‘water column. A iter prossure gage wil veually indicate when the fiter needs to be changed or clsened. (Check valves. Chack valves are nec- essary to prevent buk solids rom en- tering the blower. Make sure to install the valve fn the corect direction. A ‘check vahe wil add about 1 in. water ‘of pressure crop into the system, Roliof valves. Rolief vaives, either pressure or vacuum, are very impor tant to prevent the damage of the blower unt. Rebef valves are avai- bie in two types: spring or weighted type. Spring-fype valves are typically the most popular and least expen ive for a given flow and pressure. Weighted relief vaives are avaiable for pressure systems only. They must be mounted in a vertical up- ‘ight oriantation to function property. Connectors. Flexible connectors aro Us0¢ to Isolate the blower trom other system components. This isolation ‘lows for thermal expansion and ‘misalignment of the piping. The two ‘most commonly used comectors aro 2 flexible hose and a single arct-type ‘expansion joint. Flexible hose s tyoi- cally used for pipe sizes up to 5:in. ‘Schediue-40 pipe. A single arch-type ‘expansion joints typically used on a flanged connection. Compression- ‘ype coupings are also used. These Can provide mechanical suppext, but ‘also allows for thermal expansion Eaited by Scott Jenkins Author ay Li is al comutit lens ces tng at Dur 107 ot So, hiner De 18608: Pare So. 127 ea gaa ‘ona He os ean ‘oijene ef pies ns, ery and ery, bth rew 0 eyhe an term ent reste pigs rgb ee te autos PhO. erecta gre fon ‘Shadowy rs bono nr CCHEMICALENGINEERNG WAW.CHEMENGONLNECOM OCTOBER 2019In order to reduce the pulsation level there is no solids loading in a pneu- pressure are determined, itis time to and noise, three-lobe and fourote matic conveying system). Therefore, select the PD blower to move bulk rotors have been inlroduced. This a- PD biowers are generaly selected solids to the destination reliably. Fist, Jows the lobes to have a sight twist for the maximum system pressure, find a PD blower that has the right ‘along the rotor axes, which reduces which they may encounter during range of air fowrato and pressure puisingin the input and output. Since operation. When in operation, the fom manufacturer catalogs. Then the lobes run within the casing with blower offers considerable power use its blower performance cure finto clearances, which are contraled savings, sinco the power consumed to select the right blower speed and by the gears, no internal lubrication is by it depends upon the actual work- associated motor size, required. The ai is thus delvered freeing pressure under which it oper- Figure 7 shows the pressure per- ofl ates, and not the rated pressure, formance curve for the Roots Model nike centtugal fans/biowers, PD This is totally diferent compared to 409 RAM blower. For instance, i the blowers deliver, practical, a_con- other air movers, such asreciprocat- required air flow Is 600 inlot 3/min slant flowrate independent of the ing compressors, slding-vane and and system pressure is 8 psi, what ‘discharge pressure conditions. There screw-type compressors, in which are the blower speed and. motor isa sight flowrate reduction with the the compression ratio is fited and size? Start on the upper chart in increase of system pressure. This is the suction air is compressed, ac- Figure ? from the lft vertical coord because a very small amount of ar cording to the compression ratio, nate and find 600 inlet f/min, move “sip” back through the clearance at regardless of the load conditions. horizontally to the right and find the high discharge pressure. Therefore, A fheed power is thus consumed by intersaction with the 8-psi pressure in PO blowers, the flowrate fs depen- these types of compressors, curve. Then move strait down to ‘dent mainly on its operating speed. find the ight blower speed (7pm) ‘The relationship between PD PD blower performance curve at the horizontal coordinate, 3,000 blower power consumption and sys- The PD blower cuvve supplied by rpm. This is the speed the biower tem pressure drop is shown in Figure blower manufacturers typicaly con- fas to runin order to deliver 600 inet 6. Power consumption in PD blov- tains all the information you need f/min ar flow at 8-psi system pres- er8 Is proportional to system pres- to choose the right blower, motor sure resistance. eure drop. The lowest power drawn and cooler, necessary In @ dliste- The ingut power for a PO blowers happens when the system pressure phase conveying application, after largely dependent on the total pres is the lowest (in other words, when the desied air flowrate and systom sure across tha machine. To fd the TROUBLE-FREE DRYING + Relably low maintenance. {Energy and manpower ‘sevings. + Easy startup and operation. “Close temperature contro “Gentle nanaiing. + Often eliminates dust ‘collectors. + Better than uid bed, flesh vacuum and rotary ddryersin most cases. Fer centrifuge and fiter ‘cakes. + For sludges and sturries (usualy without backteed). + For fragile and heat- ‘sensitive materiale ‘tbe wan ston corn TURBO-Deyel v2: <22:00- Fortee Ra groat siradtasee ax 201.967.0928FRGURES. The rants show operatng characteris of PO ewes, wich elvara praca constant rat nepodent tasers pose conan: maximum air flowrate is about 900 {i9/min. Regenorative blowers have parallel iniets and outlets that are positioned perpendicularly tothe rotation of the impeller. Regenera- tive Blower installations are typically in a drect-crive design, as shown in Figure 6. However, can also be a bell-crive design. The impeller in the direct drive consiruction is mounted directly onthe electric motor. Regenerative blowers havea sight dferent_mechanism than ccontrfugal fans/blowers for com- pressing air. The impaller consists ‘of numerous radial blades along the circumference of the impel. The impeler spins within a housing that ‘consists ofan inboard and outboard “channel.” As the impeller passes the inlet port, air is drawn in. As the impaler rotates, aris captured be- ‘ween each bide on the Impaler {and iS pushed bot outward and forward into the channels, The sir then returns to the base of the blade. During this process, a portion of the kinetic energy (air velocity) Is con- verted to potential energy (air pros- sure). This proces is repeated over {and over asthe impeller spins. While each blade-to-biade regeneration "stage" results in ony sight pressure increases, the sum tolal, fom air entry to outlet can yield continuous ‘operating pressures of up to 13 psig ‘oF vacuum to 14 in, Hg, Performance curves for regenera tive blowers are generally better than ‘those shown for the oantailugal fan ‘and blowers chown in Figure 3, but fare not aS good as those for pos tive-displacement machines. nother ‘words, ts ar owrateis less depen- dent upon the conweying-ine pres- ‘sure resistance. Therefore, it can be used for higher-sols-loeding appl ‘cations than a cantritugalfanvblower. ‘Among the most significant bene- fits ofa regenerative blower is that it 's vitually maintenance-free. There is conty one moving part (the impeller, which does not come in contact with the housing channel and is essen- tialy weartree. Flegenerative blow fers can operate for up to 40,000 hours without requiring service — a properly installed regenerative blow- (fs is capable of providing years of service-ftee operation Regenerative blowers are oil-free ‘and have no complicated inteke/ex- hhaust valve. They can be mounted in any plane and, with dynamically bal- ‘anced impellers, generat litle vibra- tion, As a non-positive displacement ‘compressor, tha discharged ai, tke Ccontriugal blowers, 's pusalion-ree, and therefore, generates extremely low noise. Even without an acoustical ‘cover, the typical fre field nose level '5 onfy 82 dBA at Sf distance. ‘Due to the tight internal tolerances between the impeller and housing, itis important that foreign material ‘not be allowed to enter the blower. Aer, such asa 10-ym fier, shoul ‘always be installed before the inlet of a regenerative blower. ‘Overpressurzation can also cause a catastrophic falure. Most blowers must have air passing through to cool it, Without it, neat wil build up, ‘causing the impsler to expand at 2 faster rate than the blow: housing. if this continues, the impeller wil even- tually lock up with the housing and cause the blower to fal. A rele valve (ether vacuum or pressize) wil pre- vent overpressurzation and wil alow air to pass through the biower. Positive-displacement blowers Posive-cisplacement (PD) blowers, kets name imps, are positve-cis- placement-type air movers, and are ‘probably the most commoniy used type of compressor for ikute-phase pneumatic conveying _ systems, ‘where the operating pressure tyoie Cally doos not exceed about 18 psig. ‘Thal pressure is an ideal match wath the pressure capabilly of conven- tonal rotary valves. The PO blower 's escentialy a constant-speed ma- chine that delvers a relatwely con- stant volume of air over a range of discharge pressures (Figure 6), The solds-lo-ar ratio for a PD blower dilute phase conveying system is ‘ypically from 2:1 to 6:1, up to 10:1 in some cases. PD blowers have ‘also been used for short-distance, dense-phase pneumatic-conveying applications, such as hopper truck unloading, The resistance of the sys- tem to which the blower is applied {determines the operating pressure ‘The twin-lobe Roots-type blower the oldest and most widely used PO blower. This type consists of a pair of !nvokte proed (shape of 8) lbes/ro- ‘ors that rotate inside an oval-shaped casing. One lobe isthe ctving lobe, which Is powered by the external ‘power source, while the criven lobe s driven by a pair of equalalio gears. Both the lobes rotate at the same ‘speed, but in opposite directions, PD blowers have a totaly diferent ‘mechanism than contfugal fans! blowers and regenerative blowers for compressing alr As the rotors rotate, air 8 drawn into the inet side of the cylinder and forced out the outt side against the system pressure. With ‘each revolution, four euch volumes «are displaced. The ar, whichis forced ‘ut, not allowed to come back due to the small internal clearance within the internals of the machine (except fora very small amount caled “sip. ‘There is'no change in the volume (of the air within the machine, but it ‘merely displaces the ac rom the suo- tion end tothe discharge end, against the discharge-system resistance. in ‘ther words, no compression takes place in the machine. However, 2s ‘he discharge end is reached, com pression oceurs when the high pres- sure ai in the outlet pipe flows back land meets the trapped ai, Due to this shock comoression, the thermo- ‘dynamic ficiency of the machine relatively iow, and it generates relar ‘twely high pulsation and high noise. CCHEMICALENGINEERNG WAW.CHEMENGONLNE.COM OCTOBER 2019