Pneumatic tube system

Pneumatic tubes (or capsule pipelines; also known as Pneumatic Tube Transport or PTT) are systems in which cylindrical containers are propelled through a network of tubes by compressed airor by partial vacuum. They are used for transporting solid objects, as opposed to conventional pipelines, which transport fluids.

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The pneumatic capsule

Pneumatic Tube System Components Pneumatic tube systems are comprised of user stations, carriers to contain and transport light weight unit-load materials, and a strategically designed network of piping and traffic control devices to ensure optimal performance.

the user station

The capsule is put into the user station by the user after placing the sample in the capsule .now the code assigned to the particular station where capsule has to be sent is fed and the sample reaches the desired place. The capsule travels in a vast tube system between the two user stations .

The tube system

Pneumatic tube networks gained great prominence in the late 19th and early 20th century for businesses or administrations that needed to transport small but urgent packages (such as mail or money) over relatively short distances (within a building, or, at most, within a city). Some of these systems grew to great complexity, but they were eventually superseded by more modern methods of communication and courier transport, and are now much rarer than before. However, in some settings, such as hospitals, they remain of great use, and have been extended and developed further technologically in recent decades. A small number of pneumatic transportation systems were also built for larger cargo, to compete with more

standard train and subway systems. However, these never gained as much popularity as practical sytem Current use

Pneumatic tubes in use at a drive-through bank. The technology is still used on a smaller scale. While its use for communicating information has been completely superseded by electronic systems, pneumatic tubes are still widely used for transporting small valuable objects, or where convenience and speed in a local environment is useful. In the United States, a large number of drive-up banks use pneumatic tubes to transport cash and documents

between cars and tellers. Most hospitals have a computer-controlled pneumatic tube system to deliver drugs, documents and specimens to and from laboratories and nurses' stations. Many factories use them to deliver parts quickly across large campuses. Many larger stores use systems to securely transport excess cash from checkout stands to back offices, and to send change back to cashiers. NASA's original Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas had pneumatic tubes connecting controller consoles with staff support rooms. Denver International Airport is noteworthy for the large number of pneumatic tube systems, including a 25 cm diameter system for moving aircraft parts to remote concourses, a 10 cm system for United Airlines ticketing, and a robust system in the parking toll collection system with an outlet at every booth. Pneumatic tube systems are used in science, to transport samples during neutron activation analysis. Samples must be moved from the nuclear reactor core, in which they are bombarded with neutrons, to the instrument that records the resulting radiation. As some of the radioactive isotopes in the sample can have very short half-lives, speed is important. These systems may be automated, with a magazine of sample tubes that are moved into the reactor core in turn for a predetermined time, before being moved to the instrument station and finally to a container for storage and disposal.[3] Pneumatic post or pneumatic mail is a system to deliver letters through pressurized air tubes. It was invented by the Scottish engineer William Murdoch in the 19th century and was later developed by the London Pneumatic Company. Pneumatic post systems were used

in several large cities starting in the second half of the 19th century (including an 1866 London system powerful and large enough to transport humans during trial runs though not intended for the purpose), but were largely abandoned during the 20th century. It was also speculated that a system of tubes might deliver mail to every home in the US. A major network of tubes in Paris was in use until 1984, when it was finally abandoned in favor of computers and fax machines. In Prague, in the Czech Republic, a network of tubes extending approximately 60 km in length still exists for delivering mail and parcels. Following the 2002 European floods, the Prague system sustained damage, and operation was halted indefinitely. Typical current applications are in banks and hospitals. Many large retailers use pneumatic tubes to transport cheques or other documents from cashiers to the accounting office. Technical characteristics Modern systems (for smaller, i.e. "normal" tube diameters as used in the transport of small capsules) reach speeds of around 7.5 m (25 ft) per second, though some historical systems already achieved speeds of 10 m (33 ft) per second. Further, modern systems can also be computer-controlled, allowing, among other things, the tracking of any specific capsule. Varying air pressures also allow capsules to brake slowly, removing the jarring arrival that used to characterise earlier systems and make them unsuitable for fragile contents.