In most of our conversations with companies that rely on pneumatic conveying systems we hear both acceptance of the status quo and substantial frustration with various aspects of the systems.
Product damage, maintenance and downtime are common themes - and each carry very high costs in competitive manufacturing environments.
Energy cost doesn't always top the list initially, but it's something that engineering teams certainly consider - particularly as particle speed monitoring allows them to optimize operations and reduce the impact of the other factors.
Pneumatic conveying tends to be an air hog, and compressors are expensive to run - particularly if the operational input is to crank up air / gas speed.
That's where the simplicity of Auburn's particle monitoring instruments becomes apparent. It's possible to take signal outputs from the Tribo devices and feed control guidance directly to compressor controllers. Particle speed monitoring notes when performance is dropping and likelihood of a blockage is increasing - and automatically adjusts air speed. Similarly when particles are moving at speeds that risk damage to product or increased maintenance requirements, it signals the compressor to scale back.
Not only are operations continuously optimized, energy costs are intelligently managed.
