Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
and blower
system
unloads
positive
results
A ready-mix concrete
producer installs a semidensephase conveyor and blower
system to improve its
production plants railcar
cement unloading operation.
The unloading systems 75-cubic-foot-capacity transfer vessel vacuumconveys material from a railcar and pressure-conveys the material to a
storage silo.
Case history
The company also experienced problems when connecting and disconnecting the connector boot to the
hopper-bottom discharge outlet. Because the boot always contained a little
cement, when the operator connected
or disconnected the boot some cement
would fall into the pit. Because of this,
the operator would have to regularly
shovel out the pit. And because the unloading pit is uncovered, when it
rained the pit would fill with water, and
the operator would have to pump out
the water and shovel out the wet cement to prevent it from setting.
Spotting the railcars slowed the unloading process, and cleaning the pit
was dirty and labor-intensive work,
says Rick Heise, R-Con operations
manager. Also, the screw-pump conveyors internal screw periodically
eroded from contact with the cement,
and the conveyor had to be shut down
to repair it. In addition, the screwpump conveyors two separate blowers that aerated and conveyed the
cement kept our energy costs high.
All of these problems decreased the
railcar unloading operations efficiency and increased the plants production and maintenance costs. To
improve the railcar unloading opera-
The 6-inch-diameter vacuum hose connects to the railcars bottom discharge outlet, and the 3-inch-diameter air-slide hose connects to the railcars air-slide inlet.
The unloading system demonstration convinced me, and I was confident that we had found what we
needed to improve our railcar unloading operation, says Heise. Part of
what prompted us to switch to the Cyclonaire unloading system was that
our railcar supplier could supply us
with the air-slide railcars that would
During the vacuum and pressure cycles, the blower only discharges positive air to the transfer vessel. The
blower pulls in outside air through an
inlet air filter and inlet silencer (or inlet
muffler). The blower then pushes the
air through a discharge silencer (or discharge muffler) and through the blower
hose to the transfer vessel. The blower
hose connects to the three-port bypass
valve, which is mounted in the transfer
vessels bottom. The air-slide hose also
connects to the bypass valve and attaches to the railcars air-slide inlet.
A filter indicator gauge located below
the blowers inlet air filter alerts the operator when to change the inlet air filter. A check valve located after the
discharge silencers outlet prevents air
and material from migrating back into
the blower should the unloading system malfunction. And a full-flow relief
valve sized to handle the blowers
maximum airflow is mounted on the
check valves top to prevent hazardous
situations by allowing air to escape to
the atmosphere should the blower hose
become plugged.
In vacuum cycle, the bypass valve diverts some of the incoming airflow to
the air-slide hose to fluidize the material
in the railcars bottom and facilitate material discharge from the railcar. (The
bypass valve only sends air through the
air-slide hose during the vacuum cycle.)
The bypass valve also diverts a small
portion of air through the transfer vessels discharge manifold, which is located in the vessels bottom and
connected to the pressure discharge
hose. The bypass valve diverts the majority of the incoming airflow upward
through a conveying line toward the
poppet valve, which is mounted in the
transfer vessels top near the suction
valve and venturis top inlet. The poppet
valve blocks the airflow from entering
the vessels top and redirects it 180 de-