Why vertical conveying is easier
Columnists Jack D. Hilbert and Paul E. Solt discuss why vertical upward conveying is easier than horizontal conveying.
When it comes to pneumatic conveying in horizontal or vertical conveying lines, it seems logical that vertical upward conveying would be the most challenging. But horizontal conveying is actually more troublesome — and more complicated. Why? In any vertical conveying line, gravity's downward pull is directly opposed to the airflow's upward drag on the conveyed material, so the material either floats upward or downward in the vertical line. In a horizontal line, the material flows in different phases depending on the system's air velocity in relation to the material's saltation velocity.