Getting the information you need to troubleshoot your pneumatic conveying system — Part II
Problems with a pneumatic conveying system are easier to diagnose if you have good information about the system's operating variables. This two-part article explains how you can obtain, store, and analyze this data so that you can successfully troubleshoot your conveying system. Part I (March) covered the measurements you need and described transducers for monitoring system variables. Part II concludes the article with information on portable data acquisition systems for sampling and storing system data and a case study showing how system data was used to troubleshoot a pneumatic conveying system plagued by intermittent line blockages.
The analog data from the transducers must be converted to digital form before it can be used by a data acquisition system. To successfully make this conversion, the signal level must be acquired with high-enough resolution and at a high-enough frequency for the application. Various types of portable data acquisition system hardware and software can be used to acquire the signals from the transducers measuring process variables in your pneumatic conveying system. Which is right for you depends on your application. [Editor's note: Additional technical information about the hardware and software is available from the authors.]