Material wear and equipment degradation
Building on the information presented in his first three series of columns, Paul E. Solt -- a private consultant with more than 40 years experience installing and troubleshooting pneumatic conveying systems -- presents a fourth series of columns on troubleshooting pneumatic conveying systems. In a separate section, Solt also answers your pneumatic conveying questions.
In this fourth column on troubleshooting pneumatic conveying systems, we'll discuss material degradation and wear on conveying equipment. We'll consider these topics together because their causes and corrections are similar. Material degradation occurs when a soft particle hits the conveying line and degrades through breaking, smearing, or forming snakeskin or angel hair [which can occur when plastic pellets degrade]. Equipment wear occurs when a hard, abrasive particle hits the conveying line and associated equipment.