WHEN DO YOU USE ELBOWS IN A PNEUMATIC SYSTEM? “ELBOW ROOM”

One of the best things about pneumatic conveying systems by comparison to mechanical conveying systems, is their ability to be easily routed and rerouted. Need to go around, over or under something? You don’t need a whole separate conveyor, just add an elbow(s)!

Elbows are magical in the sense that while the shortest distance between two points may be a straight line, it’s not always the most cost-effective distance. Pillars, existing equipment, aisleways, driveways and sideways processes can cost a lot of money to move if they are in between “Point A” and “Point B”. A couple of elbows can seem like a miracle compared to moving a multi-ton piece of steel.

But, there is a couple of catches to putting elbows in your conveying system you should know about before you get started designing a system:

Wear – It may sound redundant, but elbows are where product changes direction. Because of this, there are a large number of impacts that happen inside an elbow that makes them the primary wear point for any pipeline. To help guard against this, manufacturers spend a good deal of time designing ways to beef up wear-resistance (like specialty backing materials) or reduce impacts from happening at all (like vortex-back designs).
Pressure drop – Bodies at rest stay at rest and bodies in motion stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. Well inside a pipe line, slamming into an elbow for a particle is about as much “outside force” as you can get. That’s why the number of elbows in a line is the largest source of pressure drop you can get. Excessive numbers can cause the required line size to get from “Point A” to “Point B” to jump, increasing costs and horsepower requirements.

Neither of these factors is insurmountable. So before you decide to rip elbows out your system, talk to a systems integrator to see how we can help.

For more information on Pneumatic Conveying Systems, click here.