Concrete Products covers the issues that attract producers of ready mixed and manufactured concrete focusing on equipment and material technology, market development and management topics.
Issue link: http://concrete.epubxp.com/i/737337
www.concreteproducts.com October 2016 • 37 INNOVATIONS REPORT MATERIAL HANDLING transport lines with short-radius elbows would plug up with material. "Some of those drivers were not just skeptical, they downright refused to connect without a call to the dispatcher or to us," he relates. "The first thing we would tell them was to lower the offloading pressure from 12 or 10 psi (.83 or .69 bar) down to 6 psi (.41 bar). At that lower pres- sure, they could get as much product through a 5 in. (127mm) pipeline with a properly specified Smart Elbow system design as they could at 12 psi (.83 bar). They could get it done faster than with a sweep ell, and the product going into the silo was denser, which was a huge consideration." Ober estimates that offload times improve by up to 50 percent—ranging from 20 to 30 minutes with the deflection elbow design vs. 40 to 60 minutes with long-radius sweep models. ENVIRONMENTAL, SAFETY FACTORS Long-wear characteristics and less dust being gener- ated within the system also improve environmental and safety performance. "By reducing the likelihood of elbow wear-through, we minimize the risk of cre- ating a polluting situation where bulk powder can escape from the system and increase employee expo- sure," Ober affirms. "By generating less dust within the system, the Smart Elbow vortex chamber design also reduces the likelihood of filter media in silo-top dust collectors clogging and causing a safety valve to release material into the atmosphere." Lower demand on filter media additionally min- imizes the risk of a safety valve malfunction that could result in an over-pressurized dust collector being launched from its mounting, he adds. — Ham- merTek Corp., 800/505-9665; www.hammertek.com At a concrete plant, the Smart Elbow's compact dimensions minimize space require- ments compared to long-sweep elbows. The teardrop-shaped vortex chamber designed into the Smart Elbow curve creates a deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without fl deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without ti deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without th deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without t deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without i deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without i deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without i deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without t deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without d deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without d deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without t deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without d deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without d deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without ti deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without ith deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without t deflection zone that minimizes component wear and product degradation without compromising material flow. The deflection elbows reduce aeration of dry cement powder moving through the pneumatic pneumatic lines, decreasing dust collection demands. lines, pneumatic lines, decreasing dust collection demands. decreasing pneumatic lines, decreasing dust collection demands. dust pneumatic lines, decreasing dust collection demands. collection pneumatic lines, decreasing dust collection demands. demands. pneumatic lines, decreasing dust collection demands.