Materials Conveyed: Glass (Crushed)
Type of Conveying System(s):Batch Dense Phase , Truck Unloading, Silo Unloading
Customer:Mohawk, Mohawk Industries | Glasgow, VA
The Challenge
In an effort to keep up with the increasing demands for their PVC products IPEX determined that they needed to increase the output capacity of their 4 PVC blending systems. Each blending system combined a proprietary blend of Calcium Carbonate, PVC Resin, Minor Ingredients, and Liquids. The materials were conveyed to weigh hoppers above a heating mixer, which then dropped into a cooling mixer. From the cooling mixer the blended material would then drop into a dilute phase conveying system where it would be transported to one of a possible 36 silos. The dilute phase conveying system transporting the blended material from the mixers to the silos was working at full capacity where the heating and cooling mixers were at half capacity.
The Solution
Truck Unloading
A JDB Dense Flow truck unloading system was designed and installed to facilitate the material delivery from a bulk pneumatic truck into the exterior silo. Due to the abrasive nature of crushed glass the pipeline components on the Dense Flow Truck Unloading System featured proprietary Dense Flow Pocket Elbows, and Densealloy Pipe. The Pocket Elbow features a unique design that traps material in a pocket and protects the elbows vital areas, making them last up to 10 times longer than other pneumatic convey line elbows. The Densealloy pipe installed on the truck unloading system is hardened to over 600 BHN, which will make it last up to 5 times longer than a standard piece of pipe. Also, a Dense Flow Compact Bin Vent was installed to efficiently vent the silo during truck unloading. All the components installed on the truck unloading system were specifically designed to stand up to abrasive materials like crushed glass. Their rugged designs will reduce system downtime, and lower overall maintenance costs.
Silo Unloading Solution
Because of the abrasive nature of crushed glass a dense phase pneumatic conveying system was designed for the silo unloading system to convey material from the exterior silo to a surge bin located 200’ away. The low material velocity, and minimal moving parts in a dense phase pneumatic conveying system would help to minimize wear and tear on pipeline components, and decrease maintenance downtime. The dense phase system featured the proprietary Dense Flow Cone Valve, which is a heavy duty cast cone used for sealing the systems pressure vessel during a material convey cycle. Combined with the Dense Flow Charging Hopper the Cone Valve is the only moving part throughout the dense phase conveying system (competitors will often use three or more valves to achieve the same results), and will consistently operate for years with no maintenance required, even in highly abrasive materials like crushed glass. The dense phase pneumatic conveying system used in the silo unloading operation also featured the Dense Flow Advanced Air Delivery System that insures material is conveyed at the lowest possible velocity, with minimal air consumption.
The advanced air delivery system does NOT require air boosters along the convey pipeline like many of our competitors use. Boosters along the convey pipeline increase material velocity, add wear points along the pipeline, and waste energy; all are factors that add to overall maintenance costs, and increase system downtime.
Operating with only one moving part, where other competitors commonly use three or more, coupled with the low material velocities achieved with the advanced air delivery system gave Mohawk a reliable Dense Phase Pneumatic Conveying System to unload their exterior silo that required minimal downtime, low maintenance costs, and minimal energy consumption. An efficient Dense Flow Compact Bin Vent was also installed to vent the surge bin that the dense phase system conveyed material into.
Mix Tank Feeding Solution
A Dense Flow Mix Tank Feeding system was designed to discharge material from the surge bin into three existing material mix tanks located inside Mohawks production facility. The system featured a JDB Electric control panel which allowed operators to select one of three bins to feed material into. Operators were also able to adjust the material feed rate which insured accurate weighing into the mix tank.
Conclusion
The JDB Dense Flow systems installed at the Mohawk Carpets facility in Glasgow, VA feature systems that conveys crushed glass which is a highly abrasive material made from recycled glass products. The JDB systems allowed Mohawk to incorporate recycled materials into their product making their facility more environmentally friendly, and because the crushed glass is used as a filler product, production costs were lowered. The abrasive nature of the crushed glass posed a unique set of conveying challenges; the conveying solutions provided by JDB Dense Flow featured systems with low material velocity, minimal moving parts, and heavy duty pipeline components designed to withstand abrasive materials. These design factors contributed to systems that operate with minimal downtime, low maintenance costs, and low energy consumption.
To speak with an engineer regarding your conveying challenges call us at 727-785-8500 x203, or e mail eng@jdbdenseflow.com.