Pneumatic conveying of powdered additive for glass bottle production

For this customer of ours, who specialises in the production of objects, including bottles, made of glass, we designed and built a compressed air propulsion system.

The material to be transported is an additive in powder form, to be fed into a special oven for the production of sparkling wine bottles, in quantities of 80/100 kg/h.

, Pneumatic conveying of powdered additive for glass bottle production, Apply Italia

The compressed air machine is connected to a launcher maintained at a constant pressure of 6/8 bar.
The route that the powder has to take to enter the oven is 45 metres horizontally and 13 metres vertically.

Under system indication, a valve opens from the launcher and allows the product to flow along the grey tube.

, Pneumatic conveying of powdered additive for glass bottle production, Apply Italia

, Pneumatic conveying of powdered additive for glass bottle production, Apply Italia

, Pneumatic conveying of powdered additive for glass bottle production, Apply Italia

The grey pipe that transports the product from the launching pear to its destination, is associated in parallel with a blue pipe: the latter has a smaller section and is directly connected to the compressor. In addition, every two metres, it has a regulating valve and a pressure gauge to allow a “cut-off” of compressed air.

But what does it do?

By regulating the pressure with the pressure gauge so that it remains stable and regular throughout the line, product stoppages are avoided: in fact, in the vicinity of the pressure drops there is a return of compressed air that ensures the cleaning of the line in all its sections and the continuity of product flow.