초록 ▼

A pneumatic conveying apparatus operable to transport material from a supply source to a process which requires a rate of change of feed rate far in excess of what is possible from a typical pneumatic conveying system and pipeline alone, and for a process where storage of large volumes of material d

A pneumatic conveying apparatus operable to transport material from a supply source to a process which requires a rate of change of feed rate far in excess of what is possible from a typical pneumatic conveying system and pipeline alone, and for a process where storage of large volumes of material directly adjacent to the process feed point is either not possible or disadvantageous. The pneumatic conveying apparatus (100; 101;102) comprises at least one conduit (11) and a compression device (8) operable to supply and transport pneumatic media through at least one conduit (11). The supply source (1) may be a feed hopper and is operable to discharge material into the pneumatic conveying system downstream of the supply source. In the pneumatic conveying system at least one vessel (9; 9A, 9B; 20) is arranged to receive material from the supply source (1) and to discharge material to at least one conduit (11). The system also includes a filter receiver (4), which is configured to simultaneously receive and discharge material and pneumatic media from at least conduit. The filter receiver has a working volume or capacity which is very small in relation to the feed rate, typically 1 to 2 minutes storage when operating at the maximum discharge rate, and with a volume typically ½th to ⅛th of the volume of the vessels feeding material into the start of the pneumatic conveying pipeline. The filter receiver is equipped with a discharge device operable to increase the discharge rate to the process from the minimum feed rate to the maximum feed rate in a time period of 2 to 30 seconds. The filter receiver (4) is configured and operable to separate material and pneumatic media such that the material can be discharged from the filter receiver to the downstream process (2), in order to separate the conveying apparatus from the process and provide further advantages described within the invention. The apparatus includes a control system (19) that is operable to maintain a target weight and/or level within the filter receiver, and recover the target weight and/or level in the filter receiver, by measuring the weight and/or level and the rate of change of weight or level, of all storage vessels discharging material to the pneumatic conveying pipeline and process and incorporating aspects of closed loop control methodologies.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A pneumatic conveying apparatus operable to transport material from a supply source to a process, the pneumatic conveying apparatus comprising: a compression device operable to supply and transport pneumatic media through at least one conduit;a supply source operable to discharge material into th

1. A pneumatic conveying apparatus operable to transport material from a supply source to a process, the pneumatic conveying apparatus comprising: a compression device operable to supply and transport pneumatic media through at least one conduit;a supply source operable to discharge material into the pneumatic conveying system;at least one vessel arranged to receive material from the supply source and to discharge material to the at least one conduit;a filter receiver configured to receive material and pneumatic media from at least one conduit and operable to separate material and pneumatic media such that a predefined and small volume or weight of material can be stored in and a large capacity discharged from the filter receiver to an adjacent process, where a process connection which is formed where the apparatus connects to the process is within a 1 m to 15 m horizontal or vertical range;a discharge device connected to the filter receiver and operable to increase its feed rate from the minimum feed rate to the maximum feed rate over a time frame of between 3 seconds to 30 seconds in order to discharge material to the process in a way which meets the process demands and is greater than the rate of increase possible from the pneumatic conveying system alone, using control system operable to control discharge rate of material such that material is transported substantially continuously; anda control system able to measure and subsequently maintain and/or recover to a fixed weight or volume, the amount of material stored in the filter receiver, by varying the rate of feed to the pneumatic conveying pipeline according to close loop control methods. 2. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the storage capacity of the filter receiver is in the range of 1 to 2 minutes conveying capacity at the maximum rate and where the volume of the filter receiver is in the range of 1/2 to ⅛th of the volume of the vessel receiving material from the supply source. 3. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control system comprises logic control, incorporating closed loop control features and process control techniques such as proportional-integral-derivative methods singly or in combination, operable to control the weight and/or level and/or the rate of change of rate or level of material stored within the filter receiver by controlling the rate of discharge of material into the start of the pneumatic conveying pipeline and consequently to the filter receiver. 4. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a control system is also operable to maintain the weight and/or level of material within the filter receiver between predetermined upper and lower limits, such that the discharge device transporting material to the process can never suffer a sudden shortage of material. 5. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control system comprises a plurality of mechanical feed devices operated by motorized, or pneumatic rotation and/or position sensors. 6. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 5, comprising one or more mechanical feed devices between the supply source and at least one vessel. 7. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 5, comprising one or more mechanical feed devices on the exit from the at least one vessel. 8. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 5, comprising one or more feed devices on the exit of the filter receiver, wherein the feed device is operable to provide the feed rate, and rate of change of feed rate, required by the process. 9. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the feed device is operable to increase, decrease or maintain feed rate of material from zero to 30 seconds. 10. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the filter receiver includes one or more filtration means, cyclonic separation means, centrifugal separation means, duct work, or a combination thereof. 11. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one vessel comprises a pressurized vessel and/or a pressurized conveying pipeline. 12. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one vessel comprises an unpressurised vessel. 13. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one vessel and the filter receiver comprise weight or level sensing, wherein the vessels are operable to receive and/or discharge material at predetermined weight and/or level of material contained in the vessel. 14. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of vessels arranged in series with the source vessel, wherein material is dischargeable from the source vessel and receivable by a first vessel, which material can be subsequently discharged from the first vessel to a second vessel, upon reaching a predetermined weight and/or level of material the second vessel is operable to discharge material into the pipeline to be transported through the pipeline by the pneumatic media. 15. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein both the first and second vessel are arranged to receive material from the source vessel simultaneously and to discharge material from the first and second vessel to the pipeline separately and alternately. 16. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of vessels arranged in parallel, wherein a first vessel and second vessel are each in communication with the source vessel, the first vessel being arranged to receive material discharged from the source vessel and to discharge material into the pipeline and the second vessel being arranged to receive material discharged from the source vessel and to discharge material into the pipeline, wherein the first vessel and the second vessel receive and discharge material alternately, wherein when the first vessel is receiving material from the source vessel the second vessel is discharging material to the pipeline and when the second vessel is receiving material from the source vessel the first vessel is discharging material to the pipeline. 17. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising one or more vents, wherein each vent is controllable by the control system such that when each vent is open pressure can be bled from at least part of the apparatus and when one or more vents are closed pressure can increase or be maintained in at least part of the apparatus. 18. A pneumatic conveying apparatus as claimed in claim 1 whereby the control of valves for material transfer and/or gas pressurization are operated according to microprocessor based logic control or pneumatic logic in order to achieve pressurization and movement/transfer of the material.