The International Fluid Power Exposition will bring professionals fluid power, power transmission and motion control industries from around the world together in Las Vegas from 7-11 March 2017. Attendees will have the opportunity for a sneak peek into an evolving set of instrumentation and control technologies that are likely to disrupt traditional powder and bulk handling systems.
Triboelectric instrumentation, originally developed as a particle emissions monitoring technology, has been recently modified to accurately and successfully measure particle velocity in dilute phase pneumatic conveying, and integrated as a control device.
Air Power USA president and founder Hank Van Ormer will deliver a paper entitled βThe Impact of Modern Controls in production ProcessesβCompressed air System Energy Efficiency (ΊΪΑΟ³ΤΉΟs),β which will introduce the technical basis of triboelectric particle velocity monitoring and the integration of that instrumentation to regulate and optimize air velocity through fan, compressor or vacuum control.
βThis is an enormous process control and operational challenge for many manufacturers,β saidΒ Justin Dechene, EVP of Auburn Systems. βΊΪΑΟ³ΤΉΟ conveying offers many advantages to manufacturers, but challenges around drop out, blockages, product damage and system maintenance consistently reduces operational efficiency. This technology will largely eliminate many of those factors.β
Triboelectric detection technology uses the triboelectric effect, or the observation of minute electrical charges generated when particles impact or pass nearby a probe. Auburnβs triboelectric systems integrate both AC and DC signal spectrums for an accurate reading. Traditionally these devices were used to monitor particulate emissions from bag houses. They gradually came to be used for predictive monitoring of emissions control systems performance and that range of capabilities has now been adapted to observe particle velocity.
Van Ormer said,Β βIn my experience many companies simply calculate air velocity for pneumatic conveying. Thatβs rarely measured, and itβs often quite distinct from particle velocity which is almost never observed. That leads to inefficiencies as low velocity contributes to blockages and reduced throughput, while high velocity contributes to product damage and system wear. The ability to directly measure particle velocity, and use that data to automatically control air velocity accordingly, represents an enormous potential process control improvement for pneumatic conveying systems.β
Van Ormerβs presentation will be at (March 8, 1:45 pm, S232). Auburnβs senior management team will be available at the show for meetings and technical briefings.
Auburn Systems, LLC
