Plugged Lines, Starving Machines and you Need to Expand — What Now?

Your plan is to consolidate and add three machines to your current system, but unfortunately, your existing system seems to plug all the time and you can’t even feed your last machine. You have been told that your system is undersized and that it needs to be replaced. You have not budgeted funds for that investment. How can you bring your system to the needed capacity level at a minimal cost?

Let’s look at your situation and try to understand where we are.

Current System – feeding 12 machines

• Existing piping – 2” material lines = 300 ft Horizontal, 20 ft vertical with 5 elbows
• Existing piping – 2” vacuum lines = 300 ft Horizontal , 20 ft vertical with 5 elbows
• Desired capacity – 2,400 lbs/hr
• System Pump – 5 Hp Positive Displacement
• Pump operating conditions - PD blower is sized to operate at ± 12” hg
• Vacuum conditions:
  - Static pressure drop (moving air only) for 600 feet of 2” diameter tube - approx.
   
• 6”hg or 50% of pump capacity
  - Pump has 6”hg of energy (vacuum) available for material conveying
   
• Plugs and starving
  - Due to insufficient vacuum from existing pump
  - Vacuum relief goes off or pump burns up
  - Changing sheaves and increasing pump speed brings greater air flow, more velocity and a higher static pressure drop – leading to less vacuum being available for the material

If you try to expand the existing system – to feed 15 machines you add:

• 60 ft. of Horizontal 2” OD material line, 20 ft vertical with 6 elbows
• 60 ft of horizontal 2” OD vacuum line, 20 ft vertical with 6 elbows –
• Your new vacuum conditions are worse than before:
  - Estimated static pressure drop with extended distance 7”hg
  - Remaining pump capacity with existing pump = 5”hg

Simply extending the current system is not the solution to your problem.

Some people may offer another very costly “solution” :

• Tear out all of your old vacuum and material lines and replace them with a larger diameter.
• Plus – replace your existing 5 Hp PD pump with a 7.5 Hp PD pump

This is a very costly solution. Not only will you spend extra thousands of dollars on replacing all the vacuum and material lines plus increase the size of pump that does not have great efficiency – your production line will be virtually shut down while the installation is completed.

There is a Better Solution – a REAL Solution – Here it is.

The vacuum pump is the heart of your system. It creates the air that moves the material and must have the vacuum capability to overcome the resistance created by moving both air and material. There is now an ultra-high efficiency pump using advanced technology to solve your conveying needs.

• Replace existing pump with high efficiency 7.5 Hp pump rated to run at 16”hg.

With a 7” hg static drop , the 16”hg UV Vacuum Pump leaves 9” hg available for material loading --- an 80% increase over the existing pump.

• Leave existing vacuum and material lines in place – adding only enough new lines to accommodate the 3 new process machines.

End Result – Big Savings

• Minimal capital investment -system operates with original lines.
• Saved production time – no lost time while tearing out old and installing new.
• Lower energy and operating costs because of the new high efficiency, low maintenance vacuum pump.

Ultra-High Efficiency Vacuum Pumps