The movement of dehydrated or powder based goods around a facility is extremely problematic. There are so many things that are needed to be considered when faced with the issue of movement mainly down to the avoidance of contamination. The last thing that you want to find in your shipment of sugar or baby powder is the presence of foreign contaminants like dust particles. This can have a serious effect on the quality of the product even making it useless for human consumption resulting in a terrible loss of revenue. There is a solution and it comes in the form of vacuum conveyor and a visit to https://www.aptech.uk.com/pneumatic-conveying-systems/vacuum-conveying/ would be very worthwhile if you are considering using this system.
How does the Vacuum system work? It is not as complicated as you might initially think. It relies on the use of forces of nature primarily such as the movement of air. It also relies on the fact that “nature abhors a vacuum” and it tries to fill it straight away. We can use these scientific truths to our advantage. Quite simply, through a system of tubes and compressed air the substance is sucked from the large hopper storage units and forced along the pipe via the clean air in the system to the delivery point. The lack of air at the delivery point, the vacuum as it were, will also suck the powder as it tries to replace the void at the end. Once the substance reaches the delivery point it can then be released for packaging or to be worked on by the release of a valve.
Why do the Food and pharmaceuticals industry use this conveyor system over others? The containment of the food and pharmaceutical product requires there to be a clean environment. This is of total importance and the tubes do not require any moving parts to process the substances. While the tubes do need to be regularly cleaned the cost is minimal compared to what could be lost should a shipment need to be dumped through contamination. They are the most hygienic method of transference beyond any other conveyor method and still represent better value for money overall. The final reason that it is used is that the protection of the product inside the tube also works to stop it from entering into the workplace and to the wider atmosphere where it can be breathed in.
