This simulation software, called PneuDesign, is a self-executable type and it does not need any special base program. The following figures show few screen shots of the program’s user interface.

Figure 1: Screen shot no.1 of PneuDesign

Figure 2: Screen Shot no. 2 of PneuDesign

Program features

PneuDesign is able to give the information about availability of pressure of a full conveying pipeline, together with any additional parts of the conveying line, such as ventilation line, cyclone, etc, according to the values of conveying parameters like supply air pressure, air volume flow rate and solid mass flow rate assigned by the designer. The program can be used to optimise the operation of (available or tentative) pneumatic conveying system using some sort of ‘trial and error’ procedure. Also, the user can easily see the effect of individual pipeline components (e.g., bends, valves, etc) to the system performance by virtually removing and adding those to the conveying pipeline configuration. Basically, this program can be used to:

• design a system to meet the required transport capacity and available compressor capacity (air pressure and air volume flow)
• upgrade an existing conveying plant (in terms of pipe length, pipe diameter, number and types of bends, etc.)
• optimise a conveying system (in terms of pressure drop, conveying capacity and required air volume flow rate)
• simulate the system performance with accessories like cyclones, air ventilation lines, pipe expanders, etc

Basic requirements

The scaling up approach used in this technique is based on a characterisation method of different pipeline components together with conveying product, so that it can cope with very dynamic changes happening in the conveying pipeline when transport occurs. In the first place, a series of laboratory scale conveying tests with samples of different qualities of products is to be performed using a test rig at POSTEC to generate different test readings, such as pressure drops, air volume flow rate, solids flow rate, etc, for different flow conditions. Then, the generated data is incorporated in the simulation software so that it can be used to design a reliable conveying system and also optimize its performance in terms of conveying parameters. The technique used here is called as piece-wise scaling up of pneumatic transport systems.

Additional information

The final product or the output software depends on the users’ requirements. The basic information that can be obtained out of the simulations is the combination of required blow tank pressure and air volume flow rate for a given transport capacity for a certain product transported in a defined pipeline configuration.

If the user is interested, it is possible to get more detailed information from the program such as;

• pressure profile along the pipeline under different conveying conditions
• pneumatic conveying characteristic curves (see Figure 3)
• energy optimal conveying region (see Figure 3)
• report generated out from simulation results (see Figure 4)
• it is possible to incorporate any other information relevant to the user in the program

Figure 3: Typical pneumatic conveying characteristics curve for a transport system

Figure 4: A report generated out from PneuDesign