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The airslide consists of two main sections. One being the material trough, which
is the upper section and is used for material flow and the lower section which is
used for the air trough. Both sections are firmly bolted together and divided by a
layer of canvas. A wire fabric is installed at times on the top side of the canvas
and at impact points and high wear areas.
Air Trough
The normal slope of an airslide from inlet to outlet is 7° minimum to about 12°
maximum. Air is supplied by a fan or blower to the lower section via duct work.
Air should injected at the top of the slide with midway boosts for very long
installations. Injection points at the bottom are not recommended. Also Fuller
recommends about 10 scfm for each square foot of canvas and an undercanvas
pressure of 16 to 17 inwc. However under certain circumstances some plants
are discovering that this pressure can be reduced to as little as 8 inwc. Some
experimenting is required to find the correct setting. Note also that over-aeration
can adversely affect volumetric equipment such as Bucket Elevators and F.K.
Pumps.
Upper Section
Lower Section
7° to 12°
Control Valve
Air Supply Line
On the other hand over filling the airslide can cause problems as well.
Essentially there is no room above the material for air movement. Thus air will
not/can not fluidize material because it's dead headed. Unfortunately there are
many airslides that are equipped with flow trim gates or flow control valves.
Effectively material is backed-up creating the situation just described. To
compensate many installation use higher pressure blowers or compressed air
jets in this section, but even this will not always work. Ideally such flow control
devices should be placed in the chute feeding the airslide and not the airslide
itself. Interestingly some suppliers build airslides that step up in height
progressively down hill. In theory air expands as it de-compresses. As well, on
long installations, more room must be provided for multiple injection points of air.
Such "high boy" units are designed to meet these requirements.
Glass ports may be installed on the sides of the upper section to monitor material
flow and inspection doors may be installed on the top section for clean out
purposes and sampling. Airslide venting should be done downstream.
NOTE: When using an air hose to aid in material flow or cleaning do not leave
the air blowing directly on the canvas as the air/material combination
will cut through the canvas.
Air inlet
Discharge
Pressurized should be introduced at the top of the airslide, where it can fluidize
the material coming in. The dedusting duct should be at the bottom of the
airslide run. This helps promote the downward flow of material.
Figure E2:
Dedusting
Material Inlet
Figure E3:
Dedusting
Material Inlet
Shown Figure E3 is a "high boy" airslide. For long runs, the high pressure air
injected at the top, de-pressurizes and expands. The "high boy" ensures room
for this expansion. Without it airflow may become restrictive, causing the flow to
"deadhead". As a result the material may not fluidize and flow properly. Over
filling an airslide will have the same effect.
Many airslides are designed with flow control gates and valves as part of the
assembly, shown in Figure E4. This works OK if the airslide is in near constant
use. Despite constant use, lumps can still cause the chamber above the gate to
overfill, resulting in deadheading. Typically, after a temporary shutdown, the
airslide is never fully purged and material accumulates ahead of the gate. (This
is especially bad in silo applications where the silo shut-off is leaky.) Given
enough time, the material de-aerates and becomes difficult to move the next time
the airslide is started up. Again the chamber can overfill, resulting in
deadheading.
Figure E4:
Material Inlet Flow control gate Dedusting
Air inlets
Discharge
Hi Pressure Lo Pressure
A better arrangement is shown in Figure E5, whereby the flow control gate is
located at the airslide inlet - not as part of it.
Figure E5:
Material Inlet Dedusting
Airslide Trivia:
1) Invented in Alpena.
2) Airslides not mix materials. Segregation has been known to happen.
3) Material in airslides does not flow evenly. If the canvas is rippled or
buckled, material can flow in rivers. Loaded off-center, material flow can be
deeper on one versus the other - even after 50'.
4) If the bed is not thick enough, air will take the path of least resistance and
rifle through the material. The rest of the material will not flow. Surging can
occur. Increasing the air pressure can have the same effect.
1. Check equipment in front of it for proper operation. If at fault, fix and repair.
2. If okay, check discharge of slide for plugging. If plugged, clear plug up.
4. If the above is okay, check the air chamber of the slide for material build-up
by tapping lightly with a hammer. If plugged, check for hole in the canvas. If
the air chamber is okay, check for restriction on top of canvas and clear
canvas of all restrictions and resume operation.