Pneumatic conveying: you love it. No other conveying option comes close to moving large volumes of materials over long distances, completely and quickly. Whether in dense phase or dilute phase, pneumatic conveying tends to blow most other options away, both literally and figuratively.

So what’s the downside? Well, unless you have the rare system that runs in a straight line from intake to outlet, there will be a bend–usually multiple bends, in the convey line. The speed at which the material moves through these bends (a.k.a. elbows) generates friction that can reduce certain pelletized materials into fine streamers. These “angel hairs” sound innocent enough until you begin to add up the cost of cleaning them out of the convey line and the resultant high volume of unusable raw materials.

Even more likely to occur (especially if your material is even the least bit abrasive) is the elbow “blowing out” as a result of the high speed material striking its inside wall. This can be anything from a tiny pinprick hole, to a complete failure of the elbow. If there is a Murphy’s Law of pneumatic conveying, it probably states that the messier the material, or the harder to reach the elbow , or the more extreme the weather conditions of the surrounding environment, or the closer the proximity of an EPA agent to your site, the worse the blowout will be.

Why not make 2020 the year you end these aggravations by installing HammerTek’s SMART ELBOW^® Deflection elbow into your pneumatic convey line? The Smart Elbow’s unique design features a spherical chamber that protrudes partially beyond the convey line, causing a ball of material suspended in air to rotate. Since the ball of material rotates in the same direction as the airstream that powers it, incoming material is cushioned by the ball’s rotation, and is gently deflected around the bend.

By preventing impact with the elbow wall, the Smart Elbow virtually eliminates costly elbow wear, material degradation, melting and plugging. Why not give yourself a happy and trouble free pneumatic conveying year? Contact HammerTek today and arrange for your FREE trial!