VIDEO | APPLICATIONS | COMPARE | PRODUCTS | CASE STUDIES
Low-melt-temperature resins impact the elbow wall, heat and melt, forming streamers, angel hair and snakeskins.
Resins reinforced with glass, minerals and other abrasives wear through the elbow wall, causing blowouts and shutdowns.
HOW IT WORKS
WATCH IT WORK
Unlike conventional “impact” elbows and “plugged-tee” elbows that rely on material impact to change direction, HammerTek’s SMART ELBOW® design employs a spherical chamber that protrudes partially beyond the desired 90° or 45° pathway, causing a ball of pellets suspended in air to rotate in the same direction as the airstream that powers them, gently cushioning and deflecting incoming pellets around the bend.
For High-Volume Pneumatic Conveying of Abrasive, Heat-Sensitive and Friable Bulk Materials
Virtually eliminate costs associated with replacement elbows & material leakage
Significantly reduce loss of production caused by elbow failure
Reduce or eliminate breakage or melting of conveyed material
Greatly reduce or eliminate plugging of heat- & pressure-sensitive materials in sweeps & plugged tees
Fit into tighter spaces than long radius sweeps, maximizing the flexibility / efficiency of conveyor line routing
Spend more up front but far less or nothing at all for months & years to come, maximizing ROI
Fewer elbow replacements lowers long term system costs
SMART ELBOW® Deflection Elbows are offered in iron, carbon steel, aluminum, stainless steel, and special alloys in 90 and 45 degrees with flanges and socket-style ends in diameters from 1-1/2 to 18 inch.
“The heat generated by the PE impacting sweep elbows melted the product inside the conveying lines, forming streamers that jammed downstream equipment.”
“AAP has installed over 100 of the deflection elbows. AAP no longer experiences the maintenance issues caused by streamers, improving production, and notes that Smart Elbow units will be specified on all new vacuum lines added to meet increased demand.”
Ed Komoroski
Project manager
“Abrasive, fast-moving grain was causing frequent blowouts, requiring the mill to shut down every few months.”
“Before the HammerTek elbows, the abrasive wheat would just eat through the elbows regardless of what we did. I’m glad that we found the deflection elbows. They’ve made my life easier.”
Todd Berry
Director of quality control
“Standard type 316L stainless pipe elbows frequently wore out, creating a wide range of costly problems.”
“The standard stainless elbows lasted about four months if the MgO systems were operating at full capacity, 24 hours per day. Under similar conditions, the HammerTek elbows have been installed for one and one-half years and are still functioning fine. We’ve installed them in a second silo vent system.”
Gavin Heckler
Engineer
“Sand products are our biggest challenge. Moving at 60 mph (95.5 km/h) through the pipe, it just wears them out.”
“We went with the HammerTek elbows because our silos were manufactured with them on the fill side. It was a brand that we had seen installed and knew it worked.”
Mike Deppa
Senior project engineer
“I don’t think it was communicated clearly how abrasive our materials are. They very quickly started poking holes in the elbows.”
“We get very little wear from the deflection elbows, so we’re not wearing off that metal into our product. That by itself is enough for us to justify the cost. Eliminating the blowouts, the mess, and unscheduled downtime was a bonus. We can make the case from a purely manufacturing standpoint, too.”
Andrew Harm
Process engineer
“We considered installing thicker-walled sweeps, and other companies offered to reinforce the affected sections of the line.”
“It’s a success story for us.”
Joe Obrien
Project Manager
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Copyright©2025. All rights reserved.
Copyright©2025. All rights reserved.
