Decreasing Unload times for Pneumatics

Use plenty of tank pressure and just barely enough line pressure to keep from plugging up.

 

What would barite be the closest to here? It seems very inconsistent when I'm offloading intl silos sometimes it goes in 30 minutes other times upwards of an hour

 

I haul mostly Portland cement, the time to unload depends on the silo, I normally haul 26 tons, into a pig in the ground under 20 minutes because you don't need much air to push when the distance of pipe is so short, now at the plants like cemex, gulfcoast, Martin, etc, depends how high the silo is, how many bends that pipe has, and how long your hose is, i like to use my short 10'hose when i can, but it normally takes me about 45 to 60 minutes. There's so many variables.

Like right now I'm being lazy and have the pressure between 10 and 12, if it gets above 15 I'll be clogged, that's how my trailer is, so I have all 3pods open half way, and just watching the pressure making sure it stays above 10 but under 12, so line air is open half way, if it goes up i just open it 1 notch at a time until i see the pressure dropping. I just sit in a chair and control the line air so I don't have to keep getting up opening each pod . They kind of all finish at the same time, I might have 2 that finish first so I'll close those when I see that the pressure drops, but you can kind of hear the aerator getting louder, close those pods and wait for the last one to finish.

Also you can tell by looking at the hose, if the hose is bouncing, or bouncing hard, it's not flowing right, you want to see it shaking fast, you can put your hand on it or foot on the hose and feel the product flow, if you see it bouncing it means too much product not enough air.... Eventually you won't have to feel it, you'll know just looking at the hose movement...

 

Product flow is so much more important, if that hose is not doing a light fast shake, and it's kind of shaking hard or bouncing, it's going to take you longer to unload because it's flowing slow, the hard bounce is the air trying to push too much product... Every trailer is different, blowers are different, etc...

 

Ain't that the truth! I don't know what it is about pneumatics but they each have their own personality. It's like going to work and having another wife waiting for you when you get there.

 

I pull non food grade, and have a similar scenario at one receiver.
7.5psi max line pressure
I’ve played with various settings to get the fastest unload, and figured this out-
I can reduce line pressure and increase product volume by limiting the tank pressure to about 5-6, full volume through the bottom pipe, and 3rd notch on my top air from closed.
I can run my bottom valves wide open.
Best time i ever did with that product was 80 minutes, and i get that consistently.
My theory is i can get maximum product volume and minimum line pressure this way.
There’s a little push down to prevent blow back from the bottom pipe, while maximum air volume pushing product into the silo.
The product is plastic pellets that flow pretty well, no clumping, and are fairly light.
Again, this is what I’ve discovered through trial and error for this particular product at this receiver, and it works quite well.
To date, I’m not aware of any other drivers able to beat my time of unload, and we’ve been running this one for 2 years.
We also push into a different silo at the same receiver that takes 2.5 -3 hours, because the vent is smaller and they’re usually pushing a rail car into it at the same time.
The silo pipe is also 3x longer than the back silo pipe, which also affects unload rate.
Might try this method and see what happens.