Air Compressor Help

I'm sorry if my question is not appropriate for this forum, but I think this forum discusses industrial matters generally.

I have an air compressor from Atlas Copco model GA37 with the following
specifications:

Max compressor working pressure= 10 bar
Free air delivery = 82 l/s
Nominal shaft power = 37 kw
Rotational shaft speed = 3000

I'm using this compressor to load a silo with a calcium carbonate material through 34m horizontally followed by 9 meter vertically pipes. The pipes are about 12 -15 cm diameter.

Is this air compressor suitable for this application? I mean this distance of pipes ..
Is there any equations that can help me in this problem?

A brochure for this family of compressors:
http://www.trident.on.ca/PDF/AtlasCopco/GA30-90.pdf

Regards

do a google search on "bulk material handling" There are several factors besides the size of your air compressor.

mosama said:

The pipes are about 12 -15 cm diameter.

Is this air compressor suitable for this application?

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I'm certainly not a pneumatic conveying expert, but almost all of the systems I have seen with these size pipes were using a positive displacement pressure blower @ less than 15 PSI.

Vaughn is righ - most pneumatic conveyor systems use a Positive Displacement (PD) blower at low pressure. See this for one example - there are many others. I suggest you contact a local supplier for conveying systems for application assistance.

http://www.rootsblower.com/

You are using a low volume (at rated discharge pressure) high pressure machine to supply a HIGH volume LOW pressure system. At 15 cm tube diameter and even at the short length you are conveying a fairly heavy material. You will need a fairly high transport velocity ie 2700 or so feet per minute to prevent settling in duct work. IF mine I would leave a chain or cable in ducting accessible to both ends to clean plugs out - you WILL get them. Also buy a few spare elbows you will need them - they do erode.

Dan Bentler

Thank you very much for your replies

Is there any equation that relates pressure to distance ?

mosama said:

Is there any equation that relates pressure to distance ?

Click to expand...

From what I have observed there is a large "voodoo" quotient in this area of expertise. This may help you get started.
http://www.powderandbulk.com/pb_services/ask_joe_archive/what_is_dense_phase_conveying.htm

mosama said:

Thank you very much for your replies

Is there any equation that relates pressure to distance ?

Click to expand...

Milldrone summarizes very nicely by saying that pressure drop calculations are voodoo - or one can say it is more art than science.

There are books written on this yet Boeing still has wind tunnels to measure and evaluate designs.

This is one that is extremely easy to get wrong and hard to get right. If you get it wrong it is a nightmare that will not go away.

You MUST get the transport velocity correct - too low and you will be unplugging ductwork forever.

Your choice is two way - either do it yourself with lots of studying and calculations or consult the manufacturer of your ducting.

Put your blowers in a room where intake air is filtered. They run hot so you may (should) need to air condition the room. Do NOT scrimp on blower size or on blower intake filters.

Dan Bentler

Thanks every one