Pilot Pneumatic Conveying Plant for Bulk Solids Characterization

The paper deals with the main features of an experimental pneumatic conveying plant developed at University of Bologna Lab. The main goal of this plant is to characterize transport properties of bulk solids conveyed in pneumatic plants. The facility is designed and instrumented to give information on flow conditions along the whole pipeline. The installation has all main characteristics of an industrial conveying plant, to supply with data comparable with those running in industrial process. It is also paired with a similar plant built in Reggio Emilia, Italy (a cooperation between Ariostea S.p.a. and University of Bologna), that completes the range of pneumatic conveying typology which can be analyzed. Measures, obtained during test runs, allow to validate prediction of a mathematical model developed to assist conveying plants design. To improve results given by the system, a strategy have been worked out, which allows to monitor many points of the plant by a smaller number of instruments. The communication between control system, instrumentation and actuators is realized by a Profibus DP/PA network, managed by a dedicated software developed in Visual Basic