I installed a system a few years ago and used cullet (broken glass) to clean the wet fiber glass out of the conveying line. The cullet was ideal for cleaning the line because it is so abrasive. This was a temporary solution and using a rotary valve on broken glass is something I wouldn't normally recommend. There are a couple of valve manufacturers that claim to have abrasion resistant equipment but I have not used them yet.

Al Powell ■

Dilute phase systems can be designed for conveying pressures of 1 or 2 bars or even higher. All you need is equipment that is suitable for these pressures and higher temperatures.

Regards,

Amrit Agarwal(Tim)

Pneumatic Conveying Consultants ■

You can quite simply use a rotary valve for conveying glass (and indeed any other abrasive material of 'increased' size).

We manufacture an offset rotary valve which is unique- it has a true side feed into the valve and because of this, fills the rotor pockets only 50%. This stops the product from being trapped between the rotor and body- we have sucessfully put 40mm limestone lumps through one of these valves.

You will also need to fit mechanical shaft seals to the valve as the more industry standard gland packing seals are totally ineffective when handling abrasive products.

For more information, please see our website:

www.mid.uk.com

Alex Marshal.. ■