Dear Stefan,

I do not pretend to have a solution for you as I am not an expert in these issues.

To prevent sand from entering the silo, an overpressure in the silo is required.

(On ships, a fan is blowing filtered air into the engine rooms to guarantee clean air for the diesel engines)

However, this is an active system and you probably prefer a passive system.

Is it possible to use the dynamic pressure of the sandstorm to pressurize the silo?

An opening is directed into the wind direction on a slew bearing, using a tail to generate a torque that directs the opening into the wind.

The catched air is directed to a cyclone and the top of the cyclone is connected to the top of the silo.

Air entering the silo is “cleaned” by the cyclone and air not entering the silo is blown out of the bottom of the cyclone with the sand dust.

An very simple alternative could be the closing of the open vent.

The pressure safety valve and the filter assembly on the silo should take care of the required venting.

I would consider this as standard silo equipment.

Success

Teus ■

Originally Posted by Stef R.

Dear All

For some very large silos (2200 m3 each) which are placed in the desert, we need to design a "sand catcher" that has to be placed on the open vent, in order to prevent fine sand entering the silos during sandstorm.

Does anybody know how this apparatus should look like ?

How about a simple vent sock? Just take a tube bag filter element and cage and make up something similar and put it on the vessel. If it has to be protected from rain, then all you need it to build an enclosure so that the air can get in and out, the sand can fall away, and the rain can be kept away from it.

I am certain that if you spoke with bin vent manufacturers they probably have something that would fit the bill. ■