Blocked Silo Headache? No More!

When they first hear about our acoustic cleaning technology, many people think that audiosonics is the only solution we can offer to aid material flow ... and they would be wrong!

One of the biggest problems for sites with bulk storage silos is silo bridging where the stored material (cement, gypsum, carbon black, foodstuffs, etc) has built up on the inside of the silo walls. The removal of this buildup has traditionally been done manually but putting humans inside a silo does not come without its dangers. So we developed 2 pieces of cleaning equipment to offer our clients, both of which used compressed air but neither of which use audiosonics:

1. The Prima Whip™ for removal internal wall material buildup - see the special feature on previous blog post Prima Whip for cement silos in Egypt 

2. The Prima Lance™ for discharge blockage removal - see the special feature on our blog post Cement plant cleaning success  

These pieces of equipment work independently, used in their own dedicated scenario BUT where a silo is completely blocked, they can be brought together to work in combination. The Prima Lance™ is used to drill into the blocked silo from underneath which allows for the Prima Whip™ to then be installed on top of the silo remove the remaining material.

So if you ever have the unfortunate experience of a blocked silo, we have the answer. Contact us by email, Skype, telephone or fax and we will be happy to help. We have both a technical brochure and CD rom with information about these exciting and incredibly useful non-acoustic technologies.

Hammering The Hopper - A Rash Move For Cleaning

As we know from solving many silo bridging and ratholing problems, the discharge section of a silo or hopper can off be an area of concern for silo operations managers.  One thing we have encountered numerous times over the years is a phenomenon called hammer rash. Ironically it is created in an attempt to actually remedy a problem - when a silo operative uses a metal hammer or iron bar to hit the hopper discharge point to dislodge a blockage such as cement buildup. 

If a rubber hammer were used the ‘rash’ would not occur but often tools like this are mislaid so when a blockage needs dislodging – and plant operators like to tackle these things quickly to avoid downtime – then anything that’s handy will be used to hammer against the side of the metal section.

Over time this kind of hammering takes its toll  and the metal sections ultimately have to be replaced – an expensive exercise both in terms of materials, manpower and downtime.

The first photograph shows a  gypsum silo hopper discharge point with such severe  hammer rash that it had to be replaced, despite the installation of a Bin Activator which is supposed to aid material flow.

This second photograph shows a gypsum hopper already damaged by hammer rash but where the plant installed one of our acoustic cleaners in sufficient time to prevent it from being replaced.

The truth is that manual intervention can be avoided by installing acoustic cleaners for hopper cleaning. The audiosonic sound waves generated keep the gypsum material flowing at the maximum discharge rate so there is no buildup, no blockage and no resulting hammer rash and damage to the discharge points.

Prima Whip For Cement Silos In Egypt

Silo cleaning  is one of the biggest sources of enquiries that we receive, with requests for assistance on sites all around the world. I have touched on the subject before in previous blog posts such as Silo Cleaning Stats and Preheater Id Fan Problems.

One of the foremost industries for which we supply our innovative technology is the cement industry - cement silos are well known to give a multitude of problems (silo bridging is probably the one that springs to mind with most people). So efficient cleaning and maintenance is crucial. Here at Primasonics International™ we have now solved silo bridging and material buildup and blockage problems in more than 50 countries, serving not only the cement industry but also many others such as petrochemical, carbon black, food materials and coal.

What's more, we can offer not just one but two highly effective solutions to deal with silo problems - for discharge blockage removal we have the Prima Lance™ and for non-intrusive silo cleaning we have the Prima Whip™.

We recently supplied a Prima Whip™.to help with silo cleaning operations in a large cement plant in Egypt where silos were suffering from material buildup on the walls. Here is a photograph of our Technical Director Alex Bergus (orange hard hat) giving specialist Prima Whip™ training to engineers on site.

After the training session and still on top of the silo with the arid landscape of Egypt in the background, Alex is photographed with Apprentice Engineer James Swindlehurst.

Read more about safe silo cleaning here    

Prima Whip Training For Silo Cleaning

Our last blog post looked at the statistical importance of silo cleaning. Supplying our acoustic cleaners as a solution to silo ratholing and silo bridging, takes me and my technical staff to many countries around the world. This is particulary the case when customers buy our Prima Whip as we offer special training on site in the use of this equipment. In such a way, our customers are left confident in the knowledge that they can improve their silo discharge performance and overall plant efficiency.

Here is our Technical Director Alex Bergus giving classroom training to cement plant staff who plan to use the Prima Whip in their cement silos.

The next photograph below was taken on the top of a cement silo with the Prima Whip assembled and ready to be lowered into the silo. Again, Alex (centered) isseen playing a key role in training.

 
For more detailed information you can download our Prima Whip pdf brochure - please click here

Silo Cleaning & Stats

Statistics are a very useful analytical tool in business and we study carefully the analytical data in relation to visitors to our three web sites. Taking the main Primasonics International web site, time and time again the greatest numbers of visitors are seeking solutions to their silo storage problems.

The three main areas which concern them are:-

How can we clear our silos totally safely, quickly, efficiently without the need for manual entry?
Our answer is simple .... the Primasonics Prima Whip and Prima Lance facilitate excellent silo cleaning without any human risk.

How can we prevent continuing side wall material build-up and ratholing?
Again our answer is simply to install one of our powerful low frequency Primasonics Acoustic Cleaners on top of the silo and 'hey presto!' side wall build up is eliminated. This is especially true with our mega powerful PAS-60 (60 Hz) - currently the most powerful acoustic cleaner in the world - which has been proven to prevent this problem from occurring in silos with capacities of up to 33,000 tonnes.

Finally, how can we prevent material bridging in the hopper and discharge sections of the silo?
You’ve guessed it ... simply by installing a higher frequency Primasonics Acoustic Cleaner on the hopper section. Depending on the size of hopper and the material we usually recommend either a PAS-350 or PAS-230 model.

I was just looking through our sales statistics and we have now solved silo build up and blockage problems in over fifty countries worldwide and over a wide range of industries such as cement, chemicals, petrochemicals, carbon black, coal, wood flour, food materials and products  and many more.

However, I am sure that still thousands of silo owners with material flow problems who could benefit from our practical and professional help. So just come and talk to me personally about your need for silo cleaning - via Skype (donald-primasonics) or email sound@primasonics.com. I and my acoustic cleaning team supported by our international network of agents will be glad to help.