Powder materials have the characteristics of fine particle size, strong fluidity and easy airborne dispersion. Traditional conveying equipment (such as belt conveyors and screw conveyors) suffer from insufficient sealing, making it prone to dust leakage. This problem not only exposes you to the risk of environmental penalties but also increases equipment maintenance costs and employee health protection costs.
Our Tube Chain Conveyor, designed specifically for bulk materials, is a continuous conveying equipment capable of achieving three-dimensional conveying in horizontal, inclined and vertical directions. Its core advantage lies in the fully enclosed conveying mode, which can fundamentally block the channels for dust leakage and is compatible with various characteristics of powder materials, making it an ideal choice for dust-free conveying in various industries.
How Can a Tube Chain Conveyor Realize Dust-Free Transportation?
Fully Enclosed Transportation Structure
The material is transported throughout the entire process within the enclosed pipeline. The pipeline seamlessly connects with the driving device, turners, loading and unloading ports, etc., forming a complete enclosed space. There are no open loading or unloading sections, and the physical structure physically blocks the channels for dust to escape, laying a solid foundation for dust-free transportation.
Low-Pressure Stable Movement Mechanism
The equipment moves the material through the chain links or disc scraper belts within the enclosed pipeline. During operation, the pipeline is always in a low-pressure state.
- During horizontal transportation, the thrust of the chain links causes the material to form a stable flow. The internal friction between the materials is greater than the external friction with the pipe wall, preventing material splashing and dust generation;
- During vertical transportation, the lower feeding prevents the upper materials from sliding down, generating lateral side pressure that enhances the internal friction of the materials, overcoming the self-weight and friction with the pipe wall to achieve continuous lifting, without material drops or dust flying.
Low Wear And Low Collision Design
The equipment operates at a gentle speed, with static or low-speed friction between the material and the pipeline, the pipe, and the chain links. This reduces the source of material fragmentation and dust generation. At the same time, the design of wear-resistant components reduces equipment wear and avoids the generation of impurity dust due to component wear, reducing the need for additional cleaning and maintenance work.
Dust-Free Core Configuration Of The Tube Chain Conveyor
Fully Enclosed Pipeline System
The pipeline is the fundamental carrier for dust-free transportation, and its design directly affects the sealing effect.
- Material Compatibility: You can choose materials such as food-grade stainless steel, nylon, or corrosion-resistant alloys based on your industry requirements to avoid material-reaction with the materials and cause dust or contamination;
- Structural Optimization: We adopt an integrated pipe design and arc-shaped turning design to reduce the number of pipe interface locations and lower the resistance of material transportation, avoiding dust accumulation at the turning points;
- Interface Sealing: Our pipe interfaces use a double-sealing structure of flange sealing + sealing gasket, and the bolts are tightened to ensure no loosening gaps, preventing dust leakage from the interface.
Sealed Inlet And Outlet Devices
The inlet and outlet ports are high-risk points for dust leakage, and special design is needed to enhance sealing to alleviate your concerns.
- Feed inlet: Our Tube Chain Conveyor is equipped with sealed feed valves (such as pneumatic sealing valves or manual sealing gate valves). The materials enter the pipeline through a sealed passage. During the feeding process, the valve precisely aligns with the feeding equipment to prevent dust from spilling out.
Discharge outlet: We will design a dust-proof discharge structure, combined with a sealed receiving bin or transfer equipment. During the discharge process, a negative pressure environment is formed to prevent dust from spreading.
Transmission And Chain Plate Optimization Design
The design of the transmission system and chain plates not only ensures the stability of transportation but also reduces dust generation, meeting your long-term usage requirements.
- Low-speed Transmission: We adopt a variable-frequency drive system, allowing the running speed to be precisely adjusted. The smooth transmission method reduces the friction and collision between the material and the equipment, lowering dust generation;
- Wear-resistant Chain Plates/Discs: Our chain plates or disc scrapers are made of wear-resistant materials, closely adhering to the inner wall of the pipeline, which can avoid material residue accumulation and dust generation due to wear, and extend the equipment's service life.
Auxiliary Dust Prevention Configuration
Some models are equipped with auxiliary devices to further enhance the dust-free effect and provide you with dual protection.
- Pipeline cleaning device: Features a built-in scraper cleaning structure to regularly remove residual materials from the inner walls of the pipeline, preventing dust accumulation, deterioration, or secondary re-entrainment;
- Pressure balancing device: Balances the air pressure inside and outside the pipeline through a vent valve, preventing outside air from entering or internal dust from leaking due to pressure differences;
- Dust covers and sealing caps: Dust covers are installed at key connection points of the equipment, and inspection ports are equipped with sealing caps to ensure the overall airtightness of the equipment.
Specification Installation Of Tube Chain Conveyor
- Pre-Installation Preparation
- Pipeline Cleaning: Before installation, thoroughly clean the inner walls of the pipeline, chain links, interfaces, etc., to remove impurities and dust. This prevents contamination of the subsequent transported materials and avoids residual impurities affecting the sealing effect;
- Component Inspection: Inspect each component such as seals, interface gaskets, valves, etc. Ensure there are no damages, deformations, or aging conditions. Replace any non-compliant components promptly;
- Site Planning: Based on the pipeline layout, plan the installation route and reserve sufficient maintenance space. At the same time, ensure the installation area is clean and dry to avoid dust contamination.
Key Installation Points
- Interface Sealing Reinforcement: When connecting the pipeline interfaces, ensure the flatness of the flange surfaces and evenly tighten the bolts. The sealing gasket must be fully adhered to the interface. If necessary, use double-layer sealing gaskets to enhance the sealing effect;
- Horizontal and Vertical Alignment: During horizontal installation, ensure the pipeline is not tilted to avoid material accumulation at the lower end; during vertical installation, ensure the pipe's verticality error is within the allowable range to prevent chain links from rubbing against the inner wall of the pipeline, which could lead to sealing failure;
- Tension Device Adjustment: Adjust the tension device to ensure the chain links are evenly adhered to the inner wall of the pipeline, with the gap controlled within a reasonable range. This ensures smooth transportation while avoiding material leakage due to excessive gap;
- Inlet and Outlet Interface Connection: When connecting the inlet and outlet interfaces to upstream and downstream equipment, use flexible sealing joints to ensure a seamless connection. Also, avoid vibration from the equipment during operation that could affect the sealing effect.
Post-Installation Testing
- Sealing Test: After installation, conduct a pressure test or use dust detection instruments to check for any leakage points at the pipeline and interface. Apply soapy water to key parts such as pipeline interfaces and valves to observe if bubbles form or use a dust detection instrument to monitor the surrounding dust concentration;
- No-load Test Run: Start the equipment for at least 2 hours of no-load operation to check for any abnormal sounds, vibrations, and promptly adjust the equipment position or tighten the bolts to avoid damage to the sealing structure due to vibration.
Standard Operation Of Tube Chain Conveyor
► Preparations Before Startup
- Inspection of sealing status: Before starting the machine, check whether the sealing valves at the inlet and outlet are fully closed, whether the bolts at the pipe interfaces and inspection ports are tightened, and whether the sealing components are intact.
- Cleaning around the equipment: Remove dust and debris around the equipment to prevent the spread of dust in the air after the machine starts. At the same time, ensure that there are no obstructions in the operation area.
- Pre-treatment of materials: For powders prone to agglomeration, perform crushing treatment to avoid large chunks of material blocking the pipes, which could lead to excessive pressure and subsequent dust leakage.
► Control During Operation
- Smooth start and stop: Use a soft-starting method to start the equipment to avoid sudden start-up causing material impact on the pipeline or sealing structure, resulting in dust; before stopping, stop the feed first, and wait until the material in the pipeline is completely emptied before stopping to prevent residual material accumulation;
- Uniform feeding: Control the feeding speed through the metering device to ensure that the material enters the pipeline uniformly, avoiding pipeline congestion due to rapid feeding or pressure imbalance in the pipeline due to slow feeding;
- Load control: Operate strictly according to the rated conveying capacity of the equipment to avoid overloading operation, which may cause excessive pipeline pressure, damage to sealing components or interfaces, and lead to dust leakage;
- Real-time monitoring: During operation, use the built-in monitoring device of the equipment or a portable dust detector to monitor the dust concentration around the equipment in real time. If any abnormalities are detected, stop the machine for inspection in time.
► Maintenance After Shutdown
- Pipeline cleaning: Regularly clean the residual materials in the pipeline. This can be done using the cleaning device of the equipment or by manually disassembling and cleaning. Avoiding the accumulation of deteriorated materials or secondary dust generation;
- Maintenance of sealing components: Regularly inspect the wear of sealing gaskets, sealing rings, etc., and replace them in time if they are aged or damaged to ensure that the sealing performance remains up to standard;
- Equipment maintenance: Follow the specifications to lubricate and maintain the drive device, tensioning device, etc., to reduce equipment vibration and avoid vibration-induced loosening of interfaces, which may lead to dust leakage.
The tube chain conveyor achieves dust-free transportation of powder materials, not by the effect of a single component, but as the result of a multi-dimensional synergy of "sealed design + scientific selection + standardized installation + optimized operation". Using the Tube Chain Conveyor for dust-free transportation not only helps you meet environmental protection and occupational health requirements, avoid environmental penalty risks, but also reduces material waste, lowers equipment maintenance costs, ensures product quality, and creates significant economic and social benefits for you.
Whether you are in the chemical, food, building materials or new energy industries, our professional technical team can customize efficient and environmentally friendly transportation solutions for you based on your material characteristics, production capacity requirements and site layout. Please feel free to contact us at any time!
