Two reasons why cement manufacturers should have air cannons in their facilities

There are a number of reasons why cement manufacturers should consider installing air cannons in their facilities. Read on to find out what these reasons are.

To create a safer work environment for their employees

The aggregates that are used to make cement, such as clay, iron, limestone and calcium, are usually transported from one area of a cement manufacturing facility to another via large conveyor chutes.

As these materials pass through the chutes, they can sometimes clump together and create an obstruction. Because obstructions of this kind can impede the flow of additional aggregate, they need to be removed promptly.

However, the process of manually removing a blockage like this is no easy feat. Employees who are tasked with this job usually need to climb into the blocked chute and use tools to break apart the materials that have clumped together.

There are several reasons why this process is dangerous. Firstly, there is usually a large amount of dust inside these chutes, some of which is toxic. Inhalation of these dust particles could increase a person's risk of developing both short-term and long-term respiratory problems.

Secondly, the materials that the obstruction is comprised of can be both heavy and sharp. If the blockage is located in a vertical section of the chute and the employee, therefore, needs to stand or lie directly underneath the obstruction in order to access and dislodge it, there is a risk that they may be struck by falling shards of debris. This could leave them with both lacerations and fractures.

Installing an air cannon in a chute can prevent employees from being hurt in this manner, as it eliminates the need for anyone to be involved in the obstruction removal process.

When a blockage forms in a chute that contains an air cannon, this equipment will simply release an extremely powerful blast of air or nitrogen that will quickly break apart the obstruction and allow the rest of the aggregate to continue to flow through the chute.

To maximise efficiency

The process of unblocking a chute by hand isn't just dangerous; it is also laborious and highly inefficient.

Depending on the position and size of the blockage, the employee handling this task may need to set up a mobile scaffold (in order to gain access to the affected part of the chute) and then partially dismantle the chute so that they can locate and remove the materials that are creating the obstruction.

This could easily take a few hours, if not an entire workday. This, in turn, could drastically reduce the rate at which a facility manufactures its cement, as until the obstruction is removed, no further aggregate can be transported via the chute.

Conversely, an air cannon can remove a blockage extremely quickly. If the obstruction is relatively small, it will usually take just a few seconds for this equipment to break it apart. If the obstruction is larger, it should still take no more than a few minutes for the air cannon to break it apart.

The speed with which an air cannon dislodges blockages means that, when it is installed, there is no risk of obstructions having a negative impact on a facility's efficiency levels.