Keen on cleaning!

Air cannons have been in the cement industry for at least 50 years. While there are around half a dozen major air cannon companies, many smaller companies have their own designs as well. When making a decision regarding which air cannon design best fits a given application, the following factors should be considered:

• Air cannon design. What is the available warranty?
• Air cannon volume. The air in the air tank is the cleaning energy of any air cannon. How much energy will provide the best results?
• Not all nozzles are created equal. Which nozzle will allow maximum production from the air cannon?
• Is the air cannon protected from the harsh environment? The leading cause of air cannon failure is the environment.
• Can maintenance be safely performed on the air cannon while the unit is operational?

Poor reliability is related to two main factors: 1) the design of the air cannon, and 2) how the air cannons are installed. Many of today’s air cannon designs are fundamentally good. Since that is the case, the reliability of the air cannons often comes down to how they are installed. Installation, in many cases, is the issue which will lead to greater air cannon failure rates. This is a major reason why Dracyon Corp believes that it can make any currently installed air cannons more reliable while also improving plant efficiency.

One thing to note is that while several air cannon OEMs build a good air cannon, this is not true with air cannons from China. It is not unusual to see cases where the failure rate is quite high. There have even been cases have been seen where the pressure code ratings on the air tanks have been falsified. When questioned about this issue, at least one a plant replied by saying, “That’s OK because I can replace the entire air cannon for less money than fixing than the North American air cannon.”

Firstly, this is not true for all North American air cannon OEMs.

Secondly, if a North American air cannon fails quickly then the plant operator should review how it was installed. It is most likely not the air cannon design that is to blame, but the environment in which it is installed.

Thirdly, if a plant can replace the entire air cannon, and it fails frequently the question becomes: ‘are you getting what you paid for?’

Is there a better way than to accept such poor performance? Absolutely.

The greatest difference in air cannon performance can be determined by just how much each air cannon can clean. There are two crucial points to consider with regard to any air cannon’s ability to clean:

• Reliability: It does not matter how powerful an air cannon is if it does not work.
• Cleaning power: It does not matter how reliable an air cannon is if it is not cleaning.

The key to any successful air cannon installation is successfully applying these two rules.

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