If you operate a cement manufacturing facility, the chances are that your plant uses air cannons/air blasters for aiding the flow of material through your process. For 50 years, Martin Engineering has been designing and manufacturing air cannon systems for that purpose.
Cement manufacturing plants are quite unique when it comes to material handling, as they combine a mining operation along with a very complex manufacturing process. In the mining operation, raw materials are transferred through the process from the crusher to the raw mill. Many plants experience material flow problems in various areas throughout the process. Areas such as dump hoppers, crushers, transfer chutes, raw material silos, stockpiles, triple gates, material feed chutes, etc. In these problem areas, air cannons can be used as a means to promote flow. Ambient temperature product is used along with a variety of blast nozzles and controls. Flow problems can easily be overcome ‘if’ the cannon system is specified and operated correctly. The best air cannon in the world will not move material if the blast nozzle is incorrectly placed or the controls are not set to match the application needs.
The ambient temperature applications are easy when compared to installing air cannons in the pyroprocess. The extremely high temperatures, corrosive dust, and the complexity of the process make specifying an air cannon system much more challenging. There are many Dos and Don’ts when installing equipment in these applications as small things can severely restrict the air cannon system’s effectiveness.
