CONVEYOR BELT

Conveyor belts, traditional mechanical conveyor systems, have characteristics that may cause problems in some situations.

It is a very cumbersome and inflexible system, especially if it is necessary to change direction or vertical sections, thus increasing the need for maintenance and the possibility of breakage. On the other hand, the pneumatic conveyor system is made up of flexible pipes, which can be installed quickly, are space-saving and can be moved easily when the production department is reorganised.

Another problem of conveyor belts concerns sanitisation: The product comes into contact with a large surface area which then requires a lot of time for sanitisation. Sanitising the pipes used for pneumatic conveying is quick and simple. The filter of the loading unit is easy to replace.

In conveyor belts, the presence of many mechanical components subject to wear drastically increases the costs related to maintenance, spare parts and downtime. However, since the pneumatic conveyor has no mechanical components, it does not require maintenance.

One of the things to consider when choosing between a conveyor belt and a pneumatic conveyor is the risk of product contamination: the conveyor belt has a high risk of contamination due to the unprotected transport of the material. On the other hand, this risk is nil for the pneumatic conveyor, as it is a closed system. Simple sanitisation is ideal if you want to use different powders that must not come into contact with each other.

In production lines, the use of the conveyor belt creates high product dispersion, as it is an open system. This type of system is not suitable for conveying light and volatile powders.