Miller Magazine Issue 107 / November 2018

56 MILLER / NOVEMBER 2018 “For grains, flour and agricultural dust, which are only mildly abrasive, an open rotor will be the best option. Besides being cheaper, it prevents the buildup of dirt between the ends and the housing. It does have some wear problems, especially in the seal that protects the bearings of the shaft, but basic regular maintenance (checking and replacing) will prevent any problems. It would be much worse to have the airlock completely disassembled every week just for cleaning.” In most grain handling and milling facili- ties, pneumatic conveying and dust control gets very little attention. Except in count- ries with stringent regulation, the only requirement is to have SOME dust control system, for which there aren’t any speci- fications of performance. Of course, flour milling is very dependent on pneumatic conveying, as it is the most efficient way to transport flour from one point to the other of the facility, but even there, operation tends to be deficient because of the lack of technical preparation of the workers. In the general universe of pneumatic con- veying, cyclones are treated like the bum brother nobody talks about. Several times I have had people come to my company and ask for an off the shelf cyclone (which shouldn’t exist), and when I asked about the air flow required and the head loss in the piping, they had no idea. Particle size distribution? They act like it is a bad word. To be clear, air flow determines the size of Cyclones and their Rotary Airlock Valves Gustavo Sosa Industrial Mechanical Engineer Licensed Grain Inspector MBA Project Management SOSA – Engineering Consultants Email: ing.gustavo.sosa@gmail.com ????????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ?????????????? ??????????? ????????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ??? ?????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ?????? ??????????????????? ????????????????????????? ???????????????????? ????? ????????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ????????? ???????????????? ????????????????????????? ??????????????????????? ?? ????????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ???????????? ????????????? ????????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ? ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ??????????????? ?????????? ????????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ???? ????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ?????????????????? ?????? ????????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ???????? ????????????????? ????????????????????????? ?????????????????????? ??? ????????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ??????????? ?????????????? ????????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ?????????????? Gustavo Sosa is a Mechanical Engineer and MBA, specialized in Project Management. He is the CEO of Sosa Ingenieria, a consulting firm doing mechanical design and FEA/CFD, and the Chief of Engineering at RONTIL, a major distributor of grain handling equipment in Uruguay and Paraguay. Gustavo has 2 decades of experience in grain handling and milling, doing engineering design and project management for projects up to 60 million USD. In the past, he worked 3 years as a professor, teaching fluir power, mechatronics, conveyor design and industrial instrumentation at UDELAR, the largest university in Uruguay. He also helped build the Mechatronics Laboratory there.