Vortex Global’s extensive range of aerated equipment is helping solve problems for the bulk materials handling sector.
When Vortex Global acquired its Northern Michigan operation 15 years ago, it was primarily seeking to establish a foothold as a supplier of loading spouts.
But within its acquisition’s catalogue was a range of aerated equipment, which has become an increasingly large part of Vortex Global’s offering to the bulk materials handling sector.
“When we purchased the company, we primarily focused on the loading spout-side of the business. We developed their loading spouts, positioners and in-line dust collector range,” Vortex Global chief technical officer Mark Schaberg said.
“Once we did that, we turned our attention to what we consider to be accessory equipment to the loading system, so fluidised conveyors, aeration pads, silo aeration bin bottoms and fluid beds.”
Vortex Global’s development group, located within its engineering department, oversaw the development of the aerated product range. It also collaborated with specialists to conduct flow studies, material characteristics studies and additional technical resources throughout the development process.
“We have a lot of ability within that group because for a company of our size, we have a fairly large engineering group,” Schaberg said.
This development group is integral to how Vortex Global operates. It handles customer-focused suggestions and examines how existing products can be adapted to meet the modern needs of the bulk handling sector.
Globally, there has been a trend of operations needing to move high tonnage and volumetric rates at a reduced cost. While the answer to some of these predicaments is to automate parts of the bulk handling operation, this trend has also seen Vortex Global stay true to its design philosophy.
“What Vortex has excelled at, in everything right down to its gates and valves line, is that our products are designed for ease of maintenance and maintainability. Particularly when it comes to not needing to remove the equipment from its installed position,” Schaberg said.
“I think that maintainability is something that we strive for at the end of the day because it can help our customers increase their productivity and efficiency as well.”
A key part of Vortex Global’s range of fluidised conveying equipment is its Aero-Slide. The Aero-Slide is an air-gravity conveyor, which consists of a rectangular chamber separated by an air-permeable, porous media. The media is placed along a horizontal plane to separate the two chambers within the conveyor.
An upper chamber handles the material being conveyed, while the lower chamber handles the compressed air. A positive fan or blower injects low-pressure, dry air into the lower chamber, which then permeates upward through the porous media. When the air is counterbalanced by gravity, the material flows downstream in a fluidised/aerated form, across a surface similar to an air hockey table.
Air-gravity conveyors are used to handle various dry, lightweight, easily fluidised powders, such as activated carbon, alumina, bentonite, calcium carbonate, cement, clays, detergent powders, or talc. A general rule of thumb is that the particle size is usually smaller than 50 mesh.
When designing an air-gravity conveyor system, selecting the right type of metering gates to control material flow is essential. Usually, material is fed from a bin or silo by opening a slide gate at the base of the vessel. The fine material is then aerated and moves into the conveyor.
In conjunction with its Aero-Slide conveyors, the company has built its Aero-Drum valve. The valve can be operated through electric, manual, or pneumatic actuators and does not use the traditional ‘v-notch’. Instead, the drum opening is a parabolic curve that is symmetrical from either side, allowing the drum to be positioned in a full-open or full-closed position.
The internal drum seal is made of needled polyester, increasing rigidity and offering high abrasion resistance. To facilitate maintenance, the valve features a split inlet flange that can be removed independently of the valve body.
The US-based manufacturer also offers a range of aerated bin bottoms, which are utilised in various applications, including cement handling. The aerated bin bottoms support the movement of lighter-weight materials.
It achieves this by allowing air to pass through the dry materials, which causes the material to exhibit fluid-like characteristics.
These products are typically located at the bottom of silos or hoppers, especially in storage silos with large dimensions. Customers can often find that the aeration bin bottoms can eliminate issues like bridging and ratholing, which are commonly found in material storage applications.
They work in conjunction with Vortex Global’s trusted loading system range, which includes its loading spouts and slide gates. Both of these products provide integral support to the loading process by delivering increased flow rate control.
While Vortex Global has a wide range of products it can provide to its bulk materials handling customers, the company still takes a tailored approach when investigating a customer’s problem.
With a global customer base that deals in a wide range of materials, including chemicals, cement, coal, food, grain, minerals, plastics and more, Vortex Global knows that no two bulk handling operations are the same. Each operation can be impacted by a set of variables, including material characteristics, flow rate, temperature, and more.
This is why Vortex Global takes the time to listen to its customers, conduct site visits and understand the minutiae of the client’s operations.
“It is something that takes a lot of communication, and some customers get tired of the questions, but if you don’t answer them, you don’t get what you want,” Schaberg said.
“We maintain close contact with our customer base. We have a dedicated sales team that maintains contact with our customers, and we regularly visit them.
“We’ll bring maintenance people in, we’ll bring operations people in, and demonstrate various pieces of equipment to the customer, even if it’s something they may not have considered before for their system.
“We want to make sure that they understand we’re not just trying to sell them a piece of equipment, we want to build a relationship with them.”