Success Story: Silo Pluggage Problems Eliminated with Clean Sweep
Problem Summary
A pet food manufacturer in Northern California was experiencing a great deal of unwanted downtime due to silo pluggage problems. The effort to unplug the silos would often take up to 2-3 days of extra time and labor. Tools such as jackhammers and whips were frequently used to dislodge the packed materials.
Not only was the facility experiencing long periods of time with production shut down, but they were also losing valuable product due to contamination from the usage of the tools. It was estimated that the annual product loss in the silo was approximately $200,000 — excluding the loss in production revenue and additional housekeeping costs.
Benetech Solution
The experts at Benetech suggested installing:
- Clean Sweep — a pneumatic cleaning system using a synchronized series of nozzles that emit high-pressure, high-volume, 360-degree bursts of compressed air to lift and sweep stalled material back into the flow stream.
The Clean Sweep system is controlled by a solenoid bank and has accommodations for manual operation, if desired. Controls are matched to the customer’s existing electrical requirements. Clean Sweep’s precisely deployed nozzles control removal of material accumulation before pluggage can occur — eliminating buildup at impact points before it becomes large enough to break off and cause problems down the line. The pet food facility agreed to install the Clean Sweep solution on one of their 12 silos. (The silos were 60-ft. tall with limited access from the upper nine feet.) In addition, Benetech installed Clean Sweep nozzles on an internal ledge they detected to keep that area clean and free of any interruption to material flow.
Successful Results
Since installing Clean Sweep, the restructured silo now flows uninterruptedly with no plugging or bridging of material. Likewise, buildup has been eliminated on the upper walls with material flowing continuously through the problem areas.
The maintenance manager kiddingly said “he would gladly give up his year-end bonus” if we could hurry and install the Clean Sweep into the remaining eleven silos! We are confident that our service techs can fulfill that request and provide the most effective solutions needed in the remaining silos.
- Savings of up to $200,000 per year
- Elimination of an additional 2-3 days of time and labor for cleanout per plug
- Created uninterrupted flow of material with no further pluggage or bridging — Benefit: Consistent end product mix and no waste
- Removed constant buildup on upper silo walls — Benefit: Eliminated cleaning
- No more jackhammers or contamination of food-grade product — Benefit: Reduced waste
