US3265324A - Pneumatic tube systems - Google Patents

Pneumatic tube systems Download PDF

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Publication number
US3265324A
US3265324A US370303A US37030364A US3265324A US 3265324 A US3265324 A US 3265324A US 370303 A US370303 A US 370303A US 37030364 A US37030364 A US 37030364A US 3265324 A US3265324 A US 3265324A
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
tube
blowers
blower
reversible
forwarding
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US370303A
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English (en)
Inventor
Mach Horst
Peter Hans-Joachim
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
International Standard Electric Corp
Original Assignee
International Standard Electric Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from DEST20667A external-priority patent/DE1205454B/de
Application filed by International Standard Electric Corp filed Critical International Standard Electric Corp
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of US3265324A publication Critical patent/US3265324A/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
    • B65G51/00—Conveying articles through pipes or tubes by fluid flow or pressure; Conveying articles over a flat surface, e.g. the base of a trough, by jets located in the surface
    • B65G51/04—Conveying the articles in carriers having a cross-section approximating that of the pipe or tube; Tube mail systems
    • B65G51/34—Two-way operation
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
    • B65G51/00—Conveying articles through pipes or tubes by fluid flow or pressure; Conveying articles over a flat surface, e.g. the base of a trough, by jets located in the surface
    • B65G51/04—Conveying the articles in carriers having a cross-section approximating that of the pipe or tube; Tube mail systems
    • B65G51/08—Controlling or conditioning the operating medium

Definitions

  • This invention relates to pneumatic tube systems, and,
  • vto light-weight pneumatic tube systems having extensive drive tube routes.
  • blowers are usually provided for dispatching carriers over long drive tube routes. One blows air in at one end of the tube and the other draws air out at the opposite end. The longer the tube, the more powerful are the blowers required. The use of extremely powerful blowers produces undesirable pressure conditions in the drive tubes and connected equipment. This is particularly true of the dispatch or receiving stations since it makes opening of the stations very difficult, and, in some cases, completely unsuitable for manual operations. In some cases, the high pressure may force the station doors open or even burst light-weight stations.
  • a feature of our invention is the provision of a pneumatic tube system which is simple in design, inexpensive, requires little maintenance and is safe in operation. This is accomplished by the use of intermediate blowers which subdivide the route into two or several partial routes of approximately equal length. The blowers are reversible and are controlled by contacts positioned in'the drive I tube and operated by the carriers themselves.
  • Another feature of our invention is the use of two blowers, one at each end of a forwarding tube, which together produce a desirable pressure gradient in the tube, but do not provide enough air velocity to move carriers through the tube.
  • two blowers we provide intermediate reversible blowers which cooperate with the two blowers to provide enough air velocity to :move (carriers through the tube while still maintaining a desirable pressure gradient throughout it.
  • FIGURE 1 is aschematic diagram'illustrating a pneumatic tube system utilizing one intermediate blower, and the corresponding pressure and air velocity diagrams of the system;
  • FIGURE 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a pneumatic tube system utilizing a plurality of intermediate blowers and the corresponding pressure and air velocity diagrams of the system.
  • the drive tube 1 of the pneumatic tube system shown in FIGURE 1 is quite extensive, for example, in the range of 800 meters in length. Blowers are normally provided at each end of tube 1, such as blowers 2 and 3, in order to produce a sufiicient air velocity for moving carriers through tube 1. They would have to produce a pressure gradient curve such as A so that an air velocity A is maintained throughout the length of the tube. The air velocity is constant throughout tube 1 under ideal conditions.
  • blowers 2 and 3 which together produce pressure gradient curve B.
  • the combined pressure of blowers 2 and 3 will then result in an air velocity B which is insufiicient to move a carrier through tube 1.
  • the prob lem is that it is now desired to increase the air velocity behind the carrier without substantially increasing the pressure in the tube. This is accomplished, in accordance with our invention, by inserting a third blower 4 intermediate blowers 1 and 2.
  • blower is reversible and is chosen to be sufficiently wider than blowers 2 and 3 so that when it is aiding blower 2 in moving a carrier from E to F, the flow of air along the tube is always from E to G. That is, the suction created by blower 4 will not overpower blower 3.
  • blower 4 cooperates with blower 3 to move a carrier from F to G a flow from E to G will still be maintained through the tube since blower 4 is also not strong enough to overcome blower 2.
  • blower 2 on the system can now be appreciated by noting the pressure and air velocity diagrams.
  • blowers 2, 3 and 4 initially cooperate to move the carrier toward F. Blower 2 produces compression while blowers 3 and 4 produce suction.
  • the combined effect of blowers 2, 3 and 4 can now be seen by noting pressure gradient curve C. It can be seen that the pressure gradient from E to F is almost as steep as pressure gradient A resulting in anair velocity (note curve C) along E to F which is sufficient to move a carrier.
  • pressure gradient curve C It can be seen that neither the air velocity nor the pressure gradient is constant throughout the length of the tube. Note that the portion of the tube F, G has a much slower air velocity and much more level pressure gradient than the portion E, F.
  • the air bypass is merely an aperture leading to the atmosphere and is preferably adjustable.
  • the size of the aperture is determined by the pneumatic strength desired from the blower with which it is associated.
  • blower 2 produces, in cooperation with its air bypass 8, a desired pressure at point K which is the equivalent pressure that would be produced by a blower having the power needed at that point in the system.
  • Blower 4 in cooperation with its .air bypass 8 produces the pressure or suction which meets the conditions noted above for the intermediate blower with which it is associated.
  • blower 2 proenough to over-come either the combined effect of blower 2 and its-air bypass or blower 3 and its air bypass while it is strong enough to produce in combination with blowers 2 and 3 and their respective bypasses 8 the air velocity required to move carriers through the tube.
  • blowers 2 and 3 must also be reversible. Circuitry for controlling the direction of operation of blowers 2 and 3 is obvious and is indicated by connecting links 17 and 18 respectively in FIGURE 1. These controls may be operated by push-buttons (not shown) at each station. It can be seen that the change from one-way operation to twoway operation is extremely simple with our system as the only other requirement is that sensor 7 sense carriers travelingin either direction, and such sensors are com.- monly known.
  • FIGURE 2 there is illustrated a system utilizing a plurality of intermediate blowers in accordance with our invention.
  • Blowers 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 are all connected into a long forwarding tube 9.
  • blowers 10 and 11 are producing compression while blowers 12, 13 and 14 are producing suction.
  • the combined blowers produce pressure gradient curve H and air velocity curve H. It is to be noted that the pressure gradient and air velocity are much greater in section L, M through which the carrier is passing.
  • the carrier reaches section M, N it will have tripped the sensor 16 associated with iblower 12 to operate control means 19 associated with blower 12 for reversing blower 12.
  • Curves I and I' represent the conditions which would be present in the tube if only blowers 10 and 14 are used. Air velocity G would be insufiicient to move a carrier through thetube. With our system, air velocity is greatly increased while only slightly increasing the overall pressure present throughout the tube itself.
  • a reversible pneumatic tube system comprising:
  • a system according to claim 1 further comprising at least one air bypass means, each said air bypass means cooperating with one of said first, second or intermediate reversible blowers to provide a pneumatic source of a de sired pressure.
  • control means further comprises means for causing said intermediate blower to cooperate with said first and second reversible blowers to produce said sufficient air velocity along a second portion of said tube.
  • a system according to claim 4 further comprising a sensor for sensing the passage of carriers past the connection of said intermediate blower to said forwarding tube.
  • a reversible pneumatic tube system comprising:
  • control means for causing said intermediate blowers to cooperate with said firstand second reversible blowers to provide an air velocity in a desired one of a plurality ofpredetermined portions of said forwarding tube which is sufiicient to move a carrier through said desired portion.
  • said predetermined portions are the portions of said forwarding tube between respective pairs of adjacent blowers.
  • a system according to claim 7 further comprising at least one air bypass means, each said bypass means cooperating with one of said blowers to provide a pneumatic source of a desired pressure.
  • a system according to claim 7 further comprising a plurality of sensors, one said sensor being associated with each of said intermediate blowers for detecting when a carrier passes the connection of said intermediate blower to said forwarding tube.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Jet Pumps And Other Pumps (AREA)
US370303A 1963-05-30 1964-05-26 Pneumatic tube systems Expired - Lifetime US3265324A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DEST20667A DE1205454B (de) 1963-05-30 1963-05-30 Rohrpostanlage mit langer Fahrrohrstrecke

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3265324A true US3265324A (en) 1966-08-09

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ID=7458657

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US370303A Expired - Lifetime US3265324A (en) 1963-05-30 1964-05-26 Pneumatic tube systems

Country Status (5)

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US (1) US3265324A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
BE (1) BE648571A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
CH (1) CH431386A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
FI (1) FI43969B (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
NL (1) NL6406034A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3408113A (en) * 1966-08-24 1968-10-29 Bouladon Gabriel Pneumatic transport means
US3711038A (en) * 1970-09-14 1973-01-16 Automatic Tube Co Pneumatic tube system
US3871711A (en) * 1972-10-25 1975-03-18 Otto Rusterholz Method and apparatus for pneumatically conveying discrete amounts of particulate material
US3999487A (en) * 1975-04-14 1976-12-28 Valverde Rene L Pneumatic transportation system
EP0045626A1 (en) * 1980-08-05 1982-02-10 D D Lamson Limited Improvements in or relating to pneumatic tube systems
US5240355A (en) * 1992-05-22 1993-08-31 Nol-Tec Systems, Inc. Dense phase transporter pneumatic conveying system

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US623509A (en) * 1899-04-25 Pneumatic-despatch system
US2763446A (en) * 1952-02-01 1956-09-18 Prot Equipment Co Inc Apparatus for conveying articles

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US623509A (en) * 1899-04-25 Pneumatic-despatch system
US2763446A (en) * 1952-02-01 1956-09-18 Prot Equipment Co Inc Apparatus for conveying articles

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3408113A (en) * 1966-08-24 1968-10-29 Bouladon Gabriel Pneumatic transport means
US3711038A (en) * 1970-09-14 1973-01-16 Automatic Tube Co Pneumatic tube system
US3871711A (en) * 1972-10-25 1975-03-18 Otto Rusterholz Method and apparatus for pneumatically conveying discrete amounts of particulate material
US3999487A (en) * 1975-04-14 1976-12-28 Valverde Rene L Pneumatic transportation system
EP0045626A1 (en) * 1980-08-05 1982-02-10 D D Lamson Limited Improvements in or relating to pneumatic tube systems
US5240355A (en) * 1992-05-22 1993-08-31 Nol-Tec Systems, Inc. Dense phase transporter pneumatic conveying system

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CH431386A (de) 1967-02-28
FI43969B (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1971-03-31
BE648571A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1964-11-30
NL6406034A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1964-12-01

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