Courses or Handbooks for Dust Control Systems

What you are probably looking for is:

http://www.acgih.org/store/ProductDetail.cfm?id=2103

try your search from this depository.

You have not indicated which handbooks you have already reviewed, so we may duplicate some of those. Industrial Ventilation Manual (as indicated by Guest) is a very good source. Another good resource that is not a textbook is the Air Pollution Engineering Manual from the Air & Waste Management Association, edited by Wayne T. Davis. Other texts include Perry's Chemical Engineering Handbook (McGraw-Hill), Industrial Pollution Control Handbook (Lund / McGraw-Hill), and the ASHRAE Fundementals Handbooks. None of these include sample problems, but go well into the design parameters on a fairly understandable basis.

I have read this book:

http://www.acgih.org/Store/ProductDetail.cfm?id=347

and several manuals from manufacturers of pneumatic conveying equipment.

I will take a look at the Industrial Ventilation Manual and go on with the other stuff.

Where in the ASHRAE Handbook is the Dust Control? I have failed to see that.

I do not have the most recent versions of ASHRAE manuals, but dust control is covered in several areas. Check the composite index in the back of the books for Dust Collection or Contaminant Control. In my 1996 HVAC Systems and Equipment manual it is covered as Air Cleaners for Particulate Contaminants and Industrial Gas Cleaning and Air Pollution Control. However, if you are looking for specific information for designing the pneumatic conveying systems used to move materials, these will not help you. Pneumatic conveying companies protect their designs and design parameters to restrict competition. For this it would be best to try to find an on-line course. Many years ago I took a course through the University of Wisconsin College of Engineering Continuing Education program that covered pneumatic conveying system design. It was very informative and provide good general design guidelines but no specifics.

I have looked for online courses from time to time, but nothing appeared. Currently I am studying pneumatic conveying from books and reading other stuff on dust control.

Post here (so everyone can found it) if you know of anything.

Glasgow Caledonian University has an online program on bulk material handling which includes pneumatic conveying, but it is a M Sc which costs over 18,000 USD

I understand your problem. I have worked in the dust collection industry for 38 years so understand that portion fairly well, but I am still reluctant to tackle designing a pneumatic conveying system because there are so many parameters to consider. If I come across something that might be helpful for you I will pass it along.

Several good sources listed- although ASHRAE is somewhat lax on dust control and/or pneumatic conveying.

The absolute BEST manual I have found for these topics is FAN ENGINEERING by Buffalo Forge Fan Company. Lots of detailed formulae with corresponding descriptions and commentary.

The added value is that this topic is only one of several hundred topics that are covered in a very similar fashion. It is definitely one of the volumes that sit right beside your desk and get reviewed about every couple of months.

By the way- I used the material from this book to design a pneumatic conveying project that was awarded an International First Place in the ASHRAE energy competition.

One of the things that I learned from the manual and the formulae it contained was that you can lift a material vertically with air for about 1/3 of the energy required to move it horizontally- because the horizontal motion includes material falling due to gravity, then having to be picked up and re-accelerated by the air (over and over).

My award-winning design lifted the material 16 feet higher that it had to be delivered, then- after a slow, sweeping turn,- it as accelerated so that it made the 250 foot horizontal trip in one second (the amount of time it takes for a product to drop 16 feet in air). Additionally, we entered the receiving cyclone collector (rated at 50% efficient by the manufacturer due to the 0.4 to 20 micron diameter particles) under pressure and left in a negative condition- we changed pressure inside the receiver- so we actually got about 80% drop efficiency. The rest of the material joined material from the dust collection system in a bag house and was then deposited into the same hopper as the cyclone.

Pneumatic conveying systems use more energy running empty than full because much more air is moving when there is no added material load- also learned from the same manual. So, the design also computed the expected velocities and corresponding local pressures at several points when the system was empty. We used metal seated butterfly valves with O-ring seals as dampers to adjust the "empty" air flow to achieve the required pressures at the test ports. The system started at about 15% over required flow capacity and worked fine from then on. The plant re-checked the pressures every year during shut down to maintain rated performance.

One other issue- the dust collector hood was formed to surround the producing area by 135 degrees and was covered with rough-punched perforated plate. Each hole had a velocity of about 2750 FPM with an even average face velocity of 150 FPM. The rough-punched holes acted like inlet bells (no added pressure drop) and the material would build up to over 1 inch of thickness on the plate- with overlapping and intersecting inlet bells coming to a point at the intersections. At the end of the product run, all you had to do was brush the face of the dust collector and all of the material was fully recovered without any loss onto the floor.

The system operated with less than 60% of the energy required for "standard, fixed velocity" systems, cost less to install and had operated for over 5 years without any plugs or blockages when the award was presented.

Like I said- this is a GREAT book.

Very impressive. But the Howden Online Store is not working. Apparently I will have to buy it from Amazon.