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Moving food powders to a mixer with Piab vacuum conveying

A practical starting point for evaluating enclosed powder transfer: the ingredient, the transfer route and the receiving process.

Song Song ·
Illustration of an industrial powder handling process
Illustrative powder-handling image; not a photograph of a specific Piab installation.

When reviewing how an ingredient reaches a mixer, the transfer step deserves its own brief. Start with the material and the route it must follow: where it is collected, how far it travels and how it enters the receiving equipment. These details make a conveying discussion much more useful than a request for a machine based only on a target throughput.

Where vacuum conveying fits

Piab’s piFLOW range transfers powders and granules using vacuum conveying. The manufacturer describes an enclosed transfer path and tubing that can be routed vertically or around other equipment. Its food and pharmaceutical brochure discusses containment and reduced exposure of material during transfer. See Piab’s vacuum-conveying brochure.

There are several piFLOW families, with different intended applications. The manufacturer’s range overview is a useful reference when discussing the material-contact requirements and the configuration to evaluate.

Prepare information about the ingredient

Give the supplier a description of the actual ingredient rather than only a generic label such as “food powder”. A review brief can include:

  • The ingredient name, particle characteristics, bulk density and moisture information available to your team.
  • The packaging or vessel from which the ingredient will be collected.
  • The horizontal route, vertical lift and available space above the receiving equipment.
  • The batch size and the time available to complete each transfer.
  • Your cleaning procedure, product-change schedule and material-contact requirements.

Check the transfer against the receiving process

Describe how the mixer is charged and what happens while it is running. Agree whether the assessment concerns transfer only, or also weighing, dosing and control of the receiving equipment. Keeping these requirements explicit helps prevent gaps between two separately specified machines.

Piab offers application testing that can examine transfer rates, segregation and representative tubing arrangements. A trial with your material can provide a stronger basis for configuration than an assumption based on a different powder. Refer to Piab’s test-centre information.

Visit the Piab manufacturer page or share your ingredient and transfer layout with Song Song to start a technical discussion.