Powder conveying: what’s changing and how to adapt

In conversations with manufacturers across food, pharmaceutical, chemical and other process industries, we see a clear shift in what they expect from their conveying equipment: on the shop floor, in maintenance planning and in purchasing decisions. Here’s what lies behind it:

Three shifts in how plants judge conveying equipment

1. Ergonomics becomes a selection criterion. Every batch change, filter inspection and cleaning cycle means someone works on the equipment by hand. When a pump takes two people and a toolbox to remove, the job gets postponed – and postponed maintenance turns into unplanned stops. Noise and dust exposure add to the picture: they surface in audits and absence statistics. And with skilled operators and maintenance technicians in short supply, a work environment that’s easier on people is also easier to recruit for.

2. Efficiency now covers the whole lifecycle. A piece of equipment that fits the application, and that you can identify exactly down to the right spare part, costs less to own than one that only looked cheaper on the day of purchase. Time lost on troubleshooting and on finding out what is installed where, adds up over the years.

3. Condition monitoring becomes an expectation. Teams want to see a filter clogging or a pump drifting before the line stops. Not after. The data has to come from somewhere, so equipment bought today needs to be ready for monitoring tomorrow – without a rebuild.

What this requires of the next-generation vacuum pump

Each of these shifts puts new demands on the equipment. In vacuum conveying – where a vacuum pump pulls powder or granules through an enclosed line – much of that pressure lands on the pump.  

To meet these demands, Piab’s R&D team has launched piEVO: a new vacuum ejector pump, which marks the first step in our next generation of vacuum technology.

Here are three ways the piEVO pump supports the modern production line:

Easy to mount and maintain

A twist-and-lock bayonet interface lets one person fit piEVO on the vacuum conveyor. Eight mounting positions let you place the exhaust and route the tubing where they make sense on your line.

The optional quick connector detaches all pneumatic tubing as a single unit, without tools. The pump comes off for filter inspection and cleaning without disconnecting tubes one by one. The ejector and silencer modules pull out with commonly used tools, and the premium silencer keeps noise below 78 dBA. An optional exhaust flange leads exhaust air out of the room or to an extraction point.

Configurable and traceable

piEVO is configured to your application instead of your application being adapted to a fixed pump. You choose the size, tubing connection, compressed air connection and exhaust option in the configurator, either for the pump alone or as part of a piFLOW®p conveyor.

Each pump carries a serial number and appears in MyProducts once you sign up for MyPiab. You see the exact configuration installed on each line and order the matching spare parts, which supports faster troubleshooting and maintenance planning.

Prepared for condition monitoring

piEVO is mechanically prepared for Piab's future condition monitoring options and works with existing control units. You can start with the pump today and add monitoring further down the line, without replacing hardware. 

To learn more about the features and specifications, please visit the piEVO product page.

Where to go from here

Already running a Piab vacuum conveyor? Take the first step toward upgrading to the piEVO pump and get 30% off.