Posted on April 29th, 2025 by Carrier Vibrating
Nearly every industry globally requires bulk material handling at some point during production. Manufacturing of clothing, coffee, construction materials, food, motor vehicles, and any other modern convenience all involve processing bulk materials. Yet, there are often many processing challenges, which is why process engineers strongly encourage manufacturers to perform laboratory testing before altering or integrating new equipment into material handling and processing systems. Because of the importance of bulk materials in many products, maximizing operational efficiency is vital. This is why the Carrier Process Equipment Group (CPEG) developed its advanced laboratory and in-line test equipment, which helps companies resolve processing issues.
CPEG Custom Laboratory and In-Line Test Equipment
Simulating real-world operating conditions, CPEG’s laboratory testing provides data to manufacturers to streamline material handling processes. Our custom laboratory and in-line test equipment includes advanced diagnostic tools overseen by expert processing engineers, who assess the results and advise on material processing issues. There are numerous reasons to conduct such testing before production.
Benefits provided by CPEG’s custom laboratory and in-line test equipment include:
- Allowing companies to experiment with new designs for equipment and processing methods with lower capital investments.
- Mutual confidentiality agreements ensure that any patented processes, recipes, or other business secrets are kept.
- Improving inefficiencies in existing systems.
- Providing data in simulated conditions that can be upscaled to assess results before full-scale production.
- Flexible scheduling for those needing to use the facility.
- Validating requirements ensures that a processing system has the equipment to perform an application properly.
The CPEG laboratory additionally allows teams to visit and view testing in person, while videos are available when on-site inspection isn’t feasible.
Material Characteristics
Materials must be evaluated by their brittleness, bulk density, flowability, heat resistance, particle size distribution, viscosity, and other physical properties to design an efficient processing system. CPEG’s custom laboratory and in-line test equipment help manufacturers analyze these material characteristics to ensure processing solutions are reliable, while also identifying specific traits like process flows through specific equipment.
Testing helps determine traits that include:
- Bulk density: Within a processing system, bulk density data helps determine sizing of components, including the type of drive and horsepower required for feeding material.
- Moisture content: The amount of moisture in a material directly impacts process flows, affecting factors like the energy, retention time, and temperatures required within the processing system, into which controls and sensors can be integrated to adjust processing in real time.
- Particle size distribution: Analyzing a material’s particle size distribution helps define catalyst activity, chemical conversion, pretreatments, size reduction, and other aspects of a processing system.
An analysis of these and other material properties is used to help determine equipment size, flowability, maximum capacity ,and other aspects of the system’s capabilities.
Equipment Design
Dependable and efficient processing systems must consider an array of factors when it comes to equipment design, for which CPEG’s custom laboratory and in-line test equipment were first conceived. A variety of design dynamics factor into this, as they must provide consistency in the product without causing product degradation and other detrimental effects.
Aspects of equipment design include:
- Air pollution: Management of dust and other contaminants are important for meeting various regulatory requirements and industry standards for emissions, with the addition of baghouses, wet scrubbing equipment, and other components used to mitigate air pollution.
- Material degradation: Preventing bulk materials from degrading is a key goal of process engineers, who use their expertise to make equipment with distinctive qualities to minimize degradation.
- Material flow: Perhaps the most critical aspect of any bulk material processing is how product flows throughout the system, as bottlenecks can result when material flows poorly.
- Retention time: The length of time in which material is retained within a specific piece of equipment within a processing system affects specific aspects of processing; for example, this could ensure that material is heated for a specific period to a certain temperature to remove sufficient moisture.
- Temperature: Equipment must consider temperatures in relation to the application and type of material being processed as temperatures often affect aspects like process flows or product quality.
Construction materials for equipment in certain applications must sometimes be able to withstand extremes in temperatures and other aspects of processing. Additionally, machinery requires certain design specifications to optimize process flows and mitigate issues like bridging or ratholing.
Lab Testing
Bulk material processing systems require proper engineering to ensure maximum uptime. CPEG’s custom laboratory and in-line test equipment help prevent material handling bottlenecks or other inefficiencies. When machinery isn’t designed correctly, processing systems may not produce their full potential. At these early stages of design, testing provides a means to support processing theories in real-life situations while minimizing the costs of any mistakes.
Testing new equipment designs, along with new processes, allows manufacturers to procure a return on investment quickly. The price of testing is insignificant compared to the costs of not properly evaluating materials, equipment, and processes. Thorough testing of machinery and systems designed to purpose, powerful diagnostic instruments, and real-time data compilation help facilitate efficient material handling operations.
CPEG Custom Laboratory and In-Line Test Equipment Case Study
An internationally recognized company specializing in athletes’ safety had developed a patented formula for an organic wood-based product that would replace artificial turf made from rubber on sports fields. This patented design improved traction to reduce the chance of injury to athletes and decrease the heat from the turf. The product came to market in 2019, a combined effort between a group of engineers, horticulturists, sports testing labs, universities and other experts in sports science.
Made from a species of pine grown sustainably in the southern United States, CPEG’s custom laboratory and in-line test equipment helped the company develop a cost-effective and durable artificial turf that’s both environmentally friendly and domestically made. The process involves eleven steps that condition organic infill in bulk to create the trademarked product. The laboratory tested material with CPEG processing equipment to develop the most efficient handling system.
This system included the following CPEG equipment:
- Bulk material heat exchanger from Carrier
- Rotary dryer from Heyl Patterson
- Vibrating fluid bed dryer from Carrier
- Vibrating spiral elevator from Carrier
Tests involving the heat exchanger supported the system’s design, which involved a mass flow discharge feeder and indirect heating to the requisite temperature. Analyzing the data helped the company assess an appropriate warranty on the equipment within the processing system. Additionally, processes to sterilize material via a heat treatment allowed the company to meet regulatory requirements for marketing the product for export in Europe.
For more information on custom laboratory and in-line test equipment to enhance testing capabilities, contact a representative of Carrier Vibrating Equipment today.
