A Sonic Horn Approach to Cleaning Power Plant Silos

Working with clients that undertake bulk-solids handling, Airmatic Inc has more than seven decades of experience in industrial equipment and machinery distribution. Airmatic Inc’s customers range from utility companies to industrial manufacturers and include public and private entities. In one successful client-driven assignment, Airmatic Inc cleaned out the clinging bulk solid materials within three silos of a power generating station. 

The caked material Airmatic Inc addressed was much like coal fly ash and needed to be removed as part of the decommissioning process. With the buildup of particulate matter ranging from a light dusting to two inches, the original plan involved using a boom-mounted mechanical bin whip system. The dimensions and location of the silos made this system impractical and a high-energy, air-driven sonic horn approach was decided upon. 

Using powerful sound waves, particulates were shaken free of the sides of the silos, with a gravity feed enabling removal into truck-loading chutes. This approach effectively removed all debris within an expeditious time frame, with no need for dry or wet manual cleaning.

Airmatic Thrives in a Historic Hub of Manufacturing

Since 1944, Airmatic, Inc. has served as a leading supplier of industrial materials to a wide-ranging network of customers. The female-headed company offers sales, installation, and maintenance of equipment such as belt conveyor components, air cannons, rotary electric vibrators, bin level sensors, and more. Based in the southeastern Pennsylvania community of Malvern, Airmatic, Inc. is situated in the midst of a historic manufacturing region.

Malvern is a borough located in Chester County, in the Greater Philadelphia area. While many Pennsylvania industrial plants have closed in recent years, bringing economic hardships to the region, e-commerce and similar industries are filling the gap, and some traditional manufacturers continue to succeed.

Greater Philadelphia has a long history as an industrial center, and is the site of numerous mills, factories, and production plants over generations. The coal and steel industries, supported by banking and entrepreneurial interests, experienced rapid development in the area over the course of the latter 19th century.

In the early years of the 1900s, the automotive and railroad industries had a strong presence in the area, sustaining employment for thousands of people involved in the manufacturing. In the nearby Delaware County area, shipbuilding and other defense-related industries flourished in the first half of the 20th century.

Philadelphia’s suburbs began to specialize in defined manufacturing segments when the United States was still young, with early foundry and ironworks companies contributing to the growth of the region in the days before the Civil War.