Airslide — Pneumatic Conveying

An airslide is fundamentally different from conventional mechanical conveyors: there are no moving parts. The system consists of three main components — an air plenum at the bottom, a perforated court cloth (permeable fabric) in the middle, and a conveying channel at the top. The fan continuously pushes low-pressure air into the plenum; this air passes through the cloth and settles beneath the material in the upper channel.

Micron-level powdered material (cement, gypsum, lime dust etc.) fluidises over this air cushion — meaning it behaves liquid-like — and flows downward by gravity along a slight incline (typically 6°–10°). The speed is very low; no stress is applied to the material, reducing wear to practically zero.

Airslide is one of the foundational conveying systems in cement plants. The main reasons:

• Cement is a fluidisable micron-level powder — the natural application area for airslides.

• Conveying cement without dust release and waste is critical; the airslide meets this requirement as a fully enclosed system.

• Many lines in plants — silo-to-silo, clinker-mill outlet to cement silo, the dosing line before the packing station — can be laid out at a 6°–10° incline, making the airslide the ideal solution.

• Cement production requires 7/24 continuity; the airslide's lack of moving parts means rare faults and long maintenance intervals.

TMD GRUP airslide systems have three main components:

In classical mechanical conveyors (belt, screw, elevator), the drive motor, bearings, drums, belts and chains are all moving parts — requiring regular maintenance, lubrication and spare parts. The airslide contains only a fan; the housing, court cloth and air plenum are all static elements.

This architecture:

• Reduces maintenance costs to a minimum.

• Significantly lowers unexpected fault risk.

• Shortens service-stop times.

• Extends average service life.

In cement and similar 7/24 production facilities, this characteristic creates a cumulatively large cost advantage.

TMD GRUP airslide systems are manufactured as modular components. Standard-length housing modules, direction-change pieces (bends), feed and discharge stations are combined to build the desired line layout.

Advantages of the modular structure:

• Easy addition / extension to existing facilities.

• Short on-site installation time.

• Piecewise revision possible during refurbishment of old lines.

• Multiple feed or discharge requirements met via modular additions.

Module selection and line design are carried out at the TMD GRUP engineering office according to each facility's layout plan.

Key criteria for using an airslide:

• The material must be micron-level powder and fluidisable. Granular or coarse-particle materials are not suitable for airslide.

• The line incline should typically be between 6° and 10°. On flatter routes the flow slows; on steeper ones control is lost.

• Conveying happens essentially horizontally — vertical lift cannot be done. Bucket elevators or pneumatic conveying are used for vertical transport.

• For high-temperature materials, court-cloth selection is critical.

TMD GRUP evaluates the customer's material properties and site conditions to determine, per project, whether an airslide is the right solution.

An airslide project at TMD GRUP follows these steps: material suitability assessment (fluidisation test if required) → line incline and length analysis → module selection and engineering design → fan and court-cloth selection → manufacturing (steel housing fabrication, module-joining test at our Başkent OSB facility) → site installation (modules joined, fan connection established) → fan calibration and commissioning → performance testing and operator training.