Specifications for Vacuum Air Tubes in an Overhead Pneumatic System

Tubing Size

• One of the most important factors for vacuum air tubes is the tubing size, which determines how large the terminal control panels will be and how much the tubes can carry. Many utility tubes are 4 1/2 inches in diameter, enough to carry documents. Some versatility may be included, such as an option for 4-inch diameter tubing in order to help save space. For industrial purposes tubes might be larger -- as large as 8 inches in diameter.

Tubing Materials

• Pneumatic tubes need to be built with materials strong enough to protect them from pressurized forces they use, but cheap enough to make the systems affordable to a wide number of businesses. The result is a select number of materials that the tubes can be manufactured out of. For lightweight, economical versions composite plastics are used. For tougher applications, such as moving pellets and grains, aluminum and steel products are used instead.

Blowers and Weight

• Blowers are the units that provide the air pressure through the tubing, and weight is the specification for how much the tubes can safely move. These two specifications are closely connected. Blowers can be axial, bi-lobal, or several other configurations to provide pressure. The larger and stronger the blowers, the more weight they can push through the vacuum tubes, so weight will scale up as well.

Rate, Pressure and Other Factors

• The air inside the tube is affected by blowers and the tube material. Many pneumatic system specifications apply to this pressurized air and its qualities. Air flow rate shows how much air can move through the tubes in a given time. Static pressure shows the strength of the tube vacuum. Media temperature refers to how hot the materials can be when the tubing is transporting them. Together, these specifications create important parameters for the entire system.