Toledo Power Plant, Toledo Power Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Business Power Corporation, with total capacity 246 MW was having trouble with coal conditions. The material was wet and slightly sticky, which made it stick to the walls of the hopper, so much so that the material would accumulate and create a blockage in the hopper. Production couldn’t run smoothly, requiring temporary shutdowns so employees could manually knock down the material from the walls of the hopper.

After evaluating the problem, Martin Engineering recommended Martin^® XHV Air Cannons. The Martin^® XHV Air Cannons provide effective performance by supplying a quiet but powerful discharge of compressed air to dislodge material buildups and enhance the flow of bulk solids. The low maintenance requirements and high-velocity discharge make the Martin^® XHV Air Cannon suitable for use on high temperature applications and the most challenging materials.

The air cannons eliminated the blockages. The air cannons successfully prevented the accumulation that impacted the process efficiency and required process interruptions for manual clean out. With the Martin^® XHV Air Cannon installed at the slope of the hopper, the material now flows freely through the hopper to the screw feeder. Martin installed a total of 18 XHV Air Cannons at the plant.