Description:List of Abbreviations:
• LCS - Large quantity low bulk density material Collection System
• Booster - Intermediate pneumatic conveying system
• LoRaWAN - Long Range Wide Area Network (Low Power Technology)
• Wi-Fi - Wireless Fidelity
• CC - Collection Centre
• PU - Production Unit
• CMS - Central Monitoring Station
• B - Booster

Summary
LCS is a process invented to transport large quantity of low bulk-density material over large distances. It incorporates a double-dump valve pneumatic conveying system which is characterized by low input energy and cost. It uses a wireless IoT network (Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN)/ cellular/ Wi-Fi), to transfer information from/to local collection area and intermediate pneumatic conveying system (Booster) to/from the central monitoring station. The recorded data is used for predictive operation to ensure uninterrupted supply of raw material at the final collection area.

Brief description of the drawings
Detailed description of the invention
LCS is designed to convey very low bulk density material from a large area with the help of pneumatic conveying system and long distance data collection technologies. The layout of LCS is designed to efficiently deliver low bulk-density material at low cost. The system has intrinsic capabilities to learn and improve its operation through data analytics, trending and forecasting. To ensure constant supply of raw material, the system has a provision to facilitate maintenance without interrupting desired output. To manage the maintenance activity and operations of the equipment, operational and other data collected through LoRaWAN/ cellular/ Wi-Fi technology along with IoT Devices shall be used for the decision-making at the Central Monitoring Station (CMS). We envisage data (generated by IoT devices) to be used in a proactive manner to improve the system the entire system is designed for automation of the processes, which will be key to increase operational efficiency of the system.
The collection of material is in two stages. The first stage collects the material over a small area, where high input energy and high input cost methods are used such as collection through electric vehicle/ manual shifting/ conventional vehicle. The second stage, is where most of the distance is covered to collect the material at a common collection area, denoted here by final collection area. The second stage is carried out by pneumatic conveying system. The conveying pipes are underground so as to increase the security of the pipelines.
Following is the quantitative explanation of the layout to collect low bulk density material collection system.
Illustrative Calculation:
The flow chart mentions the major equipment and processes for easy understanding. An illustrative calculation is mentioned below for the supply chain design:
Factor of safety Fs

Total requirement of Raw material at Collection Hopper per day (Tonnes)
A
Productivity of farm land (Tonnes per Km2 per year)
B
Capacity of a Double-dump valve transportation system (Line) (Tonnes)
C
Number of Double-dump valve transportation system (Line) required (Integer)
= [A/C]
Total number of Double-dump Valve transportation systems (Lines) installed is an Integer
= [FS X A/C]
Total required raw material at collection hopper per year (Tonnes)
= 365 X A
Total cultivated land required(Km2)
= 365 X A / B
Total land required if Y% of land is used for non-agricultural activity (Km2)
= (365 X A)/ (B X (1-Y/100)
Radius of the Total catchment area (Km)
R
Where, R is
= v[((365 X A)/(B X (1-Y/100)))/p]
Distance between two consecutive Boosters, which are at the equal distance from final collection area (Km) D
Distance between two consecutive Boosters in the same conveying line (Km)
E
Total number of boosters and Collection Centres in a line
F
Where F (Integer) is
= [(R-D/2)/E]
Circumference of last circle with Collection Centre (Km)
= 2 X p X (R-D/2)
Total Collection Centres on the last circle (Integer)
= [2 X p X (R-D/2) / D]
Some Notable Points:
1. Selection of a Booster to be used as Collection Centre depends upon
? The distance from other collection centres (distance should be equal to or more than D)
? Convenience of raw material depositors (such as farmers)

2. C is derived on the basis of
? Physical properties such as abrasive index, angle of repose etc. of the powdered raw material
? Desired length for which the raw material has to be conveyed
? Pressure of air being used
? Physical properties of the material of conveying pipelines

3. D is derived on the basis of
? Mutual agreement on ease of delivering the raw material at the Collection Centres
? Operational cost appetite of the organization

4. E is a design parameter, which is the desired length of travel of the raw material for a booster i.e. double-dump valve transportation system, which is dependent upon
? Physical properties such as abrasive index, angle of repose etc. of the powdered raw material
? Capacity C of the double-dump valve transportation system
? Pressure of air being used
? Physical properties of the material of conveying pipelines

Information use:
There will be local controls in place at all collection centres to manage the operation locally, but due to the wide spread of the supply chain network, there is also a requirement of a Central Monitoring Station (CMS) to take decisions centrally. This CMS will need information to take decisions pertaining to the operations and to allow sections of the supply chain to be taken under maintenance.

Claims:1. The process to collect large quantity of low bulk density material with pneumatic conveying system over large area, where
a) “Large quantity” is a quantity greater than 10 tonnes per hour
b) “low bulk density” is bulk density less than 300 kg per cubic meter
c) Large area refers to an area of more than 250 square kilometres
2. The process of aggregation of low bulk density material in two stages to substantiate claim 1:
a) Collection of low bulk density material in local collection area
b) Pneumatic conveying of collected material in 2(a) from the local collection area to final collection area
3. Use of underground pneumatic conveying pipelines with conveying length greater than 6000 meters to convey low bulk density material
4. The layout of aggregation of low bulk density material to ensure claim 1, based on
a) Shortest transportation distance
b) Topographical advantages and limitations
c) Existing supporting infrastructure to minimize input cost and implementation time
5. Information collected from local collection area/boosters to a central monitoring station on a real time basis (with lag of not more than 15 minutes) to assist in:
a) Smart predictive operations
b) Maintenance scheduling
c) Energy optimization
d) Operational cost optimization