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Solids Processing


The custom-engineered system uses frame-mounted pneumatic bag agitators to maintain an uninterrupted flow of sluggish materials from bulk bags. Hapman’s LumpMaster effectively breaks up agglomerated material prior to entering the PosiPortion feeder. This assures a more consistent feed, eases mixing into the motive liquid stream and prevents obstructions in the throat of the eductor.


Low headroom


Flexicon has also been busy, adding the new Single-Trip Bulk Bag Unloader to its portfolio. The allows rapid, low cost discharging in low headroom areas, and conveying of the material at any angle to downstream processing, storage or packaging equipment. The unloader relies on the user’s forklift or plant hoist to


lower single-use bulk bags onto a four-bladed bag piercing knife that cuts the bag bottom from seam-to-seam, promoting complete discharge without the use of flow promotion devices otherwise needed to move material through narrow bag spouts. The Single-Trip Unloader relies on the bag bottom to self-


seal against a thick gasket affixed to the rim of the hopper and to discharge through a wide diameter hole in the centre of the gasket, eliminating the cost and additional headroom required for bag spout interfaces used on conventional unloaders of reusable bags. An optional dust plenum, consisting of a hollow hopper


rim with interior slots and exterior port vented to a plant dust collection system, is offered as a secondary dust containment measure. Single-use bags are simply lowered onto the piercing knife,


ready to discharge many times faster, and with less labour, than possible when connecting reusable bags to unloaders. Compared with reusable bags, many of which are


discarded after one use, single-use bags can be less costly to purchase, and reduce the amount of material to be discarded or recycled.


The hopper, which is equipped with a hinged door to


access the interior safely, charges the intake adapter of an integral flexible screw conveyor that handles free- and non- free-flowing bulk materials ranging from large pellets to sub- micron powders, including products that pack, cake, seize, smear, fluidise, break apart or separate, with no separation of blended products. The hopper is also available equipped with intake adapters


and rotary airlocks for pneumatic conveying systems, as well as with universal flanged outlets for connection to the user’s downstream equipment. Construction is of stainless steel finished to industrial,


food, dairy or pharmaceutical standards, or of carbon steel with a durable industrial finish. The unloader joins Flexicon’s other products including


its PNEUMATI-CON dilute phase pneumatic conveying systems. These range from single-point ‘up-and-in’ installations to cross-plant systems with multiple pick-up and discharge points and automated controls, satisfying an exceptionally wide range of bulk conveying applications. All are custom-engineered and fully integrated with other Flexicon equipment and systems. PNEUMATI-CON dilute phase pneumatic conveying


systems move bulk materials that are suspended in an air stream that is introduced by a positive pressure blower upstream of material intake points, or by a vacuum pump that removes air from the system downstream of material discharge points. Material is separated from the conveying air at the use


point, then discharged on a batch basis via butterfly or slide gate valves, or continuously via rotary airlock valves. Meanwhile dense-phase conveying specialist Air-Tec is


rising to the challenges of product abrasiveness caused by the powders that many of its customers need to move, including malic acid, urea, citric acid, sodium carbonate, tartaric acid, alumina, percarbonates for detergents, copper sulphate, soda, caustic potash, sodium monoclorate and other materials. l


Z


Technology Centre boosts options A particularly clever feature is


eppelin rotary feeders are designed to ensure both quick and easy mounting as well


as success in daily operation due to minimum downtimes. Thanks to the intelligent feeder design, users can benefit from the highest efficiency so that often smaller sizes can achieve the same throughput. Product damage such as chopping and squeezing effects on granular products can be reduced to negligible levels. Deflector baffles integrated into the feeder housings do not obstruct product feeding. Maximum product purity is assured thanks to the steep geometric design of the casing which avoids product deposits.


the modular design: users receive products that match applications exactly. This in turn assures fast supply of spare parts and a simple adjustment to changed operating conditions. In terms of diverter valves,


Zeppelin has a full range, offering appropriate solutions for any application. The principle of its new generation of diverter valves is especially intelligent: by retrofitting, the valves can be modified from the most simple standard application to complicated special diverter valves. Thus, says the company, users will always receive a component which is


perfectly geared to their requirements – assuring utmost process reliability and economic operation every day. Another element that contributes


to customer success is the Zeppelin Technology Centre. Here, customers can obtain sound information on individual products and so make the best possible component design before starting large-scale manufacturing. At present, two separate test plants are available: one for pellets and one for powders, so that the company is able to provide tailored answers to individual questions, with trials on an industrial scale and special configurations that can be quickly installed. l


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