May 2013 C&CI • In-Plant Machinery • 45
Manufacturer reports high level of demand for plant equipment
M
r Mittelstädt said demand for in- plant materials handling equipment was also running at a high level in Europe, where the company is currently working on a number of new projects. The equipment typically selected for materials handling in a roastery does not change much from year to year, although Mr Mittelstädt noted that an increasing number of customers are specifying stainless steel for those parts of a materials handling facility in which the finished product comes into direct contact with the equipment.
The order for materials handling for the roasting plant includes a production hall in which the machinery is being installed (including roaster feeding, roasting machines, roasted coffee transport and storage), and a green coffee silo, consisting of 12 silo cells, each of 2.75m x 2.50m x 1120m with a capacity in each cell of 50.0 tonnes.
Equipped for bulk Next to the green coffee silo a staircase with enclosure is provided. The piping for receiving and aspiration are also positioned in this section. Based on a bulk weight of 650kg/m3
, the bulk receiving
equipment has a conveying capacity of 40 tonne/hr. The conveying capacity for storage is a maximum of 40 tonnes/hr. The plant is equipped for receiving bulk product, which is delivered in a container on a self-tipping chassis and discharged into the receiving hopper. Via chain conveyor and elevator the green coffee is conveyed via a thread catcher to the cleaning station. Cleaning consists of a double-layer sieving machine with downstream air classifier.
After the air classifier the product is guided via a permanently cleaning magnet separator and the ferrous material is removed. After that the product is weighed by a high-capacity receiving scale. Using a pneumatic conveying unit the coffee is then conveyed to two separators. Using downstream single rotary distributors, the product reaches the pre-selected silo
Neuhaus Neotec in Germany reports a high level of demand currently for in-plant materials handling equipment. The company’s Project Manager, Wilhelm Mittelstädt, told that it had recently secured a contract for a large plant at the Middle East where coffee pod/pads will be produced
Demand for in-plant handling machinery is running at a high level
cells by force of gravity. In order to avoid overfilling of silo cells, these are equipped with capacitive full-level indicators. Likewise for empty-level indication capacitive indicators are installed. Removal is effected via pneumatically operated dosing slides, working in coarse and fine flow, to a blending scale for generation of a BBR mixture. After weighing the coffee is conveyed via locks and a pneumatic conveying unit to the roasting machine. To remove dust from the machinery a central aspiration unit with a filter especially designed for green coffee dust is provided. The residual dust content of the discharged clean air is within the values required by the authorities (< 20 mg/m³ discharged air).
The roasting machine is a batch roaster, type RFB 300, with a maximum batch size of 350kg. The accumulated chaff from the roasting plant is conveyed via aspiration to the chaff disposal. After completion of the roasting process the roasted coffee is weighed in the roaster post bin, designed as shrinkage scale.
After determination of the roasting losses, the product reaches the dry destoner via a bucket elevator and is
subsequently conveyed via a pneumatic conveying unit, separator and rotary distributor, which provides the requested distribution into the six roasted coffee cells. The roasted coffee silo consists of 12 silo cells, each with a capacity of 5.0 tonnes. In order to avoid overfilling the silo cells, these are equipped with capacitive full-level indicators. For empty- level indication capacitive indicators are also provided. Removal is effected via pneumatically actuated slides, working on a mixer blending scale for the generation of BAR mixtures.
After weighing, the coffee is conveyed via a lock and a pneumatic conveying unit to the grinder surge bin. After grinding the product is conveyed to the extraction system. Control of the complete plant is effected via a PC-based process and management system as well as a PLC (a Siemens S7) and the required control cabinets and I/O panels. Process visualization is also part of the control system, and all processes are permanently displayed and constantly updated. A printer is provided for logging purposes, and for online support a remote maintenance module is installed. C&CI
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