Manual handling solution improves hygiene for
E The solution
Using the vacuum lifter, an operator moves the sacks from pallets onto the roller conveyor,
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stablished in 1962, Scottish confectionery manufacturer, Hannah’s Sweets produces a range of sweets including its Jazzles range of chocolate discs covered in coloured candy pieces.
Each week the company processes between 50 and 60 tonnes of sugar, milk powder, whey which arrive at the factory in 25 kg bags, which equates to around 300 bags per day needing to be emptied at the rate of 1,675 kg/hr. To reduce manual bag handling and dust, and prevent pallets from entering the hygienic mixing room, the company installed a bag dump station and pneumatic conveying system, integrated with an outsourced roller conveyor and vacuum sack lifter, all provided as a turnkey solution by Flexicon.
This delivery system needed to be able to handle material with bulk densities from 208 kg/m3 for milk powder to 705 kg/ m3 for granulated sugar.
Conveyor Solutions
Sacks of dry ingredients are delivered via roller conveyor to the bag dump station that draws airborne dust away from the operator. Manually dumped ingredients and any accumulated dust are pneumatically conveyed in sequence to three filter receivers, each feeding a different mixing tank where dry ingredients are blended with vegetable fats.
Hannah’s Sweets
Find out how Hannah’s Sweets has reduced manual handling and dust with a turnkey bag dump station and pneumatic conveyor.
which transports them through a wall into the mixing room where the bag dump station is located. Equipped with a high velocity vacuum fan, the unit draws airborne dust generated by the manual dumping process away from the operator onto two cartridge is dislodged on a timed cycle by alternating blasts of air from nozzles located within each Dislodged dust falls into the unit’s 140 l capacity hopper, helping to eliminating ingredient waste. The ingredients are then fed through a pickup adapter mounted below the base of the hopper, into a pneumatic conveying system, also supplied by Flexicon. Powered by a 7.5 kW (10 hp) blower, this transports ingredients through a 12 m long, 75 mm diameter line with three pneumatically actuated diverter valves that sequentially feed three 450 mm diameter tank. Once separated from the airstream, receiver’s rotary valve into a 28 l surge hopper that discharges into a mixing tank, where dry ingredients are blended with vegetable fats. The resulting liquid chocolate compound is
Kennedy’s Confection August/September 2024
formed into various shapes using automatic moulding equipment.
The system is controlled by a programmable logic controller (PLC) that opens and closes each diverter valve, starts and stops each rotary valve as signals are received from each hopper’s high-level sensors, and stops the conveying system’s blower when a signal is received from the bag dump station’s low-level sensor. The weight of 2 to 3 tonnes of liquid chocolate. The enclosed nature of the conveying solution precludes contamination of both the product and plant environment, while the pneumatic blower evacuates the conveying line. during material changeovers, and ensures all batch ingredients reach the mixing tanks, eliminating waste. “We have a clean-as-you-go policy but the new delivery system requires only a wipe down by the operators each day,” says Tom Munro, Hannah’s Managing Director. Since installation, the turnkey system from Flexicon has been reliable, delivering consistent performance. “The lines have been running a year and we haven’t had to do any
KennedysConfection.com
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