MechChem Africa May-June 2020

A new sanitary bulk bag filling system from Flexicon features dual SWING-DOWN™ fillers fed by high capacity weigh hoppers, achieving fill rates of up to 40 bulk bags per hour. Ultra-high capacity bulk bag filling system

T he patented filler design simultane - ously lowers andpivots eachfill head into a vertically-oriented position that places the inflatable spout connection collar, inflator button, and four bag loop latches within reach of an operator standing on the plant floor. This significantly increases the safety and speed of connecting bulk bags, as the operator can connect each bag loop and the bag spout without having to stand on a ladder or reach over equipment to secure the bag. The machine’s bagging rates are further increased by drastically reducing the time needed to loadmaterial into thebag.Whereas conventional fillers are typically mounted on load cells, allowing a PLC to open and close a

valveor start and stopa conveyor to slowlyfill the bag by weight, the new system employs dual gain-in-weight hoppers positionedabove the bulk bag fillers. This allows pre-weighed material to descend into the bag at extremely high rates, and saves additional time by refill - ing theweighhopperwhile the full bag isbeing removed and an empty bag being connected. Once the inflator button is pressedand the collar secures thebag spout, fillingoperations are automatic. The fill head raises and returns to horizontal orientation; a dedicated blower fills the bagwith airwhich removes creases in thebag, allowing thematerial tofill corners to create a stable bag; the surge hopper’s roller gate valve opens; pre-weighed material fills thebag;thevalvecloses;theinletsealdeflates and the bag loop latches release, allowing a forklift to remove the filled, palletized bag. Ports on each filler are vented to a dust collection system to prevent displaced air anddust fromescaping into theplant environ- ment.While abag is beingfilledand then fork - lifted on one side, an operator can connect an empty bag on the opposite side, maximising output. Widened base frames allow filling of portable totes in addition to bulk bags. The all-stainless-steel system is finished to sanitary standards and equipped with a corrosion-resistant, water-tight and dust- tight controls enclosure, allowingwash-down. The company also manufactures bulk bag dischargers, bulk bag conditioners, drum fill - ers, drum/box/container tippers, bag dump stations, flexible screw conveyors, tubular cable conveyors, pneumatic conveying sys- tems, weigh batching and blending systems, and engineered plant-wide bulk handling systems with automated controls. With Flexicon’s new TIP-TITE ® Drum Tipper, hazardous bulkmaterial is transferred from small and large drums into downstream processing equipment or storage vessels

Flexicon TIP-TITE ® Tipper discharges hazardous bulk materials from small and large drums automatically and dust-free, maximising worker safety. automatically and dust-free, maximising worker safety. The unit accommodates drums up to200 ℓ measuring up to 880 mm in height, with an outside diameter up to 610mmandweighing up to325kg. Adischarge cone adapter allows dumpingof smaller drumsmeasuring400mm in height and 300 mm in diameter. The tipper ismounted on an elevated base frame to accommodate an integral powered roller conveyor matched to the elevation of plant roller conveyors. It features dual hydraulic cylinders that work in tandemto raiseandseat thecontainer rim against the discharge cone, and then tip the container to an angle of 45, 60 or 90 de- grees with a motion-dampening feature. At full rotation, the discharge cone seals against the inlet of the receiving vessel, creating a dust-tightconnectionandallowingcontrolled, dust-free discharge through a pneumatically- actuated slide gate valve. Anoptional pneumatically-actuatedvibra- tor on the discharge cone promotes complete evacuation of non-free-flowing materials. Stainless steel material contact surfaces and galvanised carbon steel framework resist corrosive materials. q

New sanitary bulk bag filling system from Flexicon features dual SWING-DOWN™ fillers with high capacity surge hoppers for rapid, safe and dust-free filling of bulk bags.

14 ¦ MechChem Africa • May-June 2020

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