Cereals success for bucket elevator system

Humbert and Pol have designed and installed a gentle bucket elevator system and discharge station to handle fragile cereals for the Saarbrucken factory of Nordgetreide in Germany

Robin Engineering Services, the UK and Ireland representative of Humbert and Pol, report that their principle, the European market leader in the design and manufacture of pivoting bucket elevators, has recently completed a major installation, comprising more than twenty conveying systems to handle breakfast cereals at the Saarbrucken factory of Nordgetreide.

This installation represents a significant expansion for the German manufacturer, which, when in full operation, will handle cereal product of all types, enough to fill more than 250,000 boxes per day on a twenty four hour operation, seven days a week.

The new facility incorporates the latest state-of-the art technology for the production and packing of breakfast cereals, permitting not only the maximising of efficiency in the production of traditional style products, but also the development and manufacture of new and innovative cereals.

These will include flaked, directly expanded and puffed products, the demands for which are ever increasing in today's healthy eating climate.

The basic technology of the Humbert and Pol elevator range had already proved itself highly successful at the Falkenhagen Plant of Nordgetreide, near Berlin, making it an obvious choice for the new installation.

However, important design features of the range served to underline the Humbert and Pol elevator as the ideal machine to transport delicate materials, such as breakfast cereals in a product-friendly manner.

For example, all Humbert and Pol machines are designed to provide minimum maintenance, and contamination free operation.

Within the machine, internal design features are incorporated to eliminate product spillage, the buckets remaining upright and overlapping at all times, except when discharging and the slow speed of transfer ensures zero product degradation when the product is in the bucket.

A simple design of chain is used to carry the buckets around the machine which effectively eliminates the need for lubrication and prolongs operational life.

Moreover, if required, a fully automatic integral bucket wash and dry system can be included to avoid cross contamination of products at the end of a manufacturing cycle.

Nevertheless, when the client expressed his anxiety over the fragile nature of the breakfast cereals and potential damage in transit, the Humbert and Pol engineers once again demonstrated their inventive talents to develop a new and even safer method of product discharge for the elevators.

The initial concept for the plant had been to discharge the cereals into bulk containers, but the length of the drop had given cause for concern over the damage which the product might suffer.

To overcome this, Humbert and Pol created a new style discharge station which actually placed the tipping station inside the container.

The container itself, which is located on a specially designed hydraulic lifter, then presents it to the tipping station, reducing the free-fall distance to a minimum and product damage to zero.

The systems which have been installed have varying ranges of capacity from 15 to 35m3/hr and include not only the pivoting bucket elevators, on which Humbert and Pol have built their enviable reputation, but also container handling and filling units and classical easy-clean belt conveyors, emphasising the depth of expertise in the field of materials handling which has made this company number one in its field.

In addition to the installation at Nordgetreide, Humbert and Pol have also supplied bucket elevators to handle such widely differing products as jelly sweets, chemical powders, breadcrumbs and a wide variety of food products in granular and powder form.

Bucket elevators demonstrating this depth and range of experience will be on display on the Humbert and Pol stand (Hall 2 Stand A09) at the forthcoming Interpack exhibition in Dusseldorf.

Full information is available to UK and Ireland companies through Robin Engineering Services, who are happy to advise on all aspects of materials handling problems.

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