Product category:
Powder and Solids Handling
News Release from: Robin Engineering Services | Subject: Bucket elevators
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 20 April 2005
Careful handling of fragile bulk food
products
Product degradation or spillage, particularly when moving fragile or dusty products around within the factory, has always been an area to cause concern: Robin provides an answer for bucket elevators
Product degradation or spillage, particularly when moving fragile or dusty products around within the factory, has always been an area to cause concern The legend of the company which produced the tastiest, best-ever breakfast cereal flake, only to have it reduced to dust by poorly selected product handling systems is only too well-known
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 16 Mar 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Similarly, the consequences of a poorly designed product transfer or discharge station handling fine powders are often clearly demonstrated by an agglomeration of the powder spilled around the problem spot.
Discharge from bucket elevators into storage or a bin for further process has always been an area which is especially susceptible to this danger, due to the length of 'fall' to which the product is subjected.
Robin Engineering Services, based in North Staffordshire, are now offering a unique and innovative solution to this problem, capitalising on a development designed by their associates, Humbert and Pol, for a major breakfast cereal manufacturer in Germany.
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Humbert and Pol, European market leaders in bucket elevator technology, were required to produce a fully integrated system to handle a range of breakfast cereals from point of production into and out of storage and thence to packaging with zero product degradation.
Included in this system were a series of transfer points, where product was to be discharged from bucket elevators into one metre cube capacity transfer containers.
A standard system design would mean a 'fall' for the product of a minimum of one metre and degradation a distinct possibility.
To eliminate this danger, the elevator discharge section was redesigned to allow bucket discharge to actually be effected inside the container, reducing the product fall to less than 100 mm.
To maintain this 'fall' as a constant, the container was positioned on a hydraulic lifting device which elevates the container to the appropriate position when empty and then, as the container falls, lowers the container gradually until it is full.
After a lengthy series of tests, to synchronise bucket discharge speeds and container lowering, this unique system was seen to demonstrate that zero product degradation could be achieved, even when handling a very fragile product, such as breakfast cereal, and four units were installed as part of the overall system.
Further tests have demonstrated that this innovative approach to an old problem can also be successful with such products as potato crisps, and other fried snack foods, peanuts, where the aim is to provide whole nuts for packing, soft candies and sugar coated dragees, where a long fall might lead to the coating being chipped.
Similarly, it has proved that fine, powdery products, such as flour, or even cement, which aerate easily and are well known for their free-flowing qualities, can be handled with confidence and without spillage in this system.
This unique controlled discharge system is now available from Robin Engineering, materials handling specialists, who supply not only bucket elevator units, but also offer a wide range of mechanical conveying equipment to all industries.
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