The trend in modern bulk handling equipment and systems is total dust containment, not only to prevent contamination of plant and personnel, but also to prevent contamination of the bulk products being handled.
To this end, Flexicon equipment, which will be showcased on stand 506 at Auspack 2007, is available with dust-tight connections between upstream and downstream equipment.
Venting these sealed systems to dust collectors provides added safety by vacuuming air displaced by bulk material entering the system, and by ensuring that any leakage is drawn into the system, away from plant personnel.
In the case of bulk bag unloaders, venting to an integral dust collector also serves to collapse empty bulk bags dust-free, preventing the dust that occurs when empty bulk bags are flattened manually.
Showcased products at Auspack 2007:
Bulk bag unloaders:
Bulk bag unloaders are offered in a new split frame design that allows discharging of bulk bags and rigid totes from mezzanines and other low headroom areas.
Unlike fixed-frame unloaders that require sufficient headroom to clear the load-backrest of a forklift, split frame unloaders allow the upper frame to be forklifted onto the plant floor, loaded with a bulk bag, and then forklifted back onto the sub frame within several centimetres of the ceiling. Rigid bins are forklifted directly onto the sub frame.
Filling bulk bags:
Flexicon’s new swing-down bulk bag filler that lowers and pivots the fill head within an arm’s reach of an operator standing on the plant floor, allowing safe, rapid bag connections.
The innovation eliminates the need for operators to stand on roller conveyors and/or ladders to reach up, under the fill head and strain to make overhead bag connections.
Bulk bag conditioner:
The automated bulk bag conditioner that loosens bulk material that has solidified in bulk bags during storage and shipment.
The conditioner features hydraulic rams with contoured end plates that press opposite sides of the bag.
Programmable raising and rotating of the bag allows the user to select the heights at which the bag is conditioned as well as the number of 90 degree bag rotations.