Robert McBride have purchased and installed three Flexicon Corporation BFC series bulk bag unloading systems. In addition to containing dust and spillage and allowing partially empty bags to be retied easily, the system offers Robert McBride higher manufacturing flexibility with three identical dischargers. Three layers of different formulae can be simultaneously pressed into single, double, or triple-layer tablets.
The BFC system features bag spout interface that creates a dust-tight seal and promotes material flow and total evacuation of the bag. It also allows for easy retying of partially filled bags and can collapse empty bags, free of spillage and dust.
The bag-to-conveyor interface comprises two sections. The uppermost section contains a manual Spout-Lock clamp ring positioned atop a pneumatically actuated Tele-Tube telescoping tube. The clamp ring is fully accessible and manually operated using quick-release handles for safe and dust-tight connections between the bag spout and hopper.
The telescoping tube raises the clamp ring assembly that seals the clean side of the bag spout to the clean side of the telescoping tube, and then lowers until the bag spout is pulled taut. Once the spout is untied, the telescoping assembly exerts continual downward tension on the spout, elongating the bag as it empties. As a result, the spout is kept taut at all times, preventing excess spout material from bulging outwards to create dead pockets or falling inwards to create flow restrictions.
The material can be released to fall freely into the hopper rapidly and are dust free. The positive connection eliminates the need for flow control valves, which are required during retying of partially empty bags.
Flexicon Corporation Power-Cincher pneumatically actuated flow control valve contains a series of curved, articulated stainless steel rods that cinch the spout concentrically on a horizontal axis for easy tie offs and vertically in a tight zigzag pattern to prevent leakage of fine powders. With this new system, only one operator is required to tie off partially filled bags, increasing productivity efficiency.
The BFC system’s sealed design prevents dust throughout the entire discharging process and an enclosed dust hood added to the Robert McBride system acts as a failsafe if there is a system failure at the point of discharge or damage to a bag during transportation. The dust hood incorporates two dust extraction valves in each system. The valves align to a third party dust extraction unit. The BFC system is an alternative to the LEV system, which can extract product as well as dust if the bag is not properly seated. With the BFC system, the telescoping tube prevents the bag from being improperly aligned.
Robert McBride’s new BFC dischargers are also equipped with Flow-FlexerÔ bag activators that raise and lower opposite bottom edges of each bag at timed intervals, loosening compacted materials and promoting material flow into the bag discharge spout. As the bag lightens, the stroke of the bag activators increases, raising the bag into a steep "V" shape to eliminate dead spots and promote total evacuation of material with no manual intervention.
The system incorporates a cylindrical floor hopper with a low-level sensor. A low energy, Flexi-Finger pneumatic flow assister promotes the flow of powder through the feeder auger. The material is transferred by vacuum vertically to a mezzanine, passing first through a metal detection/discharging system, and then entering a receiving hopper above the tablet pressing line.
The system starts and stops on demand of the downstream packaging line. When the system stops transferring product, a line purge valve ensures that all materials in flight prior to shut down is delivered, and that the line remains clear and ready for the next product cycle.