This bulk-bag discharger has a hopper-shuttle system
Flexicon
The new Bulk-Out Bulk Bag Discharging Station (photo) prevents cross-contamination during material changeovers, while eliminating down-time associated with cleaning of hoppers. Beneficial for applications involving food allergens, pigments, flavorings and other contamination-sensitive materials, the discharger features a shuttle system that allows a hopper that has been used to be exchanged for a clean, dry hopper in less than one minute. Each hopper is equipped with a stainless-steel rotary valve that meters material into process equipment positioned below the mezzanine. Once empty, a hopper can be rolled within two C-channels to either side of the central filling position for sanitizing offline. Integral support rails on the rotary valve allow the rotor assembly to separate from the valve body for cleaning of all material-contact surfaces without the use of tools. The discharger portion of the dust-tight system employs a Spout-Lock clamp ring that secures the clean side of the bag spout against the clean side of the discharger. A Tele-Tube telescoping tube promotes material flow through the bag spout by maintaining constant downward tension on the clamp ring as the bag empties and elongates. Additional flow promotion is afforded by two Flow-Flexer pneumatically actuated devices, one of which employs a pair of rams that presses opposing sides of the bag in increasing strokes as the bag decreases in width, and another that uses specially contoured plates that increasingly raise opposing bottom sides of the bag into a steep V shape as the bag lightens, promoting complete discharge. Positioned above the clamp ring is a Power-Cincher pneumatically actuated flow-control valve that cinches the spout concentrically, allowing re-cinching of partially empty bags. Construction is of carbon steel with durable industrial finish, with all material contact surfaces of stainless steel. Booth 1005 — Flexicon Corp., Bethlehem, Pa.