PIAB Ltd, the Loughborough, UK, subsidiary of the Swedish parent manufacturer, has supplied a piFLOW®f vacuum conveyor unit to All-Fill International. It proved to be the perfect match for a project being undertaken by design engineers at the Bedfordshire-based supplier of powder filling lines. What All-Fill required was a simple yet reliable conveyor to transfer a fine chemical powder to a twin head batch weighing system. 

 

The PIAB proposal hinged on a single piFLOWf conveyor that engineers at All-Fill were able to link to a simple gravity feed trouser leg type chute that split the product through the two legs. This arrangement effectively avoided the need for either a screw or vacuum conveyor for each filling head.

 

Installing the conveyor into the line proved a lot easier than originally thought, which saved considerable time and with its elevated installation, maintenance and cleaning is much easier than the alternative which would have been a floor-level bulk screw feed and hopper installation. Finally, with expected compressed air consumption reduced by around 30% thanks to the use of a single vacuum conveyor, cost of ownership is significantly lower.

 

The piFLOWf conveyor is well suited for transfer of very fine powders, as it not only meets the necessary FDA and European requirements but is also ATEX certified. www.piab.com 

 

 

The All-Fill installation incorporating the PIAB conveyor