Flexicon Europe, Whitstable, UK, has introduced a specially adapted BULK-OUT® bulk bag discharge station which has been designed to prevent cross-contamination during material changeovers, while eliminating down-time associated with cleaning of hoppers. Especially suitable for applications involving food allergens, pigments, flavourings and other contamination-sensitive materials, the unit 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 cleansing 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, and to close securely in seconds without the use of tools. According to the company, the hopper shuttle system can more than double productivity by allowing one hopper to be filled and discharged, while the other hopper and metering valve are cleaned. www.flexicon.co.uk 

 

 

The new BULK-OUT bulk bag discharger, showing the twin hopper arrangement