BEUMER Group, Beckum, Germany, recently introduced the latest 2400 and 3000 series of its autopac system which enables users to automatically load bagged bulk materials like cement on trucks and simultaneously palletise them - quickly and with the desired packing pattern. The BEUMER autopac consumes very little energy, is reliable even in dusty environments and can be easily operated and serviced. The machine is suitable for handling paper, HDPE and PP valve bags.

The truck with the empty loading space is driven into position beneath the BEUMER autopac. To load and palletise the cement bags, the operator enters the number of bags, the packing pattern and the desired number of rows and layers into the BEUMER Human Machine Interface (HMI). Laser positioning aids are located to the left and right of the autopac. They project the outer contours of the machine with a clearly visible red beam on the loading space, helping the operator to position the loading head on the truck.

From its starting position, the autopac now starts the automatic loading process, bag by bag, directly from the filling machine via belt conveyors on to the truck. "With our BEUMER autopac, we have a system in our product range that can load trucks automatically," said Markus Peitzmeier, senior sales manager at BEUMER Group. "And it does so extremely reliably". The use of an electronic bag counting system makes sure that the truck is neither underloaded nor overloaded. Any need for manual corrections is completely eliminated. "The program control recalculates the height setting for each layer," Peitzmeier explained. In order to attain the highest possible degree of stability for the whole load on the truck, and in order to optimally utilise the loading space, two mirror-inverted layers are palletised next to one another. Two belt conveyors positioned one above the other flatten the bags before the loading process and thus remove air from them. After being positioned, the bags are also pressed by the loading head, which makes the stack more compact and more stable. Meanwhile, the next layer is already being prepared. The bag feeding lines can be adapted to the customer's installation conditions. Corresponding technical solutions are available for variable conveyor lines.

"The BEUMER autopac is ideally suited for use in emerging countries, where the transhipment of bagged bulk goods is increasing. In these countries, labour costs are rising, and it is becoming more and more difficult to find appropriate personnel for this kind of work," said Peitzmeier. Manual truck loading is exhausting and usually requires two people who alternate with their colleagues for each loading process due to the heavy physical work involved. Furthermore, there is the high level of dust formation, which negatively affects the employees' health. During the manual loading process, the loading performance as well as the quality of the bag stacks often fluctuates. "These problems are eliminated with our BEUMER autopac," says Peitzmeier. One employee is able to operate more than one machine." This enables owners to optimise processes, achieve high loading capacities and work very efficiently from bagging up to loading.

Depending on the bag dimensions and their length and width ratio, the user has flexibility in layer formation. Patterns of ten, twelve and twenty bags per layer are possible. The very low positioning height of the loading head contributes to the gentle handling of the bags, as they are supported during the loading process and not lifted or possibly deformed, as is the case with vacuum suction modules.

The system provider uses the specially developed BEUMER Group HMI for operating the BEUMER autopac. This is a touch panel with optimised user interface and graphic navigation. This operator panel provides users with an easily understandable and intuitive interaction concept, enabling them to define efficient working sequences.

When loading 3000 bags per hour, each weighing 50kg, power consumption is held below 0.1kWh/ton. The BEUMER autopac is both energy-efficient and extremely robust, as demonstrated by the many systems that have been in daily use for decades. "The machine has been designed for heavy-duty operation to resist extreme ambient conditions like heat, high air humidity, dust formation and the three-shift operation in packing plants", said Peitzmeier. In addition, the owner profits from the smaller footprint compared to other loading systems. With its compact design, the BEUMER system can be quickly and easily maintained, is reliable and safe to operate. "This is supported by the fact that we have only integrated electromechanical components," explained Peitzmeier. "This eliminates the need for hydraulic or pneumatic components, which wear out fast or require expensive compressed air." www.beumergroup.com
 

The operator positions the BEUMER autopac on the loading space of the truck….
 

….. and the autopac loads the truck fully automatically

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