Mobile big bag filling station for zirconium under dryer

Economical industrial solution for the packing of 1-ton big bags for the containment of dust fumes

Material: Zirconium

Project objective: Our client, located in South New Jersey, USA, is a materials technology business specializing in the design, manufacture and supply of high-performance chemical and metallic materials to customers in diversified markets; aerospace, defense automotive and medical.

The current zirconium production line had an issue with discharging the contents from the dryer station into a big bag. A forklift operator would hand the big bag handles on the forks and lift it up to meet the discharge outlet of the dryer. A rubber boot and clamp were used to attach the FIBC and empty the contents. The result was an unsafe dust cloud and material spillage all over the production floor. The client needed an economical means to safely connect and secure a big bag filling station to the bottom of the dryer. The fill rate was low, only requiring 2 big bags per hour.

The industrial solution: Our sales team quickly found an economical solution with our Flowmatic® 02 big bag filling station model. It provides a basic structure that can accommodate big bags of various sizes and provide a dust tight connection to the discharge spout. Along with the big bag filler, a mobile big bag compactor was provided to help remove the empty big bags and contain them to prevent residual spillage.

The Industrial Equipment:

1. Ergonomic big bag filling - FlowMatic®02
2. Big bag screw compactor - CBB125

Since the primary objective of the industrial project was to contain dust and prevent material spills, the client needed a simple and cost-effective solution for filling big bags. Therefore, our simple big bag loading solution was designed to accommodate several process advantages.

First, a quick connection via flexible fitting is installed at the discharge spout of the industrial dryer to our big bag filling inlet stub. Second, the big bag feed spout is secured to the filling head via an inflatable seal. Third, the whole unit is on heavy-duty casters for moving the whole station in and out of place as needed.
Other advantages include load cells for automatic shut off of material flow once the big bag has reached its max weight. This filling method is referred to as gravimetric, or, gain in weight. Also included is manually adjustable handle widths to accommodate various big bag sizes, and a pneumatic tension cylinder to optimally shape the big bag during filling. The operation cycle is as follows:

1. The operator wheels the big bag under the industrial dryer
2. The connection is made to the dryer and the big bag station via the flexible fitting and connection stubs.
3. The empty big bag is placed on the station and the inlet spout is secured to the filling head.
4. The inflation of the connection seal takes place via a compressed air supply.
5. The pneumatic cylinder raises the big bag off its platform.
6. The control panel opens the butterfly valve to release the material.
7. The pneumatic cylinder slowly lowers the big bag according to the fill weight to shape the bottom of the FIBC. 
8. Load cells reach the target weight and tell the panel to shut off material flow.
9. The big bag connection seal deflates and the operator ties the spout shut.
10. The forklift operator removes the big bag by its four handles.

The client required a safer and more contained way of disposing of the big bags once emptied. The current procedure was to throw the used big bags in a mobile trash bin where residual dust would spill onto the floor and get into the work environment.

The solution was to use the Palamatic Process big bag compactor. The equipment consists of a small holding bin with a large auger conveyor at the bottom. As big bags are placed in the bin the auger spins and grabs the used big bag. It is pushed into a compaction tube that is fitted with a polyethylene plastic sleeve. The plastic sleeve is held onto the tube by elastomer compression rings. As more big bags are fed into the chamber, they compact against each other and push the sleeve outwards. Once the sleeve has grown past the tube by 6 or 7 feet, the operator twists the sleeve, zip ties it twice and cuts in the middle of the zip ties. This way the old sleeve is fully contained and can be discarded and the next sleeve is ready to go. The operator continues to feed the bgi bags into the compaction chamber.

Palamatic Process has been supplying the powder and bulk solids industry with big bag handling equipment since 1992. In order to determine what solution is best for your project, contact one of our sales engineers. Together, our team of experts can provide the right kind of powder filling equipment that will fulfil your every production goal.
Contact one of our experts today for assistance with needed material handling solutions and to request a quote.