A Kaolin producer in southern Georgia was interested in a valve bag filling machine capable of filling 50 lb and 55 lb (25 KG) bags of Kaolin Clay at a rate of 12-16 bags per minute. The application presented definite challenges in that the material was easily aerate-able.
An Innovative Valve Bag Filling System
The bagging system CBE designed included:
- Bulk bag unloading hopper
- Incline conveyor
- Surge hopper
- Model 830 impeller packer
- Receiving conveyor
- Bag flattener
- Palletizing station
A ground-level bulk bag unloading hopper discharged into an incline screw conveyor. The screw conveyor inclined the material to a surge hopper above a Model 830 Paddle Flow Impeller Packer which packed out the material at a rate of 6-8 bags per minute (depending on product grade).
Filled bags were automatically discharged onto a specially designed receiving conveyor and transferred on an incline through a bag flattener that conditioned each bag before delivering it to a palletizing station at the end of the packaging line. The system required two operators. One to place empty bags on the filling machine and a second to palletize the filled bags at the end of the line.
Each filling sequence was initiated automatically by a sensor at the spout of the filling machine when the operator spouted a bag on the machine. No button push was required. The bag would then fill to weight automatically to a pre-determined weight selected by the operator.
Valve Bag Filling Machine with Accurate Weighing
The valve bag filling machine had an integrated weighing scale, which worked in combination with a single PLC-based control package. The weighing controls were specially designed for valve bag filling applications and featured a gain-in-weight totaling display. The controls were designed with the ability to communicate weight data to a printer or central management control system.
Bag Clamp System for Higher Productivity
A pneumatic bag clamp sped up the placement and removal of the bags by eliminating the need for the operator to clamp and unclamp each bag from the filling spout at the beginning and end of each bag fill.
The flow of material was automatically started and stopped by a multi-position pinch valve (called a pinch tube cutoff). The system controls signaled the pinch valve to reduce flow at a pre-programmed weight. The pinch valve would actuate to reduce product flow before closing at the end of each weigh cycle. This prevented overfilling of the product.
The system provided a high level of productivity and changeover to different product grades was effortless with the integrated digital weighing scale by which an operator could key in target weight in a couple of keystrokes.
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