Eye on Equipment in Powder & Bulk Material Handling

Pressure dense-phase conveyor

The pressure dense-phase conveying systems from Nu-Con Equipment are engineered to convey fragile powders and agglomerated materials like infant formulas, drink mixes, creamers and food additives. Nu-Con says the systems will convey a large volume of material very gently over long distances and to multiple destinations. The systems can also be used to unload bulk materials from FIBC bags, bulk bins, silos, dryers and blenders and can be used for feeding secondary processing or packaging equipment.

Nu-Con Equipment; 877-939-0510; www.nucon.com

Custom airlocks

Airlanco's airlocks are available in customized fabricated and machined models for pneumatic systems, gravity feeds and volumetric discharge devices. The units have cast housings for added durability and are designed for higher pressures as well as difficult and abrasive materials. Rotor to housing fit is a tight 4 to 6-thousandths of an inch. Both models offer carbon and stainless steel rotor and housing options.

Airlanco; 800-500-9777; www.airlanco.com

Dual container dumper & feeder

The dual container dumper with vibratory feeder from Material Transfer is designed to accept and discharge one or two containers loaded with a pallet jack at floor level. Custom hoppers feature a manually adjustable slide gate for product discharge control and a variable speed feeder control to adjust feed rates. Constructed of 304-2b stainless steel, the unit includes inflatable seals and UHMW debris guards to prevent contaminants from entering product flow.

Material Transfer; 800-836-7068; www.materialtransfer.com

Split-frame unloader

The split-frame unloader from Flexicon allows discharging of bulk bags and rigid totes from mezzanines and other low headroom areas. The upper frame can be forklifted onto the plant floor, loaded with a bulk bag, and then forklifted back onto the subframe within several inches of the ceiling. For discharging from bulk bags, the subframe is equipped with a Power-Cincher flow control valve that cinches the bag spout concentrically on a horizontal axis for easy tie-offs and vertically in a zigzag pattern to prevent leakage of fine powders.

Flexicon; 888-353-9426; www.flexicon.com

Sanitary static mixers

Chemineer's Kenics sanitary static mixers feature stainless steel construction, sanitary clamp-style fittings and clean-in-place models for processing applications such as blending, dispersion and heating/cooling. The patented static helical mixing elements produce mixing uniformity with minimum pressure drop. Chemineer says in-line mixing is achieved with no moving parts, no maintenance and no external power requirements.

Chemineer; 800-643-0641; www.chemineer.com

High-capacity conveyors

Cyclonaire engineered its DPG-B series gravity-loaded, bottom-discharge, dense-phase conveyors to move powdered, granular or pelletized friable and abrasive materials. The company says its conveyors are rated up to 100+ TPH and provide high material-to-air ratios and extremely low line velocities, which result in smaller line sizes, lower air consumption, reduced dust collection and lower operating costs.

Cyclonaire Corp.; 800-445-0730; www.cyclonaire.com

Bulk bag unloaders

With a variety of feed devices and weight control options, Vibra Screw bulk bag unloaders offer a bag support hopper for safe seating and sealing of the bag, standard two-point dust collection, no-spill collection hopper and a vibration discharge system for difficult to handle materials. Complete systems with integrated feeders and conveyors are also available to control rate and elevate material to a process. Vibra Screw says the unit's rugged load cells and easy-to-use electronics enable the operator to control inventory, monitor bag contents and accurately batch weigh preset quantities of material.

Vibra Screw; 973-256-7410; info@vibrascrew.com

Gear coupling

Lovejoy says its Lovejoy/Sier-Bath FARR gear coupling is designed specifically for rugged requirements and is alignment-free, allowing the gear drive to be mounted directly to the conveyor and eliminating the need for a conventional, low-speed shaft coupling. The bolt-on design of the drive allows for fast installations requiring no alignment. Lovejoy says the equipment helps improve reliability and reduce costs for heavy-duty conveyor systems that move high volumes of bulk food processing materials.

Lovejoy; 630-852-0500; info@lovejoy-inc.com