Requirement
- The client needed to empty bulk bags containing a special gluten-free flour blend, moving the contents without altering the blend during movement.
- The powdered product was subject to control by sifting and was conveyed over two processors placed one on each side of the dough-mixing area.
- The quantities conveyed had to be settable from a minimum of 5 kilograms to a maximum of 30 kg/batch, and the system had to be subject to supervision via remote and satisfy the requisites of industry 4.0.
Solution
After visiting and inspecting the plant carefully and evaluating various possible solutions, the GIMAT experts opted for the one that most closely met the client's technical and economic parameters.
Specifically, the choice fell on a solution suitable for areas classified Atex 21-22 and conforming with directive 1935/2004 for contact with food products, as well as with the machine directive 2006/42/CE, consisting of:
- 1 Supporting structure for emptying bulk bags with vibrating hopper to ensure secure emptying and dust seal of the bulk bag.
- 1 Compact vibrating screen, specifically designed and integrated in the structure, with the function of sifting the product to remove any foreign bodies that might be contained in the bulk bag.
- 1 Agitator with the function of facilitating the descent of products (starches) that tend not to slide easily within the underlying conveyor system.
- 1 Multiple conveyor system with flexible screws that are easy to clean and can convey the powder blend over lengthy sections even incorporating bends without allowing the mixture to separate and ensuring that its characteristics remain unchanged. The conveyor system is conceived as divided into three lines: an elevated line of about 8 meters and two horizontal lines, one for each dough-mixing installation, of which one is about 15 meters long and the other about 25 meters long.
- 2 weighing hoppers with about 100 liters capacity to receive the mixture with weight control from the respective conveyor lines. The conveyor system with flexible screws, controlled by an inverter, lends itself particularly well to ensuring accurate batching in the hoppers. This means that when the dough-mixing areas call for the quantities necessary for the underlying blenders they are discharged vertically and almost instantaneously as they have been prepared already and batched during the preceding blending time.
- A control cabinet with Siemens S7 1200 plc and general HMI panel on the front, as well as 2 junction boxes with relative HMI for control of individual batches, independent of the two dough-blending lines, given also the need to control the system from two separate areas. All the panels and the system as a whole have been networked with access by remote control and exchanges of data with the company’s digital system, including alarm history and batch history, as well as recipes used.
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