Big bag and bag emptying station for the pharmaceutical industry

A pharmaceutical group asked ISERCO to supply a big bag emptying station with an integrated bag emptying hopper for one of their factories.

The aim is to empty big bags and bags on the same station.

The big bag and bag emptying station consists of :

• A hydraulic massage at the top of the structure. This system optimises the flow of products that are difficult to extract. It consists of large hydraulic cylinders at the bottom of the Big Bag. This system breaks the arching and breaks the mass retention. Each cylinder is driven by a piston, providing the force needed to break up the highly agglomerated materials. This hydraulic massage is controlled by a button box and powered by a hydraulic unit.

• A 316L stainless steel circular vibrating hopper. This vibrating unit is isolated from its supporting structure by 4 silent blocks. Driven by a vibrating motor, it empties products stored in big bags that have settled during transport and/or have little natural flow.

• An unloading box that allows the Big Bag to be opened in a confined area. This unloading box is also used to link the big bag emptying and unloading sections. It is connected to the bag emptying hopper to facilitate fluid product transfer.

• An emptying bag hopper with sieve. This is fitted with a suction nozzle at the top to limit the risk of explosion when emptying. This bag emptying hopper is fitted with: locking clamps, stainless steel gas cylinders to keep the door open and avoid the risk of sudden closure, a safety sensor and a support shelf to place the sack on before emptying. Below this hopper is a square conversion adapter and a connecting flange to connect this section to the lump breaker.

• A hygienic double-rotor stainless steel lump break for crushing products that tend to form lumps. The rapid rotation of 2 special knives through a fixed grid crushes these blocks. Two rotors mean high throughputs.

• An outlet below the lump breaker for connection to a system for transferring the product to the customer’s process.

The vibrating hopper and lump breaker are controlled by a control panel.

The design is Atex 20/21, with peripheral speeds and mass braiding limited to avoid the risk of explosion.

 

Finally, the station was tested at our factory. As the customer was unable to travel, we photographed and filmed these tests. Once the tests were validated, the station was ready for shipment.