To compensate for the capacity/weight of the bag, innovative bag tensioning supports stretch it to ensure total discharge. Each discharger has a dust tight material collection hopper with an integral locking access door and viewing port. The door is amply sized to enable the operator to untie/re-tie the bag spout and liner.
In order to produce other products in the same mixer, Jacob’s needed a way to by-pass the storage silo and load alternative flours directly into the mixer. To achieve this, Jacob’s decided to install a second Spiroflow Flexible Screw Conveyor (FSC) directly adjacent to the existing Type 6 Spiroflow Bulk Bag Discharger. Start-up was in June 2009.
The second FSC directly feeds bags of brown flour through an existing bag dump hopper into the mixer that produces the base of Jacob’s world famous Club brand sandwich-layered cookies, Gold brand cookies and some cookies for company’s Cheese brand label.
Operating 14 hours a day, seven days a week, the mixer now produces a new batch of cookie dough every 30 minutes. That’s a challenge for the two Spiroflow FSC’s since they have to continuously keep the mixer fed.
The newly installed Flexible Screw Conveyor (FSC) is 36 ft (11 m) long and is used to lift the brown flour 16 ft (5 m) at approximately a 45-degree angle. An agitator prevents any bridging of the coarse blown flour above the inlet of the FSC. A magnet is also supplied to prevent tramp metal from getting into the mixer. Both the conveyor and controls are designed to operate in a European CE ATEX Zone 22 Equipment Directorate for hazardous areas.
According to Spiroflow, the customer is extremely pleased with the new system in expanding their range of cookie production.
Nine different models of Flexible Screw Conveyors from Spiroflow are available with throughputs from 10 to 88,000 lbs/hr (4 to 40,000 kg/ hr) depending on the material being conveyed and the angle of operation.
The new FSC at Jacob’s Bakeries has a simplified direct electric motor-driven spiral screw that rotates the conveyor at high speeds. With few parts to wear, the ‘Spiroflow’ FSC is lower in cost since there are no unnecessary components resulting in a more sanitary modular design for greater flexibility.
Maintenance is simple since the only moving part is the spiral screw that rotates material within a sealed tube and moves it along by its revolutionary homogenizing conveying action.
With its sanitary design, the FSC meets most hygienic conveying needs since spiral screws that are available in ultra-high grade and heat-tempered stainless steel or heat-treated spring steel for longer life.
Three types of spiral screws are available: a standard round screw that handles most applications, a flat screw for certain light or aerated products and a beveled screw for conveying difficult materials such as iron oxide or products that smear such as chocolate.
Spiroflow is a worldwide supplier of a wide range of both standard and custom powder handling equipment, specializing in Mechanical and Pneumatic Conveyors, Bulk Bag Dischargers and Fillers, a range of 50-pound Bag Packing and Unloading equipment and Flexible Storage Silos. For more information, visit www.spiroflowsystems.com or email [email protected].
