Brian Vernet

Mixing Screw Conveyor for Polyethylene Powder & Additives

Application Notes & Case Studies /

The KWS mixing screw conveyor was designed as a single piece screw to span the length of over 28-feet without the use of an intermediate support/hanger bearing. The screw was mounted on oversized pipe to prevent excessive screw deflection. The screw flights were cut-flight with notches every 90-degrees to promote mixing and agitation as the materials were conveyed. At the tail end of the screw, double flighting was added to provide even discharge to the extruder. KWS utilized a drive pedestal to protect the gear reducer and motor from heat and shock loads. The gear reducer and motor are located away from the heat source and operate at ambient temperature. The KWS drive pedestal is a compact design that houses the motor, gear reducer, bearings, low-speed coupling, seals and shafts. All rotating parts are guarded with OSHA compliant guards.

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Rotary Mixer Keeps Hot-Melt Adhesives Cool

Application Notes & Case Studies /

The mixer, which has a useable batch capacity of 40 cu ft (1.13 m3), operates in a dedicated room that also houses a belt conveyor, bag breaking station, and screw conveyor. Here, an operator transfers 55 lb (25 kg) bags of ingredients from pallets to the belt conveyor, which terminates at a bag dump station into which material is dumped. An integral screw conveyor transfers the material into the inlet of the mixer while it is rotating. Once the last bag is added, the mixer continues running for 20 minutes. At the end of the cycle, the operator flips a switch, actuating an air cylinder that opens the mixer’s stationary outlet. With the vessel continuing to rotate, the 1,000 lb (454 kg) batch discharges through a collapsible chute into a mobile bin.

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CIP Sanitary Solid Core Screw Conveyor with Articulating Discharge Height for Various Food Powders

Application Notes & Case Studies /

Custom sanitary bag break station with integrated Clean-in-Place (CIP) screw conveyor provided by National Bulk Equipment. The screw conveyor’s bottom hinged covers provide access for cleaning inside the auger assembly without the need to disassemble or move the equipment to a clean room. In addition, the integrated manual hydraulic jack provides flexibility for discharging into vessels of various heights or maneuvering through height restrictions.

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Surge (Day) Bin for Plastic Pellets

Application Notes & Case Studies /

NBE’s complete line of Surge Bins are designed to provide economical in-plant storage of bulk raw materials. The Surge Bin allows the raw materials to be centrally located and distributed to several locations within the plant, saving conveying line from remotely located silos. NBE surge bins can be equipped with a wide variety of configurable options including access hatches with filters, multiple loader mounting locations, drain tubes, slide gates, and vacuum pickup probes. Larger bins and multiple bin systems can be equipped with ladders and safety cages.

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Container Discharger System for PET, PP Plastic Chop Trim, Plastic Flake, Plastic Pellets

Application Notes & Case Studies /

This customer’s overall scope involved handling three different materials, each with different properties, some dusty, delivered in varying container sizes, to be pneumatically conveyed to downstream molding equipment. A compact footprint was required to maximize plant space and operator safety during operation and maintenance was also essential. For the chop/trim/flake products, lift and seal dischargers were incorporated into the system. The hood seals to the top of the container prior to rotation, and mate with the surge bin through 12-inch roller gates that open when rotation is complete. This allows the entire contents of the container to empty with a sealed/ dust free connection. These receiving bins also are equipped with agitation inside the hoppers to promote flow and the product also passes through a light duty crumbler prior to entering the conveying line. For the pellet product, a high lift and discharger unit was used. Dust was not a concern, so the receiving bin had an open top with a grate incorporated to catch large debris. A mezzanine was added to give operators access to the equipment and for maintenance. For safe operations, a laser scanner on the mezzanine was included to disable the discharger/slide gate when obstructed, preventing operator injury when in motion. Safety caging and interlocked access doors on the loading side prevent operation when not closed.

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Bulk Bag Discharger for Reactive Calcium Carbonate

Application Notes & Case Studies /

The customer was looking for a bulk bag discharger with a rigid screw conveyor to mount on a customer-supplied flat bed truck to discharge RCC material onto their client’s mixer. The bulk bag discharger is equipped with a portable base with fork pockets for ease of movement, with bolt together frame section to allow the unit to be disassembled for transport. The upper framework includes additional fork pockets and lifting eyes on the rigid screw conveyor for ease of raising and lowering. The framework assembly was also equipped with an air compressor to provide compressed air to massage paddles, air-purged shaft seals, etc. The assembly also included a dog house cover to protect the equipment from weather elements. The bulk bag discharger was equipped with load cells to shut off the rigid screw conveyor after the desired weight was discharged.

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Bulk Bag Filling System for Refined Carbon Filter Cake

Application Notes & Case Studies /

The customer required three (3) single-loop cantilever bulk bag filling systems (with a future fourth) for filling refined carbon filter cake from filter presses conveyed through a customer supplied radial stacker with a discharge height of 43.5’ that would gravity feed into any of one of three surge bins through chutes and gravity pivoting diverter valves. The surge bins would gravity feed into the single-loop cantilever fillers. The surge bins were equipped with integral dust collection, live bottom bin activators to promote flow out of the surge bins, and Cv Technology explosion mitigation system since the refined carbon filter cake had a high Kst value. Each single loop cantilever bulk bag filling system was equipped with a single loop bag support hook, custom fill head assembly to adapt to the single loop bag, inlet valve, densification bag pre-inflation, and integral powered roller conveyor. The single loop cantilever bulk bag filling system also included a common pallet dispenser, turn tables, infeed, and accumulation powered roller conveyors to meet the customer layout requirements.

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Drum Filling System for Absorbent Granules Filter Media

Application Notes & Case Studies /

National Bulk Equipment worked with the customer to design a 4 drum-filling system to meet their packaging needs. The product is conveyed over to the filling system pneumatically and discharged into a 3-deck screening system. A certain particle size distribution was required and the discharge off the middle deck of the screener was targeted for the drums. The usable product from the screener flows into an intermediate surge hopper allowing a continuous process of filling the drums. The filling of the drums occurs automatically with each drum indexing on a turntable and filled to the desired weight. When all four of the drums are filled the operator removes the pallet of filled drums and places new drums within the filler. The system was supplied with complete electrical controls and programming allowing for recipe-driven flexibility.

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Powdered Activated Carbon Slurry Making System

Application Notes & Case Studies /

Customer had very limited space and overhead height and needed a solution to transfer powdered activated carbon from bulk bags into a slurry mixing tank. NBE was able to design a low-overhead version of our fork-style bulk bag unloader with dual fork locations to fit within their requirements. An offset combo hopper was incorporated to allow for small bag additions, and helped tighten up the overall space required to convey the material to the slurry mixing tank. NBE designed and fabricated the 600 gallon stainless steel mixing tank to accommodate the customer’s slurry batch requirements. The tank was provided with load cells to capture the correct additions of liquid and the powdered activated carbon, which are then mixed with the integrated Brawn mixer. Dust collection is included and sized to adequately capture dust from the bulk bag unloader, small bag area, and dust in the head space of the tank. Collected dust is systematically returned to the slurry mixing tank, eliminating waste.

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Liquid Detergent Blending System for Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Formate & Citric Acid

Application Notes & Case Studies /

The customer needed a solution to convey multiple powders from three bulk bags unloaders and two small bag stations into a final mixing tank for liquid detergents. A powder induction system was chosen to allow precise batch control of various dry additions. The dry additions flow through bulk bag unloaders equipped with E2, dust collection, lump breaker, and flexible screw conveyor into powder induction valves. A liquid pumping system carries the dry additions along with water to the final mix tank. High accuracy of additions is achieved with load cells on the dry additions and magnetic flowmeters on the water side, with the ability to dose a wide range of additions. The small bag stations are set up similarly and are used as a backup to the bulk bag unloaders. NBE provided a full control package including PLC and HMI set up for automatic additions based on customer flow rates and recipes. The system also includes custom NBE platforms for operator and maintenance access.

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