Today, the big bag, jumbo bag or bulk bag has become a permanent fixture in powder handling. The big bag is cheap, easy to handle and simply a practical container. AZO, the reliable partner for powder handling and process automation, offers several solutions for discharging powder raw material out of big bags.
The discharge systems, big bag stations, are equipped with lifting gear and a big bag connection system with a press-on lid or an inflatable collar. These systems for discharging big bags can also be combined with systems for feeding sacks and drums.
By using a big bag discharge stations in the powder handling system, a significantly higher throughput can be achieved for transferring powder material into the production process, if compared to a standard bag tipping station. Commonly operators can dump around 6t of powder material by using a big bag discharge station while maintaining the production area dust-free thanks to AZOs design.
Big bag discharge stations from AZO can be designed as combined discharge stations for big bags and small bags. In case a supplier of big bags is not able to deliver, switching to small bags is still possible. As a result, production doesn’t come to a complete stop and an emergency production can be maintained. Of course, the feeding remains dust-free.
Powder materials can be lumpy or contaminated. To avoid that such powder materials enter the process, AZO can equip big bag discharge stations with lump breakers, powder screeners or metal detectors. Thus, only good quality powder material enters the production process.
Some powder raw materials are hygroscopic and built very compact blocks and chunks of powder inside the big bag. If this happens and the big bag station is not fitted with suitable tools to loosen such compactions, the production process will come to a standstill due to lack of powder material. AZO’s answer is to design big bag discharge stations with different kinds of massager devices.
Often recipe changeovers require different powder materials. But what to do with a half empty big bag in the big bag station? For this issue, AZO has designed a big bag locking unit that allows to close an already opened big bag. Interchanging different kind of powder materials becomes a very easy matter. It is not necessary to empty bags completely and run the powder through the system prior to changing the big bag.
AZO offers a wide range of easy to clean solutions with low maintenance requirements for handling powder material in big bags. These solutions ensure an easy handling when transporting and docking the big bags and allow a continuous conveying, even with difficult raw materials. Furthermore, operators are well protected by a safety platform. To keep the production area clean, discharging of raw materials happens with low dust contamination.
In addition to that, AZO provides ATEX-compliant solutions as well as solutions for unhealthy powders. AZO big bag stations can be designed for the most stringent hygienic requirements in the pharmaceutical and food industries.
