When working in industrial batching applications precise batching is critical to ensure the correct mixture of bulk materials. Too much or too little of a specific material in the batch can lead to the production of un-useable off spec products.
A customer reached out to JVI looking to improve the batching process at their manufacturing facility. Their process consisted of batching up to sixteen different bulk materials in multiple different forms including pellet, powder and flake. From these materials, the different products are produced based on varying batch recipes. Currently, the process was done by hand and leading to a higher degree of variability in the final product due to variations in the amount of the various bulk materials. The customer hoped to automate the batching process to improve the accuracy of the batches.
Working closely with the customer, JVI was able to develop a package that would supply (16) dosing feeders that would work in combination with a customer supplied automated gain-in-weight scaling system. All sixteen of the dosing feeders are identical is construction and include:
- 3 cubic foot capacity hoppers with:
- 304 stainless steel construction.
- Pneumatically opened/closed lid to help reduce dusting.
- Aluminum inlet grate to prevent large material falling into the hopper and enable the operator to easily open each sack of material before pouring it into the hopper.
- 1” diameter vent connection, to pull the dust away from the operator whilst the hopper is being filled.
- Stainless steel feeder pans with plexiglass covers.
- Sized for high speed (fast) and low speed (dribble) with instant start / stop operation to optimize the batching accuracy.
- Electromagnetic drives with thyristor controller to enable precise batching with 0-100% feed rate adjustability.
The feeders were integrated with the customer’s gain-in-weight scaling system through the thyristor controller to automate the batching process. The batching container would move from feeder to feeder and each run until the desired weight of material was fed, stopped, then move to the next feeder until the batch recipe was completed.
The customer approved the package’s design and JVI began manufacturing the sixteen feeders. Today the feeders are successfully integrated into the customer’s facility and gain-in-weight system, providing an automated, precise batching system and a more consistent end product.
