Flowmatic - Model EF500 -High Rate Autonomous Bulk Bag Unloading System

HIGH-SPEED, AUTOMATED BULK BAG EMPTYING STATION - FLOWMATIC® EF500 AUTOMATIC DECONDITIONING, HYDRAULIC GRIPPING OF THE BULK BAG WITHOUT OPERATOR INTERVENTION.

The super sack discharging station is fed by a set of motorized conveyors that supply the hydraulic gripper. A pallet stacker is integrated to evacuate the empty pallets once the bulk bag is lifted by the gripper.  The only manual intervention required for the Flowmatic EF500 system are the unloading of the stacked pallets and loading of the bulk bags to be emptied, via forklift operation.

Autonomous handling of the bulk bags is done by the hydraulic gripper system, mounted on a bridge crane, which transfers the bulk bags from the conveyor to the discharge hoppers. Once empty, the bulk bag is automatically discharged to a baler or bulk bag compactor. 

Operation mode:

1. Bulk bags loaded by a forklift on the motorized roller conveyor line(s) (several lines = several products possible for recipe formulation, with "picking")
2. Automatic management of the accumulation (storage and advancement) of the bulk bags via emptying by the supervision automaton.
3. Automatic selection of the bulk bag to be emptied on the dedicated conveyor line (in applications requiring recipe management)
4. Automatic transfer of the loaded bulk bag by the hydraulic gripper mounted on a motorized trolley (handling crane)
5. Automatic bulk bag feed above the emptying station
6. The containment doors of the EasyFlow® EF500 Bulk Bag Emptying Station enclosure open and close automatically to ensure maximum containment during the big bag breaking phases (the containment enclosure is optional).
7. Lowering of the bulk bag onto cutting blades for automated opening 
8. Management of the pressure of the hydraulic clamp during the bulk bag emptying / breaking phase
9. Automatic feed + automatic release of the bulk bag into the baler or bulk bag compactor
10. Management of the empty pallet: automatic transfer to a pallet stacker
11. Automated gripper return positioning for the next bulk bag

The bulk bag is opened via cutting by cross or "U" shaped blades depending on the bulk bag design. For bulk bags with an outlet spout, the cutting system will be a "U" shaped system. Bulk bags with no discharge spout are cut by cross or diamond points as a preference.
For difficult flowing products, massage cylinders can be installed on the discharging station. These hydraulic or pneumatic massage cylinders can be used to force the extraction of the product. 

Bulk bag gripping clamp :

The bulk bag gripper is the heart of the Palamatic Process EasyFlow® EF500 system. This gripper has its own hydraulic unit. It is designed with a double clamping system to hold both full and empty bulk bags. This double clamping system is fully synchronized and remotely controlled with a chain of safety sensors depending on the cycle. This hydraulic bulk bag handling clamp makes the presence of an operator on the emptying station unnecessary. The movement of the clamp at the different stations is as follows: 
1. Gripping of filled bulk bags
2. Cracking hopper / FIBC discharge
3. Drop zone: bulk bag compactor, waste bin or baler 
This displacement is managed automatically by a positioning system supervised by the PLC. 

 This automatic bulk bag emptying system integrates a large number of features specific to each of our customers. Do not hesitate to contact our pre-project department to study your automatic bulk bag emptying solution.