Updated bulk bag discharging system offers improved convenience, safety and cleanliness

A newly designed bulk bag discharger is set to revolutionise the way users load, untie, retie, remove and collapse bulk bags.

Flexicon's new BULK-OUT BFC bulk bag discharging system promotes the flow of bulk solid materials that have solidified during storage and shipment, automatically discharges the material, and allows manual additions of ingredients from sacks, drums and other containers.

A cantilevered I-beam with electric hoist and trolley lowers a bag lifting frame to floor level for rapid attachment of the bag to patented Z-CLIP bag strap holders, and then hoists and rolls the bag into the safety frame, eliminating the need for a forklift.

The integral conditioner consists of two hydraulically-actuated rams with specially contoured conditioning plates that press opposing sides of the bulk bag. A human-machine-interface housed in a NEMA 4 (IP 56) enclosure controls the stroke and number of ram actuations and the electric hoist can be used to raise and lower the bag for conditioning at varying heights.

For bulk bag discharging, the bag outlet spout is pulled through an iris valve mounted on top of a dust hood over the hopper.  Once the bag outlet is secured and the iris valve is closed, the bag spout drawstrings can be untied, the dust-tight, snap-action access door closed, and the valve released slowly, reducing uncontrolled bursts of material into the hopper and dust into the plant environment.

For manual dumping in conjunction with or independent of bulk bag discharging, the operator raises the hinged door and adds the material from smaller capacity containers through a coarse screen into the hopper.  A fold-down support tray serves as a bag rest. The hopper can be configured to connect to pneumatic or mechanical conveyors, or directly to downstream process equipment.

The discharger can also be configured for weigh batch discharging with the addition of load cells and a programmable controller. Models are available in carbon steel with durable industrial coating and stainless steel material contact points, or in all stainless steel finished to industrial, food, dairy or pharmaceutical standards.

Flexicon also manufactures other configurations of bulk bag dischargers, bulk bag conditioners, and bag dump stations as well as flexible screw conveyors, tubular cable conveyors, pneumatic conveying systems, bulk bag fillers, drum/box/container tippers, drum fillers, weigh batching and blending systems, and engineered plant-wide bulk handling systems with automated controls.