Automated bulk materials handling in the manufacture of ready meals
Whenever a large variety of bulk, medium and minor components needs to be conveyed to several different mixing lines, AZO’s hybrid systems are often used for feeding mixers. Hybrid systems are a combination of vacuum weighing and bulk materials container handling systems.
The bulk components are filled into storage silos and are transported from there directly onto vacuum conveying scales located above the mixers using the incremental method. Raw materials are distributed from the storage silos into the conveying line using dosing screws and then onto the mixer lines using pipe diverter valves.
The medium and minor components are delivered in different receptacles and are needed in various amounts depending on the recipes saved under recipe management. Accordingly, the raw materials are either stored in day bins or transferred to a central point in internal bulk materials containers. These day bins or the bulk materials containers are arranged on the level above the AZO ShuttleDos®.
Furthermore, there is the option of manually filling preweighed micro quantities straight into target containers at several sack discharge stations on the preparation level by using the AZO ManDos system.
The AZO ShuttleDos® container system doses and weighs the different raw materials into the target containers. When weighing different raw materials, it is vital to comply with the most stringent requirements regarding hygiene. AZO’s CleanDock® systems are used for the transfer from the dosing points to the bulk goods container without any risk of contamination. The use of several shuttles that operate independently of each other results in very high cycle rates for the AZO ShuttleDos® while simultaneously maintaining high levels of accuracy in weighing and dosing.
Following the mixer lines, there are mixer hoppers to take up the completed batch mixes. The mixers discharge the mixture by gravity into the hoppers. Then the mixer batch is transferred using vacuum conveyors either directly to the lines for filling or for further processing. There is also the option of discharging the mixer batch into a bulk materials container for interim storage in order to provide maximum flexibility in production.
The central process control and instrumentation system controls and monitors the entire mixing operation and ensures end-to-end documentation of the whole production and filling process.
