Bag Tipping Station
- What is a bag tipping station
How to empty bags of powder to hoppers and other process equipment?
Bag unloading stations are used to open and empty bags efficiently, which means quickly and without dust emission, towards dry processing equipment. Tipping stations are especially useful for loading hoppers, conveying lines or mixers. They are positioned right above the equipment they need to feed and the product flowing from the opened bags is then falling by gravity to the next process equipment.
- Capacity
How many bags can be emptied per hour in a bag tipping station?
The capacity (= number of bags to be tipped / h) will be highly dependent on the workforce skills, strength and motivation, manipulating and opening bags being a particularly demanding task. It will also be dependent on the surroundings of the platform, especially if the bags are provided directly to the operator in an ergonomic way. However, as a rule of thumb, one can consider that the capacity per station is around 2000 kg/h (which represents between 1 to 2 bags tipped / min).
- Design
The following items are to be taken into account when designing a bag tip station.
Hygiene/product risks
Bags have to be opened while the station is opened to the environment, therefore the risks associated with the product must be evaluated and protective equipment provided to the operator when necessary (dust mask…). For very hazardous products, it is advisable to use glove boxes which are a specific type of dumping station where the operator can manipulate and open the bag without being in contact with the product, the station ensuring full containment.
Associated with this risk, the bag feeding station must be equipped with an aspiration system that prevents dust from getting out of the station. The aspiration system is made of bag Filters and dust collectors. The dust collector must be sized according to the opening of the station to provide sufficient suction power, which means sufficient air velocity – speed – at the opening of the tipping station. It to be noted that it is not recommended to have deported filters (although it could look economic for several stations) but rather have Filters top mounted on the station so that dust can
fall back directly on the product, then collected elsewhere and maybe wasted.