Pump technology provides rapid drum unloading at Britvic
7 Oct 2011
Rugby, UK — The Britvic plant in Rugby is able to unload 45 gallon drums of fruit juice concentrate - four at a time - in just two minutes through the use of four MasoSine SPS pumps, from Watson-Marlow Pumps, Group in a bespoke drum unloading system.
The equipment was installed by Birkenhead-based Compere Systems Ltd, which specialises in control systems integration. It also the supplies turnkey projects that encompass industrial automation, palletising solutions, air conveyors and drum unloading.
“The original project specification sought to unload 45 gallon drums to holding tanks, but in small batches of six-off. However, this suddenly shot up to a batch size of 80 drums, which obviously changed our entire approach,” explains Graham Fenney, managing director of Compere Systems.
“Additionally, we had a target to fit inside a 75 minute cycle for a batch to be made up, while the available floor space for drum unloading was also too small for our standard solutions.”
In the first instance, Compere’s project team examined the marketplace for conventional drum tippers, but the cleanliness requirements were not sufficient for the application, and most failed to fit inside the necessary compact footprint anyhow.
“As an alternative to tipping we began looking at pumping options,” said Fenney. “We had used Watson-Marlow before for a more conventional syrup pumping application … As a result, we got in touch and began to develop a bespoke solution together based on MasoSine SPS technology.”
The custom rig uses four 5.5kW MasoSine SPS pumps which are piped to four suction lances mounted on a pneumatic cylinder. This allows the simultaneous unloading of four, 45 gallon drums in just 2 minutes.
The basic concept centres on a semi-circle configuration feeding six stations. At each station it is possible to datum a pallet holding four, 45 gallon drums.
“The unloading head pivots in the centre of the semi-circle and can rotate round to each position,” said Fenney. “This allows the operator to bring in a pallet, position it, remove the drum lids, prepare the inner plastic and insert the lance - all in the two minutes it takes for the previous pallet of four drums to unload. It’s a very efficient load and unload process.”
The MasoSine pumps themselves are mounted on a mezzanine in the middle of the semi-circle about one metre off the ground.
The MasoSine SPS series is designed for industrial and sanitary applications involving high pressures — up to 15 bar. Capacity is up to 91.2m³/hr, while a gentle, low shear action makes them well suited to the safe pumping of highly viscous materials - at Britvic the concentrate can sometimes be presented as a form of ’frozen slurry’ in the worst case.
According to Fenney, the rig at Britvic has been in regular use in the 18 months since installation and there hasn’t been any maintenance issues regarding the MasoSine pumps. Compere has recently quoted for further systems at Britvic and at another beverage manufacturer.
