Everbuild invests to handle it all

Leeds, UK – ?Everbuild Building Products Ltd of Leeds requires its solids handling equipment to deal with a wide range of the bulk components and additives used in the manufacture of its building sealants, adhesives and filler products.

To meet the growing demand, earlier this year Everbuild installed a new twin shaft mixer alongside an existing machine. The project set about identifying better ways to load bulk materials and minor additives into both mixers as well as to improve working conditions by reducing manual handling and dust emissions.

The materials charged into the mixer during the production of Everbuild’s acrylic sealants, fillers and mastics, range from chalk-based compounds to glass beads and titanium dioxide, which is notoriously difficult to handle.

Broadhead selected equipment from Spiroflow following tests on a range of materials at the equipment supplier’s test centre. The trials convinced Everbuild that the manufacturer’s bulk bag discharger and conveyors could meet the speed at which the mixers needed to be loaded.

The system supplied to Everbuild comprises a model T3 bulk bag discharger working in conjunction with a sack tip station, flexible screw conveyor, aero-mechanical conveyor and a feed chute system.

The bulk materials are delivered to Everbuild in 1,000kg bags. The bulk bag discharger has a load cell arrangement that is designed to discharge accurate quantities. Discharged materials are conveyed by a short flexible screw conveyor into the collection hopper below the adjacent sack tip station.

An agitator above the inlet to the flexible screw conveyor prevents difficult materials from bridging across the inlet. The bulk bag discharger has paddle massagers ready to encourage the flow of materials from bulk bags that have become compacted or which contain otherwise difficult to discharge materials.

Minor additives, which are supplied to Everbuild in 25kg bags, are loaded manually via the sack tip station, furnished with a dust hood and plastic strip curtain. The cabinet is connected to Everbuild’s central filter system so that dust emitted from bags, as they are opened, is drawn away from the operator.

From the hopper below the sack tip station, material emptied from 25kg bags and from the bulk bag discharger is conveyed by an aero-mechanical conveyor five metres vertically so that it can be dropped into either of the two mixers.

A gravity diverter valve controls the flow of material into either of two feed tubes below the outlet of the aero-mechanical conveyor, which can effectively convey materials such as titanium dioxide. The high-speed rope-and-disc assembly carries materials in an airstream to prevent any compacting or sticking during conveying.