An in-line pneumatic batching system from Flexicon Corporation allows simultaneous weigh batching of major ingredients supplied in bulk bags and manual dumping of pre-weighed minor ingredients, and blending of the material while a subsequent batch is accumulated.

Each of the bulk bag dischargers is mounted on load cells, allowing loss-of-weight batching from either or both bulk bags. A system controller starts and stops each discharger's rotary airlock valve to weigh ingredients, first at high feed rate for rapid filling, then at dribble feed rate, stopping material flow once the accurate batch weight has been discharged. System software allows mid-batch bag changes.

Minor, pre-weighed ingredients are added at the manual dumping station

after the major ingredients have been discharged from the bulk bags.

The dilute-phase, vacuum conveyor line terminates at a filter receiver (not shown) that accumulates the batch before discharging it through a slide gate valve into a ribbon blender, allowing concurrent batching and blending of materials, cutting cycle times by half.

The bulk bag dischargers are equipped with FLOW-FLEXER^® bag activators that raise and lower opposite bottom edges of the bag at timed intervals, loosening compacted materials and promoting material flow into the discharge spout. As the bag lightens, the stroke of the bag activators increases, raising the bottom of the bag into a steep "V" shape, while top-mounted POP-TOP™ stretching devices elongate the bag,

promoting total evacuation of material with no manual intervention.

The dumping station collects dust generated during manual dumping activities by means of a high velocity vacuum fan that draws dust away from the operator onto two cartridge filters. An automatic reverse-pulse filter cleaning system releases short blasts of compressed air inside the filters at timed intervals causing dust build-up on the outer surfaces to fall into the hopper.

System components are available constructed of carbon steel with durable industrial finish, or stainless steel finished to industrial food, dairy or pharmaceutical standards.