Spiroflow Supply Tetley Tea with Big Bag Discharging Solution
09 July 2008
In 2006 Tetley tea decided to improve the efficiency of their Decaffeinated Tea handling, by taking delivery of teas in 500 kg big bags (FIBC’s) instead of the much smaller 25kg sacks they had been using.
Spiroflow, who have been working with Tetley since 2004, were asked to propose a big bag discharging solution. For reasons of transportation efficiency, the tea bearing big bags are delivered to Eaglescliffe stacked 2 high on a single pallet and delivered from the loaded pallets to the discharger by fork lift trucks.Spiroflow proposed, and ultimately supplied, their Type 6 Big Bag Discharger to allow the fork lift truck to undertake other duties. Their Type 6 Big Bag Discharger which comes complete with its own bag hoisting system attaches the loops of its upper bag to a lifting frame so the bag can be hoisted up, traversed across and then lowered in to position on the discharger. Similarly, when the first bag is empty and returned to the ground, the lower bag can be installed into the discharger. Some 11 bags are emptied a day in a factory that operates 24/5.
Teas are currently discharged into the rigid containers into which the 25 kg bags used to be tipped. These containers are specifically designed to act as tumble blenders and to dock with the Decaffeinated Tea packing lines. The ‘Spiroflow’ Discharger incorporates a pneumatically operated, telescopic docking connection, which makes a dust-tight seal with the inlet of the container below. An easily removable magnet is fitted above the docking system to trap any tramp metal that may have become mingled with the tea at the point of origin.
To ensure the dust-free transfer of tea, the T6 Discharger is furnished with a containment cabinet in which the neck of the big bag can be untied once it has been ‘strangled’ by a pair of pneumatically powered Vee shaped closure bars. With the interlocked dust cabinet access door closed, the Vee closure bars can be opened to allow flow to commence from the bag, through the central feed spout of the docking connection into the container below. There is an annular ring disposed concentrically around this feed spout to facilitate the escape of air displaced from the container as it fills with tea. Both the dust cabinet and the docking device are connected to the factory’s central dust collection system. This means no escape of dust into the atmosphere during filling of the rigid containers nor each time the cabinet doors are opened to untie or retie the neck of a big bag.
The total height of the discharger is 6.4 metres to accommodate the 2.5 metre containers, the telescopic docking system, the big bag and the lifting hoist. As Roy Goodlad, a Project Manager at Tetley, confirms, “We did go out for quotes from others but, based on the competitive price offered by Spiroflow and the excellent performance of the tea blending system supplied previously, we decided to place the order for the big bag discharger with them. It has been installed since April 2006 and we have no complaints about its performance either”. The installation and commissioning was carried out by engineers from Spiroflow.
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