Vitaquest Gets Flexibility, Scalability From Mobile Powder Conveyors

How it works

The pick-up wand is standard with the mobile conveyor and is the primary device used by Vitaquest to pull material from plastic lined drums. However, bag dump stations, bulk bag unloaders, mixers, and blenders also work with the mobile conveyors.

Like many in the food and pharmaceutical industry that use wands to convey materials from plastic lined drums, Vitaquest’s mobile conveyors use a wand with a bag guard welded to the end of the wand to prevent the bags from being sucked into the conveying line.

Mobile conveyor systems raise the receiver to load auger fillers, mixers, reactors, and other processing and packaging equipment, and then lower the vacuum receiver back down to ground level for easy and safe cleaning and maintenance.

The vacuum receiver with integral mobile frame conveys material to a rotary filling machine at rates up to 3,500 lb/hr.Photo courtesy of Vac-U-Max“The Vac-U-Max systems are simple to operate and maintain,” Simeon says. “They have no problem keeping up with our standard use rates of 1,000 lb/hr for our stick pack and pouch filling lines and up to 3,000 lb/hr for our rotary fillers.”

The venturi-powered mobile conveyors at the facility conform to Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) sanitation regulations and require no tools or special mechanical skills to disassemble for product changeover. Venturi-powered units have no moving parts and do not generate heat within the packaging suite. Because there are no moving parts, maintenance in minimal.

“Maintenance is easy,” Simeon says. “It is just a matter of changing out the filter once in a while and the system is ready to go.”

Cleaning with mobile conveyors

Cleaning is also much easier and safer, Simeon says. “With mobile vacuum conveyors, there is significant cost savings on changeover and assembly,” he says.

Vitaquest uses segregated production suites and industry best cleaning practices throughout its manufacturing and packaging operations, performing comprehensive cleaning and sanitization of a production line between each product changeover. A rotating schedule of cleaning and production reduces time and maintains a constant flow of finished product. In this dynamic environment, five to 10 production lines undergo cleaning while the other lines remain operational.

Cleaning and maintenance are both always safer, more efficient, and effective when performed at ground level. This is especially critical in industries where stringent FDA and USDA sanitary regulations lead to frequent extended downtime for cleaning.

Most packaging and process machines need to be filled from the top, with a feed opening that could be as high as 10 ft above the ground. While that is easily achieved with a vacuum conveyor, if it’s permanently installed above the packaging machine, all maintenance (e.g., filter changing and cleaning for product changeover) must be performed at that elevated location requiring the use of a ladder, scissor lift, or mezzanine.

Mobile vacuum conveyors eliminate overhead conveyor installation, can be cleaned at floor level, and allow use in other packaging suites.Photo courtesy of Vac-U-MaxSome machines, like rotary fillers, have open-top carousels, which can complicate the cleaning process if it takes place where a conveyor is rigidly installed above it. Any debris, tools, or loose parts that drop while cleaning can fall into the carousel, further complicating the changeover process.

With mobile units, rolling the conveyor away from other machinery and lowering the receiver allows simultaneous cleaning of both the conveyor and machine—instead of one after the other.

New blender loading system

Vitaquest plans to implement Vac-U-Max’s Direct-Charge Blender Loading system to load its 125 ft³ vee blenders, as well as its ribbon blenders. Direct-charge blender loading is a unique adaptation of vacuum transfer, designed specifically for the direct-charge loading of blenders, mixers, reactors, and any vessel capable of withstanding a vacuum.

With a facility’s blender or mixer as the primary receiver, the conveyor manufacturer configures systems specific to each application, providing the power source, filters, controls, and adapters. The new system to load the vee blender will reduce safety and ergonomic concerns from excessive ladder climbing for manual loading. It will increase blender throughput by reducing the loading time, and it will be a much cleaner operation than manually dumping ingredients into the blenders from the mezzanine.

Currently, the ribbon blenders are loaded with flexible screw conveyors, which can degrade the ingredients and take a significantly longer time to clean during changeovers. “The new Vac-U-Max conveyors will eliminate an entire step in charging our blenders,” Simeon says. “It will save us a ton of time and extra manual labor the moment it is installed and increase safety.”

Vitaquest tends to go to Vac-U-Max whenever it’s adding equipment because it is the fastest turnkey equipment to feed both new and existing equipment, Simeon says.
Vac-U-Max is also responsive to feedback. “I was here when we got the first mobile conveyor, and each time we purchase a new system, it is better than the last.”