White Paper: How to Get the Most Out of Your Flexible Screw Conveyor

Increasing Conveyor Performance and Efficiency
Due to their relatively low cost and simple construction, flexible screw conveyors are one of the most common types of conveyors used by manufacturers. The reason for this is that the screw is the only part of the conveyor that moves. The only other major components are the tubular housing, and the electric motor that drives the screw (also called the auger).

Despite its uncomplicated, yet reliable construction and straightforward operation, many end-users overlook important factors that could potentially lead to poor performance, excessive power usage, severe wear, and material degradation. For these reasons, it is essential to consider all system parameters when selecting conveyor options. Only then can you ensure a correct and successful installation that achieves maximum operational efficiency.

Hapman Engineers Mobile Industrial Processing System that Meets the Mixing & Blending Demands of Changing Manufacturing Environments.

Summary

Mobile production, or modular pre-processing, is becoming increasingly vital to all major process driven industries and range from oil and gas, chemical, and energy, to food processing and pharmaceutical. One way to overcome the challenge of processing new raw materials in uncertain operating environments is to mix or pre-process at the source rather than trucking feedstock directly from the sourced location. Mixing material at the source can reduce transportation and processing costs, and improve chemical volume and quality through mixing or pre-processing.

White Paper: Considerations when handling bulk chemical powders

Summary

Successful conveying and handling of chemical powders requires much more input than understanding a material’s properties, the desired convey rate and distance. Today’s manufacturers are faced with tighter margins, leaner operations, shorter lead times and greater environmental concerns. Maintaining plant and worker safety is paramount.

PET Resin Manufacturer Reduces Cost of Production with Hapman PTA Silo Loading System

Challenge

A chemical processor is using too much energy and nitrogen to pneumatically convey bulk powder within its process.

Helix^® Flexible Screw Conveyor Feeds Innovative Tubular Form, Fill and Seal Packaging Solution

Challenge

A packaging equipment supplier needs a low-cost, reliable conveying solution to keep his innovative form-fill-seal solution demonstrating at capacity.

Basic American Foods Expands Plant Capacity in Record Time, Ensures Reliability with MiniVac™  Pneumatic Conveyors

Challenge

A processor must expand its capacity and add new lines in half the time normally required for such a project. The material being conveyed is a very fine powder and can be problematic.

White Paper: Tubular Drag Technology for the Conveyance of Powder & Bulk Solids

Summary

Engineering conveying systems for today’s processors requires far more than just moving product from point A to point B. Engineers must also consider plant and worker safety through assessing how the process affects the environment. And with the increased cost of materials and processing, it has never been more important to ensure materials are protected and stay within the process.

Stillwater Mining Improves Smelting Efficiency and Yield, Eliminates Dust with Tubular Drag Conveyor

Challenge

A processor was using an inefficient, dirty process to feed its smelting furnace.

Aluminum casting company leverages custom-built Hapman equipment to create a cleaner, quieter foundry

Challenge

A casting foundry wanted to create a cleaner, more efficient environment that was also safe for workers.

Fiber By-Products reduces maintenance, dust and reprocessing of end product with tubular drag conveyor

Challenge

A pelletized fuel manufactuer was spending time and effort maintaining a conveyor that also created fines and dust.

Hapman Systems: Bulk Bag Pneumatic Batching System

Challenge

Deliver measured amounts of four powdered ingredients, received in bulk bags to slurry tanks. Some materials are hygroscopic, flow poorly in humid environments and may contain small agglomerations. Whereas some materials do not mix readily into solution, the delivery must be metered so as not to exceed the mixers ability to force it into suspension. System must be automatic and fit into an existing manufacturing space with a very limited footprint. Housekeeping is a concern- provision to minimize the escape of airborne product is essential. Control system must be open architecture and comprised of commonly available, highly dependable components to minimize downtime.

Bulk Bag Filler - Plastics Manufacturer Uses Bulk Bag Filler FIBC System

Challenge

A plastics manufacturer needed a bulk bag filler that could be adjusted to fill a variety of large bag sizes (tall as 72 inches). In addition, the customer required a means to accurately weigh the bags to an accuracy of 1 pound.

Portable Bulk Bag Unloading - Chemical company charging hoppers with limestone combining with Helix^® Flexible Screw Conveyor

Challenge

A chemical company had to periodically charge their holding hoppers with ground limestone. Due to the number of hoppers and their infrequent need for charging they did not feel that it was going to be cost effective to purchase a bulk bag unloader for each one.

Hapman Maintains EPA Standards by Meterfeeding Enviroblend into a Dust Collection System

Challenge

EPA standards required this company to feed Enviroblend® into their dust collection system at a precisely controlled rate of 30 pounds per hour so the emissions would be at an acceptable level. They also required a digital verification that the material was accurately discharging

Food processor replaces aeromechanical conveyor with Hapman tubular drag system eliminating contamination, clogging, jamming & shutdowns

Challenge

A fast growing, finished product food processor was using aeromechanical conveyors to convey product in their production operations for processing and prepackaging. Unfortunately, the aeromechanical conveyors caused serious problems in this application. First, the cables were continually fraying and breaking - putting small metallic fragments into their product, which caused a tremendous amount of product contamination and rejection. Secondly, the aeromechanical conveyors required constant maintenance because they consistently clogged and jammed - shutdowns became the norm.

Biotech lab handling dirty mice bedding from cages with cleaning disposal system

Challenge

A biotech lab needed an easy and dependable method to handle dirty animal bedding from cages.

Tubular Drag Conveying System - Tire manufacturer with dust free multiple inlet system handling carbon black

Challenge

A major tire manufacturer needed to fit a material handling conveyor into a tight space, move the material (carbon black) from inlets and discharge it at two locations. In addition, the intermediate discharge had to be free of residual build-up, and the entire system dust free.

Tubular Drag Conveying System - Mining operation handles and conveys ammonium nitrate reducing degradation

Challenge

A mining operation located in the mountains of Chile required an equipment method to handle and convey ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) without degradation, 50 feet vertically, into a silo. Their current method of air conveying was damaging the prill of the material, resulting in an oxidizing agent which was proving less than expected reaction performance.

MiniVac Conveying System Eliminates Cross-Contamination for Pharmaceutical Company

Challenge

A major pharmaceutical company came to Hapman for assistance in providing them with a vacuum conveyor system to meet their specific requirements. It was to take their finished product from a dryer and discharge it into a mobile bulk material handling system, which was scale mounted for precision metering and batching. The problem was that it needed to incorporate an efficient cleaning system which totally eliminated any possibility of cross-contamination with product change overs.

Sweets manufacturer batching from standard and bulk bags

Challenge

A major manufacturer of sweets required a highly versatile system to convey and accurately weigh batches for mixing and discharge into a hopper before final processing into their calcium food supplement.

Snack food producer with one conveyor for many jobs - Portable Hi/Lo Helix^® Flexible Screw Conveying System

Challenge

One of the nation's largest producers of snack foods required a way to quickly clean the conveyor in between batches. It also required the ability to move the conveyor from location to location.