Bulk materials handling solutions

for conveying soluble, ground & whole bean coffee

Select your area of interest below. The UniTrak solutions we describe come from over 35 years' experience solving the handling challenges of the coffee industry.

Ground Roasted Coffee
Challenge: Convey without separation of grains and fines. Ensure buckets are fully emptied.
Solution:

TipTrak™ with bucket knockers. TipTrak™ bucket elevators run on a continuous rubber “chain” with no moving parts. Vibration and jarring that cause granular separation are dramatically reduced. With interlocking buckets operating in the vertical and horizontal without transfer points, a TipTrak™ delivers the gentlest handling of any mechanical elevating device.

TipTrak™ bucket knockers rap the back of the bucket at the discharge point. (Not possible for pivoting buckets attached to their metal chains with pins. A bucket-emptying knock would pop them out of their chains.)

TipTrak™ buckets interlock—attached securely on each side to the rubber “chain”. A sharp rap simply empties them.

Our customers using bucket knockers typically employ the PEC TipTrak™ bucket elevator described here

Depending on your required capacity and/or service requirements, a flex auger conveyor handles ground coffee well. However, where a TipTrak™ will work 24/7, a flex auger conveyor is designed for applications with intermittent use.

TipTrak™ bucket elevators
TipTrak™ bucket elevator FAQ
Photo Gallery: TipTrak™ bucket knockers
Whole Bean–Roasted

Convey from roaster to packaging machine

Challenge: Convey friable roasted beans without damage.
Solution:

The quietest, gentlest handling of any mechanical elevating device. TipTrak bucket elevators travel smoothly in the vertical and horizontal planes without damage-causing transfer points—and without jostling the beans. Interlocking buckets eliminate spillage and associated costs.

Most of our clients for roasted whole bean conveying are using: TipTrak™ PEC bucket elevators

TipTrak™ bucket elevator conveyors
TipTrak™ bucket conveyor FAQ

Convey from roaster to grinder

Solution:  

If you’re not concerned with damage to beans going directly from roaster to grinder, and don’t need to run your conveyor continuously, a 5-inch flexible auger conveyor is being used very successfully by one of our customers.

Other customers are using: Powderflight™ aeromechanical conveyors.

Powderflight™ aeromechanical conveyor FAQ
Whole Bean–Green

Raw or green coffee beans are robust and unlikely to be damaged by a low-cost conventional bucket elevator. However, where noise, maintenance or other issues factor in, our customers have chosen an Open TipTrak™ bucket conveyor

Some of our customers have simplified the conveying of coffee beans from the receiving area by using a Powderflight™ aeromechanical conveyor to move beans horizontally, vertically, or on an angle.

TipTrak™ bucket elevator conveyors
TipTrak™ bucket elevator FAQ
Powderflight™ aeromechanical conveyor FAQ
Soluble Coffee
Challenge:

Gentle handling of friable, sticky, powdery product, while withstanding the product’s high abrasiveness.

Dusty, abrasive, hygroscopic soluble coffee is not kind to conventional bucket elevators with “roller” chains that require grease. Dust cakes on the grease and forms a solid mass—inhibiting performance, abrading parts, and requiring frequent cleaning.
Solution:

A TipTrak’s continuous rubber “chain” has no moving parts, requires no lubrication. Coffee dust has no place to adhere and harden, and interlocking buckets virtually eliminate spillage.

Since the early 70s, TipTrak™ bucket elevators have been moving soluble coffee from evaporator to agglomeration tower, and from tower to storage prior to packaging.

One customer operates their TipTrak™ in the freeze-dry evaporator, at temperatures well below freezing—impossible with a standard roller chain. It would freeze.

Our many clients around the world have typically chosen a PEC TipTrak™ bucket elevator to overcome the problems of soluble coffee’s dust and abrasion.

If you use a “purge” gas such as nitrogen to preserve product integrity, consider a gas-tight Monocoque TipTrak™ bucket elevator conveyor.

TipTrak™ bucket elevators
TipTrak™ bucket conveyor FAQ