For production managers and personnel using a bucket elevator, nothing is more aggravating than product spillage when material is being conveyed. Product spills drive costs and they also represent revenue and capacity losses. Here’s how:
Personnel and equipment must be mobilized to deal with product spills. This makes them unavailable for other value-adding tasks.
Spilled product that must be disposed of represents a loss. Not only is potential revenue foregone, there may be costs associated with the disposal of spilled product.
Spillage represents a throughput loss of product that cannot be sold on to the customer. And, on high utilization or bottleneck lines, capacity lost due to spillage cannot be recovered.
Spilled product may represent a hazard for plant personnel. In addition, spilled product can become entrapped in equipment where it may degrade and contaminate virgin product moving through the process. Both of these consequences can result in personnel lost time and costly product recalls and liability issues.
Conventional continuous bucket elevator designs which use overlapping bucket assemblies allow product spillage. In these designs, as the buckets move through the equipment and separate from one another, product may spill through the space which opens up between the buckets. Preventing this source of product spillage in a bucket elevator requires different design thinking.
Unlike conventional continuous bucket elevators, TipTrak™ bucket elevators from UniTrak use fully interlocking, as opposed to overlapping, bucket assemblies. In TipTrak™ elevators, each bucket is always fully connected to the next as it journeys through the machine. This is accomplished by using a flexible joint strip which completely the seals the space between adjoining buckets, ensuring there is no space through which product can spill. The result: less spills, less cleanup, more throughput, and lower costs and increased revenue!
TipTrak™ bucket elevators are designed for high-care applications. If your application requires that your product be protected from degradation, damage, and loss, then TipTrak™ conveyors are your preferred equipment choice. Available in different constructions and configurations, each TipTrak™ unit can be fully customized to service the requirements of your particular application. To find out more about the complete line of spillage-free TipTrak™ bucket elevators, please contact our sales team directly.
Stay informed with our educational content.
