Load-Well^™ SVL SS-304 stainless steel vacuum loader

Full SS-304 construction

Paint and powder coating chip, and mild steel corrodes wherever moisture sits. Neither can be shown to an auditor. A machine built for food or pharmaceutical duty therefore has to be stainless throughout, including the parts that cannot be seen.

This loader is SS-304 throughout, clamps included. Where a drawing shows 316 on a clamp, it is because 304 clamps were not to be had when that machine was built and the higher grade went on instead. Either way, every part in the flow path is 304 or better.

The wetted parts are the receiver, cone and lid, the discharge, the wire mesh, the clamps, the polycarbonate sight tube and the gaskets. The gaskets are food grade. Every one of those is listed in the specification above, so the plant's quality team can check each part against its own requirements.

Non-contact level sensing

1. Both halves of a cross-beam photo-sensor sit on a half-round bracket outside the sight tube.
2. The beam crosses the tube through its wall. It either reaches the far side or it is blocked by material.
3. The product path stays clear: nothing to lodge behind, dismantle or recalibrate.
4. No cam, so nothing to set at commissioning and nothing to drift.

Non-contact level sensing: full explanation

Level is sensed by a cross-beam photo-sensor. Both halves of it are mounted on a half-round bracket on the outside of the sight tube, and the beam crosses the tube through its wall.

The product path is completely clear: no mechanism for product to lodge behind, to dismantle for cleaning or to recalibrate afterwards. In a food or pharmaceutical vessel every mechanism inside is one more surface to clean and account for.

Maintenance-free level detection

A conventional loader senses level with a cam-operated micro switch. The cam drifts, the switch stops tripping where it should, and a technician has to come and set it again. Every reset is a service call.

There is no cam here. The beam either reaches the far side of the tube or it does not, so it cannot drift. No setting is needed at commissioning and no resetting afterwards; level sensing needs practically no maintenance.

Polycarbonate sight tube

The operator sees material actually leaving the receiver, so a starved line or an empty hopper announces itself, instead of being worked out after the machine has already run dry.

The tube is polycarbonate by choice. Polycarbonate is effectively unbreakable, takes the temperatures involved, and keeps glass out of plants where glass is controlled or banned. Soap and water keep it clear.

Two-stage filtration

1. 1Receiver on the machine hopper or directly on the machine. Stage 1 filter: fabricated wire mesh, lifts out for washing (red dashed line).
2. 2Blower and controller at floor level, reached without climbing and away from the operator. Stage 2 filter: pleated cartridge, OD 195 × 135 mm, protects the blower.
3. 3Material bin with the lance and 4 m hose (OD 50 mm) up to the receiver. Blue dashed line: the air line to the blower.

Two-stage filtration: full explanation

Stage one is a fabricated wire mesh in the receiver, keeping product out of the air line. It lifts out for washing. Stage two is a pleated paper cartridge at the blower, 195 mm outside diameter and 135 mm high, protecting the blower itself.

Each stage has one job: the mesh sits where the product is, the cartridge sits where the machinery is.

Ports and conveying capacity

Both the material inlet and the suction port are OD 50 mm, and the regenerative blower runs on a 1.5 kW motor. Conveying capacity is 300–400 kg/h.

The port size and the motor are specified for the duty: the material, the length of the hose run, the lift, and the hours the machine will be asked to work. Tell us those four things and we will tell you whether this is the machine for the job.

Ordered to food-grade specification

Where your plant requires it, the gaskets, the surface finish, the hoses and the clamps can be supplied to food-grade specification.

Tell us what your auditor asks for and we will tell you which items we can supply.

Installation

Both ports can be set anywhere through 360°, so the hoses run where the plant allows. 4 m hoses and a 750 mm lance are supplied with the machine. The receiver mounts on the machine hopper or directly on the machine and feeds just in time, with no intermediate vessel holding product while it waits.

The receiver sits on the machine. The blower and the controller stand away from it at floor level, within easy reach and away from the operator.

Other Load-Well^™ loaders

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Load-Well^™ is a trade mark of A.B. Plastech — application 6999170, Class 7.