Dosing hopper

The dosing or weighing hopper is normally the last step of the plant in the direction of travel of the product. It is used to collect the product that comes from different storage systems (for example silo, bag emptier or big bag unloader), acting as a container for creating recipes directly in the hopper or downstream in the mixing tank.

In fact, the hopper can be filled by lines with different products and, via the control unit, command a sequence of calls with different weights and products to create a recipe.

Generally, the hopper is unloaded via a differently controlled butterfly valve, but sometimes it can take place via mechanical extraction/dosing (e.g. auger).

In both cases there is a flexible tube or a sleeve in light fabric which conveys the product to the required point, except in special cases.

These machines, at least for the parts in contact with the product, are made of 304 stainless steel, according to the reference food standards for solid and powdered foods.

The support parts and those not in contact with the product will be in appropriate material for the production environments, agreed with the customer.

The dosing hoppers are built with the following macro components:

1. hopper cone
2. shell
3. flat filter or sleeves filter
4. cover
5. air pipes and product shut-off valves
6. bottom with outlet valve or auger and outlet valve
7. support frame
8. weighing loading cells
9. electric vibrator with bracket

FEATURES

• Upper section in the shape of a truncated cone of variable diameter according to capacity.
• Self-cleaning filter at the top for air-product separation.
• Conical lower section to facilitate product unloading.
• Discharge by manual or automatic butterfly valve.
• Butterfly valve for manual or, more frequently, automatic discharge.
• Adequate systems to facilitate product unloading (example: vibrators, vibrating membranes, vacuum breaker).
• Equipped with load cells for dosing functions.
• Equipped with internal filter cloth or bag filter for separation functions between product and transport air or back pressure cleaning.