Polimak provides integrated solutions where loading bellows are combined with various types of bulk solid feeding equipment to ensure efficient and controlled material flow. Depending on the specific process and material characteristics, equipment such as screw conveyors, rotary valves, pneumatic conveying systems, or airslide conveyors can be used. This flexibility allows the loading bellows to meet a wide range of application requirements across different industries.
Butterfly Valve
Widely used in bulk material handling systems, butterfly valves play a critical role in regulating bulk material flow from storage units. Generally installed below silos, bins, or hoppers, these valves allow for quick and reliable shut-off or flow control of bulk solids.
Butterfly valves are installed above the loading bellows and enable operators to open or close the discharge outlet efficiently during loading operations. In truck filling applications, they help manage the quantity of product being loaded by providing precise control over material flow. Their simple design, efficient operation, and compatibility with various actuation methods make butterfly valves a practical and efficient solution for many industrial processes.
Slidegate Valve
Slidegate valves are essential components in bulk material handling systems, positioned at the discharge outlets of silos, bins, and hoppers. They provide a reliable way to control the flow of bulk solids by moving a flat gate over the outlet opening.
• Pneumatically actuated slidegate valves, operated by pistons, are generally used in applications requiring quick and frequent start-stop control of product flow. Therefore, they are ideal for fast-loading operations.
• Screw or gearbox-operated slidegate valves are preferred for processes that require more precise control over the flow rate. These valves enable gradual adjustment of the gate opening size, allowing accurate regulation of bulk material loading speed.
Thanks to their robust construction and adaptability, slidegate valves are widely used in industries such as cement, food, chemicals, and mining to handle materials like cement powder, flour, granulated sugar, fertilizers, and mineral ores.
Screw Conveyor
Screw conveyors are a widely used mechanical conveying solution designed to transfer bulk solids from hoppers, silos, or plant machinery to loading bellows with controlled speed and capacity. Their versatile design allows them to efficiently handle a variety of materials, ensuring smooth and consistent flow throughout the process.
Depending on the conditions at the loading area, screw conveyors can also be configured to elevate bulk solids to higher levels before they enter the loading bellows, optimizing space by reducing the required height for truck loading. This capability makes them suitable for operations with restricted vertical space or challenging floor plans. With precise control over material conveying, screw conveyors contribute to improved process efficiency and reduced product spillage.
Belt Conveyor
Loading in open areas and stockpiles involves the use of belt conveyors to transfer bulk materials to loading bellows efficiently. Belt conveyors are generally preferred in these settings due to their ability to handle large volumes over long distances with steady and controlled material flow.
To ensure smooth discharge from the conveyor belt into the loading bellow, specially designed intermediate hoppers are used, minimizing material spillage and facilitating consistent feeding. Depending on the dust content of the conveyed bulk material, additional dust collection systems can be installed to capture fugitive dust generated during transfer. This type of handling typically generates a high level of dust emissions, making effective dust management essential to maintaining a clean and safe working environment.
Rotary Valve
Rotary valves are essential components in bulk material handling systems, mainly used to discharge materials from silos and hoppers at a controlled and consistent rate. They regulate the flow of bulk solids into loading bellow systems, ensuring efficient and reliable transfer while preventing material clogging or bridging.
The rotary valve’s rotating rotor gently meters the material, allowing precise control over the feed rate and minimizing product degradation. Additionally, rotary valves serve as an airlock, maintaining pressure differentials between different points of the system to improve efficiency and reduce dust emissions. Their robust design makes them suitable for handling a wide variety of bulk materials across industries such as cement, food processing, chemicals, and mining.
Pneumatic Conveying System
Pneumatic conveying systems offer an effective solution for transferring bulk materials safely and efficiently, especially when storage and loading points are separated by long distances or complex plant layouts. These systems are widely used in industries such as cement manufacturing and food processing, where maintaining product integrity and minimizing dust emissions are critical.
Pneumatic conveying systems transport bulk materials through sealed pipelines by using either positive air pressure or vacuum suction, ensuring a dust-free and enclosed transfer process. The design and selection of pneumatic conveying equipment depend on several factors, including the transfer distance, the type and characteristics of the material, and the required loading bellow capacity. Optimizing the system through careful calculation of conveying capacity and air velocity helps prevent material degradation, blockages, and excessive energy consumption. Pneumatic conveying offers flexibility in plant layout, reduces manual handling, and helps maintain environmental and workplace safety standards by minimizing dust emissions during bulk material transfer.
Airslide Conveyor
Airslide conveyors are a highly efficient solution for transporting fine powdered materials over short distances, particularly in industries like cement manufacturing where large volumes of material must be loaded quickly and safely into tanker trucks.
In these systems, loading bellows are installed below the outlet of the airslide conveyors to ensure dust containment during transfer. The bulk material inside the conveyor is fluidized by pressurized air introduced from the bottom, reducing friction and enabling the material to flow smoothly downward by gravity. Additionally, the inclination angle of the airslide conveyor plays an important role in controlling the flow speed, with steeper angles generally increasing the rate of material movement. This combination of fluidization and gravity feed provides a reliable, low-maintenance method for handling fine powders while minimizing dust emissions and product degradation.
These valves are typically actuated by pneumatic actuators and are used to automatically open and close the product flow to discharge material to downstream equipment.
Installed below silos or hoppers, these valves are used for maintenance operations of equipment such as rotary valves, screw feeders, etc., that are positioned below the butterfly valve.
These valves are typically actuated by pneumatic actuators and are used to automatically open and close the product flow to discharge material to downstream equipment.
In this design, the butterfly valve is sandwiched between two flanges. Rubber sealing at both faces of the valve provides a tight seal between the flanges and the wafer butterfly valve.
One side of the valve has a bolted flange connection, while the other side features a built-in short pipe designed for fixing a flexible sleeve.
These valves have bolted flange connections on both sides, making them suitable for installation on silos, hoppers, screw feeders, and similar applications.
Bulk tanker trucks or open trucks can be filled with powdered materials delivered within FIBC bags. These systems generally consist of bulk bag discharging station, mechanical or pneumatic conveyor and loading bellow. Big bag discharge station transfers the bulk solid from big bag to conveying system. Conveying system transfers it to truck loading area. And loading bellow is used to fill tanker truck without any dust emission. Since truck loading operations are done within limited time, high capacity big bag discharge systems and bulk material conveying systems are used. For short distances, screw conveyors are preferred to transfer material from big bag discharge station to truck loading chute. For long conveying distances, pneumatic conveying systems provide better service. There may exist a storage hopper or silo above bulk truck loading bellow to compensate material flow between inlet and outlet. Bulk bag discharge and truck filling systems have automatic control system that monitors product level in truck and operates all equipment accordingly. Optional weighing system can be added to measure the amount of material that is filled to truck.
Big bag discharge systems can deliver dry bulk solids in powder and granular form to weighing and batching systems. The loading hopper of the weighing system should remain full during dosing and batching. Big bag discharge systems can monitor the product level in the loading hopper and maintain a constant level automatically. Depending on the dosing speed and conveying distance, mechanical conveying systems or pneumatic loading systems may be used. Dust collectors can be employed to prevent dust emissions during hopper loading, especially for materials with high dust content.
Dry bulk packaging systems are used to fill powdered or granular materials into bags, drums, jars, sacks, etc. Bulk materials delivered in big bags must be transferred to packaging machines without interruption. The loading hopper of the packaging system should remain full during the filling and packaging process. Big bag discharge systems can monitor the product level in the loading hopper and maintain a constant level automatically. Depending on the packaging speed, mechanical conveying systems or pneumatic loading systems can be selected. Dust collectors can be used to prevent dust emissions during hopper loading, especially for materials with high dust content.
Mixer automation systems are used to mix dry bulk solids according to specific recipes. Raw materials delivered in FIBC bags can be transferred to mixing units through a combination of conveying equipment and bulk bag discharge systems. Depending on the type of application, pneumatic conveying or mechanical feeding systems can be used to fill mixers. Big bag discharge stations can be manufactured with built-in dosing systems. The amount of raw material to be loaded into the mixer is automatically controlled with the help of a weighing and dosing system. Dust collectors can be used to prevent dust emissions during the mixer filling process.
Bulk material stored in big bags can be automatically filled into small bags. Big bag discharge systems come with optional built-in bag filling units. For low filling capacities, these units are installed below the big bag discharge hopper, providing a practical and cost-effective solution. Both big bag discharging and bag filling operations can be handled by a single, compact system. For higher bag filling needs, bag filling machines are installed near the bulk bag discharge stations. Pneumatic conveying systems or mechanical conveyors can be used to transfer bulk material from the FIBC bag discharge station to the bag or sack filling system.
Mechanical conveyors can be used for silo loading from big bag discharge stations. Screw feeders, bucket elevators, rotary valves, or chain conveyors are connected to big bag discharge stations to fill silos. The selection of conveying equipment directly depends on the conveying distance, height, transferred material, and capacity. Bucket elevators are preferred for high silos, while screw feeders are preferred for shorter silos and short distances. The big bag discharge system can be installed on top of the silo for faster filling. In this case, rotary valves or butterfly valves are better choices as they provide simple flow control. Dust collection systems may be required depending on the dust content of the bulk solid. During silo loading, air content in the silo escapes to the atmosphere and carries some dust along with it. Vacuum fans and jet filters in dust collectors prevent dust emissions into the environment. The collected dust is sent back to the silo, thus preventing product loss.
Pneumatic conveying systems installed after bulk bag discharge units transfer bulk material through conveying pipelines to fill silos. This configuration is useful in applications where high transfer rates and long conveying distances are needed. In production lines where raw materials are stored in warehouses far from storage silos, bulk bag discharge stations can be installed close to the warehouses, and pneumatic conveying systems are used to fill silos from long distances. This design reduces the need for forklifts and cranes for bulk material transfer on the production site and increases overall efficiency.
Pneumatic conveying systems used for silo loading utilize blower pumps or compressors. Motor power, pipeline diameter, and equipment selection depend on the type of bulk material, transfer distance, silo height, and transfer capacity. Level sensors, jet filters, and other equipment are installed on storage silos to ensure the proper operation of the silo filling system.
Pneumatic conveying systems installed after bag dump units transfer bulk material through pipelines to fill silos. This configuration is ideal for applications requiring high transfer rates and long conveying distances. In production lines where raw materials are stored in warehouses far from storage silos, bag dump stations can be installed close to warehouses, allowing pneumatic conveying systems to transport materials over long distances. This design reduces the excessive use of forklifts and cranes for bulk material transfer within the production site, improving overall efficiency.
Pneumatic transfer systems used for silo loading utilize blower pumps or compressors. Motor power, pipeline diameter, and equipment selection depend on factors such as the type of bulk material, transfer distance, silo height, and transfer capacity. Level sensors, jet filters, and other equipment are installed on storage silos to ensure the proper operation of the silo filling system.
Mechanical conveyors can be used for silo loading from bag dump stations. In this configuration, screw feeders, bucket elevators, rotary valves, or chain conveyors are connected to bag dump stations to fill silos. The selection of conveying equipment depends on factors such as conveying distance, height, material properties, and capacity. Bucket elevators are preferred for high silos, while screw feeders are ideal for shorter silos and short distances. Bag dump systems can be installed on top of the silo for faster filling. In such cases, rotary valves or butterfly valves are better choices as they provide simple flow control.
Dust collection systems may be required depending on the dust content of the bulk solid. During silo loading, air inside the silo escapes to the atmosphere, carrying dust particles with it. Dust collectors equipped with a vacuum fan and jet filter capture airborne dust. The collected dust is returned to the silo, preventing product loss and ensuring a cleaner environment.
The inlet skirt is an optional feature designed to extend the lifespan of the flexible connector sleeve. Its upper portion is attached to the outlet port of the upstream equipment and extends down into the bin activator’s inlet port. The primary function of the inlet skirt is to serve as a protective shield, safeguarding the flexible connector seal from wear and damage.
A vibratory motor is externally mounted to the bin activator. When powered, the motor generates vibrations that facilitate a steady flow of dry bulk materials within the system. Depending on the application requirements, one or two vibratory motors can be installed externally.
To accommodate a bin activator, the cone of a silo must be shorter than usual, resulting in a wider outlet. A flange supplied with the bin activator is separately welded to the silo’s outlet, slightly above the opening, at the production site. Once installed, the vibrating bin discharger is securely bolted to the flange, ensuring a stable and reliable connection.
Special spring suspension links and an engineered polymer seal work together to create a flexible connection between a vibrating bin discharger and the equipment positioned above it.
The proper design and installation of the polyurethane seal prevent it from slipping off and ensure a secure seal, eliminating the risk of dry bulk material leakage. Additionally, the seal offers high stress resistance and long-term durability, withstanding stresses caused by motor vibrations, pressure conditions, and other operational factors.
Externally installed spring suspensions provide full resilience to the vibrations of the cone head. They ensure that the generated vibrations affect only the cone itself rather than the upstream equipment structure.
An internally tapered, conical-shaped baffle plate is positioned at the center of the bin activator’s diameter. The baffle is rigidly attached to the equipment body using structural steel components. It facilitates bulk material flow from upstream equipment by directly inducing vibrations into the material.
A secondary deflector plate reduces the weight of the bulk material in the lower portion of the bin activator by acting as a wedge beneath the material, directing it around the areas adjacent to the cone’s surface.
Polimak baffle plates are available in various configurations, including convex and cone plates, and in different angles (15°, 30°, 45°, or even 60°) depending on the flow characteristics of the handled bulk material and the specific application requirements.
