Background

Crystal Candy, a sweet and candy manufacturer required a solution to efficiently transfer a chocolate premix into a pre-mixing tank which was being received by Netsch in Germany. The pre-mix was being received in bags and needed to be de-canted and conveyed into the mixing tank automatically according to a specific set point. Anderson Engineering was tasked with building an ingredients transfer system.

The project
Anderson Engineering built and supplied an Ingredients Transfer System which consisted of the following;

• 1 x 3 “ Aero-Mechanical Conveyor
• 1 x Ingredients Hopper
• 1 x Actuated Gate Inlet Valve
• 1 x Actuated Outlet Ball valve
• Electrical and Control allowing interlinking systems and automatic transfer based on a load cell input.
• Factory Setup and Testing as well as delivery to site

Due to the fact that the Ingredients Transfer system required interlinking with the German Netsch system, there was considerable risk in ensuring smooth interlinking and plant operation. The project required in-depth

discussion with the client and the Netsch Engineers, this was done to ensure the scope was as accurately defined as possible.

Anderson Engineering have built many Aero-Mechanical Conveying (AMC) systems with ingredients hoppers. These hoppers come standard with manual gate valves, which can be set to achieve a particular fixed flow rate into the AMC. The system supplied to Crystal Candy however utilized an automatic actuated gate valve, which was interlinked to the machine start and stop. This reduced the instances of stalling, a common problem with manually fed AMC’s. This allows prolonged rope usage and reduced plant down time while ensuring the AMC is always emptied.

The project was awarded in July 2018. The project took approximately 8 weeks to design, manufacture and test. The plant was received in November 2018 by the client for their own installation.