The emptying hopper plays the biggest role in this as it is the only component in an emptying station that has direct contact with the product being emptied. Dead spaces inside the hopper which are not easily accessible can result in product remnants becoming stuck and going moldy. If a new big bag is then emptied, its contents could easily be contaminated.
For fields with top hygiene requirements, Engelsmann recommends the use of the newly-developed emptying hopper in a hygienic design. The hopper’s interior is free of dead space and parts that can become lost, meaning that the product being emptied cannot be contaminated by stuck product remnants or components such as screws or nuts coming loose. Thanks to the dead space-free design and smooth surfaces, the hopper can be made completely clean easily. As the hopper can be completely disassembled in a few simple steps, all the parts are easily accessible for cleaning. That means that operating companies can thoroughly disinfect individual components and reassemble them as and when required.
Using the hopper is also extremely simple: the big bag to be emptied is connected by simply operating a lever, which can be done without a great deal of effort thanks to pneumatic springs. After that, the big bag outlet can be connected to the product-guiding pipe inside the hopper, the big bag can be opened, and the product can be emptied in a controlled way. The (often dust-filled) air displaced by this escapes upwards via a space between the hopper and guiding pipe where it is extracted by an aspiration nozzle. That means that dusty products can also be emptied without exposing the production environment or operating personnel to any dust.
