Entecon developed a bespoke Sack Tip Station for a customer using corn starch to prevent grated cheese from sticking together. Although non-toxic, the finely divided starch can create significant nuisance and explosive dust if it is not handled correctly.

A third-party DSEAR Risk Assessment and LEV examination of the customer's existing in-house equipment identified unacceptable dust-explosion and operator-exposure hazards. The replacement therefore needed to allow bags to be opened without releasing dust and was specified for ATEX Zone 21 internally and Zone 22 externally.

The design also needed to combine sack tipping with sieving and vibration to de-lump the starch, provide metal detection and work with the product drums already used throughout the factory.

Entecon supplied a food-grade 304 stainless steel Sack Tip Station with built-in dust extraction and H13 HEPA filtration. HEPA filtration was required because part of the corn-starch fines fraction is below t

An integrated vibratory check sieve incorporates a removable 9,000-gauss magnet array. A bespoke pneumatic drum-sealing mechanism raises and lowers a lid onto the customer's existing drums, with two-hand controls positioned to reduce the risk of trapping an operator's hand.

The completed station eliminated corn-starch spillage and made bag opening and emptying a contained process. It also combines sieving, vibration-assisted de-lumping, metal detection and dust-tight drum filling in one machine, allowing the customer's previous separate metal-detection stage to be removed.