Hopper with Inclined Screw Feeder for Metering Bakery Mix Brill, Inc. in Bonner, KS

General Description

Brill, a CSM Bakery Solutions company, is a North American leader in bakery ingredients and products serving retail consumers, industrial bakeries, and foodservice operators. For nearly 100 years, Brill has been inspiring creativity in the market with confections including donut icings & glazes, toppings & fillings, cakes & cupcakes, cookies, and muffins. From ingredients to ready-to-bake to fully finished goods, Brill’s continued innovations provide the market with a broad range of products and solutions.

Brill’s Bonner Springs, KS facility produces over 185 million pounds of bakery products annually and distributes their muffins, cupcakes, pail scoop & bake, and dry ingredient blend mixes throughout the United States. Brill contacted KWS to aid in the design of an inclined screw feeder for an existing bagging line. The screw feeder would transport a blended bakery mix from a batch mixer to a surge hopper, then to the bagging and palletizing system.

Design Parameters

1. Product Type: Bakery Mix
2. Material Density: 30-45 Lbs. per Cubic Foot
3. Conveyor System Capacity: 1,000 Cubic feet per Hour
4. Duty: Intermittent

KWS Advantages

Much of the existing equipment at the Bonner, KS plant was in fixed locations with only a few inches of clearance. KWS engineers collaborated with the Brill team to ensure the new screw feeder and hopper would fit within the existing constraints and meet the configuration envisioned by Brill. KWS provided Autodesk Inventor 3D models during the review process which was paramount in fitting the screw feeder between two building columns and through a wall to another room. The 3D models provided by KWS expedited the design approval phase and prevented unexpected delays and/or modifications of the equipment during installation.

KWS Special Features

Safety of Brill personnel was a primary concern and rotating components of the screw feeder presented a risk of injury to operators. KWS provided a solution to minimize risk of injury with easy-to-install shaft guards which completely enclosed the rotating shafts. KWS shaft guards are bolted in place and require tools for removal by trained maintenance personnel.

Brill needed easy accessibility to the interior of the screw feeder for cleaning and inspection. The feeder was designed with two hinged and clamped cover sections featuring ergonomically formed handles, Witte “C” style swivel screw clamps, and KWS cover backstops. Each clamped cover section was fitted with a safety interlock switch with an actuator key. The safety interlock switch provides positively operated switching contacts and a tamper-resistant actuator mechanism. When the actuator key is withdrawn, the safety contacts are positively opened, and the machine circuit is broken.

KWS fabricated a 50-cubic foot surge hopper to act as a buffer between the mixer and bagging fill hopper. The stainless-steel surge hopper featured a fully TIG welded interior without pits or crevices and a bolted cover for ease of access during cleaning. The cover included a hinged inspection port with mesh safety screen for visual in-process inspections. The sidewall of the hopper is fitted with a heavy-duty vibrator mounting pad to aid in the flow of the bakery mix to the bagging system.