Van Beek introduces bag compactor

Netherlands-based Van Beek has introduced a bag compactor that is designed to help production companies handle the empty bags they generate as cheaply and efficiently as possible, the company says.

The bag compactor works with plastic bags, jute sacks, cardboard bags and combinations thereof. It has many advantages over the traditional hydraulic press or the baling press, according to the manufacturer.

Roel Kneepkens, sales engineer at Van Beek, says, "No hydraulic system is needed to drive the press. An electricity supply is enough. This makes the bag compactor many times cheaper than a hydraulic press.”

It is available in stainless steel 304 and stainless steel 316 and in a coated steel version as well as in stationary and mobile models.

Empty bags fall down a short chute onto a short screw in a pipe, Van Beek says. The screw pushes the bags through the pipe, compressing the bags by about two-thirds. An endless bag, which sits in a protective cage, is clamped round the end of the pipe, into which the screw pushes the finely compressed bags.

The protective cage is intended “to prevent people putting their hands in the screw,” Kneepkens says.

Once the bag is full, the operator opens the protective cage.

"The cage has a safety switch that is incorporated in the control circuit of the screw motor, so as soon as someone opens the cage, the motor stops,” Kneepkens says. “This is for the safety of everyone coming near the machine, and this also complies with the CE marking.”

The CE marking signifies that products sold in the European Economic Area have been assessed to meet safety, health and environmental protection requirements.

"With the cage open and the motor switched off, the operator can cut off the endless bag safely, as if it were a sausage, and then pull a new piece of bag over the tube,” Kneepkens says. “As soon as the operator closes the cage again, the pressing process continues effortlessly,” he adds.

The screw has a 30 millimetre clearance from the wall and never jams because of the powerful SEW motor, according to Van Beek.

For explosive environments caused by flammable gases, mists or vapours or by combustible dust, Van Beek also can produce an ATEX (referring to the two European Directives for controlling explosive atmospheres) version of the bag compactor. Using a chute, new bags can be supplied continuously.

More information is available at www.van-beek.nl.