A person who has been scooping tomato paste all day would understandable be dirty and sweaty and can easily introduce bacteria and contaminants into the food products. In addition, manually unloading leaves the ingredients exposed to atmosphere and allowing employees to introduce contaminants into the food product when scooping and handling. Compensation claims can quickly negate any cost savings realized by not investing in other equipment up front. Ergonomics can be an issue and it is not uncommon for employees to become injured from performing this task repeatedly. Other drawbacks for manual unloading include the effect that it has on employees. In the later areas, manual scooping can be the least costly option when compared to purchasing equipment to dump or unload ingredients. ![]() Scooping is the most labor intensive of the four options and is not normally feasible from an economic standpoint in areas where labor is more costly such as the United States, Canada, and Europe and is more prevalent in areas where labor is less expensive such as South America, Asia, and Mexico. There are general pros and cons to each option detailed below.ĭespite the fact that this method used to be virtually the only option available to food manufacturers, scooping is becoming less and less common for four main reasons: labor costs, ergonomics, sanitation, and waste. There are four general methods typically used for unloading high viscosity ingredients: scooping, dumping, pumping with a stand along pump, and unloading with a container unloading system. When it comes to getting these materials out of a drum, it is much more difficult than squeezing a tube of toothpaste or pouring a can of tomato sauce. Some examples are peanut butter, tomato paste, icing, caramel, and fruit filling. Even more surprising is that hand scooping is used with many high viscosity ingredients that are thick, sticky, and will not pour or fill back in when scooped. Not only does this seem inefficient and labor intensive, but with arms scooping into drums about three feet deep, this method taxing to the human body and not at all ideal from a sanitation perspective. Surprisingly, this is many food producers’ method of choice for unload ingredients from containers. Imagine you do this 5, 10, even 20 times per day. With no dynamic seals in its design, Hydra-Cell pumps have successfully replaced other pump technologies with dynamic seals, resulting in energy savings, lower maintenance and repair costs and sustaining system performance due to less down time.Imagine scooping and scrapping a 55 gallon drum of tomato paste by hand. Hydra-Cell's horizontal check valves have proven to have a low shear pumping action to preserve the structure of shear sensitive high viscosity liquids. ![]() Many high viscosity materials are shear sensitive. When pumping high viscosity liquids, the spring-loaded disk design of the Hydra-Cell check valves overcomes the “floating” issues associated with vertical ball-and-seat valves. Unlike many competing technologies, the Hydra-Cell pump does not require lubricating process fluids to prevent internal component wear and is capable of running dry indefinitely, without damage. In the Hydra-Cell seal-less diaphragm pump, this declining performance cycle associated with low viscosity liquids does not occur because there are no dynamic seals in the design. Working at high pressure also exposes the pump to increased wear. Heating a liquid will typically reduce its viscosity, and as it thins it becomes more likely to leak past a seal or contact area. At high pressure or high liquid temperature, risks increase sharply. Flow rate loss increases as pressure rises and, through time with increasing wear at the rotating contact surface. ![]() Pumps with dynamic seals can ‘leak’ low viscosity liquids past a contact area of rotating surface and static casing, resulting in a loss of flow. The pumping action of the Hydra-Cell makes it a true positive displacement diaphragm pump at both high and low viscosities, and the flow rate is independent of discharge pressure, ensuring delivery of a predictable flow rate for a consistent process. With the correct pump selection and system design, the Hydra-Cell ® seal-less pump has the capability to pump viscous liquids (i.e., solvents, hot water, turpentine, glues, resins, and thick slurries) up to 20,000 cP.
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