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Tubular Drag Conveyors Keep Coffee Bean Breakage at Bay

  
  
  
  

RoasterEngineering a Gentle Touch

If everyone who delights in—or depends on!—their morning cuppa joe understood the complexities and lengths to which coffee plant engineers and plant managers go to ensure those coffee beans are conveyed with loving care from green to grind, and from package to store shelves or café counters, well… that will never happen, will it?
But coffee plant engineers and plant managers still have to do it, and do it as efficiently, cleanly, and quietly as possible. So, increasingly, coffee processing plants are turning to tubular drag conveyors to meet those goals.


Throughput thought through


Tubular drag conveyors easily outperform belts, bucket elevators, screw conveyors, and even pneumatic and aero-mechanical systems when it comes to the delicate balancing act plant managers have to perform between maintaining high throughput of product while keeping the fragile, freshly roasted beans from damage and keeping rejection rates to a bare minimum.
With multiple access points, tubular conveying systems facilitate the ability to clean in place and make performing routine maintenance simple.
Because tubular drag conveyors don’t use air to convey materials, they not only don’t cause dust, they contain it, dropping or knocking it off as the materials glide through the plant. That means less time spent on cleaning and less exposure to hazardous combustion than legacy systems.

Quieter is cheaper too


Without large volumes of air being blasted or sucked through the tube, operational noise levels are substantially lower with tubular drag conveyors than older methods, increasing worker safety and trimming compensation claims and insurance premiums along the way.
Quieter, less complicated plant conveyors—fewer moving parts—also translate to lower energy operating costs and lower labor costs. But while most customers won’t appreciate that any more than they do your efforts to get them a good cup of coffee at a great price, management certainly will.

Comments

Material conveying of coffee beans is in fact a balancing act. I like your concept, especially the benefits of reduced dust generation by this technology.
Posted @ Wednesday, December 01, 2010 5:34 AM by Theo
Thanks for your post Theo! You don't really know how bad the beans get beaten up until you're moving enough beans to recognize a loss. So a lot of roasters don't know this truth yet. We did an installation where we had a chance to see the dust in the air both before (when belts were used) and after. It's an image ingrained in my memory to this day.
Posted @ Thursday, December 09, 2010 12:38 PM by Karl Seidel
appreciating this concept..brilliant
Posted @ Thursday, June 16, 2011 10:08 AM by thanseem
Very interesting take on conveying coffee. It would be interesting to study to effects of coffee quality due to handling all the way back to the tree. Moving whole berrys violently can damage and bruise them, changing the flavor of the coffee as well.
Posted @ Friday, June 17, 2011 12:04 PM by Kuahana Kona Coffee
Very interesting article. Thanks for laying it out so nicely! very informative especially the benefits of reduced dust generation by this technology.
Posted @ Tuesday, July 05, 2011 1:31 AM by Coffee
this is very interesting, I don't know a lot about how coffee beans are prepared. I know how its done in 3rd world countries; they roast their beans over a fire. This looks like a much more efficient way. Technology has brought us a long way.
Posted @ Friday, August 26, 2011 11:50 AM by AWade
A very efficient way of handling coffee. Technology made it possible.
Posted @ Sunday, September 11, 2011 8:47 AM by coffee online
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