Onions potatoes: Semi-automated weighing and packing

Semi-automatically packing onions, potatoes, carrots and more.

These semi-automated packing machines are very precise for filling bags of 5 kg or more.

By "semi-automated", we mean that the machine requires two people to operate it:

• One person to fill the intake hopper with produce.
• Another person to affix an empty bag to the outflow, press the button to fill the bag to the desired weight, unhook the filled bag, seal it, remove it and affix the next empty bag.

The two elevators- the wide one rapidly fills, and the narrow one doses.

The grey hopper receives the produce onto the scales.

Underneath the grey hopper, there is a red ring that is where each bag is hooked.

This type of semi-automated packing machine works in the following way:

• The intake hopper is filled with produce (photo to the left).
• An empty bag is hooked underneath the outflow chute.
• The operator presses a button and the machine automatically does the following:
  1. The two elevator belts start to rotate at maximum speed, filling the weighing recipient (the grey hopper).
  2. As the weight of the hopper approaches the required weight, the narrow elevator stops and the wide elevator slows down, carefully dosing the potatoes into the hopper, until it just exceeds the weight, and then it too stops.
  3. The operator pulls a lever (or pushes a button on the floor by foot, or touches a sensor) to empty the grey hopper into the bag.
  4. Once the hopper is empty, the machine seals it automatically and starts to fill it automatically too, meanwhile:
• The operator pulls the bag to one side and affixes another empty one underneath the hopper.

The company SKALS manufactures these machines in Denmark.

There are several models, see the table to the right:

A stitcher, for sealing and labelling the recently filled bags.

A weighing line, SKALS bagger and FISCHBEIN sack stitcher

A Fischbein stitcher, for sealing and labelling the recently filled bags. To the right is a SKALS weigher

Underneath the packing machine discharge, it is possible to assemble a conveyor belt to move the recently filled bags to a stitcher, which will seal them shut; it can also affix a label to each bag. This extra machinery makes the operator's job a lot easier, and consequently increases capacity.

The company Oldenhuis Prinsen manufactures these machines in the Netherlands.

• B2.30.10 with capacity of:
• 500 bag of 5Kg per hour.
• 350 bag of 10Kg per hour.
• 280 bag of 25Kg per hour.
• 180 bag of 50Kg per hour.
• 1. B.50.10 with capacity of:
  2. 700 bag of 5Kg per hour.
  3. 490 bag of 10Kg per hour.
  4. 420 bag of 25Kg per hour.
  5. 260 bag of 50Kg per hour.