Mother Totes for System to Dose Liquids
It isn’t unusual for Sterling Systems & Controls to be called in to fix problems with equipment systems of other brands. One major snack food producer did just that and it involved a liquid dosing system. The solution was mother totes for system to dose liquids. This was a sizeable project and included several dry ingredient systems and liquid additive systems needed retrofitting. In this instance, we are speaking about the liquid system, which Sterling Systems also engineered new automation and process controls to replace the competitive panels and systems. Sterling’s recommendations were accepted by the customer almost verbatim, a liquid dosing tote system with “mother” totes that were heated and moveable storage inventory totes that fed the mother totes. The liquids were pumped or dosed out of the mother totes.
About a third of the value of the total work was the addition of a packaged liquid dosing tote system. The liquid dosing tote system consisted of three tote systems and the associated pumping and metering. The tote system includes the “mother” tote inside the lower enclosure with a heating blanket, and the supply tote on top that feeds the mother tote when required. The pumping system is on a rack located next to the totes, and the Coriolis type Flowmeters, scale hopper and mixers are further downstream.
The three (3) liquid dosing tote systems include the following liquids: Honey, Molasses, and Refiners Syrup. The lower “mother tote” is a Poly Bottle with food grade “micro pore” super smooth inside finish. High-efficiency insulation for high concentrations of temperature-sensitive liquids, preset to 90ºF to 110ºF or adjusted as required. Other features and/or specifications include:
- Inner Bottle-poly bottle with food grade ‘Micro-Pore’ super smooth inside finish.
- Full Tube and Transfer Hose– -60” x 2” Clear PVC food grade hi-flex liquid transfer hose with stainless steel couplings.
Tote System with “Mother Tote” and Supply Tote. - Inter-Stack Stand– a 10” stand gives sufficient clearance for the transfer hose, lid access and the remote elevated vent.
- Vent –Elevated remote vent installed on the 10” inter-stack stand
- Valve.-2” full port ball valve with 2” Cam Lock dust cap.
- White Santo-Prene flange gasket.
- Heater-New design 1200 watt, Thermal Cell-all 304 stainless steel.
- Electrical – Standard 110-120 volts “plug in” 15 amp integral heater and thermostat.
- Heater plug-in will be at the rear of the tote.
- Thermostat and Thermowell temperature controlled.
- Adjustable thermostat setting for temperature control at 110°F.
- Lid.-Standard 7” threaded lid with automatic vacuum vent.
- Frame– Full enclosure, all 304L stainless steel, polystyrene high-density R-5 insulation on all four sides. Sight area and calibration label open to view for inventory management.
- All welds clean and wire buffed.
The process control and automation of the mother totes for liquid dosing system is integrated into one of several new control panels supplied by Sterling Systems on this upgrade project. While not shown here, this screen shot shows the main process graphic screen.
The liquid dosing tote systems can be controlled to specific metered amounts or the fluids can be weighed by scale hoppers and pumped to the mixers.