Liquid Dosing Tote System

It isn’t unusual for Sterling Systems & Controls to be called in to fix problems with equipment and systems of other brands. One major snack food producer did just that. It was a sizeable project as several dry ingredients and liquid additive systems required retrofitting. Sterling Systems & Controls engineered new process controls and automation to replace the existing panels and systems. Sterling’s recommendations were accepted by the customer almost verbatim. About a third of the work was the addition of a packaged liquid dosing tote system. The liquid dosing tote system consisted of three “mother totes” and the associated pumping and metering. The tote system includes the “mother tote” inside the lower enclosure with a heating blanket (heated tote is optional) 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 mass flowmeters, scale hopper and mixers are further downstream.

In this example, the three (3) liquids in the liquid tote dosing system include the Honey, Molasses and Refiners Syrup. The lower “mother tote” is a Poly Bottle with a food-grade “micropore” 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.
• 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.
• The 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 are clean and wire buffed.

The process control and automation of the three (3) liquid dosing tote system is integrated into one of several new control panels supplied by Sterling Systems & Controls on this upgrade project. While the control panels are not shown here, the screenshot 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.