Bowl Inverter

The Rheo Bowl Inverter is a robust machine that is designed to help operators safely transfer materials out of bowls by fulling inverting the bowls to remove the contents with limited operator interaction. Safety, containment, and productivity are all addressed with this simple to use machine.

Safety: The Rheo Bowl Inverter addresses the ergonomic risk factors of hand scooping out of bowls.

Containment: The Rheo Bowl Inverter can be used to achieve various levels of containment from simply containing visible dust to creating a completely closed transfer system.

Productivity: The Rheo Bowl Inverter has multiple flow aid options which can be customized for specific product properties to prevent bridging and ratholing and to increase the flow rate. Rheo can conduct material flow testing prior to the machine design to come up with the best combination of flow aids for a particular project.

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Bowl Inverter

See the Rheo Bowl Inverter in action in this video!

Features

The Bowl Inverter has several benefits when implemented in the manufacturing process:

Multiple Discharge Heights
Ergonomic Product Transfer
Efficient Product Transfer
Easy to Clean

Simple Controls
Low Maintenance
Customizable Flow Aids
Reduced Cycle Time

Common Specifications [customized per application]

Load Capacity	2,200 lbs [1,000 kg]
Discharge Height	customized per application up to 84 inches [2130 mm]
Material of Construction	304 stainless steel frame structure, 316 stainless steel funnel and product contact surfaces
Surface Finish	Product Contact Area: 25 µin [0.64 µm] Ra with ground and polished welds Non-Product Contact Area: 35 µin [0.89 µm] Ra with smooth welds as laid
Utility	Air Supply: 90 PSIG [6.2 bar], 35 SCFM [1000 L/min] clean, compressed air Electric: 480 VAC, 3 Phase, 60 Hz All-Pneumatic and All-Electric (Plug-In) Utility Options Available
Controls	momentary push button controls on wash-down control pendant
Hazardous Rating	configurable for use in Hazardous Locations: Class I Divisions 1 and 2 [ATEX Zones 1 and 2] or Class II Divisions 1 and 2 [ATEX Zones 21 and 22]

Customizable

The Rheo design library and fast track design services allow our team to efficiently tailor our products to meet the specific requirements of each application. During the design phase, the Rheo engineering team analyzes the application to develop a custom and comprehensive material handling solution. By using standard options as well as custom-designed features, a GMP operator centric design can be achieved. Load capacity, bowl size, discharge height, and discharge reach are all easily customized to fit a specific application.

Mounting Configurations

The Rheo Bowl Inverter can be configured with four different mounting styles to best fit the specific application.

Fixed Mount Standard Bowl Inverter – This bolt down design is made for permanent or semi-permanent installation into concrete or steel flooring. The floor mount provides increased stability for high loads. The bowl must be raised before the receiving vessel is pushed into place below the bowl.
Fixed Mount Rotating Bowl Inverter – This bolt down design is made for permanent or semi-permanent installation into concrete or steel flooring. The floor mount provides increased stability for high loads. A slewing column allows the bowl to be loaded in one position and then the machine can be rotated into position over the discharge point. The slewing column rotation can be powered or manual with brake.

Power Configurations

The Rheo Bowl Inverter hydraulic drive system has two power configuration options available.

Pneumatically-powered Hydraulic: This option is the simplest design if compressed air is available. Compressed air is used to power a hydraulic pump which provides pressure to hydraulic cylinders and hydraulic motors.
Plug-in Electric: This option is the most common configuration because of the speed that it can provide. The Bowl Inverter can be configured to use any voltage input and the motors can be sized to deliver the desired speed. This configuration is often coupled with a compressed air input to run some of the components but all-electric is also an option. This configuration can either use a hydraulic pump to power hydraulic cylinders and hydraulic motors or an electric motor can drive a ball screw and rotary actuator.

Options

A variety of options are available for the Rheo Bowl Inverters to ensure the final product meets the application needs.

The following are a selection of the options available:

Various Discharge Aids [including vibrator, interval impactor, and bridge breaker]
Discharge Valve Types [including manual or pneumatic butterfly valve, rotary valve, dosing valve, iris valve, and split valve]
Sight Glass [for viewing inside the funnel]
Inflatable Seal [provides a tight seal to eliminate powder leakage]

180 Degree Bowl Inversion

The Bowl Inverter utilizes an actuation system that allows the bowl to invert a full 180 degrees. Smooth rotation and simple operator controls allow the rotation to be stopped and started in any given position.

Cleanability

All exposed surfaces on the Bowl Inverter can be fully washed-down for cleaning. Most exposed surfaces are stainless steel, with the exception of some small plumbing components.