The leakage problem is solved by using the A.B.S. discharge system Fliess-Ex® in conjunction with the Pneum-Ex®. The Fliess-Ex® ensures optimal flow conditions thanks to low friction at the outlet. If this alone is not enough, the Pneum-Ex® steps in, constantly changing the cone shape with the help of air hoses. This prevents the formation of bridges right from the start.

A complete solution with rectangular, high-strength interior silos made of polyester fabric and accessories ensures optimal use of the existing interior space. Compared to external metal silos, this variant represents significant cost savings. Because the steel frames can be dismantled, the silo system could be assembled in a very small space without opening the building roof. Since a standing filter with a suction pipe was used, the silos made use of the maximum height of the building. One filter is enough for several silos.

A.B.S. installed in the filling line and the silo. Overfill protection installers. These consist of a pinch valve directly after the TW connection, a pressure switch and a full indicator, which are located in the silo lid. These prevent the silo from overfilling and excess pressure when filling. With a single filling line with a TW connection and a switch system, the silos are now filled fully automatically.

• The use of tailor-made rectangular silos makes optimal use of the available space.
• A standing filter installed, as no top-mounted filter was possible due to the building being too low.
• With flexible, dismountable silos, the system can be assembled without covering the hall roof.
• Flexible storage silos with only approx. 30 to 40% of the empty weight of a comparable metal silo place little strain on the hall floor. The foundation is not specially reinforced, which saves the customer considerable costs.
• No condensation and temperature fluctuations inside a flexible silo.
• With the help of the A.B.S. With the Fliess-Ex® and Pneum-Ex®-Systems discharge systems, the stored plastic granulate flows out without any problems.
• Long-term conductive material.

To store the products, the A.B.S. technicians chose flexible inner silos made of coated polyester fabric. Installing it indoors prevents the formation of condensation.

A tailor-made rectangular design of the silos ensures optimal use of the interior space.

The A.B.S. Designers designed a conveyor line so that employees could easily fill the interior silos from the outside. The A.B.S. installed an overfill protection device with a pinch valve directly after the TW connection. Fitters in the filling line and the silo. The silo lid contains a pressure switch and a full indicator. These measures prevent overfilling of the silo and excess pressure when filling.

After the conversion, it was now also possible to fill the silos from the bag loading station via a filling line.

Due to the low height of the hall, it was not possible to place an attachment filter. That’s why A.B.S. installed a filter system with an extraction line with a switch system and a stand filter (jet filter) with an extraction fan. An external control activates this filter system, which prevents the silos from being filled by tank trucks and bag feeding stations at the same time.

The Fluid-Ex discharge system from A.B.S. ensures that the storage products gypsum and quartz sand flow out without any problems. Air is introduced into the product to make it flowable again.

• • • • No condensation formation with flexible inner silos (no temperature fluctuations).
      • By using tailor-made rectangular silos, the available space is optimally utilized.
      • Flexible, dismountable silos enable assembly without covering the hall roof.
      • Since the flexible storage silos only have approx. 30 to 40% of the empty weight of a comparable metal silo, there is little load on the hall floor. This leads to significant savings in the construction of the building.
      • With the help of the A.B.S. Fluid-Ex discharge system, the stored product can be discharged without any problems even after months of storage.
      • Optimal dedusting despite the low hall height.
      • Long-term conductive material.

The A.B.S. designed a fully automatic silo, conveyor and dosing system that doses the precisely specified quantities into the existing conveyor system.
The stock product SBS is still delivered in big bags and emptied via a big bag emptying station. A lump breaker is mounted at the outlet of this emptying station, which destroys the lumps that occur and at the same time doses the material into a pressure conveyor system.

The downstream pneumatic conveying with blow-through lock and switch system now fills two tailor-made fabric silos from A.B.S. each with a volume of 32 m³. The A.B.S. dispensing aid Pneum-Ex® ensures problem-free discharge (without lump formation).

A level detector monitors the filling process of the high-strength silos.

A pressure conveyor system then conveys the SBS plastic from the storage silos through a pipe system into the newly installed dosing silo. The filling level of this silo is controlled by two level detectors, with one detector working as a demand detector. If this detector is not occupied with material, the control automatically activates the conveyor system to fill the A.B.S. dosing silo and deactivates it again when the second detector (full detector) is reached.

A dosing screw fills the weighing container (volume 1.5 m³) from the work silo. Various dosage quantities are stored in a dosing computer and can be accessed as required. A pneumatic slider empties the weighing container directly. In addition, a downstream switch makes it possible to select the production line.

A PLC control with visualization realizes the control of the complete system.

• No structural measures (e.g. opening the hall roof) are necessary to transport the silos to the installation site.
• Flexible silos that can be dismantled keep the assembly effort in the interior of the hall very low.
• Due to the low weight of the silos, no additional foundation work is necessary.
• The use of the A.B.S. Pneum-Ex® system leads to trouble-free leakage from the silos and thus enables the successful storage of the SBS plastic in larger quantities.
• Since silos are now used as storage containers, the time spent working on the system has fallen by 70% and process reliability has increased.
• Since a forklift was needed the entire time to dose the SBS plastic from the big bags, this can now be used for other tasks.
• Long-term conductive material.

• Shorter delivery times by storing different EPS qualities in small fabric silos instead of large solid silos
• Separate storage of the different colors and bulk densities
• Shorter reaction time when producing the molded parts
• Increase product variety
• Dust-free filling
• no loss of quality

A technical advisor from A.B.S. visited the manufacturer at the location and analyzed the spatial conditions. Together with the company, he came to the conclusion that the best solution was to replace the wooden silos with flexible fabric silos as multi-chamber silos. Due to the low weight, 6 instead of 3 storage silos are now available without overloading the hall floor.

The filling line has the A.B.S. Designers equipped with pipe switches and pipe parts so that the larger number of silos can be filled without any problems.

Unlike wooden silos, the conveying air in flexible silos escapes through the silo lid.

This makes dust-free filling possible. For optimal use of space, A.B.S. the tailor-made silos with a rectangular design. In addition, the silos are made from breathable fabric. If necessary, the EPS can now dry and degas. This increases throughput times and shortens delivery times for the molded parts.

The removal takes place using the existing suction conveyor technology. For this interface A.B.S. appropriate suction boxes with multiple connections

• Optimal use of space through many small silos without overloading the hall floor
• Storage of the different colors and qualities of EPS is now possible
• Shorter cycle times in production and therefore significantly shortened delivery times
• Excellent quality thanks to air-permeable fabric – if necessary, the EPS can also dry and degas
• Quick and easy assembly of the dismountable steel structure in the tightest of spaces
• Permanently dissipative material

• Previously, the plastic crates were placed on special pallets and automatically positioned in a storage system in the interim storage facility. Putting the boxes on and securing them took a lot of time, but this should be reduced in the future.
• Cost-effective conversion of the existing assembly station.
• The switch elements tended to form bridges when removed.
• Very easy to use the completely new container system.

The switch elements are transported using flexible containers.

These have an opening in the lid and a Velcro fastener on the spout. Filling is done by a conveyor belt. The optimal size of the containers made it possible to significantly shorten the change cycles in which the full container is removed and an empty container is positioned. This allows the operating staff to operate several machines at the same time. An undercarriage structure was developed for the container, which enables it to be easily inserted into the existing interim storage facility. The container outlet was designed in such a way that a conveyor belt could be placed as a dosing belt between the outlet and the undercarriage structure.

The flexible walls of the containers mean that the molded parts cannot get stuck and bridges form. By choosing the outlet angle and the outlet opening, the material flows out easily. To make handling the containers easier, pull locks were attached to the outlet. Rough dosing was made possible by the outlet angle and the outlet opening.

• The containers have a volume of 1 m³. This eliminates the need to frequently change containers on the injection molding machines. This leads to significant savings in setup times.
• Due to the size of the containers, only one container needs to be replaced during a shift at the assembly station.
• Due to a user-friendly design of the undercarriage structure, no modifications were necessary in the interim storage facility.
• The containers can be moved with the help of a hand pallet truck.
• Because of the special design of the outlet and the outlet gap, the switch elements can be pre-metered there and the metering belt, which conveys the switching elements to the assembly station, can be placed
• Permanently conductive material.

In order to make optimal use of the available space and to enable the planned silo system to be installed without major construction work, the decision was made to use a flexible, tailor-made storage silo from A.B.S. with dismountable steel frame.

The use of a stand filter complies with TA-Luft. This filter is connected to the silo by pipes. The stand filter easily directs the filtered air volume to the outside during filling.

The fabric silo with all attachments stands on load cells that transmit all the relevant data to the dosing computer. Weighing helps to determine the remaining quantities in the silo and visualizes this in the control room. In the extraction weighing principle, the filter material is metered in via the metering screw of the water jet pump.

• Thanks to the use of dismountable flexible silos, the assembly effort in the interior of the existing basement was very low and therefore no roof had to be opened for assembly.
• Additional foundation work is not necessary as the silos have a low weight.
• Continuous level monitoring takes care of the weighing.
• The most modern computer technology and the complete weighing of the silo system ensure a problem-free connection of the existing overall system control with the dosage control.
• Cost advantages of the flexible silo compared to previously used stainless steel silos of approx. 30 to 40%.

• Quick material emptying for short downtimes of the delivering trucks
• Dust-free filling process of the silos
• Outgassing of the delivered polystyrene, as it has not yet completely degassed due to the short storage time at the manufacturer.
• Continuous feeding of the polystyrene to the vacuum press with high dosing accuracy
• Low and therefore cost-effective operation and maintenance effort

The customer decided to invest in a fully automatic system with flexible internal silos (as a storage silo and as a work silo) for handling the polystyrene.

The tailor-made A.B.S. storage silo made of polyester fabric is equipped with a complete filter structure so that the conveying air escapes dust-free. In order to prevent electrostatic charging of the polystyrene, the A.B.S. designers rely on fabric with carbon thread.

To ensure quick emptying, a pneumatic suction pressure conveyor system was used, which sucks the polystyrene from the truck’s inliner and conveys it into the silos.

The fabric silos from A.B.S. are made from high-strength and air-permeable technical textiles. This makes it possible to degas the freshly foamed Styrofoam. A climate exchange is also possible with this fabric in order to dissipate any moisture that may accumulate to the outside.

The downstream process of burning is approximately 200 m away. That’s why the A.B.S. fitters install another flexible work silo as an intermediate silo. This work silo is equipped with level indicators to ensure an appropriate filling level. The material is then gently and continuously fed into the further production process via a dosing screw.

A PLC control regulates the entire system, where every work step starts automatically immediately via a touchscreen.

• Large storage capacity with little space requirement thanks to tailor-made fabric silos
• Cost-effective storage of the lightweight aggregate
• Short cycle times for the delivery of the polystyrene
• Low weight of the high-strength and breathable A.B.S. fabric silos
• High and consistent dosing accuracy of the dosing screw
• Easiest operation with fully automatic function sequence
• Minimal operating and maintenance effort
• Excellent system safety
• Reliable delivery and implementation
• Permanently dissipative material