Surrogate Testing Of A Downflow Booth Complete With Integrated Tray Dryer

Walker Barrier Systems was tasked with providing two downflow booths, each with integrated tray dryer (client provision) mounted in the side wall. The booth was to be used for filling trays with wet cake, as well as the dispensing of dried product from the trays into drums using a custom designed “tray dispensing hopper”. As part of the design
process the booth, screen and dryer were mocked up at the client’s site, which allowed users to comment on the process and the ergonomics of the booth. As a consequence, certain aspects of the screen and, in particular the custom hopper, were amended to meet the needs of the operator, namely:

• Screen raise/lower heights amended to better suit operation
• Handles added to screen to aid moving to optimum position
• Glove ports removed from screen and barrier dimensions altered – operator to work under screen rather than with gloveports
• Tray tilt mechanism added to hopper to assist the operator in the dispensing task (also used while trays were being filled)