Precleaning Equipment
Receiving Pit
The receiving pit is equipped with a surge hopper, a rack and pinion gate, flared auger and overflow chute to regulate the flow of field run almonds into the precleaner. The flared trough is designed so that if an obstacle, such as a large rock or a piece of firewood, plugs the pit auger the obstacle can be removed without the necessity of removing all the almonds from the pit. Incorporating the surge hopper provides dwell time for operators when changing trailers to keep the precleaner in production.
Unloading Conveyor
The unloading conveyor is a great solution for customers that receive high quantities of firewood, large rock and firewood. It is built with a 5'-0" wide chain and sprocket driven belt and utilizes an electric power pack that controls the hydraulic support legs to raise and lower the belt to belly dump trailers.
Stickreel
The stickreel is the first piece of separation machinery designed to removed large sticks and rock from field run almonds. By using a specifically sized chain from the potato processing industry, inhull product falls through the chain and onto the next piece of machinery while large debris rides over the chain and is removed from the system. Available in widths of 60” and 72”.
Sandscreen
Following the large stick removal, the field run almonds pass onto a sandscreen to remove dirt, sand, and other fine foreign material. The sandscreen is equipped with uniform pocket sections directly under the wire mesh screen with self cleaning balls. The drive of the screen and spring locations are fixed to provide the G force for the balls to activate and keep the openings of the screen from plugging. The sand and fine dirt discharge into the trash conveyor and are carried to the dirt house.
Detwigger
The removal of small sticks and stems is accomplished by the detwigger. This machine uses a shaker gearbox with a ultra-high molecular weight plastic screen that allows the product to gently fall through the screen and forces sticks to carry over. The detwigger also uses a top belt to convey the sticks off the screen.
Destoner
The destoner is the final piece of machinery to be used in the precleaner system that removes rocks and stones from inhull almonds. The destoner uses a shaker deck and top air aspiration to create a density separation which causes heavy material like rocks and stones to travel up the shaker deck and onto the discharge conveyor. Meanwhile the inhull almonds, being the lighter material, fall down the destoner’s shaker deck and have completed the precleaning process.
