The compaction table industry is alive and well at Martin Engineering. This past year there were three major size compaction tables built, tested, and shipped to different parts of the country.

First, the table of great weight, 4,000 lbs load capacity, was required by the Denver Mint. The requirement was to compact blanks in tote bins. No big deal until we reviewed the table requirements, which called for a chain-pulled cart to run under the table, thus, requiring a special frame to support the load. Then the top had to have a special guide to position the tote bin. This configuration upset the natural balance of the table top, which required a special sized air bag to lift and clean the chain-pulled cart and support the load during compaction. Electric vibrators were chosen to move the parts within the tote bins.

The second compaction table was a special in its small size, 24 x 24 square, to compact a 250 lbs. load. The compaction required an NTK55. A minimal height of the table was required; thus, the smallest lift and diameter air bags were used. An air control unit was installed to provide air at the required pressure to operate the vibrator and lift the load for vibration. Mission accomplished. The Unit shipped to our customer and then to the final installation overseas.

The third was the Grand-Daddy of Martin Engineering’s Vibratory Tables to date: three sections tied together to work in unison to compact a special molded part for Boeing Aircraft Company. The top was ground for a special finish. The welded construction had to support loads up to 3,000 lbs with minimum deflection of .0017 per section and have the capability of leveling each section independently. Again a special control panel was designed to operate the vibrators to compact the load within the special mold, which was bolted to the table top. A special passageway through the frameworks had to be provided for maintenance on the motors and weight adjustments for different frequencies of different loads.

At Martin Engineering we can assist you in developing a compaction table to suit your customer’s needs. Please send your request for our technical support people to review and advise the best means to solve a compaction challenge.

Compaction Tables – Custom designed to meet specific manufacturer needs, these tables can be flat or nested. These tables are versatile and can solve a wide variety of processing problems.  

Flat Deck Tables – These types of tables are well suited for general industry such as compacting materials, removal of entrapped air, consolidating concrete, vibration testing and for food processing and packaging. They can be designed with pneumatic or electric vibrators to meet your specific requirements. 

Nested Tables – These types of tables can be used with single or double conveyor systems.  They are noted for quickly compacting contents like molds, boxes, drums and other containers.

The type of industries that use vibration tables are foundries, concrete, chemical and bulk materials and food processing.

It is common for material flow problems to occur in bins, hoppers, and silos. Many of these problems are caused by a high level of friction between the material and the bin wall, and high cohesive strength within the material. When examining wall friction take into account the wall angle, wall material, smoothness, temperature, moisture, corrosion, abrasive wear, and the time the material remains at rest in the cone where the problem exists. Also the cohesiveness is affected by material properties, including moisture content.

When material flow problems occur solving these problems is essential for efficient production and accurate material inventory management. The key to solving these problems is to employ an industrial electric vibrator. Electric bin vibrators are used to break the friction between wall and material, as well as material cohesiveness, to promote material flow from the bin.

Industrial vibrators when properly selected offer an effective and high value solution. Martin Vibration Systems can provide with that solution. We offer many designs in vibration technology to fit your unique situation.

Problem:

A Brazilian customer was having trouble loading lime into tank trucks. Material was not flowing into the trucks and fill completely without air pockets or gaps.

Situation:

They tried to solve the problem by driving the filled trucks around the factory three times for the material to compact. Finally realizing, that this process of stopping to fill the trucks, driving them around and then fill again was not the most efficient method

Solution:

To solve the problem, Martin Vibration installed their NTS 50/40 with a VAC-MOUNTâ„¢ 20 on the trucks.

The result is they can fill their tank trucks in a third of the time it previously took and without driving around. Their trucks used to be filled with 26 tons of material, now they are pouring 27 tons. This method is more productive and time efficient.

Martin Vibration compaction tables improve production time by quickly settling material.  Vibrating tables allow more material to flow into smaller containers therefore less air in packaging.  They reduce overflow and spillover waste at filling stations.  Use any of our standard tables or we can custom build one for you to fit any production configuration.

Vibrating tables are often critical components of production and industrial flow systems. Hoppers, bins, feeders, and packaging systems can all benefit from vibration.

1. Improve product flow and consistency. Vibration breaks the friction between materials and allows them to flow freely. This benefit will save money by reducing product loss caused by build up in hopper, clogging or jams in line, overspill and other material flow problems.

2. Safer Work Environment. Martin Vibrators are less noisy as traditional industrial vibrators. Most operate below OSHA noise standards therefore reducing hearing damage. Since vibrators eliminate clogs in bins and hoppers, employees are not at risk clearing these clogs.

3. Improves Packaging. Vibration compacts bagged material, therefore more tight fitting bagged material for shipping.

4. Improves production time and lowers labor costs. No more wasted labor hours. Time spent cleaning and unclogging will now be used toward more productive, value added tasks.

5. Eliminate waste. Martin vibrations systems helps to eliminate waste in most material flow systems by reducing clogs and waste by improving accuracy, consistency and quality of your material flow systems.

Getting bulk material to flow readily can be a costly challenge. In some applications, bulk powder, granular material and liquids are combined to create a thick slurry. Getting this thick slurry to flow consistently depends on the angle of your discharge and the thickness of your mixture.

One example of potential flow problem is with concrete. Most problems with concrete occur when the concrete is discharged from the mix trucks. Two common problems with concrete flow is the strength of the mixture and the friction between the mixture and the material it flows thru.

To ensure a smooth flow, an industrial vibrator is used. Industrial vibrators produce several pounds of force into the material to promote and maintain a constant concrete flow. An efficient and effective vibrator is the MARTIN® WHIRLWIND™ High-Frequency Turbine Vibrator. It produces more power with less noise than any other high-force/high-frequency pneumatic turbine vibrator. Units mount easily to cradle lug brackets or rail car wedge brackets, and operate quietly to meet OSHA noise requirements.

Martin Vibration Systems & Solutionsis the original industrial vibrator company and the inventor of the ball vibrator over 50 years ago. Since then we have pioneered the development and application of industrial vibrators. 

Martin has solved thousands of material handling problems in a variety of industries, including Pharmaceutical, Foundry, Bakery, Foods and Chemical.

We have over 3000 industrial vibrator models to suit every material handling need. Our vibrators are available in pneumatic, electric and hydraulic power.  We’re experienced in virtually all industries and have solved thousands of material handling problems.

The use of vibration to enhance the movement and storage of bulk solids has been around since solids were first handled as bulk commodities.

Problem:

A Jellybean manufacturer in Minnesota hoped to increase productivity by replacing antiquated vibration equipment with new equipment for shaking the product to provide the proper settling of contents before shipping.

Situation:

Old and outdated packaging assemblies were reconstructed to both streamline their candy packaging processes and to conserve energy with their new “go green” business objective.

Solution:

MARTIN® TAP & PAC™ Compacting Vibrators gave this confectioner the ability to independently control their speed and amplitude and provided the energy efficiency they were hoping to achieve. The wash-down safe construction coupled with lubrication free operation of these compacting vibrators have revolutionized their packing processes.