Machine for opening bales of paper and cardboard

With the help of a bale opener/bale breaker pressed bales of different materials can be opened so that further processing is possible.

The bale opener is suitable for opening many different bales even very hard-pressed bales made of the following materials:

• Paper
• Cardboard
• Mineral wool
• PET Bottles 
• Plastic Bottles
• Foodstuff plastic
• All kinds of pressed material

Application and functioning of a bale opener

A bale breaker opens the highly compressed bales completely so that the material is ideally prepared for the next step could be dissolution in the pulper. This creates no loud and disturbing noises in the factory.

The paper bales are transported to the hopper of the bale opener via a conveyor belt or using a forklift. The volume of the hopper can range from two to 20 cubic meters depending on the model. The ACA bale breaker for paper and cardboard is made to fit the customers’ needs and wishes.

The compressed paper pieces and cardboard are rotated by a screw and moved against each other so that the individual pieces are separate from each other. At the same time, the waste paper is being led out of the hopper by the screw in a constant stream during this process. Like the hopper volume, the number of screws also depends on the size and model of the machine. There are models with two, four, six, eight and ten screws. The size is decided by the customer.

In addition to the hopper volume and the number of screws, the mobility of the models differs: there are both stationary devices for long-term use at a permanent location and mobile bale openers that can be easily moved to different locations.

Efficiency

The fact is that the bales of paper are already open and no longer compressed when they reach the pulper. The loose material results in a 30% saving in the subsequent pulper. This makes a bale opener particularly efficient in continuous operation.

To ensure continuous operation and prevent interruption, downtime is avoided by various factors. On the one hand, the machine is large and its weight is up to 20 tons, making it less sensitive to disturbances.

Furthermore, the torque of each screw is 13,000 Newton meters, which is high, especially with the slow speed of 15 revolutions per minute. The high torque ensures that the opener is less susceptible to paper jams and clogging.

In addition, the device is reversed immediately in the event of an overload, so that disruptions caused by the machine continuing to run despite an overload can be prevented.

Another reason for the great efficiency of a bale opener is that only the bales of paper, cardboard, and corrugated cardboard come into contact, while the movable parts of the device do not come into contact with each other. This results in low wear and a correspondingly high lifespan. In addition, expenses for replacement parts that would be incurred in addition to the acquisition costs are thus spared to the operators. Thus, the use of the device is also cost-efficient, which ensures that the acquisition costs are recouped within a reasonable short period.

Finally, both money and resources are saved due to the thirty percent saving and the overall high efficiency.

In which industries is a bale opener useful?

The industry in which bale openers are primarily used to open paper, cardboard, or corrugated cardboard is the paper processing industry. All companies that process waste paper can benefit from the use of the machine.

Some devices dissolve bales made of PET, so the bale opener can also be used in the processing of plastic bottles and foodstuff plastic.