In order to get fresh food onto the shelves as quickly as possible, it must be processed and packaged quickly. Innovative drive solutions in hygienic design enable packaging machines to offer maximum flexibility for all applications.
How do customers decide which products end up in their shopping trolley when they do their weekly shop? In addition to the price, a Longest possible shelf life a decisive criterion. But how does fresh food get onto the shelves of our discounters so quickly?
Innovative weighing, labelling and packaging systems in the food industry ensure that food can be sent on to supermarkets and other retailers quickly and, above all, safely packaged. Intelligent and highly efficient drive solutions, The machines installed in these systems provide the necessary speed and flexibility. At the same time, they must meet the high requirements of the food industry and ensure hygienic cleaning.
Hygiene is the be-all and end-all
In order to high hygiene requirements in the food sector the drive technology manufacturer Dunkermotoren offers both its rotary brushless DC motors and the high-precision linear motors with special stainless steel housings on. Especially where raw food is portioned, weighed and packaged, hygienic cleaning of the systems is an important prerequisite for their use in practice. Stainless steel is highly resistant in this respect and offers no surface for bacteria and fungi to attack.
The drive design with smooth surfaces enables easy and thorough cleaning. The material is extremely resistant to corrosion and also takes The product will not be damaged by frequent contact with disinfectants or cleaning agents. This makes it particularly suitable for use in food processing.
With the SL 38 STL (Stainless Steel) linear motor series, Dunkermotoren, a brand of Ametek, provides the answer to packaging, filling and transfer systems in the food industry. With an acceleration of over 200 m/s2 the stainless steel solution can maximise the throughput of the respective system and works extremely precisely. In conjunction with special screw connections and hygienic seals, the stainless steel housing enables protection classes up to IP69K and reliably prevents the ingress of splash water during system cleaning.
Configured complete solution
The capabilities of the intelligent BLDC motors are required for maximum flexibility and a changeover to alternative product and packaging formats during ongoing operation. The Motor Control Platform (MCP) allows them to be easily and individually programmed in C with regard to motion profiles and parameters. Thanks to electronics fully integrated into the housing the motors can be completely installed in the packaging system and communicate with the higher-level control system via CANopen or Ethernet interfaces such as EtherCAT, Ethernet/IP and Profinet. The configured complete solution consists of motor, motor electronics, gearbox, encoder and brake and can optionally be installed in a continuous stainless steel housing. This allows the drive to fulfil the hygiene and design requirements in the primary packaging sector.
Compared to slow-running spindle drives the company's linear motors can drastically reduce the manufacturing costs of an end product. Although they are more expensive to purchase than alternative drive concepts, their enormous speed and maximum positioning accuracy ensure maximised throughput in the filling and packaging process, resulting in lower unit costs and competitive prices in the long term.
In addition, the high speed of modern filling and packaging systems enables a shorter throughput time for fresh food products, which means that they can be processed more quickly. end up on the shelves of supermarkets and discounters more quickly. In return, end consumers benefit from a long shelf life and exceptional freshness.
When intelligent BLDC motors with integrated motor electronics are used, smart services from the IIoT brand nexofox enable features such as real-time monitoring and alert management, which can optimise motor operation and minimise signs of wear. Analysing the operating data also makes it possible to Early detection of any maintenance requirements and prevents machine failures, which in the worst case can lead to the loss of entire batches.
Guest article by Stefanie Tröndle, Content Marketing at Dunkermotoren
