Optimising efficiency, environmental performance, hygiene and cost as well as reducing downtime, saving energy and minimising maintenance, are key drivers of all purchasing decisions throughout the plant. Conveying and internal handling systems are no exception, and selecting the right product for the task brings significant benefits.
To help companies identify the optimum belting solution for any application, Habasit Rossi has recently developed its online belt calculation service. The Habasit SeleCalc programmes can be downloaded from Habasit Rossi’s website and use calculation processes based on advanced engineering principles.
They guide manufacturers to enter all the necessary technical parameters of a given application, including product data, images and process information, and include programmes such as:
Ardo UK has already selected a Habasit Rossi plastic link conveyor belt for its frozen food facility in Kent, which produces frozen vegetables, fruit, pasta and rice. The company’s previous belts on four of its conveyor lines, transferring frozen vegetables in temperatures as low as -5°C, had problems with poor drive and incorrect sprocket engagement. As the temperature in the production facility dropped, water that had become trapped was freezing in between the belt and the sprockets, causing the belt to seize up.
“Habasit Rossi’s solution exceeded our expectations,” says Trevor Sharp, engineering efficiency manager at Ardo UK, which specified the Habasit plastic link conveyor belts, which feature positive drive and sprocket engagement. The open sprocket design of the belt allows water to drain away and not freeze in minus temperatures.
“The Habasit belts last between 12-16 months, whereas competitor’s belts only last between three to four months,” he adds. “We’re pleased with the solution, not only on material costs, but on the reduction of downtime and labour costs.”
“Year on year, food processors are looking for continuous improvement when it comes to performance and efficiency to help control costs,” says Ian Thornham, sales & marketing director, Habasit. “They also need to reduce wastage and downtime, save energy and minimise maintenance, and hygiene issues are always a high priority due to increasingly strict legislation. HyClean is specifically designed to meet the most demanding hygiene requirements, while delivering tangible cost savings and improvements to process and performance.”
The HyClean belting solution features a new sprocket and 2-inch flat-top module, both produced with an advanced hygienic design as well as a cleaning in place (CIP) system that’s said to be far easier to operate.
Conveyor specialist Ammeraal Beltech has worked closely with Hovis, part of Premier Foods, to improve belt performance as part of a major project to upgrade Hovis’ dough handling systems at its Forest Gate bakery.
As the belts operate in close contact with the dough from the time it drops from the divider to when it’s panned-up ready to go into the prover, they’re an integral part of the dough production system.
Hovis worked with Ammeraal Beltech to create a new design of belt that combined the best properties of modular belts (positive drive, ease of fitting and cleaning) with the best qualities of plastic-coated continuous belts (the intrinsic hygiene of plastic coatings and good release).
After testing the pre-production samples of the belts at two points in the dough handling system for six months, the chosen solution was Ultrasync.
“Ultrasync is a marriage of different technologies,” says Graham Hoole, major accounts manager at Ammeraal Beltech. “In order to get the bread dough pieces correctly spaced for efficient baking, the positive drive and tracking of Ultrasync belts are employed. To release these sticky dough pieces from the belt, we use our latest polymer technologies combined with special surface profiles.”
According to Ammeraal Beltech, the new Ultrasync solution gives greater reliability, better tracking, less slippage and improved hygiene, and as the driven side of the new belts stays clean from dough, it ensures less downtime and better reliability.
At Drinktec last year, Iwis Antriebssysteme GmbH introduced new flat-top chains for any conveying tasks that require a flat transport surface, such as for the conveying of glass and plastic bottles, cans, cases, barrels and packing drums in bottling and packing lines.
The Flexon flat-top chains are available in various plastic and stainless steel versions and as linear and curved tracks. Their low-contamination materials are said to fulfil the strict hygiene requirements of beverage plants, and as they have exceptionally low friction coefficients, they’re also very energy efficient.
It isn’t just the choice of belt that makes the difference to plant efficiency – configuration also plays a part.
Sewtec Automation has recently designed and installed a conveying solution at United Biscuits’ McVitie’s production facility in Carlisle for the case packing of flow-wrapped mini variety packs of biscuits. Integrated into the existing packing line, which includes seven flow wrappers, each wrapping a different biscuit type into mini flow-wraps of three biscuits per pack, which are then collated and hand packed into outers, the new conveyor system had to make the hand packing operation more efficient and ergonomic for operators.
According to Sewtec Automation, one important change that was made to the previous operation was positioning the hand packers on the far side of the conveyor rather than inside the line by the flow wrappers. This has created more space for the packers and flow wrapper operators, and enabled the system to function more efficiently.
Cases are taken from an existing Endoline case erector and transferred onto the modular Sewtec belt conveyor, which takes them through to a side flap plough station that holds the flaps open to enable unimpeded placement of the biscuits.
Side belts that are adjustable for speed control the transport of the cases at the required packing rate. The biscuits themselves exit the flow wrappers onto a Sewtec inclined belt transfer and are stacked on tangential conveyors to enable easy collating and counting of the required number of packs for hand-loading into the cartons. Belt speeds can be adjusted to regulate the flow of packs, and a second base conveyor takes away any rejected packs for repacking.
The Sewtec system, which is said to have improved efficiency and reduced manning levels on the line by around 25%, can be used to pack about seven cases a minute, with the flow wrappers operating at up to 110 packs per minute.
Once in place and up and running, any line needs monitoring, and Key Technology has recently developed a new wireless performance monitoring system for its Iso-Flo vibratory conveyors that enables manufacturers to monitor the equipment at any computer workstation.
The new SmartArm system measures and reports speed and stroke to provide real-time analysis of the shaker function, line-flow conditions and trends at a glance, and can be linked to any plant-wide network to deliver line performance data and alerts to remote users.
The SmartArm sensor is mounted on the Iso-Flo’s existing spring arm bracket and operates in environments from -20°C to 70°C. It measures acceleration and reports speed and stroke every 15 minutes, wirelessly transmitting this data to the base station positioned within 90m of each sensor in a non-washdown location and with Ethernet connection to the plant network.
“Using sensors to collect and report equipment and environmental data to plant personnel in an easy-to-use manner is a sign of the future,” says Teri Johnson, marketing manager at Key Technology, which produces Iso-Flo conveyors for distributing product on processing and packaging lines.
Claire Rowan is managing editor of Food & Beverage International magazine. Subscribe here.
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