Moving along with the times

In recent years, many innovations have focused on energy conservation, for instance through ‘intelligent’ switchon/switch-off mechanisms or more resource efficient conveyor cleaning systems that use half the water of previous operations. Often, systems developers are looking to reduce complexity, while also boosting interoperability.

The German Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association, which is a section within the VDMA – the German Engineering Federation – sees a trend towards multi-purpose machinery that can handle a broad range of products cost efficiently. There is also a move towards smaller batch sizes. Professor Dirk Biermann, Head of Dortmund University’s Institute for Machining Technology says: “The demand is for machines suitable for handling small batch sizes, coping with several different processes and ideally providing options for complete machining.”

There is increasing interest in ‘machine vision’ – sensors and cameras picking up problems instantly on production lines and preventing waste, damage and even recalls, he notes.

“It’s all about industrial process monitoring, using sensors and thermal imaging cameras for process monitoring and quality assurance,” a spokesman for the European Machine Vision Association explains.

With more and more options available, customisation is key, and conveying equipment companies are increasingly adding new elements as customers demand them. One example is Britain’s Conveyor Systems, which was called in recently by boiler manufacturer Vaillant to reconfigure and relocate one of its three existing packaging conveyor lines. It also had to modify the logistical control software to handle an additional product.

Vaillant’s heavy-duty system has been adjusted to transport a new central heating boiler on a polystyrene base to a position that allows for quick and safe packaging in an 875mm high board sleeve prior to banding.

The product is then transferred down an inclined conveyor to a low-level gravity conveyor for packaging. Then the load is moved on to a powered roller conveyor where an automatic stopper spaces the product out before continuing on to the bander for binding and strapping.

Why did the line need to be changed? The answer lies in the new condensing boilers which the EU now stipulates must be installed once old boilers reach the end of their working lives.

“These are lighter than the older, heavier boiler,” a Conveyor Systems spokesman tells Packaging Today. “They are also a different size and shape, which alters the packaging.”

The magic here is integration of modules, he explains. “You can often use standard components but the secret is getting them to work together.”

Interoperability is likely to feature heavily at Interpack 2011, in Düsseldorf this spring. For example, Econocorp will be showing its new improved Spartan Cartoner, a heavy-duty horizontal, intermittent motion machine designed to accommodate up to 2,400 cartons/hour. The company emphasises that the discharge end has now been made flush so it is easier to move the cartons to the outfeed conveyor.

Birmingham, UK, based Ishida Europe, which will also be exhibiting at Interpack, recently installed three complete packing lines for Spanish meat producer Embutidos F Martinez that have eliminated human handling and speeded up the conveying process. Sensors at the machine’s infeed conveyor check the length of any passing object. If the length is incorrect – for instance, involving a skewed or foreign tray – the belt stops automatically, allowing the operator to fix the problem and restart the belt without delay. Because of the high degree of automated weighing and checking, the lines are able to move packs through at a far faster rate than when portions of sticky meat were weighed and packed by hand.

Another recent Ishida installation, also for meat products, was for French supplier André Bazin. The new line not only had to pack bags and trays for the ready meals sector, it was also expected to help produce flat-bottomed bags of varying sizes from 100g to 1kg for the company’s retail sector.

What Ishida produced was an infeed conveyor, multihead weigher, checkweigher and metal detector. The infeed conveyor delivers the product straight from the freezing process to the top of the weigher. A self-tuning feeder vibration system continually moves the product flow efficiently, assisted by a loadcell fitted under the dispersion table that regulates product infeed. According to Ishida, the process from bag maker to thermoformer takes just 15 minutes, including washdown.

US manufacturer Vac-u-Max expanded into Europe a year ago after meeting European standard (CE) safety certification. Given the drive for greater economy and efficiency, what can it offer the EU market?

One of its success stories involves an American print supplies company that packages remanufactured laser toner cartridges. The company was having problems loading a new filling machine accurately and cleanly with toner. Carrying this out by hand was messy and slow. The solution was a vacuum-conveying system drawing the toner from drums at floor level into a flared tube receiver, and then discharging it into the filling machine automatically. A special internal dust filter prevents the toner from leaving the vacuum receiver during transfer. The filter is cleaned during each discharge cycle using a shaking method, which is said to ensure its efficiency.

Keeping the size of conveying systems down is likely to become increasingly important as industries try to fit more production into existing premises. German pharmaceuticals company Schering called on conveying manufacturer Gerhard Schubert to design and install a system to handle pill wallets from start to finish. As well as being compact, the conveying system had to be able to spot with pinpoint accuracy any wallet short of the stated number of pills, and prevent wallets from being folded inaccurately.

The system relies heavily on robots, with a sensor system to verify wallets on the line contain the correct tablets once they have been folded. Only when this has been verified do the finished packs proceed to a further robot for placing on a film-wrapping machine conveyor.

The machine, which can push through at least 330 wallets/min, takes up 2.5m x 13m of floor space. It also includes a laser printer and labeller.

Single file accumulation

Sidel has introduced a single file accumulation solution - a flexible and ergonomic system for all types of applications.

The AQ-File conveyor can be used for the accumulation of a wide range of containers, both filled and empty, regardless of the material used, particularly those with complex shapes that are not suitable for mass accumulation. It can be used on bottling lines with speeds of less than 30,000 bottles/hour, for all types of industries: wine and spirits, liquid dairy products, food, home and personal care, for example.

The AQ-File was developed with a simple operating principle and an open design. It is composed of a horizontal chain that winds around a wheel mounted on a mobile carriage. Accumulation is carried out by varying the length of the accumulation chain: the carriage moves back to create accumulation and advances to discharge the containers. AQ-File therefore operates without transfer and with just a single chain.

The simple design of the conveyor, based on the principle for a standard single file conveyor, offers optimal accessibility for all of its components, at chest height, in contrast with spiral or shielded solutions. It is also said to guarantee easy, limited maintenance.

Thanks to the simplicity of its operating principle, the AQ-File conveyor is suited to multi-format applications, and it handles format changeovers with minimal adjustment.

It can be easily integrated into all existing lines, says Sidel, and it interfaces with any single-file conveyor. Fully adaptable to specific requirements, it is available in lengths from 10 to 50m and in variable configurations: from one to three modules in parallel, in straight or L configuration.

A vacuum inverter from Proline Engineering was replaced with a can slide on the washer infeed at Ball Packaging Europe’s La Ciotat plant, enabling the customer to save energy costs. Proline Conveyor Systems’ redesigned conveying system can now handle boiler manufacturer Vaillant’s newest condensing boilers. Conveyor Systems In this waste-saving installation by Conveyor Systems, any case of biscuits not conforming to the identity barcode specifications is rejected by a pusher transfer onto a side reject lane to be checked. Conveyor Systems 2