Eric Russell looks at new pumps that are designed for cost effective and careful handling of such high-viscosity or delicate products.
Food processing equipment often has to be able to cope with delicate products that can be easily damaged by heavy handling. Pumping of liquids is one example where products such as cheese whey can be easily separated by the action of conventional pumps.
Other examples include emulsions and dispersions; the gelatin fruit spheres in fruit juice, which are extremely delicate and shear sensitive; and sugar crystals. Many pumps will also destroy the solid particulates in such ingredients as fruit slices, whole fruit, pie fillings, diced vegetables and pasta.
This mechanical destruction of ingredients and products can mean wastage due to inferior quality when finished goods do not turn out as expected. And this includes the mouthfeel of foods, which is partly dependent on the particle size and consistency of the product.
To cover this situation, APV, part of Invensys, has launched two new pumps that are designed for cost effective and careful handling of such high-viscosity or delicate products.
The company says that the gentle pumping action of the DW range of pumps ensures minimum damage to particles. There is also the option of fitting thermal jackets to the pumps. These can be used to heat or cool the pump chamber prior to product entry so it matches the temperature of the incoming product. They also help maintain a constant temperature, all of which can prevent damage to sensitive products by insulating them from sharp changes in temperature.
The two new products, the DW3 and DW4, feature a larger displacement than previous models. The DW3 has a displacement of 50litres/100 revs at a pressure of 5.0bar, and the DW4, a displacement of 125litres/100revs.
They are certified to EHEDG and 3A sanitary standards, with all seal materials in accordance with FDA approval. The DW pump (Fig. 1) has been designed for easy maintenance and features a front loaded shaft seal whether the pump is fitted with the standard single mechanical seal (Silicon Carbide/Carbon) or the optional flush version (Silicon Carbide/Silicone Carbide). All seals can be easily changed without having to disconnect the pump housing or pipe work and there is also easy access to other key components such as the gearbox.
Specialist spreader
Very specialist equipment is manufactured by Deighton Manufacturing with its butter spreading machines. The Spreadmatic range provides automated spreading of product onto bread and has been designed to cater for every level of sandwich production from the smallest to the largest manufacturer.
The Retail version has a throughput of 1000 slices per hour and the Commercial, 3000 slices per hour. Deighton Manufacturing says Spreadmatics are the ideal introduction to automated sandwich production. Both models offer the sandwich manufacturer the opportunity to cut spreading costs by up to 80percent, whilst the Commercial Spreadmatic also has the additional benefit of accommodating both sliced breads and soft rolls.
The needs of larger manufacturers are catered for with the Industrial Spreadmatic with throughput of 6000 slices per hour. Also suitable for both sliced breads and soft rolls, the double lane model spreads two slices simultaneously, making it the ideal model for integration into a sandwich production line.
All models can be installed either as stand alone tabletop equipment or integrated into fully automated systems with the addition of the company's customised conveyor lines. Machines provide accurate portion control, variable spread adjustment and are simple to operate and maintain. They reduce production times and spreading costs and are suitable for different bread heights, soft rolls and sliced breads.They are cost effective for producers of 500 sandwiches per day upwards and are ideal for dedicated sandwich manufacturers, hospitals, universities, in-house and airline caterers.
Specialist designs
Lambert Engineering says it has accumulated vast experience as a designer and manufacturer of specialist machinery for the food industry worldwide since its foundation in 1973. This means it has the specialist knowledge to understand and meet the specific design requirements of the food industry.
The company says its close association with food manufacturers worldwide means it is constantly dealing with manufacturing priorities. So designs incorporate such features as clean-in-place, germ free smooth welded joints, elimination of cavities, angled dust reducing structures, metal detecting, conveyor belt cleaning with catchment trays, good ground clearance for easy cleaning and keeping mechanisms below the product.
One example is its fruit gum production line which processes two tonnes of sweets per hour, equivalent to more than one million fruit gums.
It consists of a 9.5m long elevating conveyor with belt tracking, a gravity spreader chute with adjustable grading roll assembly to divert thick or deformed sweets, reject conveyor, bucket elevator and 4.3m long oiling drum with variable speed drum rotation and motorised drum angle adjustment.
Parts in contact with the product are the food quality conveyor belt, food quality plastic elevator buckets and oiling drum fins. All other parts are manufactured from 304 or 316 stainless steel. Total length of the line is 18.73m.
Packaging
One of the company's packaging machines is fed by stacks of trays containing products that are placed on a conveyor and the trays are taken one at a time from the stack and fed into the machine. The trays are automatically emptied and the empties are then ejected and stacked for operator removal. The product is formed into two rows by linear traversing of the tray so that two rows at a time can be transferred onto linear conveyors.A servo driven cam escapement system then allows a pre-determined quality of the product to be moved onto an overhead pusher conveyor for transfer by a rotary gripper table into a second overhead pusher assembly which, by means of servo motors, is speed matched to feed a standard bagger supplied by others.
The whole system is PLC controlled and has seven servo systems and, when feeding 14 parts per bag, operates at 1400parts/minute.
Recently, Lambert Engineering's design department capability in 3D design has been enhanced. To broaden the existing 3D design platform, which comprised Inventor, Mechanical Desktop and Solid Edge, six seats of Solid Works have been installed together with a comprehensive programme of advanced training.
On the control system front, the company uses PLCs and multi axis servo drives. Lamberts also says that applications for cutting web materials are becoming more demanding. Lasers are now being reviewed and adopted as a solution in these applications.
