Food Manufacturing

Safety for lolly sticks

Whether fruit flavours or ice cream with chocolate frosting, many people enjoy the refreshing taste of an ice lolly in the summer. This classic favourite was first patented over 90 years ago in the United States. At that time, the ice cream was still laboriously placed into moulds by hand and provided with a stick.

18th May 2016

Rugged stainless steel interlock switches

Fortress Interlocks is launching a new range of rugged stainless steel interlock switches for demanding applications such as those in the food, beverage, pharmaceutical and chemical processing industries. These new interlocks are also suitable for outdoor use. Manufactured from 316 stainless steel and modular in design, the amGardS40 range can be configured to suit many industrial applications.

18th May 2016

Eaton"s automation technology for grain processing

Regardless of whether it is wheat, barley, rapeseed, maize or sunflower seeds - the methods used to process grain are similar. Consequently, the systems manufactured by Getreide-Fulliners Neuero Farm- und Fördertechnik are able to process a variety of cereals. When the company was planning a complex project in Romania, the automation technology needed to be optimised. Eaton’s control systems, control units and electronic motor starters played a key role in this. These components helped Neuero to develop compact, reliable and long-lasting systems.

28th April 2016

Kollmorgen AKD servo drive range expanded

The recently launched 48A continuous current versions of Kollmorgen's AKD and AKD-BASIC servo drives are available from Heason Technology. Through seamless integration with the Kollmorgen Automation Suite and high-performance Kollmorgen servo motors, the advanced AKD-series Ethernet-based servo drives now cover continuous output power up to 32kW in a range of single and three-phase models - offering flexible and expandable large-scale automation system for high precision and high throughput multi-axis motion and machine control. Similar high-power performance is available with the Kollmorgen AKD-BASIC variant which offers integrated machine and motion control for 1-5 axes. With BASIC programming and all the control functions located within the drive, there is no need for a separate PLC for many applications - facilitating faster time to market and reducing wiring and space.

27th April 2016

Conceptual idea becomes a working product in two months

When Sly Agri, the UK specialist agricultural machinery manufacturer, was looking for a set of bearings that would assure reliability in the field, with constant knocks, shimmies and shakes and a whole load of mud thrown in, without any maintenance, the company turned to Igus.

23rd April 2016

Drives reduce energy, and cut maintenance and ammonia discharge

A sewage treatment works operated by Anglian Water has halved its aerator energy costs, reduced maintenance and cut ammonia to almost zero levels following the installation of an ABB variable-speed drive. The drive was installed on a 4 kW sewage aerator at the Swallow unmanned treatment works in Lincolnshire.

23rd April 2016

Resistant ECO2 air actuators open up new applications

ContiTech is extending its air actuator product range. The company claims to be the first manufacturer in the world to offer air actuators made of an ECO compound with improved resistance to chemicals and environmental influences. The new ECO2 air actuators can now also be used in applications in which they are exposed to lubricating oils, corrosive vapors, and alkalis. One potential area of application, among many, is the paper industry. Verena Weiss, head of the Industry segment at ContiTech Air Spring Systems explains: "Our ECO2 air actuators are ideally suited to the specific demands of this environment."

21st April 2016

FANUC'S new CR-7IA collaborative robot at Foodex

Pop along to the FANUC/Abar Automation stand at this year's Foodex Show to be issued with a free can of soft drink personally handed to visitors by FANUC's collaborative robot - the CR-7iA. Based on FANUC's first mass produced collaborative robot - theCR-35iA - this new robot has a payload of 7kg and the mechanics correspond to that of the company's popular LR Mate-series.

14th April 2016

Advanced liquid level transmitter for sanitary tank gauging

MTS Sensors is extending its LP-Series of liquid level transmitters by introducing the Level Plus SoClean level transmitter. Based on the company's proprietary Temposonics magnetostrictive technology, these accurate and robust devices are targeted specifically at sanitary tank applications within the pharmaceutical and food/beverage industries - such as bottle filling, blending tanks, bioreactors, buffer mix tanks, etc. Their innovative 3-IN-1 measurement function allows product level, interface level and an average product temperature to all be simultaneously determined. They have a +/-1mm inherent position accuracy and a +/-0.1degC temperature accuracy.

13th April 2016

Electric versus pneumatics

There are new electric actuators on the block pumping up the volume, while pneumatics remain steadfast. The experts at Endoline offer their advice on when to use one over the other.

23rd March 2016

Products