More success stories from the most diverse applications which partners Micromech Systems and Parker has been supporting for food processing equipment and packaging machinery manufacturers.

Sponge cake and waffle machine

A manufacturer of machinery for the production of waffles faced customers complaining about too many defective products. The cause of these many rejects was due to complicated cutting processes of the dry and brittle waffle products resulting in product breakage.

In close co-operation with engineers they developed a mechatronic solution using a highly dynamic electro thrust cylinder pushing the product through a fixed cutting grid. Thanks to the special motion profile of the cylinder the breakage rate could be considerably reduced. The solution was made possible via decentralised servo drives, which can be seamlessly integrated into the customer’s proven control architecture using Profibus. The next problem was to tackle the inevitable waffle dust in order to prevent it from entering the body of the electro thrust cylinder. Parker developed an application specific sealing system with air purge at the thrust rod outlet for this customer.

This simple but effective modification resulted in shorter cycle times, a dramatically reduced number of rejects and an increased total plant efficiency due to more than 43,000 precisely controlled double strokes per day.

The much shorter cycle times and considerably reduced product wastage meant the manufacturers customers were very happy, the successful upgrade of the new machine expanded their market and as a result all are delighted with the outcome.

Micromech is Parker’s motion partner and can offer a bespoke solution to meet all of your motion control needs, for more information contact Alan Spinks on 01376 333333 or alan@micromech.co.uk

‘Micromech Systems and Parker are forces in motion’