Sanitary Bulk Material Handling Equipment: Structural Design and Contaminant Removal
As part of an ongoing series regarding sanitary bulk material handling equipment, this post will address the specific issue of structural design of sanitary bulk material handling equipment, and the critical role structural design has in ensuring the safety of sanitary product. Of course, sanitary structural design and sanitary materials of construction are equally important factors effecting the ability of bulk material handling equipment to provide optimal compliance contribution (OCC). For detailed information regarding materials of construction in sanitary equipment, please see this previous post.
In the matter of sanitary bulk material handling systems' structural design, it is worthwhile to restate an essential premise, that premise being: it is possible for two different pieces of equipment, placed into perfectly matching sanitary applications, performing the same mechanical function, and each having achieved compliance, for a unit designed to the specific, sanitary requirements of the application to have a significantly greater ability to prevent contaminants from entering the sanitary process stream than a general, industrial unit force-fit into the application. Let's take a look at several application-specific, sanitary design features that improve cleanability, improve validation and inspection outcomes, protect product safety, reduce consumables use, and ensure improved OCC.
Rounded cross members and angled flat surfaces eliminate material accumulation and pooling of liquids.
• Rounded framework beams and angled, rounded cross members: The use of rounded structural framework in sanitary construction, rather than square tubing common in general industrial equipment construction, eliminates flat surfaces where material accumulation and pooling of liquids can occur. The rounded cross members are also angled away from product contact areas to move material and liquids away from product and speed drainage and drying during cleaning.
• No internal angles or corners; flat surfaces angled 45˚ to horizontal: Notorious for accumulating contaminants and being difficult to clean, validate, and inspect; internal angles and internal corners in structural elements and component construction should be cut out during fabrication to eliminate areas where contaminants can gather. If flat surfaces are present, on controls enclosures, for example; these surfaces should be angled, at least to 45˚ to horizontal, and directed away from product contact areas.
Material release openings remove foreign materials from the sanitary process stream.
• Material release openings: With force-fit, general industrial dry bulk material handling systems, foreign materials (materials other than the intended process material) are often inadvertently directed into the sanitary material process stream because no accommodation has been made to collect and remove them. An application-specific, sanitary bulk material handling equipment design must proactively integrate foreign material release openings at every handling action point; from input to final packaging.
Sanitary suspension design offsets controls enclosure from equipment framework.
• Controls enclosures offset from structural framework: The necessary proximity of control enclosures near to the process stream, and their numerous inherent right angles, make controls enclosures a challenge to thoroughly clean and inspect. Beyond simple standoffs (also common to force-fit equipment), a highly sanitary enclosure management design uses a cut-out inset area and suspension to offset the enclosure from the structure. This design creates material release openings and visual inspection openings, and eliminates right angles, welded joints, and flat surfaces where microbes, allergen residues, and proteins associated with gluten can accumulate.
Structural design of application-specific, sanitary bulk material handling equipment must be a proactive effort. A pre-production HACCP assessment of the application will effectively guide the framework and component designs as well as the selection of the materials of construction. Avoiding the common design errors associated with force-fit, general industrial bulk material handling systems will ensure the protection of product and personnel, reduce cleaning and sanitizing times, and enable the highest levels of optimal compliance contribution.
Related posts:
- Sanitary Bulk Material Handling Equipment Cleanability: Value, Risk & Outcome
- Bulk Filling and Discharging Equipment Guide Book Presents In-use Advantages of Application-specific Sanitary Equipment Versus Force-fit General Equipment
- Bulk Material Handling in Sanitary Applications: Regulatory Influences and Compliance-ready Equipment Design
- Sanitary Process Equipment: Product Safety Guidelines and Standards
- Sanitary Bulk Material Handling Equipment Accessibility: Bringing Speed, Safety, and Confidence to Cleaning