Protecting Fragile Food Product During Bulk Food Processing Operations
During material discharge, optical sensors ensure a maximum drop height of no more than 5 inches throughout the entire 150º tote rotation.
This automated bulk material handling system provides a total process solution for moving highly fragile food product through multiple process operations into bulk storage for temporary holding prior to final packaging. At a process rate of 12,000 pounds per hour, bulk totes of food product are nested into a lift carriage; the tote is sealed to a custom-designed discharge hood. The tote is vertically conveyed, using 1-1/2 inch, solid 304 stainless steel track and cam rollers, to a 23-foot discharge height. During tilting of the tote, optical sensors ensure a maximum product discharge drop distance of no more than 5 inches throughout the entire 150º rotation. Additional material handling occurs as three stages of vibratory conveyor move the highly fragile food product through two stages of high-speed image processing and sorting to ensure the material maintains its original characteristics throughout processing. The finish-processed food product is then moved into a storage tote using a reverse-tilt fill method to, again, ensure the product drop does not exceed 5 inches during filling. The final take-away conveyor section includes an integrated, NTEP-certified weigh system to ensure the filled tote weight is accurate to +/- .01% of the tote’s 4,000-pound total capacity.
Conveyor and container routing is directed from a single, menu-driven HMI designed and built by NBE. NBE automation expertise integrated the system-wide control, communication, monitoring, and data reporting to the facility’s central control system architecture. NBE integrated automation and performance-proven construction increased material processing rates while reducing material reject rates.
Sanitary Bulk Material Handling Equipment Accessibility: Bringing Speed, Safety, and Confidence to Cleaning
Processing and packaging operations are becoming acutely aware of the significant cleanability and product safety advantages that result from the use of sanitary, application-specific material handling equipment versus force-fit, general industrial units. With the increased awareness and importance given to cleanability, plant operations, supervisory staff, and management are, now, looking for methods to improve equipment cleaning effectiveness and efficiency without compromising outcome. A priority method these professionals have identified for improving equipment cleaning effectiveness and efficiency is: accessibility. "If equipment manufacturers can figure out how to do open areas with CIP, that would save time and money," says Lee G. Johnson, Ph. D., vice president of technical services, West Liberty Foods. This post, the fourth in a series regarding sanitary bulk material handling equipment, will address how equipment accessibility must be included as an original equipment and operating environment design criteria to ensure the highest level of cleaning effectiveness and efficiency.
Regardless of clean-in-place (CIP) or open plant cleaning (OPC) applications, enabling quick and safe access by personnel to enclosed areas of the equipment, and aiding simple and safe access to components for disassembly prior to cleaning will: [i] shorten the duration of cleaning events, [ii] reduce the number of staff required for equipment cleaning, [iii] improve the outcome of cleaning and validation, and [iv] contribute to greater product safety.
The sanitary-specific construction of this bulk material tote dumper exemplifies OCC design.
This bulk material tote dumper, designed and built by National Bulk Equipment, Inc. (NBE) specifically for sanitary application, exemplifies a proactive equipment design focused toward improving accessibility. To ensure the accuracy and relevance of the design, NBE, first, performed a pre-production HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) assessment. The HACCP assessment guided the framework and component designs, the materials of construction, and the protections for personnel. Two examples of this sanitary tote dumper's designed-in accessibility to enclosed areas of the system are:
Enclosed hydraulics system enables easy viewing; simple access for cleaning and service.
• Easy Access to Enclosed Hydraulics Systems: A 9.525mm-thick, shatterproof viewing shield enables quick visual inspection. When access is required, simple tools can remove the shield. And, a tool-free clamp provides quick, and safe access to the reservoir. The hydraulic systems on this sanitary tote dumper are positioned below a seven-foot height and are, therefore, fully guarded on all six sides to protect personnel from moving parts. Though located well below, and separate from, the product contact area, this fully enclosed cabinet design also protects the product and the operating environment from fluid contaminants.
Discharge hood gate design enables easy and safe accessibility for disassembly and cleaning.
• Simple and Safe Component Disassembly: To speed cleaning, validation, and inspection of the internal surfaces of the sealed discharge hood, the hatch gate can be removed by one person, without tools, in less than 20 seconds. Easy reach to the discharge hood and quick removal of the hatch gate enables safe, visual validation and inspection; and, if necessary, obstruction-free, physical access to internal surfaces.
The sanitary processing and packaging marketplace has recognized that equipment cleanability, while a critical factor in the attainment of product safety and personnel safety, must be achieved with maximum equipment accessibility effectiveness and efficiency in order to provide optimal compliance contribution (OCC).
Additional posts in this series on sanitary bulk material handling equipment design include topics of: Equipment Cleanability, Structural Design and Contaminant Removal, Materials of Construction, and Product Safety Guidelines.
Sanitary Bulk Material Handling Equipment: Materials of Construction In Process-specific Applications
The sanitary-specific construction of this bulk material tote dumper exemplifies OCC design.
In an earlier post, some of the risks of integrating process-inappropriate equipment into sanitary bulk material handling applications were presented. In that post it was noted that many sanitary processing operations settle for force-fit, general industrial equipment rather than process-specific, sanitary bulk material handling equipment. "Clearly, there are degrees, or relative levels to sanitary compliance," says Tom Krueger, CMC, president of Summit Laboratory. "It is critical to recognize how the sanitary-specific construction of process-appropriate, sanitary bulk material handling equipment can translate to improved product safety, and a greater optimal compliance contribution". (OCC)
Materials of construction is referenced in industry guidelines, third-party standards, and in government regulations as an important aspect of sanitary equipment construction. Yet, with such vague references as, 'adequately cleanable', 'appropriate', and 'compatible', it is common for minimally sanitary equipment to be in use despite the negative effects this process inappropriate equipment may have. National Bulk Equipment, Inc. (NBE) has taken a proactive effort to ensure that it's process-specific sanitary bulk material handling equipment provides optimal compliance contribution.
These weld seams, in the product contact area, are continuous and ground to a No. 4 finish.
Regarding materials of construction, NBE uses findings from their pre-production, HACCP assessment to guide the framework and component designs and the selection of the materials of construction. This step puts in priority the protection of personnel and product; reduces cleaning, validation, and inspection times; and enables the highest compatibility with the environmental conditions specific to the process operation. For example, as appropriate, the structural framework, located below the product contact zone can be carbon steel. However, that carbon steel will be sandblasted, fabricated with smooth-ground continuous welds, and then primed and painted with FDA-approved epoxy paint. Materials in product contact and adjacent areas, are constructed of Type 316L stainless steel, also with continuous-weld seams. These stainless steel seams are then ground to a No. 4 finish to eliminate any divots, crevices, or other imperfections in the weld seam where microbial contaminants could accumulate.
In materials of construction, as in every aspect of process-specific sanitary bulk material handling equipment design, specifications beyond the standard are what achieve OCC and the resulting process advantages of: reduced time targets for cleaning, validation, and inspection; minimal labor allocation for cleaning and validation; limiting of consumables (water, chemicals, power) during cleaning; and increased repeatability of positive inspection outcomes.
Fully Automated Bulk Container Dumper Reduces Operator Interaction; Increases Process Throughput
According to findings from a report of the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics; persons in occupations involving manual material handling, such as: repetitive placing, grasping, or moving of objects or materials, are 80% more likely to experience injuries requiring days away from work than persons who complete similar tasks with the aid of machinery.
This fully automated, self-contained, bulk tote dumper system completely manages material from the introduction stage, through discharge and conditioning, to downstream supply of finished material into manufacturing operations. Human interaction is limited to bulk container loading and removal with a fork truck.
The National Bulk Equipment, Inc. lift-and-seal carriage receives each 1,450-pound bulk container and precisely aligns and seals it to the custom, stainless steel discharge hood using an automatic centering system. The 2,000-pound capacity lift carriage raises and rotates the container 180 degrees, ensuring complete material discharge. The 100 cubic-foot capacity, stainless steel receiving hopper with integrated agitator pre-conditions the material. A 9-inch diameter auger feeds pre-conditioned material to a high-capacity, dual-shaft size reduction crumbler for final conditioning of the material prior to pneumatic conveying to downstream process operations. High capacity, chain drive, live roller conveyors and 90-degree rotation turntables provide container indexing and accumulation. Electrogalvanized, zinc-coated, carbon steel conveyor rollers provide superior corrosion resistance and extended duty cycles in the harsh environment.
Complete bulk material process automation engineering and integration, including controls, sensors, monitoring, and data reporting are all centralized to a single, menu-driven touch screen HMI, built by NBE. Legacy upstream and downstream equipment automation integrates with NBE automation to the facility’s SCADA center.