Speed is of the essence for packaging machines. Products must be filled, reliably sealed and prepared for shipping in the shortest possible cycles. Moreover, if food is being packed, the hygiene requirements are also high. To keep the total cost of ownership low, maintenance should rarely be necessary and unplanned downtime avoided. Accordingly, the list of requirements is long and applies not only for the packaging machine itself but also for the components that are used, such as the drive technology.
The Belgian company Scaldopack develops, produces and services advanced spout inserting machines and pouch filling and sealing machines. It is important to the company that the manufactured packages be of very high quality, in addition to the machines having a low error rate, stable production speeds and high availability. At the same time, flexibility is also very important to. Scaldopack’s systems can easily be converted from one batch to the next in just a short time. Depending on the system and application, changeover times range from just a few hours to less than 30 minutes in some cases. Moreover, all systems were constructed so that maintenance is rarely necessary and can be performed quickly. This also serves to keep the total cost of ownership of the machines low.
Filling foods and non-foods
Scaldopack offers several pouch filling machines and spout inserting machines, which insert the pouch closures into pouches of various sizes. The filling machines differ in terms of throughput. The Smartfiller Ecoline, for example, convinces with its flexibility. In addition to pouches, it can also fill bottles and containers. The Monofiller Multihead 4, on the other hand, can output 120 packages per minute. Both foods as well as other high viscosity products can be filled. Typical non-foods include gels, shampoos, lotions, soaps, conditioners, cleaning agents, plasticizers, auto oils and adhesives. Among the classic foods that can be filled with the system are baby foods, dips, hummus, sauces, peanut butter, honey, yogurt, juices and alcoholic beverages.
High performance for packaging
But the packaging machines themselves need to perform at a high level as well. They often work around the clock, seven days per week. Breaks for maintenance, whether planned or unplanned, quickly become costly and, thus, need to be avoided. Anyone purchasing such a system also always has an eye on the total cost of ownership. In addition to the acquisition costs, there are also the maintenance costs, production quality and the avoidance of variables that can contribute to production errors. What applies for the system applies for the installed components as well. High performance is likewise demanded of the drive technology that is used.
Direct linear drives with built-in Hall sensors
For smooth and efficient operation of the machines, Scaldopack uses BLDC motors from FAULHABER. The direct linear drives with built-in Hall sensors enable a position accuracy of up to 0.1 mm with an acceleration of up to 4 g. This allows the pouches to be moved both quickly and precisely to the proper filling position. There, they are filled and sealed with the correct quantity of products and then stacked in displays for shipment or sale. Because floorspace in production facilities is often expensive and, therefore, limited, the systems also need to occupy as little space as possible.
In the compact machine, it is advantageous for the drive unit to have minimal installation space requirements. With a volume of 22 x 22 x 74 mm, it still achieves a peak force of 27 N and offers exceptional long-term reliability. Unlike conventional pneumatic components, it can operate continuously for nearly three years without maintenance. This fits in very well with the wishes of the equipment manufacturers to offer systems with low maintenance requirements.
In addition to the reliability of the drives, system integration and the operability of the machines are also decisive factors. The highly dynamic MC 3603 motion controllers are used perform the position control. Using standardized communication interfaces such as RS232, EtherCAT or CAN, points for control can easily be set or the drive can be integrated in the automation system. In the actual application, the CiA402 compatibility of the used motion controller enables simple integration in the EtherCAT control system. The motion controller significantly simplifies not only the integration but also the necessary tests. This allows drive systems and machines to be optimally matched to one another to achieve peak performance. The application makes clear what a decisive role dynamic, precise, compact, low-maintenance and easy-to-integrate drive technology plays in the automated packaging industry.
