Page 57 - FoodFocusThailand No.143_February 2018

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Food Focus Thailand Magazine ด้วยเทคโนโลยีที่มีการพัฒนามาอย่างต่อเนื่อง ระบบล�าเลียงในปัจจุบันจึงมีการ- เช่น เครื่องตรวจจับโลหะ และเครื่องชั่งน�้าหนัก เข้ากับระบบการเคลื่อนย้ายสินค้า
editor@foodfocusthailand.com ติดตั้งเครื่องมือการท�างานต่างๆ ให้ดีขึ้น กระบวนการควบคุมคุณภาพ ที่จากเดิมเคย เครื่องมือเหล่านี้ท�าให้การจัดการสินค้าในประมาณมากเป็นเรื่องง่าย และยังท�าให้ระบบ
เป็นขอขวดที่ชะลอกระบวนการผลิตต่างได้รับการพัฒนา มีการติดเครื่องมือต่างๆ ดังกล่าวถือเป็นระบบควบคุมคุณภาพที่มีศักยภาพมากที่สุดในตลาด ณ ขณะนี้

Every food processing plant needs a network of conveying systems to efficiently move material from area to
another. Most people are familiar with the old belt setup that methodically transports product through a facility.
The humble belt, though, has come a long way. To better serve the various industries that require these devices,
they are often integrated with other pieces of technology that can further increase the efficiency of a processing
plant. In food preparation facilities, it is paramount that all devices are configured for sanitary use and certified
by the USDA or FDA.

Mechanical Conveyors Used in Food Plants 6. What material condition is desired at end of the conveying route? Must
Belt — Belt conveyors are perhaps the most commonly used conveyor type. the integrity of the mixture be maintained? Is it important to minimize damage
They are used in the food industry in both the processing and packaging of food to a fragile material?
7. What is the factory environment? Dusty? Hazardous? Must specific
products. The smooth continuous surface of a belt is ideal for food handling. Belts sanitary standards be met?
for food applications must be made of strong, durable materials such as nylon, 8. What controllers are being used and is control integration to the process
rubber, polyester, or other materials that are acceptable for use with food products line needed?
and can be cleaned. A belt conveyor consists of two or more pulleys with a continuous 9. What routine maintenance is needed and what are the sanitary
loop of material that rotates about them. They can be used to elevate, decline, or requirements for cleaning of the conveyor? Is the location accessible for
horizontally transport material for inspection, cooling, storing, or conveying. maintenance and cleaning?
10. Is a product feasibility test advisable to determine the most suitable
Vibratory — A vibrating conveyor is a machine with a solid conveying surface conveyor for the material concerned, the distance involved, and the throughput
that is turned up on the side to form a trough. They are used extensively in food required?
applications where sanitation, wash down, and low maintenance are important. As technology has improved, greater functionality has been integrated
The trough or tray is mounted on a vibratory drive, which delivers sympathetic into conveying systems. Quality control used to be a bottleneck that slowed
vibration to the trough, moving material forward. Vibratory conveyors can be factories down, but devices like metal detectors and weight checkers are now
multi-functional and can also be used in food plants to cool, scalp, screen, orient, built into many transport designs. These devices can handle large loads of
and separate materials while transporting. product easily, making them one of the most efficient quality control setups
on the market.
Screw — A screw conveyor is made of helical flight pieces that are fixed to
a pipe or a solid shaft and then placed inside a U-shaped or tubular trough. As เอกสารอ้างอิง/References
the screw rotates, material piles up in front of the flights and then the material is www.foodtechcompare.com/22-Food-Industry-Mechanical-Conveyors
pushed through the trough; the screw is rotated by a motor. The trough should www.philiprahm.com/the-importance-conveying-systems-for-processing-food-a-22.html
have openings so that any jammed material can be easily cleaned and periodic
maintenance can be performed. Shaftless screw conveyors are also available for
use with moist materials. Most screw conveyors used in food processing are
constructed of stainless steel.
Flexible Screw — Flexible screw conveyors consist of a stainless steel or
heat-treated and tempered carbon steel screw that rotates within an Ultra High
Molecular Weight Polyethylene food grade tube. The term flexible means that
these conveyors can curve to some extent, letting users route the conveyor around
obstacles. The flexible screw conveyor is designed to be simple to install and
operate and is also designed to be operated when full of material, rather than with
batches or slugs of material.
Aero-mechanical Conveyors (ACM) — The aero-mechanical conveyor
(ACM) could also be called a “rope and disc” conveyor. The AMC consists of
several evenly spaced polyurethane discs attached to a wire rope. The rope and
discs travel in a continuous loop fashion at a consistently high speed within parallel
steel tubes, producing an airstream that fluidizes and entrains the product in airflow
until is it centrifugally ejected at the outlet. The AMC can move batches and operate
at almost any angle, in straight-line fashion or rounding curves. It causes almost
no degradation to the material being moved. Maintenance needs can be moderate
to high, however.
Ten Key Points to Review When Selecting a Mechanical
Conveying System
In order to work with a supplier to select the right type of mechanical conveyor
for the application, the purchaser of a conveying system should review the following
points of information:
1. What is the material to be conveyed? Review: material bulk density, particle
size, characteristics such as abrasiveness, moisture content, flowability, fluidity,
dustiness, flammability, explosiveness.
2. From what is the material being conveyed? (Such as silos, bulk bag, etc.)
3. To what is the material being moved? (Such as a mixer, feeder, mill, etc.)
4. How far is the material to be conveyed? Horizontally? Vertically? Route
with bends?
5. At what rate/speed/throughput is the material to be conveyed, over what
period of time?