INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS FOR FISH, POULTRY AND MEAT PROCESSING
Maximum Flexibility, 50% higher throughput, optimum hygiene and cleanability, total freedom from maintenance: the new servo drive concept for the BAADER 144 salmon gutting machine combines all of these benefits. Highly dynamic, compact and low-backlash TPM+ servo actuators from WITTENSTEIN alpha are responsible for this increased performance.
BAADER, a manufacturer of machines and processing line for fish, poultry and meat, was looking for ways to boost the productivity of its salmon gutting machines to meet the rise of salmon demands. The development goals were ambitious: to virtually double the throughput from between 12 and 16 to 25 fish per minute, to make even complex motion sequences controllable, to improve hygiene by increasing corrosion protection and to reduce maintenance and cleaning to a minimum – and to reconcile all of that with the dimensions of the proven BAADER 142. These requirements could only be met by replacing the existing motors with more powerful servo models: for example, our TPM+ enable the height of the tools inside the new BAADER 144 to be dynamically adjusted according to the natural shape of the salmon. The sucking and scraping tools are simultaneously moved through the machine as the fish are fed into the system.
TPM+ DYNAMIC SERVO ACTUATORS IN ALL AXES
Centering device, belly knife, sucking tool, scraping tools A, B and C – a TPM+ dynamic, and in some cases two, in size 025 is installed in each processing module. The eleventh servo actuator is the main drive. It moves the chain that pulls the salmon through the machine. The platen on which these drives are mounted separates the actuators and the wiring from the machine’s process side by means of an absolutely tight shaft gland. The TPM+ are provided with a stainless steel output as well as a special three-component paint for protection against corrosion.
The rotary actuator units used in BAADER’s machines are shipped with increased corrosion protection. They also have a special mechanical design: the connection between the precision gearbox and the synchronous servo motor is coupling-free. This enables a short installation length and simultaneously sets new benchmarks for dynamics, torque, torsional and tilting rigidity and smooth running. This power density made an equally convincing impression in BAADER’s own comparative tests. The TPM+ had no trouble beating standard servo motors with right-angle gearboxes or timing belt side drives.
PROCESSING TIME PER SALMON: 2.4 SECONDS
BAADER 144 can gut up to 25 salmon per minute. The TPM+ servo actuators have enabled a significant productivity improvement in terms of both quantity and quality.
Read more about this success story from Wittenstein
Tri-Phase Automation is a distributor of Wittenstein products in Wisconsin.