Dairy and milk processing will once again be an integral part of this year’s PROCESS EXPO tradeshow event.

PROCESS EXPO 2017, hosted by the Food Processing Suppliers Association (FPSA), McLean, Va., took place Sept. 19-22 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.

Here’s a rundown of what new equipment, systems and solutions made their debut at this year’s PROCESS EXPO show:

VACUUM PACKAGING MACHINE

Rollstock, Kansas City, Mo., exhibited its new RI-Platinum Vacuum Packaging Machine, which boasts a solid-plate side frame design and is now available with an electro-polished finish for easy cleaning.

Using the latest version of Allen Bradley logix, the RI-Platinum features a 10-inch touchscreen display, Allen Bradley software, PLC and components, along with an improved vacuum circuit for faster speeds.

The remote monitoring system and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) permission system tracks setting changes and operator/maintenance level control to eliminate compromised passwords. It also provides real-time reports, diagnostics and remote connectivity for quicker off-site technical support.

The new open-view design has separate cabinets for electronics and pneumatics, plus a self-sanitizing electrical cabinet. It also has the ability to use flexible, semi-rigid and thick semi-rigid films with a pre-heat station, plug assist forming, corner-round punch system, shape cutting system and film takeup roller designed for semi-rigid film.

It comes in sizes up to 620 web width by 650 advance.

METAL DETECTION, CHECKWEIGHING SYSTEMS

METTLER-TOLEDO, Tampa, Fla., exhibited a variety of its checkweighing, metal detection and x-ray inspection equipment, including the new CM33 combination metal detector and checkweighing system, the new X38 pipeline x-ray inspection system and new modifications to the Mettler Toledo Gravity Flow metal detection system.

The X38 X-ray inspection system inspects pumped food products, such as ground and minced meats, soups, dairy products and jams, for potential contamination by glass, metal, mineral stone, calcified bone, high-density plastic and rubber compounds as they move toward final processing and packaging. The system can inspect and reject contaminated products at throughput speeds up to 14 metric tons per hour, depending on pipe diameter and the nature of the product. In addition, as flow rates vary on the production line, the flow rate signal coming from the customer’s pump can automatically adjust the inspection system’s scan speed and rejector timing to match the production line’s flow speeds. It comes in 2.5-, 3- and 4-inch diameters, and the pipes can be interchanged with different sizes to meet future production line upgrades.

METTLER TOLEDO’s Profile Advantage metal detector also participated in the FPSA bakery demonstration production line, where attendees watched it at work. And, in the Virtual Reality demonstration area, attendees donned virtual reality glasses for an enhanced experience, seeing various equipment, including a Mettler Toledo x-ray inspection system, in action.

FLIGHTED FREEZER FOR IQF PRODUCTS

Praxair, Inc., Danbury, Conn., demonstrated its industrial and cryogenic gases technologies using both liquid nitrogen and carbon dioxide (dry ice) to produce a variety of food products.

Praxair’s live, chef-created demonstrations simulated these key systems:

• ColdFront ultra performance immersion freezer. This demonstration prepared a savory chicken meatball highlighting the power of liquid nitrogen used for immersion freezing.
• ColdFront ultra performance flighted freezer. The chef created a diced salmon appetizer showing how individually-quick frozen (IQF) products are frozen using liquid nitrogen.
• CryoBlend cryogen injection cooling for meat mixing. A recently added equipment offering, CryoBlend meat mixer cooling produced a garlic and peppered chicken sausage using liquid nitrogen during the mixing phase.
• Other gas-related demonstrations. The chef created ice cream using liquid nitrogen, and a separate infused aroma station demonstrated the solid-to-vapor phase sublimation of carbon dioxide.

Hollymatic, Countryside, Ill., unveiled its Defender 4000 Band Saw, which uses proprietary technology to effectively stop the saw blade with no damage to the saw.

Hollymatic uses what is dubbed as the fastest camera on the market that has a rate of 2,000 frames per second and a camera processing system with a total processing and output time of under 9 milliseconds. Blade stopping speeds are under 40 milliseconds and .040 seconds with a proprietary low inertia high horsepower servo motor. Hollymatic’s Defender Band Saw also features a highly specialized drive unit and a proprietary, zero backlash, was-down duty gearbox.

Additional benefits include:

• Fast re-set times.
• Ability to archive emergency stop images.
• Excellent user interface.
• Exceptional cleanability.
• Easy training and operation.
• Auto blade guard.
• High horsepower motor.
• Quick diagnostics and maintenance trouble shooting.

CONVEYOR BELT WITH SPLICING, CLEANING SOLUTIONS

Flexco, Downers Grove, Ill., will be addressing the conveyor belt needs of the food processing industry, offering splicing and cleaning solutions for baking, dairy, meat and poultry and more.

Flexco’s products on display optimize belt conveyor performance utilizing various splicing solutions, including Novitool Aero splice press and the Novitool Amigo splice press, and what is dubbed as the only USDA-certified belt cleaner on the market—the FGP Food Grade Precleaner.

The company’s Aero recipe management tool produces consistent, high-quality endless splices in a fraction of the time of water-cooled presses. The updated press features a larger effective heat zone, ability to separately control heating temperature for top and bottom, forced air cooling in both top and bottom, intuitive HMI controls and USB connectivity with recipe management capabilities for increased splice quality.

The Novitool Amigo splice press joins solid polyester and polyurethane conveyor belts, producing high-quality splices in a fast and safe manner. The Amigo was engineered for precision belt splicing and features a contactless heating process that splices the belt in less than one minute. The pre-heat function removes moisture from the belt ends, avoiding unwanted pinholes in the splices.

The FGP Food Grade Precleaner is an easy-to-install, easy-to-maintain food-grade cleaner that can be disassembled in less than a minute for regular cleaning and sanitation. The FGP Precleaner is designed to meet strict sanitary guidelines and is USDA-certified for use in meat, poultry and dairy operations. Cleaner blades are available in white, blue and metal detectable dark blue FDA-approved food-grade material.

Marlen International, Inc., a Riverside, Mo.-based subsidiary of Duravant LLC, Downers Grove, Ill., exhibited several new innovative Marlen, Carruthers and Afoheat solutions.

Marlen acquired Afoheat in January, and now introduced Afosearer, which features innovative construction and sanitary elements through grilling, roasting, searing or bar marking meat and poultry, fish, vegetables and baked goods.

It also displayed its end-to-end vacuum mixing, pumping and x-ray meat inspection system from its partnership with Quendal Manufacturing. For instance, the Marlen Opti series vacuumized pumps eliminate air pockets for greater imaging, resulting in more accurate and reliable detection of bone fragments and foreign matter inclusions at high continuous flow rates of up to 34,000 pounds per hour. The benefit of this enclosed pipeline x-ray system is greater purge retention and a reduced number of false rejects.

Marlen also unveiled its new Carruthers dicer, designed with sanitation and ease-of-use in mind. The 12-inch machine is equipped with stainless-steel servo drives for precision 2-dimensional cubing and strip cutting of fresh or cooked food products. It also features a novel approach to a parts and sanitation cart for easy assembly and disassembly. This next-generation dicer platform is controlled via Allen-Bradley’s newest MobileView HMI.

Marlen also presented a 3D virtual reality tour of a large capacity batch smokehouse.

SURFACE SANITIZERS

The Alpet D2 Quat-Free Surface Sanitizer from Best Sanitizers, Penn Valley, Calif., is a ready-to-use, no-rinse, fast-acting, food contact and non-food contact surface cleaner and sanitizer, ideal for water-sensitive equipment and dry environments. It leaves no unsightly residue, and is an effective solution for those processors who can’t use quat. Alpet D2 Quat-Free sanitizes in 60 seconds and disinfects in 5 minutes, killing 99.999% of 9 tested pathogens as a food contact surface sanitizer. It comes in a quart-sized spray bottle, 5-gallon pail with spigot, 5-gallon pack with insert for boot sanitizing station and 50-gallon drum.

Eagle Product Inspection, Tampa, Fla., displayed its Pack 400 HC on-stand, an x-ray inspection system designed for easy and efficient cleaning in the harsh washdown environments for packaged meat, poultry, dairy and IQF product applications.

Eagle also exhibited the Tall PRO XSDV, an advanced system providing 100% inspection for contaminants in rigid containers such as cans, bottles and jars using high-performance, dual-view x-ray technology.

BRUSHLESS DC GEARMOTORS

Brother Gearmotors, a Bridgewater, N.J.-based division of Brother International Corp., showcased its wide range of sub-fractional AC gearmotors and reducers for the food and beverage, packaging and material handling industries.

Also, known as electronically commutated motors, these brushless DC gearmotors are ideal for environments requiring virtually maintenance-free operation and accurate speed control as well as operation over a wide speed range. They are also desirable for settings where brush dust contamination is to be avoided or brush contact arcing could affect electronically sensitive equipment.

Brushless DC gearmotors are configurable, offer quiet helical and hypoid gearing and are designed to work with an OEM’s own design drive or standard brushless drives with features such as adjustable acceleration, deceleration, open or closed loop operation, current limiting and other performance and safety features. 

INTELLIGENT SENSORS MEASURE MOISTURE, COMPOSITIONS OF FOOD

WORK Microwave, Tucker, Ga., showcased its range of sensor solutions, designed to measure the compositions of food (i.e., solid, granular and powders) as well as moisture.

WORK Microwave's intelligent sensors ensure the correct product moisture at all stages of the food processing chain — from manufacturing to packaging and storage — making them perfect for dairy products, processed meats, frozen foods, baked goods and grain staple applications.

A key highlight is the company's flow-through sensor, which is ideal for measuring powder or granular material with a low percentage of water content (i.e., moisture measurement range of 1-15%). Typical applications include grain, cereal, milk powder and coffee.

Also on display was a surface-style sensor, which measures the moisture content of bulk solids or sheet-like material with up to pure water content (i.e., moisture content between 1-60%). Surface sensors are perfect for measuring the moisture of cheeses, meats and pre-baked goods.

In addition, WORK Microwave showed its high-speed tablet sensor measuring system for weighing, dosing and filling. This sensor measures the mass of material while the tablet or liquid is passes under the sensor head. A large quantity of measurements can be taken, with a typical measurement rate of more than 100,000 capsules per hour. The small size of the sensor ensures easy integration into existing production machines.

X-RAY EQUIPMENT, METAL DETECTOR, COMBINATION CHECKWEIGHER

Anritsu Infivis, Elk Grove Village, Ill., debuted the new XR75 Series of x-ray equipment, Anritsu M6-h Series metal detector and M6 combination checkweigher. 

The XR75 Performance Series of x-ray equipment is said to increase major component lifetime by 300% and reduce power consumption by 30%.

Dual Wave metal detection systems deliver superior detection on production lines under challenging conditions, including product variations and environmental conditions, such as temperature extremes or high humidity. The Anritsu M6 metal detection system offers an unrivaled level of detection sensitivity and stability due to the company’s unique dual-wave detection technology.

Integrated SSV checkweighers and new M6 Dual Wave Metal detectors assure accurate weighing and metal detection and product safety compliance. The combo systems are available in several different formats, including washdown, high accuracy and economy, to suit different production environments.