Equipment Round Up: Weighing Equipment

Durable and easy to use
The general purpose, intuitive design of the VersaWeigh 300 is suitable for a range of food and pharmaceutical industry applications. Traditionally optional features are incorporated into the checkweigher to ensure it meets the most demanding ease-of-use and durability requirements as part of the standard feature set. In addition, the product’s modular design allows for upgrades without substantial reinvestment, and the quick release and disconnect capabilities allow for easier maintenance, resulting in more up-time. The weigher’s open design allow for routine cleaning to be accomplished in less than five minutes.
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc; Waltham, Mass.
781-622-1207; www.thermo.com/checkweighers

Continuous online tare
The K-Tron Smart Weigh Belt Feeder offers continuous online auto tare compensation by using two digital weigh modules. The first measures the actual belt weight before receiving material, but includes the weight of material sticking to the belt.  The second determines the gross weight after receiving material onto the belt. The feeder compensates for the difference, and belt speed regulation guarantees highly accurate and long-term feeding stability. Automatic and continuous online taring of the belt reduces costly maintenance, line shutdowns and laborious manual calibration, improving long term accuracy.
K-Tron Process Group; Pitman, N.J.
856-589-0500; www.ktron.com

Weigh and X-ray
The latest advances in X-ray technology mean that the Loma X4 inspection system now can checkweigh. Proprietary software can be integrated into existing X-ray systems that enables the unit to weigh, reject and provide product reports in addition to performing the contaminant inspection/missing component functions traditionally associated with X-ray inspection. It also allows for multi-lane checkweighing which means a number of lines can be converged through the system with each package inspected according to its own target weight parameters. The weighing function is highly accurate, so an X-ray machine equipped with this function can completely replace a checkweigher in certain applications.
Loma Systems Inc.; Carol Stream, Ill.
630-681-2050; www.loma.com

For meat and poultry
Ideal for harsh meat and poultry processing environments, the DuraWeigh line of scales offers innovations that improve calibration accuracy, operating performance and equipment durability while reducing equipment downtime and operating costs and simplifying sanitation and maintenance. The heavy-duty floor scale features a free-floating chain and rod system to protect load cells from the costly damage caused by forklifts and pallet jacks in daily use and to hold accurate calibration longer. Built tough, the bench scales are designed for general weighing, portion control and manual batching.
Gainco Inc.; Gainesville, Ga.
800-467-2828; www.gainco.com

Fixed weight packaging
The trend toward packing poultry to fixed weight is increasing. Through static weighing rather than in-motion weighing, the Screw Feeding Multi-Head Weigher provides more than 1,000 product combinations to meet a required weight while easily reducing giveaway to below one-half percent. It also increases weighing accuracy, cuts costs and increases efficiency. It is fully automatic with the exception of the final placement of chicken pieces in trays so plant operating costs are reduced through labor savings of up to 80 percent. Extremely compact in design, it requires significantly less floor space than traditional equipment.
Linco Food Systems; Seaford, Del.
800-865-4626; www.lincofood.us

Line integrated weighing
The series “SI” Insertion Weigh Belt Module is a unique feeder designed to easily fit into an existing belt or vibratory conveyor line. A short support framework and a 24-inch-long “V-guided” conveyor make this a practical weighing module for insertion into a transition space between existing conveyors or equipment. The scale provides for complete mass counterbalancing of the dead load of the conveyor permitting the load sensor to react only to the net material load. It is not affected by dirt, shocks or vibration, and can withstand overloads in access of 1,000 pounds without causing damage or affecting calibration.
Thayer Scale-Hyer Industries; St. Pembroke, Mass.
781-826-8101; www.thayerscale.com

Cleaning access
Complete cleaning in hygienic areas can be limited if one cannot gain access to contamination-prone areas. The MoveLine flat bed scale platform provides increased ease-of-use for cleaning through a patented design not found on other flat bed scales. With an ultra-low profile of only 25 millimeters, it is optimally designed for hopper or vessel weighing and allows simple positioning of containers on the platform. In addition, the stainless steel weighing platforms are compliant with FDA requirements on materials, surface finish and cleanability, according to HACCP and EHEDG guidelines.
Sartorius Inc.; Edgewood, N.Y.
800-635-2906; www.sartorius-usa.com