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Equipment Roundup November 2008: Weighing Equipment

Nov. 12, 2008
Gentle on productThe Gentle Slope multihead weigher is designed for delicate food products that are easily damaged during handling. Product hoppers feature a laid-back angle to eliminate harsh drops. Angled lips on the radial feeder pans and double-opening, dual-angle hopper doors also contribute to maintaining a gentle descent of product. Options include a ring shutter in the discharge chute to briefly stop product before it enters the discharge timing hopper. Standard technology delivers high speeds, excellent accuracy and efficiency levels close to 100 percent, while reducing product giveaway to fractions of a gram.Heat and Control Inc.; Hayward, Calif.
800-227-5980;
www.heatandcontrol.com

Bulk bag to bin
A weigh batching system discharges material from bulk bags, de-lumps the product and feeds it gravimetrically into rigid bins. The unloader’s bulk-bag-to-hopper interface consists of a manual spout-lock clamp ring at the top of a pneumatically actuated telescoping tube, allowing an operator to make a high-integrity, sealed connection between the clean side of the bag spout and the clean side of the hopper. It also automatically elongates the bag as it empties to promote flow and evacuation. All contact surfaces of the unloader, de-lumping device and gravimetric feeder are of stainless steel, finished to sanitary standards.
Flexicon Corp.; Bethlehem, Pa.
888-353-9426;
www.flexicon.com

Belt scale
A slider-bed belt scale measures light-to-medium-duty loads. The Milltronics Weighdeck 600, with IP67-rated protection, is suitable for flat belt conveyors transporting dry products as well as for Intralox-style belts conveying wet products. The system, which includes an integrator and a speed sensor, can also tally daily production totals. The belt scale offers many features including ease of installation and corrosion-resistant components that are robust, virtually maintenance-free and are especially suitable for aggressive environments and the hygienic processing of foodstuffs.
Siemens Energy & Automation; Spring House, Pa. 
215-646-7400;
www.siemens.com/wd600

Value priced weigher
The A300 is a value-priced checkweigher designed for mild to moderate washdown applications. For smaller packaging lines where space is at a premium, it can accommodate a variety of packages in a compact, 30-inch line space. The stainless steel construction features an open design that allows for easy cleaning and sanitizing in food processing applications and in washdown environments, while a no-tools belt removal minimizes maintenance.  A hermetically sealed load cell ensures long term accuracy and weighing performance. Rates are up to 165 packages per minute.
Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed; Ithaca, N.Y.
607-257-6000;
www.mt.com/hi-speed

Eliminates waste
Increased productivity, cost-efficiency and versatility are built into the design of the Proportional Gate System, which continuously distributes product to weigh scales and packaging systems. It can provide food manufacturers with savings by boosting throughput and eliminating waste. The system separates product from the main product stream, continuously distributing regulated quantities of product to each scale feeder. The proportional gate itself has a unique V-shaped opening through which allotted amounts of product are effectively fed to the scale feeders. By eliminating gaps and lags in the product flow, the proportional gate system boosts throughput and productivity.
PPM Technologies; Newberg, Ore.
503-538-3141;
www.ppmtech.com

Large product accuracy
The CS-10 Big Bucket is an affordable,10-head, large capacity combination scale that is uniquely designed for larger products with weights of up to 6.5 pounds (2.6 kilograms). Using load cell technology for consistent performance, it weighs then chooses the best combination of buckets to achieve a predetermined weight. Accurate within one gram (0.04 ounces), this combination scale reduces product variations and significantly improves production output with speeds of up to 75 bags per minute. Stainless steel construction and a tool-less disassembly design allow for quick washdown and decreased product build-up, contamination and changeover time.
CombiScale Inc.; Chicago
847-806-0606;
www.combiscale.com

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 weighingThe 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

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