Key points
Qu. Getting the balance right between having an optimised process and ensuring product safety is a fine line that many engineers across all processing industries have to walk every day. What advice can you offer to help them ensure they are getting this balancing act right?
Acknowledging the time pressures imposed on machine and plant manufacturers, especially in the food and beverage industries, is a major factor in why sensing and instrumentation specialists BAUMER have developed one of the widest ranges of food processing sensors.
The huge variety of new products and packaging materials which need to be conveyed, packed and sorted, often means that today every project has individual requirements for various sensor applications.
By offering the combination of one of the widest ranges of food processing sensors designed to deliver maximum flexibility and efficiency for processing and packaging applications along with outstanding research & development and operational excellence, makes the difference.
What Baumer brings to the table are sensors developed specifically for a certain application which means that the sensor performance and construction is completely in line with the system / application requirements.
This not only helps increase the life cycle of the sensor, but also reduces production down-time. In addition to this the sensors and connections are approved to both EHEDG and 3A hygienic standards to ensure food safety. So looking at the sensor we feel we have the balance right, how this is utilised in the food processing systems is up to the engineers.
Qu. What are the key design features that engineers should be looking for when specifying food processing sensors
There are often two aspects of sensor design which are critical to food processing applications, sensors used inside and outside the food process. On the outside it’s typically pumps, high pressure nozzles, caustics and acids required to clean the outside surfaces of external parts like tanks, conveyer belts, fittings. Therefore, it’s important that the sensor is robust, resistant to chemicals and has a high degree of clean-ability.
A high degree of clean-ability means a small sensor footprint (physical dimensions), smooth surface and angles that are easily cleaned without threads, buttons, screws etc. On the inside of the process where the sensor is in direct contact with the product and uses hot caustic and / or acid recirculation, precise temperatures, and turbulence to clean the equipment, such as pipes, mixing tanks, pasteurisers and storage vessels.
This means its good practise to choose food processing sensors and connections approved to 3A or EHEDG standards to minimise the risk of contamination.
Having an approved sensor means that the connection does not contain any features that would result in product penetration, debris being trapped or encourage growth of micro-organisms. Also at the installation point it is desirable to minimise stagnant/dead zones where the product can get trapped and remain after the system has been drained.
For this Baumer has developed a system that offers some clear benefits compared to the industry standards used today.
- It reduces “dead zones” inside the process to allow bacteria to collect and thrive.
- It reduces costs associated with extended CIP (Clean-In-Place) cycle times to reach these dead zones and thoroughly remove all bacteria.
Qu. What role can sensors play in helping to optimise a process?
As an example fast temperature signals improve heating control on pasteurising systems. This contributes directly to limited waste of energy as the product is not exposed to more thermal stress than necessary. At the same time it improves quality and reduces cost.
Another example is high safety alarms on tanks where light or heavy foam occur on open tanks, for example excess yeast tanks or CIP caustic tanks. To have food processing sensors installed that reliably detects foam lead to less required maintenance (cleaning).
Fast response time and fast temperature compensation can contribute heavily to savings on the CIP return line and lead to water, chemical and energy saving as accurate and fast communication to the PLC is improved.
Similar cases could be made for storage tanks, filtration systems, separation systems, UHT, homogenisation etc. So “yes” food processing systems rely heavily on the performance of the sensors installed both in terms of food safety and general optimisation.
Also, how sensors are installed into the process plays an important role in terms of accurate and reliable measurements.
Qu. Everyone is talking about digitalisation today – how can food engineers start to future-proof their processes today to ensure they are IoT ready?
You could say that digitalisation starts with the sensor as they are designed to precisely record many different measured values. Valuable additional information is already generated during the processing of the measured values in the sensor.
Standardised digital communication interfaces such as IO-Link can be used to access that information and significantly improve your business processes. Industry 4.0 and digitalisation are already opening up some benefits for the food and beverage industries.
For example, predictive maintenance of food processing sensors can avoid costly downtime, so it will be interesting to see how digitalisation can contribute to an even more safe and efficient production in the future.
Read more about Baumer’s Food Processing Sensors
