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Product Information
[BRHI BakerPerkins]
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[27.05.08] |
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Reliably Flaky!
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Seeking to further enhance the performance and reliability of its already successful and popular flaking rolls, leading supplier of production machinery to the food industry, Baker Perkins, developed a new hydraulics system based on Bosch Rexroth products. Originally intended for use on new machines, the system has demonstrated so many benefits that Baker Perkins is now also offering it as an upgrade for existing flaking rolls.
In the manufacture of breakfast cereals such as corn flakes and bran flakes, flaking rolls perform a key function – they take cooked grains or extruded pellets and crush them between two contra-rotating water-cooled rolls to transform it into flakes ready for toasting.
Crucial to the success of the flaking operation is maintaining a constant gap between the rolls, each of which weighs two tonnes. If the gap varies, even slightly, so does the flake thickness and bulk density. The next operation to which the flakes are subjected is toasting and even small changes in thickness would result in over- or under toasting, thereby spoiling the product and leading to wastage. Variations in bulk density cause problems with both consumer acceptance and packaging efficiency.
To achieve precise gap control, while at the same time permitting the gap to be adjusted so that the machine can be used for different types of products, Baker Perkins mounts one of the rolls rigidly and supports the other in a pivoted frame. Hydraulic cylinders are used to draw the pivoted roll toward the fixed roll with a sophisticated closed-loop control system ensuring that the gap preset by the user is maintained under all operating conditions.
While the design used originally by Baker Perkins provided satisfactory performance, maintenance was complicated because the position transducer for the cylinder was located within the cylinder body itself. When the transducer required adjustment or servicing it was therefore necessary to demount the whole cylinder assembly, a process that was both time consuming and inconvenient.
Therefore, the company's design team set out to develop an enhanced system that would eliminate this shortcoming and deliver other benefits, such as improved sealing of the hydraulic system against dust.
Products from Rexroth were selected for the new design on the basis of their ready availability, competitive pricing and outstanding performance characteristics. In addition, the versatility and compact construction of these products made it possible to accommodate the whole of the hydraulic system, including the power units, conveniently within the envelope of the machine, improving reliability and making maintenance easier.
Reliability is further enhanced by the overall machine housing providing the hydraulic equipment with a useful degree of protection against dust, thereby helping to achieve one of the key design objectives for the new system
The new hydraulic system comprises a Rexroth type CY210 cylinder and its associated servo control valve mounted directly on the machine's roll support frame, as well as a Rexroth hydraulic power pack. The cylinder is equipped with an external position transducer and closed-loop cylinder position control is implemented with a Rexroth HACD digital controller configured by Baker Perkins engineers to work with the flaking rolls’ own control system.
Designed to be easy to use even in the most demanding applications, HACD controllers are packaged in standard Eurocard format. They are pre-programmed to suit a wide variety of servo and proportional valves and include 32 function blocks to simplify and speed the development of control programs. In conjunction with the Rexroth Windows-based BODAC programming system, these features made it straightforward to configure the HACD controller for use with the flaking rolls.
As part of its service, Rexroth installs and commissions all of the hydraulic equipment for new machines in Baker Perkins' own factory. Also working in partnership, engineers from both Baker Perkins and Rexroth carry out upgrade work on existing machines at the end users' sites.
"Bosch Rexroth provided us with excellent support in choosing the most appropriate products for our application and in getting the best from them," said Paul Young of Baker Perkins. "We're delighted with the results. We used standard off-the-shelf equipment, and together with Bosch Rexroth designed the system to give dust sealing that is exceptionally effective and contamination of the hydraulic oil is, for all practical purposes, non-existent."
"Maintenance is simplified greatly and reliability is superb," he continued. "In addition, the equipment offers excellent value for money. We're very pleased that we made the move to Bosch Rexroth and, on the basis of our experience with this new design using the improved system, we're now not only fitting it on new machines but also making it available as an upgrade for existing users of our flaking rolls."
In addition to the food sector, the Rexroth range of hydraulic equipment – one of the largest in the world – includes products to meet even the most demanding requirements of almost every other industry sector, from animatronics to submarine robotics and public transport.
Editor’s Notes:
Bosch Rexroth AG, a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH, achieved sales of more than 4.9 billion euros in 2006 with over 29,800 employees. Under the brand name of Rexroth the company offers all relevant drive, control and motion technologies: from mechanics, hydraulics and pneumatics through to electronics and the associated services. The global player is a competent partner to around 500,000 customers in over 80 countries and an extensive supplier of components and systems for industrial and factory automation and mobile applications.
For further information contact:
Press Contact: Ian Clay, Technical Publicity. Tel: 01582 878878
iclay@technical-group.com
Reader Inquiries:
Phone: +44 (0) 1480 223200
Fax: +44 (0) 1480 470789
E-mail: Roger.Benton@boschrexroth.co.uk
Address: 15 Cromwell Road, St. Neots, Cambs, PE19 2ES
Internet: www.boschrexroth.co.uk/
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