Hygienic checkweigher with new functions

With its Checkweigher CWP Neptune, Bizerba, the solutions provider from Balingen, Germany, developed a checkweigher in a targeted way in order to allow for weighing and sorting perishable and unpackaged food such as minced meat. On the international packaging exhibition interpack taking place from 12 to 18 May 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany, (hall 14, stand C 14), Bizerba will present new features of the model which was designed in accordance with European hygiene standards.

The Checkweigher CWP Neptune from Bizerba stands out for its optimal hygiene properties, a minimum of components and thus its low maintenance costs and high level of availability. The checkweigher was developed in line with the criteria of the European Hygienic Engineering and Design Group (EHEDG).

Compared to other checkweighers, it does not require any driving and deflection rollers, since it is operated with a single conveyor belt as well as with a single engine throughout the entire system. For instance, units with feeding, weighing and discharge belts can become a hygiene problem, as production residues may fall from the belt at their individual transitions and accumulate in those parts of the machine that are difficult to reach.

The hygienic design of the CWP Neptune prevents production residues from entering the interior of the unit. Thus, the system remains clean and can be cleaned quickly and with little effort. The tightly welded load cell also provides for an additional level of hygiene and reliability, since the entering of cleaning agents and the formation of condensation water in the cell can be prevented.

CWP Neptune: Hygienic checkweigher with new functions
On the interpack in Düsseldorf, Bizerba will demonstrate the application of the CWP Neptune as to the weighing of open trays, for instance with barbecue meat. The challenge: In order to prevent the meat trays from falling down whilst being discharged, this unit is delivered without a folding conveyor belt. An optional swivel arm sorter will from now on push the trays with incorrect weights from the belt. “If the customers have their own discharge stations, they can dispense with the swivel arm sorter in favour of a shorter unit length. In this case, Bizerba provides the discharge signals which are required in terms of the control which is then to be performed by the customer”, explains Dieter Conzelmann, Director Industry Solutions at Bizerba.

Another innovation: In addition to the base model with a weighing platform having a length of 250 millimetres, Bizerba is now offering the CWP Neptune with a weighing platform having a length of 400 millimetres in order to allow for the processing of packaging sizes with a length of more than 250 millimetres. Here, the swivel arm sorter is also optionally available.

Moreover, the application of the CWP Neptune was successfully tested in the hygienically sensitive area of bakeries: The unit weighs the wet amounts of dough that was portioned on a dough plate, discharges products with incorrect weights via the retraction belt and returns them to the dough plate. “In doing so, the dough portioner also receives the information required to determine by how many grammes a dough piece with an incorrect weight deviates from its specified weight and in which direction the weight has to be corrected. Thus, it is possible to reduce the give-away", says Conzelmann. According to him, dough portions exceeding their target weights are still frequently produced in the dough sector. “The portions often exceed their specified weight by up to 30 grammes. Taken together, it is now possible to save several hundred to more than a thousand euro per week“.

Source: Bizerba